CASE STUDY ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSEM (QUALITY ASSURANCE AND

QUALITY CONTROL) IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

by

BUDIMAN AMAT

Dissertation Submission
The requirement for the
Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)
(Civil Engineering)

MAY 2014

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

Bandar Seri Iskandar
31750 Tronoh
Perak Darul Ridzuan

CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

Case Study On Quality Management System (Quality Assurance and Quality

Control) In Construction Projects

by

Budiman Amat
A project dissertation submitted to the
Civil Engineering Programme
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (Hons)
(CIVIL ENGINEERING)

Approved by,

_________________
(Ir. Idris bin Othman)

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS

TRONOH, PERAK
May 2014
CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that I am responsible for the work submitted in this project, that the
original work is my own except as specified in the references and acknowledgements,
and that the original work contained herein have not been undertaken or done by
unspecified sources or persons.

___________________________________

BUDIMAN AMAT

ii

ABSTRACT

In a project or a process of the making of a product, quality is always a priority.

In a building construction or infrastructure, the quality is also the main interest of
the investor or owners of the properties. There are some methodology used to
determine the quality of the product which has been enact in the ISO 9000 as a
quality guidelines and management. In the process of making a product, there are
Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC). This two (2) things are the
documentation used in order to ensure the quality of the product. QA is a tool or
documentation used to plan a corrective method or plan to avoid defects while
QC is the process or activity to ensure that the product meets the QA standards.
However, these two things are being carried out differently by each company.
Some company may have only 5-6 forms in order to achieve their target and
some company uses more than 10 different forms to achieve their standards.
These forms usually proposed by the contractors but some has been prepared by
the consultant or owner itself. In this case study, the importance of QA/QC will
be determine and the causes of poor QA/QC management or evaluation or
standardization will be determine by evaluation from the questionnaire and an
interview to the selected body or company. This is to determine the ability of our
local company in producing products with proper standards.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my project supervisor; Ir Idris
bin Othman for his supervision. He has provided me precious time for series of
discussions, valuable guideline, comments and ideas as well as his kind assistant. I also
would like to express my appreciation to SCHB Engineering Sdn Bhd for their kind
assistance and willingness to help me in gaining the information about my project.
SCHB Engineering Sdn Bhd is the company that I have done my internship before. Not
to forget a few companies that help me finished my survey questionnaire and also spend
their time for me to do the interview.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all lecturers of Civil Engineering
Department that impart their wisdom and knowledge and the supporting staff for their
cooperation and assistance throughout my 4 years study in UTP. Last but not least,
thanks to all individual that impair apart either directly or indirectly of which contributed
in the completing of this project and finishing the task given to me.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION .

ABSTRACT .

iii

iv

1.1

Background of Studies

1.2

Problem Statement

1.3

Objectives

1.4

Scope Of Work

LITERATURE REVIEW .

2.1

11

ACKNOWLEDEMENT

CHAPTER 1:

CHAPTER 2:

CHAPTER 3:

CHAPTER 4:

INTRODUCTION

Key Project Milestone.

METHODOLOGY .

14

3.1

15

3.1.1. Primary Data .

15

3.1.2

19

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

20

4.1

20

Data Collection

Secondary Data

Result .
4.1.1

Result For Questionnaire Survey

(Primary Data)

4.1.2

20

29

Result For Literature Review

(Secondary Data)

4.2

Discussion

34

CHAPTER 5:

CONCLUSION

36

CHAPTER 6:

REFERENCE

CHAPTER 7:

APPENDICES

viii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.0

Approaches to conformance in Quality Management

Figure 2

Project Flow

14

Figure 3

Type of Organization

21

Figure 4

Types of Position

21

Figure 5

Years of Working Experience

22

Figure 6

Number of Projects Involved

23

Figure 7

Importance of QAQC Implementation

23

Figure 8

Time Overrun

24

Figure 9

Cost Overrun

25

Figure 10

Disputes

26

Figure 11

Arbitration

27

Figure 12

Litigation

28

Figure 13

Effects of Poor QAQC Implementation

29

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1

Project Key Milestone

11

Table 2

Project Key Milestone (Alternative)

12

Table 3

Findings in Literature

30

Table 4

Gaps in Literature

33

ABBREVATIONS AND NOMENCLATURES

QMS

Quality Management System

QMP

Quality Management Plan

QAQC

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

CHAPTER 1

1.0

INTRODUCTION

All companies throughout the whole world must have their own standards for
their products in order to ensure the satisfaction of their client. Including
construction sector, there are also consideration of quality of their product such
as the workability of their product or building etc..
For construction, there are three (3) major consideration which are the Quality,
Time and Cost. Generally, quality means the standard of something as measured
against other things of a similar kind or the degree of excellence of something.
Quality in construction industry means that the constructed building can achieve
its target in terms of workability if it meets the standards as requested. The tools
to ensure the quality of the building are by having Quality Assurance (QA) and
Quality Control (QC)
Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) is a tool of determining the
quality of the product or the construction. Quality Assurance (QA) is a way of
preventing mistakes or defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems
when delivering solutions or services to customers. QA is applied to physical
products in pre-production to verify what will be made meets specifications and
requirements, and during manufacturing production runs by validating lot
samples meet specified quality controls. QA is also applied to software to verify
that features and functionality meet business objectives, and that code is
relatively bug free prior to shipping or releasing new software products and
versions.

Quality control (QC) emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and

reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product
release, whereas quality assurance attempts to improve and stabilize production
and associated processes to avoid, or at least minimize, issues which led to the
defects in the first place.For contract work, particularly work awarded by
government agencies, quality control issues are among the top reasons for not
renewing a contract.

