Benchmarking: an International Journal

Critical success factors for Ghanaian Construction firms

Manuscript ID: Manuscript Type: Keywords:

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Journal:

Benchmarking: an International Journal BIJ-05-2011-0022 Original Article Benchmarking, Critical success factors, Excellence, Ghanaian, Performance improvement

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Critical success factors for Ghanaian Construction firms Abstract Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that can enable Ghanaian construction firms to attain world-class performance. The CSFs are the most important areas which need attention to improve performance.

Design / methodology / approach

This conceptual paper starts with an evaluation of contractor performance in the Ghanaian construction industry. It is followed by a review of literature on existing benchmarking frameworks, models and programmes for improving performance. National and international quality awards are also reviewed. The critical success factors were obtained by ranking and scoring the most popular factors identified from the literature review.

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Findings

This work identifies 16 critical success factors (CSFs) which can be used by Ghanaian contractors to improve their performance. The factors provide a non-prescriptive set of best practices from which construction firms may choose what to improve.

Research Limitations / implications

The paper does not establish the relative contributions of the respective CSFs to overall performance. In developing the CSFs, it was assumed that each of the factors had an equal weighting.

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Originality / value

The CSFs developed in this paper and the benchmarking framework in which it will be used are the first for the Ghanaian construction industry. It is relevant to academics, contractors and construction clients. It can easily be adapted for use by underperforming construction firms beyond Ghana.

Keywords: Excellence, benchmarking, Ghanaian, performance improvement, critical success factors.

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1.0

Introduction

The performance of Ghanaian contractors is a major cause of concern amongst client groups and other stakeholders in the industry. Rampant failures in meeting performance targets within the Ghanaian construction industry are usually blamed on contractors who are criticised for having limited knowledge in the application of requisite management techniques (Ahadzie, 2008). It is common practice for contracts to be terminated before completion on the grounds of non-performance. In a bid to improve the performance of domestic contractors, the Government of Ghana, the biggest domestic client has expressed the need for a system which enables contractors performance to be assessed as a means to ensure projects are awarded only to competent contractors (Daily Graphic: 22nd January, 2008 edition). In this regard, a Conceptual Benchmarking Framework has been developed (fig 1) which can be used by contractors, clients and other third parties to assess and benchmark performance. The framework features the critical success factors (CSFs) which can be used as the basis assessing and benchmark performance. This paper is aimed at developing a list of the major critical success factors (CSFs) key success factors responsible for the success of world class companies which will be used in the benchmarking framework for Ghanaian construction firms.

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1.1

The Ghanaian Construction Industry

The Ghanaian construction industry derives its practice from the British construction industry (Ahadzie, 2008) and is very important to the overall national economy making up 4.2% of Ghanas GDP. The Ghanaian Ministry of Works and Housing (MOWH) has over 20,000 registered building contractors (Ayisi, 2000). Relative to the size of the economy, this number is very large. There is a high incidence of contractors failing to meet performance targets within the Ghanaian construction industry. Contractors are generally blamed for the instances of poor performance, a situation widely attributed to limited knowledge in the application of requisite management techniques by contractors (Ahadzie, 2008). Proprietors of most of the large indigenous construction firms have limited knowledge of modern methods of construction management. Ghanaian construction firms do not employ personnel with the technical know-how to bring growth to these firms. In most cases, management strategic resources such as labour, finances, materials and plant & equipment in Ghanaian construction firms is carried out haphazardly (Vulink, 2004). The business environment in which Ghanaian construction firms operate also impacts on construction performance. A highly unstable business environment with high levels of inflation erodes the capital of contractors and makes it difficult to successful manage construction businesses (Dansoh, 2005). As a result, most large construction projects are won by foreign owned construction firms (Vulink, 2004) showing the inability of indigenous contractors to compete with the foreign owned competitors.

