Risk Management Practices on Performance of Building Construction Projects

Abstract

The objectives of risk management in a project are to increase the probability and impact of positive events and decrease the probability and impact of negative events (PMBOK Guide fourth edition). However, construction projects have been faced with a challenge of not practicing risk management which has resulted in projects delaying and taking longer than anticipated increasing the budget of the project. This challenge can be found in most countries and is more pronounced in Africa. The main aim of this paper was to investigate risk management practices and performance of building construction projects. Risk management practice was the independent variable and performance on building construction projects was the dependent variable. This study sought to investigate the relationship between the risk management practices and performance on building construction projects. The study was premised on the hypothesis that if a building construction project is practicing risk management then its performance is positive and if a building construction project is not practicing risk management its performance is negative. This study sought to undertake desktop literature review on empirical journal articles in which the authors gathered primary data about the impact of risk management and performance of construction projects. The articles gave insights about the various methodologies, theories that informed the research, ethical considerations and findings by different authors around the world and was able to compare and contrast various research components which were used. This study believed that practicing risk management in the construction industry increased the probability of positive project performance. The researchers in this study were able to look at the background to the problem, justification of the problem and individual journal analysis. Further, this study presented the convergence and divergence issues observed during individual journal analysis in addition to the summary of the gaps and the findings. The key finding of the study was that Risk Management Practices influence the Performance of Building Construction Projects. Finally, the authors presented the conclusion and recommendations. The recommendations were made to researchers and policy makers.

Keywords: Risk Management, Project Performance