1.1

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Construction projects are complex dynamic systems that are subject to a

large number of random external processes (AbouRizk,S. 2002 and
Mohamed, Y. 2002). As cited by Tan and Abdul-Rahman (Tan & AbdulRahman, 2005), it is about obtaining customers satisfaction that would
lead to long term competitiveness and business survival for the
companies by maintaining the quality of construction activities at a
mandatory standard.

The term quality is defined as fitness for use (Juran, J.M. 1998). It is
about achieving or going beyond customer expectations at a price that
signifies a value to them (Harrington, H.J 2007).

Qualities are checked for operating procedures and materials. As for an

example, for operating procedures, the method of concrete pouring. In
some projects, the pumping flowrate of concrete are specified and the
curing time are determined in the QA and the operator must comply with
the standard given. The QA standards are given to ensure that the
concrete able to achieve its mission or workability standard. As for the
QC, a proper inspection to be conducted to ensure that the operating
procedure stated in the QA is perfectly complied by the workers on site.In
2

this case study, the determination of the implementation of the QA/QC

will be evaluated to determine the best way of implementing these
procedure in a construction process. Failure to meet quality requirements
in either dimension can have serious consequences for any or all the
project stakeholders (Khan, Azhar & Mahmood, 2008).

1.2

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The problem of this research are to determine:

What are the importance of implementing the Quality Assurance and

Quality Control?

What are the causes and the effects of poor Quality Assurance and
Quality Control Management?

1.3

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the research are to determine:

The importance of Quality Assurance and Quality Control

implementation

To identify the factor effecting the Quality Assurance and Quality

Control Management and its consequences to the project.

1.4

SCOPE OF WORK

The scope of work for this project will focus on the quality management
and implementation of QA/QC in Malaysia. In this case, this project will
rely on the project managers point of view. It is targeted to determine the
3

importance of QAQC implementation. Furthermore, to determine the

causes of problems and how it effects the quality of the product. It is also
to determine the problems faced during construction and how to rectify
the case to ensure that the project will be completed on time, smoothly
and also with expected product quality.

CHAPTER 2

2.0

LITERATURE REVIEW

Quality is the characteristic element of an item that can be evaluated as a meeting

standard, whereby if it meets or exceeds the standard, it can be said to be of good
quality or high quality. However if the item does not meet the standard, it is
considered poor quality (Mincks, W. R.1997 and Johnston, H. 1997).

The Principles of Quality Management System

Quality Management System (QMS) is the interaction of people, processes and
documentation to meet both customers stated and implied needs (Mohammed,
A. H. 2006 and Abdullah, M. N. 2006).

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT QUALITY

MANAGEMENT

Figure 1.0: Approaches to conformance in Quality Management

Based on the figure above, there are four basic approaches identified in Quality
Management, which are the quality planning, quality control, quality assurance
5

and quality improvement (Visaya, M. 2011). Listed below are the other key
aspects of Quality.

Quality Engineering

Procedure description on how to assure that design for a structure and

engineering goes as recommended and the necessary criteria set by trade
associations and related professionals, building code authorities, and federal,
state, and local organizations and others. The law and certain requires most of the
standards and are revised frequently which makes it essential for the engineers
and architects to be knowledgeable and updated on all applicable standards
(Barrie, D. S. 1992 and Paulson, B. C. 1992).

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance is defined as a systematic activity to develop a formal

structure, organization and operational procedures to ensure specified quality
throughout the project life cycle (Napiah, M. 2012). Due to the risk engaged in
any project, quality assurance is significant in the construction industry and
engineering. A lot of external factors will influence the performance of the
project causing the risk involved in not completing the project on time becomes
high. It is vital that a built-in quality assurance system is developed to keep away
from any inefciency that could result in poor quality of products and service
being delivered to the customers (Bubshai, A. A. 1999 and Al-Atiq, T. H. 1999).

The key factors for Quality Assurance includes define in writing authority and
responsibility for each personnel, define and standardize each activity of the
work and maintain records of each activity (Napiah, M. 2012).From the Arkema
Inc. facilitys (Arkema Inc. Facility, 2011) view of the position responsibilities in
common construction projects, the construction contractor will be responsible for
compliance with the construction documents, drawings, and specifications as
6

well as for the quality of construction in the finished outcome. The Project
Engineer will have crucial responsibility for the oversight of construction and for
conformance with the construction drawings, specifications, and quality
assurance requirements.

Quality Control

Quality control is the activity and practice, which are necessary for the project to
maintain its specified quality requirements (Napiah, M. 2012). According to
Donald and Boyd (Barrie, D. S. 1992 and Paulson, B. C. 1992), this process
includes setting specific standards for construction performance, usually through
the plans and specification. Variances are then measured from the standards.
Actions are taken as correction or to reduce unpleasant variances and lastly plan
for improvements in the standards themselves and in conformance with the
standards. In other words, quality control ensures that the physical work
conforms to those standards.

A company-wide attempt to improve quality of its products or services, which

covers all the companys activities including market survey, R&D, design,
production, inspection, after-service, human resources, training of employees and
so on is called Total Quality Control (TQC). Total quality control focuses on
examining the processes in an operation, to learn where mistakes are being made,
why they are happening and if it is possible, practical and economically desirable
to prevent them from recurring (Deming, W. E. 1986).
From the Arkema Inc. facilitys (Arkema Inc. Facility, 2011) view of the position
responsibilities in common construction projects, construction contractor hires
the Construction Quality Control team members. Therefore, particular positions,
and their allied descriptions and responsibilities, will be set forth by the
contractor procured. However, the construction contract documents require that
the contractor assign an individual to manage the Construction Quality Control
7

team and that the individual will not be directly involved in supervising
construction activities.