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1.2

Classification of Ghanaian contractors

Ghanaian construction firms are categorized into four financial classes (table 1) according to the size of individual projects they can bid for and the maximum value of work they can have at anytime (Dansoh, 2005). Building contractors usually have joint D and K categories enabling them to undertake building works and civil works respectively.

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Financial Class 1 2 3

Contractor Designation D1 K 1 D2 K 2 D3K3

Financial Limit of Projects No limit US$ 500,000 US$200,000

4 D4K4 US$ 75,000 Table 1. Classification of Ghanaian Contractors (Source: GhIS, 2006)

1.3

Benchmarking of Ghanaian and UK contractors

Benchmarking is synonymous with performance improvement and helps organisations identify their performance gaps to be able to implement improvement programmes (Beatham et al., 2004). Benchmarking Ghanaian contractors against top performers will show gaps in performance between the Ghanaian contractors and the best performers and thus serve as a tool for enabling world-class performance. In this paper, it is proposed that Ghanaian contractors benchmark their performance against the best performing contractors in the UK. The UK construction industry has been selected because of the historical links between construction practice in Ghana and the UK (Ahadzie, 2008) and also as a result of the instances of world-class excellence demonstrated by segments of the UK construction industry (The Construction Task Force, 1998).

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2. 2.1
2.1.1

LITERATURE REVIEW Key Terminologies

World-class company?

A world-class company is one which is not merely a leader in its field but is also recognized as being better than its competitors or as the best and strives to sustain this status (Hodgetts, Luthan and Lee, 1994). Such companies demonstrate competitiveness both in their products and / or services at a global level. They have the capacity to emulate and surpass the best international companies in their field using world-class techniques (Munro-Faure & Munro-Faure, 1992).

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2.1.2

Performance and performance measurement

Performance measurement is the process of quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of action (Sousa et al., 2006). This is a critical factor for effective management since measurement is critical to improvement efforts (Salaheldin, 2009) and overall performance by organisations (Robson, 2004). Performance measurement should be integrated into an organisations activities since they provide opportunities to measure the progress achieved. In order to attain international competitiveness in performance, organisations should be able to match and possibly exceed the best international companies in their sectors (Munro Faure and Munro Faure, 1995). Measuring performance provides the foundation to learning from the practices and performance of others (benchmarking) since it identifies the gaps in performance and shows the action required to attain leadership in performance. 3

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2.1.3

Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

Managements regularly handle substantial amounts of data which needs to be analysed to aid management decision-making and action. This demonstrates how essential selectivity is to guiding the management process (Bond, 1999). Identifying critical success factors (CSFs) helps to filter out extraneous data coming through to management (Bond, 1999) to allow informed choices. CSFs are performance measures - described by Deros et al. (2006) as enablers - which when put into practice will enhance the chances for successful benchmarking implementation. The Deros et al. (2006) model for automotive SMEs identified twelve (12) CSFs: i. Top management leadership; ii. Resources management; iii. Business results; iv. Systems and processes; v. Creativity and innovation; vi. Human resource management; vii. Policy; viii. Strategic planning; ix. Customer satisfaction; x. Employee satisfaction; xi. Organisational culture; and xii. Work environment. The Deros et al. (2006) CSFs were based on a review of major benchmarking frameworks with a recommendation that additional CSFs be added to the list where appropriate. This paper explores additional CSFs which may be relevant to the Ghanaian construction industry.

2.2 Review of existing benchmarking frameworks, models and programmes for improving performance. There are many existing frameworks and models for improving business performance. This paper
reviews the most popular frameworks used in different sectors globally for improving organisational performance. According to Bassioni et al. (2008), the EFQM, MBNQA and the Deming Award are the most commonly used models for improving performance). Based on nine (9) criteria, the EFQM allows user organisations of whatever sector or size to adapt its criteria to their specific needs. These are subdivided into Enablers and Results criteria respectively. The Enablers and Results criteria of the EFQM are listed below:

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i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix.

Leadership; People; Policy and strategy; Partnerships and resources; Processes; People results; Customer results; Society results; and Key performance results.

