Van Zyl, H.Tsimong, Tsepo Abner2023-09-292023-09-292019http://hdl.handle.net/11660/12273Dissertation (MBA (Business Administration))--University of the Free State, 2019The construction industry plays a significant role in the economy of South Africa, and it is a crucial contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. However, recent economic trends show that the contribution of the construction industry to the GDP in South Africa is declining. This poor performance is attributed to the challenges that the construction industry is currently facing. The Free State province is among the provinces where infrastructure developments are slacking. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges facing the construction industry in the Free State. The study aimed at establishing what the challenges are as well as to propose strategic interventions that may improve the performance of the construction industry in the Free State. This study followed a quantitative approach and made use of the two forms of a quantitative study, namely: descriptive research and explanatory research. The former enabled the researcher to describe the characteristics of the current situation of the construction industry in the Free State. In contrast, the latter allowed the researcher to identify the degree and nature of cause-and-effect relationships in the activities of the construction industry. The study collected data through a questionnaire survey using the online survey tool Survey Monkey. The link to the questionnaires was distributed via email and WhatsApp. WhatsApp was used as a distribution platform since most people use smartphones and have quick access to their WhatsApp messages. It therefore made it easier for many people to access the questionnaire and respond quicker. The respondents to the survey were purposely selected through the quota sampling method. This sampling method enabled the researcher to strategically select respondents based on their unique characteristics so that those sampled were relevant to the research questions. The analysis and interpretation of the collected data were based on the 104 completed and usable questionnaires received from the 200 respondents invited to participate. Univariate analysis was performed through frequency tables, bar charts, pie charts, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion. The data were further analysed using the relative importance index (RII) method to determine the relative importance of the various factors and challenges of the construction industry in the Free State. In terms of demographics, the results showed that the majority of the respondents (63.46%) were males, while females only made up 36.54%. The RII ranking method showed that the five most important issues facing the construction industry at the time of the study according to the respondents were: (1) lack of application of proper construction management tools and techniques by consultants and project site staff (RII = 0.730); (2) poor qualifications and inadequate experience of contractors’ supervisors (RII = 0.722); (3) ineffective planning and scheduling of projects (RII = 0.720); (4) delays in producing design documents (RII = 0.717); and (5) no application of construction management procedures on the part of the client which contributes to late detection of construction problems (RII = 0.704). The results also showed that most of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry in the Free State fail mainly due to their inability to develop long-term strategies, their lack of access to funding, delayed payments by clients, significantly high start-up costs and their inability to compete with big construction firms. Based on the results, it was concluded that the root problem of the challenges in the construction industry in the Free State lies in project management activities. The project and construction management role carries a large responsibility in construction projects because most projects fail or incur high extra costs due to poor project and construction management techniques. Thus, it was recommended that contractors must undertake regular training on effective planning and execution of construction projects, which will result in the efficient and effective management of construction projects. In the long run, construction industry performance will improve and subsequently contribute significantly to the economic growth of the Free State and the country at large.enDissertationUniversity of the Free State