ISO 9000 Series Standard

ISO 9000 is an international standard intended to provide the generic core of a

quality system standard applicable to a broad range of industries and economic
sectors. It outlines how a supplier can establish an effective quality system that
will demonstrate commitment to quality and ability to meet customer
requirements (Bubshai, A. A. 1999 and Al-Atiq, T. H. 1999).

The concept of ISO 9000 has been viewed in various ways, as a means of
enhancing the overall quality of projects, as a required response to competition,
as a way to decrease cost, as a means to improve the ow of activities and
coordination in the organization, as a strategy to have better sales through an
improved quality image, as a way to maintain competitive edge in the industry,
etc. (Bhuian and Al-Zamil 1996; Lamprecht 1992) Many of them are already
registered with the certification bodies to develop formal quality management
systems and to seek certification to the ISO 9000 quality standards. (Pheng
1998).

ISO certification is a trend in the majority industries at the present time including
construction industry. The ISO 9001 standard is now on its year 2000 revision.
The five clauses for its execution are quality management system, management
responsibility, resource management, product realization, and measurement,
analysis, and improvement. The application of ISO standards has received much
attention from researchers (Tan, C. K. 2011 and Hamzah, A. R. 2011).

BSEN 9000 (BSEN 9000, 2005) state that there are eight quality management
values, associated with the ISO 9000 quality management system, which has

been recognized that can be utilized within any management team which will
allow the organization to work towards improved performance, these are:

Focus on Customer Relations

Management and Leadership

People Participation

Process Approach

Systematic Method to Management

Provides Persistent Development

Decision making based on Factual Methodology

Equally Beneficial Contractor Associations

ISO 9000 Quality System Features

It features a well-documented system of procedures and instructions on

quality assurance, appointment of a quality manager in the company, who is
responsible for quality, adequate packaging for delivery, records of all
inspections and audits, segregation of rejected products like materials and
documents as well as an adequate training of all staff (Napiah, M. 2012)

ISO 9000 Quality System Requirements (Napiah, M. 2012)

In terms of Engineering, the requirements include holding the key engineering

meetings and maintain records of meetings as well as maintaining engineering
revision sheets (ERIs).

For the documents part, includes the need to maintain document approval
procedures, record issuance or receipt of all transmittals and documents,
maintain and control ERIs and maintain latest issues of applicable law and
regulations.

Disposition of Nonconformity includes action and report on each

nonconformity, issue nonconformance reports and feedback data sheets

Corrective Action to maintain control sheets on request, execution and review

on corrective actions

Training qualification, record for each personnel and training in each project
organization.

10

2.1

KEY PROJECT MILESTONE

PROJECT KEY MILESTONE/WEEK

10

11

12

13

14

PROGRESS WORK CONTINUES

QUESTIONNAIRE DISTRIBUTIONS

CONDUCTION OF INTERVIEW

SUBMISSION OF PROGRESS REPORT

DATA COLLECTION

DATA ANALYSIS

PRE-SEDEX

SUBMISSION OF DRAFT FINAL REPORT

SUBMISSION OF TECHNICAL REPORT

SUBMISSION OF DISSERTATION (SOFT BOUND)

VIVA

SUBMISSION OF PROJECT DISSERTATION (HARD

BOUND)

Process

Suggested Milestone

Table 1.0
As shown in the project milestone in table 1.0, the progress of
questionnaire and interview progress have exceeded the suggested
milestone. Although, with maintaining good relation and the cooperation
with the related company, the data collection phase is able to be managed
and obtained before Pre-SEDEX.
11

As there are obstacles in making contacts with the interviewee, however,

the response and cooperation given are manageable and still possible to
be held within time. The questionnaire distribution has been postponed
due to finalization of questionnaire.
In this situation, an alternative key milestone has been prepared due to
unexpected situation. The alternatives is as shown in table 2.0.
PROJECT KEY MILESTONE/WEEK

PROGRESS WORK CONTINUES

QUESTIONNAIRE DISTRIBUTIONS

CONDUCTION OF INTERVIEW

SUBMISSION OF PROGRESS REPORT

DATA COLLECTION

DATA ANALYSIS

PRE-SEDEX

SUBMISSION OF DRAFT FINAL REPORT

SUBMISSION OF TECHNICAL REPORT

SUBMISSION OF DISSERTATION (SOFT BOUND)

VIVA

SUBMISSION OF PROJECT DISSERTATION (HARD

BOUND)

Process

Suggested Milestone (Original)

Suggested Milestone (Alternative)

Table 2.0
12

10

11

12

13

14

As of the alternative key milestone chart, all the data and results have
been obtained and excellently according to the alternative key milestone.

13

CHAPTER 3

3.0

METHODOLOGY

PRELIMINARY PHASE

IDENTIFYING PROBLEM RELATED

LITERATURE REVIEW

OBJECTIVES

PROBLEM STATEMENT

SCOPE OF STUDY

DATA COLLECTION
PHASE

PRIMARY DATA
(QUESTIONNAIRES &
SEMI STRUCTURE INTERVIEW)

SECONDARY DATA
(LITERATURE REVIEW)

DATA ANALYSIS
PHASE

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

USING PROPRIATE METHOD

THESIS WRITING

Figure 2: Project Flow

For this project methodology phase, the steps will be following and based on the
flowchart shown above. There are two phases in the methodology which are
Preliminary Phase or Literature Review Phase and Data Collection Phase.

14

3.1

DATA COLLECTION

Data Collection phase is to achieve the objectives of the project, this

stage is the most crucial part where the main data should be collected. It
requires semi-structure interviews, researches, questionnaires to collect
relevant data information. Questionnaires will be gathered as the primary
data. It will be drafted and given to those who are involved in
construction projects and referred as related companies.