(Source: www.scocon.org, website accessed August 18th, 2010) 4

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The Bassioni et al. (2008) model for construction excellence, like the EFQM Excellence Model, divides the criteria into Enablers and Results as shown below in Table 2. The model introduces additional criteria such as work culture and strategic management which also play a role in business success as shown in Deros et al. (2006), NIST (2008) and Petersen (1999). The Bassioni et al. (2008) model features nearly all the EFQM Model enablers and an additional seven (7) additional enablers. Table 2. Bassioni et al. (2008) Enablers and Results Criteria Enablers Results Leadership Internal Stakeholders Customer & Stakeholder focus Project Results External Stakeholder Results Physical Resources Strategic Management Organisational Business Results Intellectual Capital Information and Analysis Risk People Work Culture Partnership Process Management

Compared with the EFQM criteria, the expanded Bassioni et al. (2008) criteria has a more direct application to the construction industry as it includes criterion which are of increasing importance to the construction industry, such as Risk. The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA) is the national programme for recognizing and promoting excellence in business in the United States of America (USA). It provides criteria which enables organisations to measure their performance and to target improvements in their performance. NIST (2008) outlines the Baldridge Award criteria as follows:

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i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Leadership; Strategic planning; Customer and market focus; Measurement, Analysis and knowledge management; Workforce focus; Process management; and Results.

The MBNQA criteria bear a semblance to the EFQM criteria apart from Partnerships and Resources included in the EFQM criteria.

The Deming Prize recognizes excellence in Japan using ten (10) criteria as follows: i. Policy; ii. Organisation and its management; iii. Education and dissemination; iv. Collection, dissemination and use of information on quality; v. Analysis; vi. Standardization; 5

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vii. viii. ix. x.

Control; Quality assurance; Results; and Planning for the future. Source: Subcommittee of the Implementation Award for the Deming Prize (1992)

The Deming Prize criteria show some similarities with the Baldridge Award and EFQM Model criteria respectively. The striking omission from the Deming Prize is the focus on People, a factor which features prominently in both the MBNA and EFQM criteria. De Waal (2007) focuses on the concept of High Performance Organisations (HPOs) and identifies eight (8) factors which influence employee behaviour leading to high performance in organisations. The eight factors are; external environment, organisational design, strategy, process management, technology, leadership, individual roles and organisational culture. In the Rethinking Construction Report, The Construction Task Force (1998) identified five (5) drivers of change which according to the report have driven the manufacturing and service industries to achieve radical improvements. These drivers of change are: committed leadership, a focus on the customer, integrating the process and the team around the product, a quality driven agenda and commitment to people. These drivers of change, according to Egan (1998), provide a model for dramatic improvements in performance and for business success in the 21st century. Koskela (1992) describes the New Production Philosophy based on Lean principles, which is said to lead to elimination of waste and increased value to customers. The principles upon which the New Production Philosophy is based, according to Koskela (1992) are as follows: i. Reduce the share of non value-adding activities; ii. Increase output value through systematic consideration of customer requirements; iii. Reduce variability and reduce cycle time; iv. Simplify by minimizing the number of steps, parts and linkages; v. Increase output flexibility; vi. Increase process transparency; vii. Focus control on the complete process; viii. Build continuous improvement into the process; and ix. Balance flow improvement with conversion improvement and benchmark. These, factors place emphasis on the mutually reinforcing goals of eliminating waste and enhancing the value provided to the customer. According to Koskela (1992), these provide a more effective means of improving the performance of organisations than other conventional methods and the quality approaches to improving performance. Munro-Faure & Munro Faure (1992)s work on Total Quality Management (TQM) focused on five (5) keys critical to the success of TQM programmes: understanding customers, understanding the business, quality management systems, continuous quality improvement and quality tools. Harris and McCaffer (2001) however identified 12 factors for successful TQM programmes as: implementation, training, teamwork, control and capability. Others are systems design, planning, measurement, organisation, commitment, policy and understanding.

