Suitability of the Critical Incident Technique to Measure Quality of Construction Coordination

Abstract

Previous research by the writers suggests that industry practitioners and researchers have found it difficult to align the construction coordination function with the “classic” quality improvement models of total quality, possibly because of its process characteristics of being informally carried out, low tangibility, high customer participation in the processes, low degree of repetition, customers not soliciting the service and the problem solving content involved. This paper presents an experiment, continuation of that research, conducted to test the possibility of the application of the critical incident technique (CIT) to overcome such difficulties and measure the quality of coordination. The research methodology consisted of interview and questionnaire surveys to assemble a collection of critical (highly satisfying and highly dissatisfying) incidents experienced by a variety of customers and other parties concerned (other stakeholders) in the coordination processes. Analysis of the 23 incidents demonstrated that the CIT could enable identification of customers’ implicit, explicit and latent expectations, evaluation of the quality of coordination processes and output and comprehension of that information that would be useful for quality improvement. This paper concludes that the CIT is a practical method for measuring the quality of construction coordination processes. There are no records to date of the application of the CIT in the construction industry. It is envisaged that in-depth knowledge gathered through its consistent application could be used to develop a management maturity grid that would, in incremental steps, provide guidance to future project managers on how to improve the coordination function.