3.1.1

PRIMARY DATA
Primary data is where the data will be gathered by conducting a
semi-structure interview and distribution of questionnaires to
related companies. For the interview, the interviewee has been
acknowledged and yet to be confirmed and conducted due to
pending approval and time suitability.
Other than that, the questionnaires distribution is yet to be carried
out due to improvements has been made to the questionnaire so
that it will produce better and precise results so that this research
can obtain a quality research result and hopefully may be used and
be taken seriously in the future.
The interview will be conducted as approval has been obtained
and suitable time has been confirmed. As for the questionnaire, it
will be distributed as the relevant questions for the questionnaire
has been confirmed and has been found inevitable.

Survey Questionnaire
Questionnaires are a common method of gathering data (Sharp,
Peters and Howard, 2002). Survey research, which relies on
15

questioning, is a systematic way of collecting data from a number

of respondents according to Krysik and Finn (2010).
Tayie (2005) states that, the flexibility of survey has made it
become one of the most widely used methods of media research.
The purpose of approach, questionnaire design, sampling, and the
way to analyze and interpret data has to be considered before a
survey is conducted (Tayie, 2005).
According to Krysik and Finn (2010), survey research is a popular
method of gathering data in social work research. It relies on
questioning and is a systematic way of collecting data from a
number of respondents. They stated that survey can be used to
determine what respondents know, believe, or feel or how they
say they behave. Other than that, some surveys also ask
respondents to describe what they have done or how they felt in
the past, or to speculate about their future intentions (Krysik and
Finn, 2010).

a) Questionnaire Design
The questionnaire will divide into three sections. Section A will
request background information about the respondents. The
respondents are requested to answer question pertaining the
location of their company based in, the type of their organization,
their position in construction industry, their working experience in
construction industry and the primary type of projects which they
are involved in. Section B of the questionnaire is asking about the
importance of the QA/QC implementation and Section C is asking
about the impacts of poor QA/QC implementation.

16

The survey questionnaire is designed with two option which

online survey and hardcopy in order to ease the respondents to
answer the survey. Moreover, the online survey will save the
respondents time and thus they will be less reluctant to
participate in this survey questionnaire.

b) Analysis data
i) Data Analysis Method
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is the software
which designed to carry out the data analysis with comprehensive
statistical tests. The collected data from the survey questionnaire
will be analyzed by using SPSS in order to carry out the data
analysis in this research.

ii) Descriptive Statistic Method

Descriptive statistic method is the simplest method of analysis.
This method provides a general view of the results and it will
either analyze the responses in percentages or will contain actual
numbers (Naoum, 2007).

17

iii) Relative Importance Index

The data from Section B and C in questionnaire survey will be
analysis by using Relative Importance Index (RII). It will be used
to determine the relative importance of the various causes and
effects of site issues. The seven-point scale ranged from 1
(extremely disagree) to 5 (extremely agree) was adopted and
transformed to relative importance indices (RII) for each factor as
follows:

where W is the weighting given to each factor by the respondents

(ranging from 1 to 5), A is the highest weight (i.e.5 in this case),
and N is the total number of respondents. The RII value had a
range from 0 to 1 (0 not inclusive), higher the value of RII, more
important was the cause or effect of site issues. The RII was used
to rank (R) the different causes. These rankings made it possible
to cross-compare the relative importance of the factors as
perceived by the three groups of respondents (i.e. clients,
consultants and contractors). Each individual causes RII
perceived by all respondents were used to assess the general and
overall rankings in order to give an overall picture of the causes of
site issues in Malaysian construction industry. The same
procedure was adopted for ranking the effects. The indices (RII)
were then used to determine the rank of each item (impact). These
rankings made it possible to cross compare the relative
importance of the items as perceived by the three groups of
18

respondents. The weighted average for each item for the three
groups of respondents was determined and ranks (R) were
assigned to each item representing the perception of the three
groups.

3.1.2

SECONDARY DATA (LITERATURE REVIEW)

Literature Review phase or Preliminary phase is the early stage of

research to get the overall overview of the proposed topic. At this
stage research will be implemented only by documentation
research such as books, journals, conference texts, agencies
bulletin, project papers, internet etc.

19

CHAPTER 4

4.0

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1

RESULT

In this chapter, the result will be based on the questionnaire and

interviews which as described in the methodology in Chapter 3. This
result will determined whether the objectives of this research has been
achieved or otherwise. The result from the questionnaire will be
illustrated in graph as it will be compared with the responds and opinions
obtained from the interview.

4.1.1

RESULT FOR QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

(Primary Data)
In this chapter, the results obtained from the questionnaire survey
will be presented and discussed.

20

a) Section A (Respondents Demographics)

The primary data collected from the section C of the

questionnaire was analyzed from the perspective of developer,
PMC, consultants and contractors. The calculation of RII and
ranking were done as explained in the previous section.

Figure 3: Type of Organization

The pie chart above shows that the 20 sets of returned
questionnaires consist of four main types of organizations, which
includes developer, project management consultant, consultant,
and contractor. According to the result, most of the respondents
were contractor firms, which is 37%. Then, it followed by the
consultant and PMC firms, which is 22%.

Figure 4: Types of Position

21

The data analysis was demonstrating the respondent position in

construction project. Based on 20 returned questionnaires, the
greatest number of the respondent profession is grade 3 in the
questionnaire (junior engineer, supervisor, etc..) which is 56%.
Apart from that, there is 31% are working as grade 2 (project
engineer, quantity surveyor, etc..) in construction project and it
was followed by the grade 1 (managers, section head, etc..), which
is 13%.