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Petersen (1999) compared Total Quality Management to the work of W.E. Deming as well as reviewing the work of two other major contributors to TQM Juran and Crosby. Petersen (1999) identified 14 factors for quality improvement as follows: i. Management commitment; ii. Quality improvement team; iii. Measurement; iv. Cost of quality; v. Quality awareness; vi. Corrective action; vii. Zero defects (ZD) planning; viii. Employee education; ix. ZD day; x. Goal setting; xi. Error-cause removal; xii. Recognition; xiii. Quality councils; and xiv. Do it over again. Whilst the common focus on TQM by Petersen (1999), Munro-Faure & Munro Faure (1992) and Harris and McCaffer (2001) do not share much in common in terms of the identified criteria. However the respective criteria are mutually reinforcing and should be viewed in a synergistic sense and not in isolation. Christopher and Thor (2001) explored key strategies for achieving world-class quality. Fifteen (15) strategies are identified as being responsible for the attainment of world-class quality as follows: vision, outcomes, customer value, goals, measures, empowerment, teamwork, continuous improvement, innovation, excellence, learning and knowledge, systems, recognition and celebration, sharing, and change. The Christopher and Thor (2001) strategies is a broad-based selection of criteria which cuts across several other performance improvement models as shown in the literature review. Six Sigma is a comprehensive system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success. The Six Sigma Roadmap for launching improvements in organisations consists of five steps which are described as the core competencies for 21st century organisations (Pande et al., 2003). These are as follows: i. Identify core processes and key customers; ii. Define customer requirements; iii. Measure current performance; iv. Prioritise, analyse and implement improvements; and v. Expand and integrate the Six Sigma system. The success factors for manufacturing excellence identified in the seminal Schonberger (1986) are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Getting to know the customer; Decreasing work in process; Cutting flow time; Reducing set-up and changeover time; Shortening flow distance and space; Increasing the make / deliver frequency for each required item; Reducing the number of suppliers to a few good ones; Cutting the number of parts; 7

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9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Manufacture product without error; Arrange factory to reduce search time; Cross-training; Record and retain quality data ; Line people should attempt problems before experts; Prioritise maintenance/ improvement of existing workforce and machines over new ones; Use simple, movable and cheap equipment; Have plural rather than singular workstations and machines; and Automate incrementally.

In Kasul and Motwani (1995), the best practices associated with the pursuit of manufacturing excellence are explored. Nine (9) best practices for world-class operations are identified as follows: i. Management commitment; ii. Quality; iii. Customer service; iv. Vendor and material management; v. Advanced technology; vi. Facility control; vii. Flexibility; viii. Price / cost leadership; and ix. Global competitiveness

According to Zairi (2000), best practices may be related to:

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i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Processes; Organisational structures; Management systems; Human factors; and Strategic approaches;

In the context of the five (5) areas cited in Zairi (2000), the Kasul and Motwani (1995) practices may be applied to each of the five (5) areas of organisational systems and structures in pursuit of excellence. Hodgetts et al. (1994) described a new paradigm for successful organisations with strong linkages between Total Quality, Learning and World-class Organisations. Whilst arguing that there may not be a universal set of criteria for total quality organisations, Hodgetts et al. (1994) concedes that there are characteristics however which are common to total quality enterprises. The ten (10) characteristics common to organisations which demonstrate excellence in TQM, according to Hodgetts et al. (1994) are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Customer driven; Leadership; Full participation; Reward system; Reduced cycle time; Prevention, not detection; Management by facts; Long-range outlook; Partnership development; and Public responsibility; 8

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In the case the Learning Organisation, Hodgetts et al. (1994) define the following characteristics: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. A desire to learn; Knowledge transfer; Technology; External environment; Shared vision; and Systems thinking.

Hodgetts et al. (1994) argued that the characteristics of world-class organisations would feature most of the characteristics of total quality and learning organisations respectively and suggest that in a synergistic and additive sense, there are other dimensions as well. Hodgetts et al. (1994) conclude with six (6) pillars of world-class organisations as follows:

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Customer-based focus; Continuous improvement; Fluid, flexible or virtual organisations; Creative human resource management; Egalitarian climate; and Technological support.

