Effect of Project Control Practices on the Performance of Building Construction Companies in Uganda: A Case Study of the City of Kampala

Abstract

This research paper analytically evaluates the project control practice levels used by the building construction companies within Kampala, Uganda. The research also assesses the impact of project control practices on the productivity of companies. The research was performed to ascertain the current control practices among 160 respondents from various construction companies registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau. This research used amalgamation from multiple studies in the literature to obtain the variables. This research adopts 34 standard control practices from 4 vital project control duties: planning, monitoring, analyzing, and reporting. These project control tasks were organized using mean response ratings grounded in their relevance to the construction companies. This process authorized researchers to prioritize tasks based on their perceived importance or relevance to the construction companies involved. Results showed that evaluating performance with the use of S-curves (4.32), timely access to information and encouragement (4.55), report representation using quantitative tools 4.75, and cost value comparison application during analysis (4.76) were rated least among the control practices. On the other hand, the top project control practices included formulation of the project schedule (8.88), project feasibility validation (8.86), budgeting for each activity (8.84), key project route definition (8.81), team awareness of the budget (8.77), setting realistic targets for projects (8.50), and consultation from subcontractors (8.74). From the results obtained by the sample respondents specified, it can be concluded that planning is the most vital project control task practiced in the building construction industry in Uganda. In addition, this research ascertained a substantial relationship between project control practices and the performance of building construction companies. Accordingly, this research recommends that project control practices be effectively observed by both contracting and consulting companies to enhance their overall performance and governance.