Figure 5: Years of Working Experience

Based on 20 returned questionnaires, the result indicating the
greatest

number

of

respondents

working

experience

in

construction project is at the range of less than 1 year which is

52%. On the other hand, there is 25% respondent is falling in the
range of working experience less than 3 years. Additionally, 14%
of respondents has working experience of more than 5 years and
10% of respondents has working experience a

22

Figure 6: Numbers of Projects Involved

According to the result, the most of the respondents has involved
in less than 3 projects which is 57%. Other than that, 29% of the
respondents have been involved in more than 5 projects and 14%
have involved in less than 5 projects.

b) Section B (Importance of QA/QC implementation)

IMPORTANCE OF QA/QC
1

0.91 0.95

0.8
0.51 0.55

0.6

0.94 0.93

0.89
0.63

0.6
0.47

0.4
0.2
0

TAKE QA/QC SERIOUSLY

MAKES COMPANY PREFERABLE
MAKES DOCUMENTATION PROBLEMATIC
MAKES CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE DIFFICULT
QA/QC CAUSES EXTRA WORKS
EASE INSPECTION
CAUSES EXTRA COST
LONGER CONSTRUTION DURATION
GIVES CONFIDENCE
GIVES BENEFITS

23

Figure 7: Importance of QA/QC implementation

The primary data collected from the section B of the questionnaire
was analyzed from the perspective of developer, PMC,
consultants and contractors. Each individual causes RII perceived
by all respondents was computed for overall analysis. The relative
importance index, RII, was computed for each cause to identify
the most significant causes. The causes were ranked based on RII
values. From the ranking assigned to each importance, the most
important issues in Malaysian construction industry were able to
identify. Based on the graph, the five most important causes of
site issues as perceived by developers, PMCs, contractors and
consultants were: (1) makes company preferable (RII = 0.95); (2)
gives confidence in the products presented (RII = 0.94); (3) gives
benefits to the organization (RII = 0.93); (4) takes QAQC issues
seriously (RII = 0.91) and (5) makes inspection works easier (RII
= 0.89).

c) Section C (Effects of poor QAQC implementation)

TIME OVERRUN
0.8

0.78

0.74

0.777

0.68

0.7
0.6

1
time overrun [construction progress]
time overrun [materials delivery]
time overrun [testing]
time overrun [market availability]
time overrun [client's decision]

Figure 8: Time Overrun

24

0.779

In this RII rank, it shows that the most important issues in time
overrun is for testing (RII=0.78). This may be caused by
unsatisfied clients with the result given which not as expected.
Followed by clients decision (RII=0.779) which only slightly
lower than testing. After that comes the construction progress
(RII=0.74) and finally materials delivery (RII=0.68)

COST OVERRUN
0.8
0.79
0.78
0.77
0.76
0.75
0.74
0.73
0.72
0.71

0.79

0.79

0.74

0.742

1
cost overrun [workers salary]

cost overrun [machineries rents]

cost overrun [material cost]

cost overrun [L.A.D.]

Figure 9: Cost Overrun

Cost is usually the most important issue in construction project.
From the result, it shows that the most affected and important
costs due to poor QAQC implementation are for workers salary
and machineries rents (RII=0.79), and the others follows with
L.A.D. (RII=0.742) and material cost (RII=0.74).

25

DISPUTES
0.725

0.72

0.72
0.715

0.71

0.71

0.71
0.705
0.7
0.695

0.69

0.69
0.685
0.68
0.675
0.67
disputes [contract duration]
disputes [delivery]

disputes [materials]
1
disputes [construction cost]

Figure 10: Disputes

As from the result, respondents shows that the disputes upon
materials is the most important (RII=0.72). Followed by contract
duration and construction cost (RII=0.71) and last but not least
delivery (RII=0.69)

26

ARBITRATION

0.77

0.76

0.76
0.75
0.74

0.73

0.73
0.72
0.71

0.7

0.7
0.69
0.68
0.67
arbitation [contract related]

1arbitation [client related]

arbitation [contract relationship]

Figure 11: Arbitration

Arbitration on client related is the most important (RII=0.76)
followed with contract related (RII=0.73) and contract
relationship (RII=0.7). From this result, the importance of effected
arbitration caused by poor QAQC implementation is almost even.
The arbitration among these three issues are almost equally
affected.

27

LITIGATION
0.78

0.77
0.76

0.76
0.74
0.72
0.7
0.7
0.68
0.66
1
litigation [client related]

litigation [labor related]

litigation [contract relationship related]

Figure 12: Litigation

As of figure 10, the litigation of labor related is the most
important factor (RII=0.77). This may be due to the doubts of
competencies and other losses caused or investigated to lead to
the labors. With only RII difference of 0.01 which is by client
related and followed by contract relationship litigated (RII=0.7)

With all the results as shown above, the author has summarized
all five affected factors due to poor QAQC implementation which
are time overrun, cost overrun, disputes, arbitration and litigation
to find the most important factors which affected due to the poor
QAQC.

28

Effects of poor QAQC

TIME OVERRUN

COST OVERRUN

DISPUTES

ARBITATION

LITIGATION

0.7655
0.7512
0.743333333
0.73

0.7075

Figure 13: Effects of Poor QAQC Implementation

Based on the ranking, the important effects of poor QAQC as
perceived by developer, PMC, consultants and contractors were:
cost overrun (RII = 0.7655), time overrun (RII = 0.7512),
litigation (RII = 0.7433), arbitration (RII = 0.73), litigation (RII =
0.4429), and disputes (RII = 0.7075).