The six (6) pillars of world-class organisations are derived from Hodgetts et al. (1994)s characteristics for total quality enterprises and learning organisations respectively. World-class organisations are described as incorporating both total quality and learning organisation characteristics and more. They excel in most of the important dimensions of both total quality and learning organisations. DahlgaardPark and Dahlgaard (2007) however reviewed well known excellence frameworks and models spanning a 25 year period using McKinseys 7-S framework to identify success criteria for excellence as follows:

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i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Structure; Strategy; Systems; Shared values; Skills; Staff; and Style.

Gilgeous and Gilgeous (1999) developed a practical framework to support the implementation of manufacturing excellence across all industries. Seven companies nominated for the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) and the former Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) in the UKs best factory award were studied as part of a pilot study. Gilgeous and Gilgeous (1999) identified eight (8) factors common to all seven companies studied as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Innovation and change; Empowerment; The learning organisation; Customer focus and commitment; Commitment to quality; First-rate management team / belief in organisation; Technology and information systems; and Win-win relationships with suppliers. 9

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The eight (8) factors were incorporated into the Manufacturing Excellence Framework (Gilgeous and Gilgeous, 2001). Fang and Kleiner (2003) explored the processes which accounted for excellence at Toyota Motor Manufacturing in the United States and which could be applied to other organisations for improvement. The processes identified by Fang and Kleiner (2003) are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Japanese values / philosophy; The Toyota Production System; Corporate structure; The hiring process; Teams; Open communications; Non-monetary awards; and Pay/bonus system.

Flynn at al. (1999) described world class manufacturing as a set of practices, implying that the use of best practices will lead to superior performance. The practices of world class manufacturing identified in Flynn at al. (1999) are:

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Workforce skills and capabilities; Management technical competence; Competing through quality; Workforce participation; Rebuilding manufacturing engineering; and Incremental improvement approaches.

In this section, we have identified factors described by different authors and in the literature reviewed as being responsible for business excellence. The wide variety of factors identified in this paper shows the difficulty associated with the development of a prescriptive set of factors responsible for excellence. It can however be argued that those factors cited most often in literature and used in most existing models and frameworks for improving performance may give an indication of the relative importance of the respective factors. In later sections of this paper, the most popular of the identified factors are explored.

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Research Process and Methodology:

The research started with a review of literature on the situation of the Ghanaian construction industry generally and specifically about the performance of Ghanaian contractors. This was followed by an exploratory survey to assess the performance of large indigenous Ghanaian contractors in the D1 K1categories. The survey was done using structured questionnaires to assess the performance of selected Ghanaian contractors in the following areas: Client satisfaction, quality, cost, time, health and safety, business performance and human resource management. Twenty one (21) indigenous Ghanaian D1 K1 and D2 K2 contractors were interviewed. The returned questionnaires were analysed and compared to a list of contractors selected from the list of Top 100 UK contractors for 2007 produced by Contractor News (www.cnplus.co.uk). The performance of the Ghanaian respondent contractors were compared with that of the UK contractors in three selected areas turnover, pre-tax profits and employee numbers to provide a basis for comparing and contrasting 10

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the performance of the Ghanaian and UK contractors respectively. Having identified the levels of underperformance amongst the Ghanaian contractors relative to the UK contractors, he critical success factors responsible for improved performance were explored. The CSFs proposed in this paper have been developed through a systematic review of primary and secondary literature related to the subject. Previous research, literature on existing programmes, models and frameworks which are commonly used for improving performance were compared. The review was not restricted to the construction industry but extended to include a multi-sector review of best practice across a broad range of disciplines. The comparison highlighted the most common key /critical success factors. To develop the most important success factors, the respective factors identified in the various models, frameworks and programmes for improving performance were ranked to show the most commonly used success factors for improving business performance.

