Facilitating project management through effective quality management: the need for implementing ISO 9000 in construction

This paper describes the relationship between project management and quality management. It identifies the similarity between the recognised project quality management processes and the ISO 9001 quality management system; then it illustrates how ISO 9001 quality requirements could be applied to construction project management. The paper also presents the results of a survey carried out to identify quality management practices adopted by local construction companies, using ISO 9001 standard as a yardstick. According to the survey, the companies had some shortcomings with respect to quality management during the construction stage. The results indicate that the lack of proper quality management could, in turn, affect the project management adversely; this point is supported by the Project Management Process Maturity Model, which is a quality improvement model that uses five levels to determine the relative maturity of any organisation and its ability to achieve cost and schedule objectives of a project. Finally, the paper suggests that the quality managements systems based on ISO 9000 could be very effective in facilitating the project management efforts in the construction industry.