4.1.2

RESULT FOR LITERATURE REVIEW

(Secondary Data)

In this section, all the literature researches has been listed in table
1.0 and 2.0 as it shows its objectives and gaps. The research
gathered has been analyzes as for its relevancies. There are all
sixteen (16) research papers and seven (7) of the papers are listed
in the table from local and international authors has been used as
29

reference as for insurance and clarification into determination to

achieve current research objectives.

Table 3.0 Findings in Literature

No.
1

Author

Project Title

Findings

David Arditi

Total Quality

and H Murat

Management In The

customers must be satisfied. These customers include internal customers

Gunaydin

Construction Process

(employees, units, departments within an organization) and external

The construction project should be considered as a process where all

customers (owner, designer, contractor, etc.).

(1997)

The requirements of the owner must be clearly defined at the beginning of

the project and be agreed to by both the owner and design finn. The more
time and effort are spent at the beginning in defining requirements, the more
smoothly the project will progress. Objective setting is important because it
provides a focus for scope definition, guides the design process, controls the
construction process, and influences the motivation of the project team.

Ayman H. Al-

Examining Service

Momani

Quality Within

There was an almost complete lack of attention devoted to owners

satisfaction which undoubtedly contributed to poor performance.

Construction Process
(2000)

Managing the construction so that all the participants perceive equity of

benefits can be crucial to project success. To succeed as an innovator, design
and construction firms must not only manage the construction process but
recognize the needs of a client and should base their management instruction
on quality.

Jaak Tepandi

Quality Assurance of

No VTV can improve a badly designed system, so high quality development

Knowledge-Based

methods and tools are of primary importance for safety-related systems.

System
(1997)

Although issues such as KBS completeness, consistency, validation and

some others, are specific to these systems and have received the attention
they deserve, there exist a number of practical problems in KBS VTV that
have not been adequately investigated.

Harm Tillema,

Assessing assessment

Specific quality criteria are taken into account in relation to precise steps in

30

Martijin

quality: Criteria for

Leenknecht,

quality assurance in

Mien Segers

design of (peer)

the assessment cycle, while others have a more generic deployment.

Quality criteria in first steps of the assessment cycle (i.e., setting assessment

assessment for

goals and selecting assessment tasks) were specifically related to

learning A review

representativeness, content coverage and content fidelity while these criteria

of research studies

were less prominent in later steps.

(2011)

The criteria fairness and transparency were considered applicable to all steps
of the assessment cycle.

Criteria use in quality assurance is mainly arranged to produce clear and

meaningful assessment tasks which can warrant instructional implications
for further learning.

Ilias Said, Abd

FACTORS

Rahaman

AFFECTING

implementation of QMS are Enhanced Image and Reputation of

Ayub, Arman

CONSTRUCTION

Organization followed by Performance Improvement and Increased

Abd Razaki, &

ORGANIZATION

Customer Satisfaction.

Tee Kuan

QUALITY

Kooi

MANAGEMENT

Majority of the respondents suggested the main advantages of

SYSTEM IN THE
MALAYSIAN
CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRY
(2009)
6

Tiong Kung

Quality Management

There are lots of studies in the literature discuss quality management

Leong,

Maintenance and

practices and human behavioral issues which are relevant to technical and

Norhayati

Practices- Technical

non-technical approaches, but there has been little research into the

Zakuan, &
Muhamad
Zameri Mat

definition and application of non-technical approaches.

and Non-Technical
Approaches

Zaman

(2012)

Murali

Causes and effects of

We identified main causes of delay and ten most important causes were:

Sambasivan, &

delays in Malaysian

(1) contractors improper planning,

Yau Wen Soon

construction industry

(2) contractors poor site management,

31

(3) inadequate contractor experience,

(2007)

(4) inadequate clients finance and payments for completed work,

(5) problems with subcontractors,
(6) shortage in material,
(7) labor supply,
(8) equipment availability and failure,
(9) lack of communication between parties,
(10) mistakes during the construction stage.

We identified main effects of delay and they were:

(1) time overrun,
(2) cost overrun,
(3) disputes,
(4) arbitration,
(5) litigation,
(6) total abandonment.

As shown above, there are series of researches which have been

made by various researchers from Malaysia and other countries.
Unfortunately, there are gaps or unclarified matters especially on
improving the QMS implemented. Below is the list of gaps which
are identified from the same researches as Table 1.0.

No.
1

Author

Project Title

Gaps

David Arditi and H

Total Quality Management In The

Murat Gunaydin

Construction Process

The authors did not mention on how to

make sure that the clients received what
he deserved.

32

(1997)
2

Ayman H. Al-Momani

Examining Service Quality Within

Construction Process

The author does not mention on how the

implementation of Quality Assurance and
Quality Control should be carried out.

(2000)

The author also does not mention on what

are the consequences of poor
implementation of Quality Assurance and
Quality Control.

Jaak Tepandi

Quality Assurance of Knowledge-Based

System

systems have remained outside the scope

of the paper.

(1997)

Harm Tillema, Martijin

Assessing assessment quality: Criteria for

Leenknecht, Mien

quality assurance in design of (peer)

Segers

Learning, audio-visual and natural language

The authors did not mention on how to

improvise the method that he/she is
referring to.

assessment for learning A review of

research studies
(2011)

Ilias Said, Abd

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSTRUCTION

Rahaman Ayub,

ORGANIZATION QUALITY MANAGEMENT

the advantages of implementation of QMS

Arman Abd Razaki, &

SYSTEM IN THE MALAYSIAN

in general.