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Results and Discussion

World-class performance is described as performance which matches or exceeds the performance of global best-in-class leaders. International competitiveness can be attained by comparing both practices and results with best-in-class organisations. To enable world-class performance among Ghanaian construction firms, there should be comparisons with global industry leaders as well as cross-sector comparisons between Ghanaian construction firms and leaders from other industries. The study shows what appears to be widespread underperformance within the Ghanaian construction industry evidenced in low levels of profitability, high numbers of defects and re-work in completed projects, poor cost and time predictability, poor health and safety record keeping, poor human resource development programmes as well low skills and qualifications of the workforce. The literature reviewed generally agrees that the structure and organisation within the Ghanaian construction industry contributes to the perceived underperformance in comparison with other leading performers in the industry at a global level. Amongst the causes of underperformance identified are: the quality of the human resources, management practices used, the availability of equipment, the general economic climate, access to finance and funding and the quality of material used by contractors. In addition to major delays to many projects, abandoned projects, escalating project costs and quality issues in the industry, Ghanaian construction firms are unable to effectively compete with foreign owned construction firms which operate in Ghana.

The disparities in performance between the UK and Ghanaian contractors can be attributed to the relative differentials in economic development. Whilst this paper acknowledges that benchmarking programmes take into account the socio-economic and cultural differences between different geographical settings, it is also argued that comparisons with high-performing organisations in different geographical and economic regions should help to set challenging targets which drive performance to the best possible levels.
In this paper, sixteen (16) best business practices are identified as the critical success factors (CSFs) which enable business excellence. The paper lists and ranks these CSFs based on the frequency of their occurrence and usage in the literature, existing models and programmes reviewed in this paper. The relative scores and ranks of factors enable the differentiation of the more popular from the least popular factors. This however gives no indication of the relative effectiveness of the factors which will be the subject of future research. Table 4 shows the CSFs and their relative scores and ranks.

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It is proposed that Ghanaian contractors can be able to use the CSFs to improve their performance. This can be done by comparing their performance with the performance of industry leaders in selected CSFs. Attaining world-class performance construction performance will be a progressive effort. This can start with the implementation of one or multiple CSFs at a time. This will enable user organisations to develop their performance at their own pace and based on their capacity.

Table 3 shows a comparison of performance between selected contractors in the UK and Ghana respectively in three performance measures: turnover, pretax profits and number of employees.

Turnover(m)
Contractor UK Contractors 4,938.00

Pre-tax Profit(m)
UK Contractors 141 411 9.1 51.9 Ghanaian Contractors 0.043 0.004 1.800 0.075 2.250 0.015 0.017 0.008 0.100 0.010 0.017

Number of Employees
UK contractors 27,592 8,132 21,610 15,628 19,521 8,299 5,250 11,587 4,828 6,493 2,278 Ghanaian Contractors 43 30 64 80 50 30 50 43 40 35 50

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0.430 0.010 15.000 0.500 15.000 0.100 0.139 0.076 1.000 0.025 0.139 0.015

Ghanaian Contractors

A B C D E F G H I J K L

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3,556.40 3,065.90 2,284.20 1,933.90 1,621.40 1,296.70 1,229.10 1,227.60 1,208.80 1,110.50

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23.8 57.9 41.7 47.9 48.1 52.4 19.8 -23.9

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1,040.50

0.003

2,084

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Table 3. Comparison of performance of selected UK and Ghanaian contractors

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Frequency of occurrence of critical success factors (CSFs) and ranks

Critical Success Factors (CSFs) Frequency Rank CSFs in Rank Order Rank

Leadership and vision Customer focus Strategy Measurement / Information and analysis / Knowledge management Partnerships and Management of suppliers People / HRM Management of resources Technology Results Work culture and environment Management of processes Innovation and Creativity Teamwork Quality / Zero defects Organisational design Lean principles / Continuous improvement

