Assessment of Project Communication Practices of Building Construction Projects: a Case of Renovation Projects in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
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Date
2023-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Project communication is a very important aspect of a project. Communication, especially in construction projects, is critical to the quality of relationships, trust and collaboration among the project teams. Effective project communication is vital to achieve successful construction process from inception to completion. The purpose of this study is thus, to assess the project communication practices of the construction renovation projects in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Specifically, this study tries to assess the challenges in project communication and assess the communication methods in place. With this in mind, questionnaires were developed and distributed to all the project team members and an interview had been conducted with the client, contractor, and consultant project managers. SPSS version 20 was used to descriptively analyze the data collected from questionnaires. Lack of open and transparent communication, unfamiliarity of the project communication strategy, ineffective project communication management and monitoring practices, internal conflicts and low success rates as a result of miscommunication were the major findings worth considering. Besides, inadequate communication skills, poor leadership, language barriers and ineffective reporting system were found to be the most critical challenges in project communication according to the respondents of the study. The organization's common communication method was electronic communication (email), which presents limitations in project management processes. In conclusion, the findings of the study indicates that the current project communication practices are not standardized and show a gap with respect to the benchmark practices of the PMBOK Guide. Accordingly, the study organization is recommended to use effective communication tools and techniques, improve the communication skills of the project team members through trainings, feedback loops and, communication technologies, and restructure its project communication management process to improve its current success rate and conduct its project communication practices as per the standard communication processes outlined in the Guide