Tee Kuan Kooi

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

In this paper, they have mentioned about

(2009)
6

Tiong Kung Leong,

Quality Management Maintenance and

Norhayati Zakuan, &

Practices- Technical

Muhamad Zameri Mat

Zaman

The authors are emphasizing on the

importance and the disadvantages of poor
human behavior during the

and Non-Technical Approaches

implementation of quality management

and the differences of technical and non-

(2012)

technical approaches.
7

Murali Sambasivan,

Causes and effects of delays in Malaysian

33

The authors did not explain on how to

&Yau Wen Soon

construction industry

overcome the matters arises.

(2007)

Table 4.0 Gaps in Literature

From the table 1.0 shows that both international and local authors
agrees that by implementing QMS procedure will obtained the
clients satisfaction as mentioned by David Arditi and H Murat
Gunaydin (1997) that the construction project should be
considered as a process where all customers must be satisfied. As
supported by H. Tillema, M. Leenknecht, and M. Segers (2011),
criteria use in quality assurance is mainly arranged to produce
clear and meaningful assessment tasks which can warrant
instructional implications for further learning which supporting
Murali S. and Yau W. S. (2007) which has listen ten (10) main
caused of delay and six (6) effects of delay which can be avoid by
the implementation of QA/QC in the QMS.

4.2

DISCUSSION
As from the primary result, the respondent shows that 72% admits that
their company or organization takes QAQC implementation. On the
questionnaire, this 72% checked box number five (5) which indicates for
extremely agree, and 14% checked box number four (4) which indicates
agree and another 14% checked box number three (3) which indicates
between agree and disagree.
Although there is 14% respondent shows their carelessness in QAQC,
should not be forgotten that there are overalls of 86% them which cares
about QAQC and it is the majority. This indicates that the Malaysian
construction industry cares about the implementation of QMS.
34

As of the result in section C from the questionnaire, there are none of the
respondent shows their disagreements. This indicates that QMS
implementation is important in order to avoid all of those unwanted
events and issues which are cost overrun, time overrun, disputes,
arbitration and litigation.
As from the secondary data gathered, engineers throughout the world are
agreed to emphasize and to take QMS seriously in order to meet the
clients requisition and to produce better products. As mentioned by
Ayman H. Al-Momani (2000) which refers to the human behavior should
be overcome by implementing the BSEN 9000 (BSEN 9000, 2005),
associated with the ISO 9000 quality management system which has
listed eight (8) quality management values which will assist in
overcoming the human behavioral problems.

35

CHAPTER 5

5.0

CONCLUSION

As for the conclusion, the project proposed is to determine the factors that
contributed to the effectiveness of the product quality and to investigate on how
the company in Malaysia implemented the QA/QC procedure. This is to
determine the ability of our local company in producing products with proper
standards.
The author investigated the importance and effects of poor QAQC
implementation in the Malaysian construction industry. A questionnaire was
designed and distributed among the four major groups of participants
(developers, PMCs, consultants and contractors). The author identified main
effects of poor QAQC implementations and most important reason to implement
QAQC were: (1) makes the company preferable, (2) gives confidence to the
presented products, (3) gives benefits to the company in any conditions, and (4)
makes the inspection works easy. The author identified main effects of poor
QAQC implementation and they were: (1) cost overrun, (2) time overrun, (3)
litigation, (4) arbitration, and (5) disputes. As an important contribution, the
author also studied the empirical relationships between the importance and
effects of QAQC implementation.
The literatures are collected and gathered from all across the country due to
improvising and as a comparison to the method implemented from other
countries with methods which Malaysia is implying nowadays. The standards
may have different due to each countrys ability in terms of technology and
36

suitability. However, this research is evaluating on the implementation, factors of

implementation and the importance of QA/QC procedure in Malaysia.
As measured from the literature review, objective number one (1): The
importance of Quality Assurance and Quality Control implementation, has been
achieved as D. Arditi and H Murat G., Total Quality Management in the
Construction Process(1997) has mentioned that the construction project should
be considered as a process where all customers must be satisfied.

Other than that, local authors also supporting the act of good implementation of
QA/QC as written by Ilias S., Abd Rahaman A., Arman A. R., & Tee K. K.,
Factors AffectingConstruction Organization Quality Management in the
Malaysian Construction Industry (2009) mentioned that majority of the
respondents suggested the main advantages of implementation of QMS are
Enhanced Image and Reputation of Organization followed by Performance
Improvement and Increased Customer Satisfaction. This indicates that
Malaysians are emphasizing the importance in implementing QMS procedure in
order to ensure the clients satisfactions.

37

CHAPTER 6

REFERENCES
Tan, C. K., & Abdul-Rahman, H. (2005). Preliminary research into overcoming
implementation problems in construction projects. Proceeding of the 4th Micra
Conference. Faculty of the Built Environment, University Malaya, 08.15-08.28.

Juran, J.M. (1989) Juran on leadership for quality: an executive handbook. The
Free Press, New York.

Ammad H.K., Salman A. & Arshad M. (2008) First International Conference on

Construction In Developing Countries (ICCIDCI) Advancing and Integrating
Construction Education, Research & PracticeAugust 4-5, Karachi,, Pakistan

<http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/construction/efficient-qualitymanagement-strategy.php> Efficient quality management strategy, Oxbridge

Writers

BS EN ISO 900:2005 (2005), Quality Management System , Fundamentals and

Vocabulary 3rd Edition, pp. 1, 12.

