Influence of project management best practices on organizational performance: a survey of construction companies in Westlands District, Nairobi County

Abstract

Global construction industry is constantly changing in response on new or improved of systems Management, new technologies and the need to expand and diversify activities to Meet corporate aim and objectives .The industry has been impacted greatly by introduction of this sustainable.project principles and practices hence Project management best practices now understood as a critical part of any successful, competitive business.Inspite of this many building and eonstruction projects have delayed and suffered uncontrolled cost escalation and have precipitated poot functional qualities. This study was investigating the influence of Project management best practice (PMBP) on organizational performance.

The study objectives were to: Determine the influence of information technology on organizational performance in construction companies; Determine the extent to which employee training influences organizational performance in construction companies; Assess the extent to which monitoring and evaluation techniques influences organizational performance in construction companies; Determine how risk management influences organizational performance in construction companies;Asses the extent to which leadership influences organizational performance in construction companies in Westlands district ,Nairobi County.

The study employed descriptive design. The sample size was made up of 120 respondents drawn from 146 management employees in the 33 construction companies. The researcher used simple random sampling and purposive sampling to come up with the Companies and respondents. The total sample for the study was 120 respondents i.e. 30 Project Managers, 30 Technical Managers and 60 Project Supervisors forming a sizable representation. The research methodology included personal interviews and questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. After analysis, the results were summarized and presented in tables.

The results show that construction companies classes A and B highly values PMBP and influences organizational performance positively. Further findings reveals that the best practices in project management are optimum ways of performing works to achieve higher performance. The goal of every project manager is to achieve satisfactory performance and it is for this purpose that Project Management offices (PMO) are created for PMBP to be implemented. The study recommends the practices because they accelerate achievement of set project objectives and also contributes positively to project success. Companies should see to it that they create project management office as division to manage independent projects. Finally other Professionals outside Project management should acknowledge and support it as a body of knowledge that is viable and very important in an organization.