Identifying the Causes of Inefficiency and Poor Performance of the Delivery of Services

Abstract

The construction industry has had a history of nonperformance in the delivery of services [in terms of being on time and on budget]. Other industries such as IT and professional services have also experienced nonperformance. The problem seems complex, as there are many participants who are involved in the project nonperformance including the owner, the buyer, the vendor, sub vendors, manufacturers, and project managers. An industry structure analysis proposes that the problem is caused by parties managing, directing, and controlling (MDC) another party. This could happen anywhere in the supply chain. This paper proposes that a major source of the nonperformance in projects is caused by project managers who are managing the projects from the different supply chain participants including the owner, the designer, the vendors, and procurement. This has been identified in numerous project tests where the objective of the test was to minimize the MDC in the projects and the major difficulty was the resistance from project managers. The paper also proposes that the project managers are educated to manage, direct, and control in their education and training including their professional certifications from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the International Project Management Association (IPMA).