Mohammed , A. H.& Abdullah, M. N (2006)

<http://eprints.utm.my/464/2/CM_1%5B1%5D._Quality_Management._Abdul_
Hakim.pdf>, Quality Management System in Construction, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia

Arkema Inc. Facility (2011) <http://www.epa.gov/region10/pdf/ph/arkema/gwscm-cqa-plan-011411.pdf>, Construction Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Plan -Groundwater Source Control Measure , Portland, Oregon
Barrie, D. S. & Paulson, B. C. (1992), Professional Construction Management:
Including CM, Design-Construct, and General Contracting, 3rd Edition, New
York St. Louis , McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. 2009, Elsevier <http://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/continuous+quality+improvement>

D. Arditi & H.M. Gunaydin (1997) International Journal of Project Management,

Vol. 15, No. 4,Total Quality Management In The Construction Process, pp.235243, Great Britain.

A.H. Al-Momani (2000) Technovation, Examining Service Qality Within

Construction Process.

J.Tepandi, (1997) Pergamon, Quality Assurance of Knowledge-based Systems,

Engng Applic. Art(f. hltell. Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 231-242.

H.Tillema, M.Leenknecht & M.Segers (2011) Studies in Educational Evaluation,

Assessing Assessment Quality: Criteria For Quality Assurance in Design of
(peer) Assessment For Learning-A Review of Research Studies, 37, 2534

I.Said, A.R.Ayub, A.A. Razaki & T.K. Kooi (2009) Factors Affecting
Construction Organization Quality Management, USM, UiTM Pulau Pinang,
Malaysia.

vi

T.K. Leong, Norhayati Z. & M. Zameri, (2012) International Congress on

Interdisciplinary Business and Social Science, Quality Management
Maintenance and Practices-Technical And Non-Technical Approaches, UTM
Johor, Malaysia.

M. Sambasivan & Y.W. Soon (2007) International Journal of Project

Management, Causes and Effects of Delays in Malaysian Construction Industry,
UPM, Malaysia.

Krysik, J. L. & Finn, J. (2010). Research for Effective Social Work Practice (2nd
ed.). New York: Routledge.

vii

CHAPER 7

APPENDICES

Questionnaire Form

viii

QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY
TO
CASE STUDY ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY
CONTROL) IN A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

Objective
The goal of this study is to analyze the importance of Quality Assurance and Quality Control
implementation and to identify the factor effecting the Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Management and its consequences to the project.

Instruction:

1. Please fill in the space available and tick(/) in the respective box
2. All informations will be treated as CONFIDENTIAL and shall be used for academic purposes
only.

3. All the data will be aggregated and no individual data will be published.
4. If more information is required, please contact Mr. Budiman Amat at:
Phone: 016-823 6013
Email: [email protected]

ix

General
The questionnaire is divided into 3 sections, which are decided below:

1. Section A General Information

2. Section B The importance of QA/QC implementation
3. Section C The impacts of poor QA/QC to construction project
*Notes:
QMP
QA/QC

QMS
: Quality Management System
: Quality Management Plan
: Quality Assurance and Quality Control

SECTION A: GENERAL INFORMATION

Name of Company/Organization

Name

Position

Years of working experience

No. of projects involved

:
:

Gender

Age

Male

Female

SECTION B

: THE IMPORTANCE OF QA/QC IMPLEMENTATION

For each statement below please tick (/) on the appropriate number to indicate whether it is:
1- STRONGLY DISAGREE
5 STRONGLY AGREE

2 DISAGREE

3- MODERATELY AGREE

4 AGREE

1.

Does this company/organization take serious/make compulsory of QA/QC

implementation?
1
2
3
4
5

2.

Does the implementation of QA/QC makes the construction procedure difficult?

1
2
3
4
5

3.

Does the implementation of QA/QC makes the preparation of tendering/biding

documents problematic?
1
2
3
4
5

4.

In your opinion, does it true that by implementing QMS makes the company more
preferable?
1
2
3
4
5

5.

Does the implementation of QA/QC makes inspection work easier?

1
2
3
4
5

6.

Does the implementation of QA/QC causes extra cost?

1
2
3
4
5

7.

Does the implementation of QA/QC causes extra/unnecessary works (documentation,

planning, etc.)?
1
2
3
4
5

8.

Does the implementation of QA/QC causes delay or takes longer construction

duration?
1
2
3
4
5

9.

Does the implementation of QA/QC gives confidence in the presented products?

1
2
3
4
5
xi

10.

Does the implementation of QA/QC gives benefits to the company/organization?

1
2
3
4
5

SECTION C

: THE IMPACT OF POOR QA/QC TO THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

For each statement below please write the numberin the box to indicate whether it is:
1- STRONGLY DISAGREE
5 STRONGLY AGREE

1.

3- MODERATELY AGREE

Time overrun
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

2.

2 DISAGREE

Construction Progress
Materials delivery
Testing
Market availability
Clients decision

Cost overrun
I. Workers salary
II. Machineries rents
III. Material costs

3.

Disputes
I.
II.
III.
IV.

4.

Contract duration
Materials
Delivery
Construction cost

Arbitration
I. Contract related
II. Client related
III. Contract relationship

5.

Litigation
I. Client related
II. Labor related
III. Contract relationship related

xii

4 AGREE

THANK YOU VERY

COOPERATION

MUCH

xiii

FOR

YOUR

TIME

AND

Gantt Chart For Final Year Project Plan

Detail / Week

Selection of Project Type

Preliminary Research Work

Submission of Extended Proposal Defense

Proposal Defense

Project Work Continues

Submission of Interim Draft Report

Submission of Interim Report

End of FYP 1
FYP 2
Project Work Continues

Submission of Progress Report

Project Work Continues

Pre-SEDEX

xiv

10

11

12

13

14

Submission of Draft Final Report

Submission of Technical Paper

Submission of Dissertation (Soft Bound)

Viva

Submission of Project Dissertation (Hard Bound)

Process
Suggested Milestone

xv

xvi