24 14 11 15

1 6 9 5

Leadership and vision Lean principles / Continuous improvement People / HRM Management of processes Measurement / Information and analysis / Knowledge management Customer focus Partnerships and Management of suppliers Quality / Zero defects Strategy Technology Results

1 2 2 4

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7 2 16

5 6 7 8 9 10 10 12 12 14 14 16

Table 4. Scoring and Ranking of CSFs 13

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Innovation and Creativity Teamwork Management of resources

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Organisational design Work culture and environment

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In rank order, the 16 CSFs developed in this paper are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 4.1 Leadership and vision; Lean principles / Continuous improvement; People / HRM; Management of processes; Measurement / Information and analysis / Knowledge management; Customer focus; Partnerships and Management of suppliers; Quality / Zero defects; Strategy; Technology; Results; Organisational design; Work culture and environment; Innovation and Creativity; Teamwork; and Management of resources. Implications for Ghanaian Construction firms

This paper proposes that Ghanaian contactors seeking to improve their performance to internationally competitive levels must have the support and commitment of leadership who should champion the vision of attaining world-class performance. It is proposed that Ghanaian construction firms implement Lean Principles such as kaizen, kanban, reduction of set-up time, reduction of cycle-time, standardization of production and visual controls, arranging workshops to eliminate search time and pull systems as a means to attaining organisational excellence. They should focus on the development and well-being of their people. This can be attained through the development and implementation of effective Human Resource Management (HRM) practices learning from and emulating the HRM systems used by global leaders. It is also important that Ghanaian construction model the processes critical to their operations after the example of global best-in-class firms taking account of the influences of socio-cultural factors where necessary. They should also develop effective systems for the Measurement, Analysis and Management of Information. Other success factors which could help Ghanaian construction firms improve performance are: a focus on customer satisfaction, developing partnerships with suppliers and effectively managing these relationships, delivering quality consistently to the customer, developing a zero defects culture, developing effective strategies for meeting organisational vision and mission as well as strategies to better meet customer expectations and ensure maximum customer satisfaction, deploying appropriate and innovative technologies in the management and implementation of projects. Others are: a focus on the attainment of good results, the development of appropriate organisational design, developing and promoting an enabling work culture and work environment, promoting a culture of innovation and creativity at both the project and organisational levels, building effective teams within the organisation and with external partners and the effective management of organisational and project resources. The CSFs in themselves will not automatically lead to improved performance but are a means to improved performance. They highlight the areas that organisations seeking to improve their performance must focus their efforts. 14

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Conclusions and Further Research

In comparisons between UK and Ghanaian contractors, this study showed low levels of performance among the leading Ghanaian contractors surveyed in comparison with their UK counterparts. To help raise the performance of the Ghanaian construction firms, this paper explored the development of a set of critical success factors (CSFs) which can help them to improve their performance to world-class levels. Sixteen (16) CSFs are developed in this paper. These are: Leadership and vision, Lean principles / Continuous improvement, People / HRM, Management of processes , Measurement / Information and analysis / Knowledge management, Customer focus, Partnerships and Management of suppliers. Others are: Quality / Zero defects, Strategy, Technology, Results, Organisational design and Work culture and Environment. The rest of the CSFs are: Innovation & Creativity, Teamwork and Management of resources. Ghanaian contractors may adopt CSFs in different combinations in accordance with their organisational capabilities leading to improvements in different operational areas. The CSFs are not meant to be prescriptive but to serve as a general guide to contractors intending to improve their performance. Future research will explore the relative importance of the factors identified in this paper to establish if any of the factors have a greater capacity than others to improve performance and the relative contributions of the respective CSFs to the attainment of world-class performance. Also further work needs to be undertaken to establish if there is any correlation between the respective CSFs and if so, the nature of the relationship.

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Figure 1. Conceptual benchmarking framework featuring the CSFs (adapted from Ofori-Kuragu and Baiden, 2008)

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Figure. 2 Benchmarking Implementation adapted from Ofori-Kuragu and Baiden, (2008)

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