Barriers to lean construction implementation in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Purpose Increased waste during projects execution has led to time and cost overruns within the Zimbabwean construction projects industry. However, contextual barriers to lean construction implementation are yet to be established for derivation of effective remedies. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that sought to determine barriers to lean construction implementation and assess the existence of statistically significant differences because of gender, designation and educational levels of respondents. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was administered on construction professionals for the collection of quantitative data. Factor analysis was used to reveal interrelated significant sets of barriers to lean construction implementation. Non-parametric statistical methods were also used to determine significant differences because of demographic variables. Findings Integration- and performance-related, human capital management–related, quality management–related barriers were determined as the highest-ranked of the nine significant components. Significant differences because of gender, designation and educational levels were non-existent for aggregated barriers, generally indicating consensus on the barriers. However, individual barriers showed inadequacies in management requirements for lean construction implementation from architects and those with diplomas and degrees. Research limitations/implications The determination of barriers establishes the knowledge for construction policy evaluation for enhanced performance of the construction industry. However, because of the exploratory nature of this study, the insights of clients were not considered. Originality/value Context-specific barriers to lean construction implementation were determined for consequent construction policy improvements in the construction industry.

Providing a model of LeAgile hybrid paradigm practices and its impact on supply chain performance

“…The employee involvement is the ground pillar of lean thinking (Mann, 2015). It seems that until the lean approach becomes a culture, there is no guarantee that it will be fully implemented in organizations (Moyo and Chigara, 2021). In Japanese culture, the customer is God, and implementing this culture in other countries is very difficult and even impossible in practice.…”

Exploratory factor analysis of barriers to lean construction based on Brazilian managers' perceptions

“…Among the gains commonly obtained with the implementation of LC, Moyo andChigara, 2021 andIssa (2013) highlight the reduction of cycle time, productivity improvement, increase in revenue and profitability.…”

“…Faced with the possibility of gains from the LC, its concepts and techniques have increasingly spread among civil construction companies; however, authors such as Moyo and Chigara, 2021; Mano et al (2020), Ahmed and Wong (2020); Bajjou and Chafi (2018), Albalkhy and Sweis (2021) warn of the increase in cases of failure to implement the LC because there are many barriers that make this process difficult, in Section 2.2 a set of barriers that emerged from the literature review are presented.…”

“…The civil construction sector is known for its structural problems that commonly result in projects that go beyond delivery time, budget, in addition to presenting quality problems (Moyo and Chigara, 2021, Li et al , 2012) . Ikuma et al (2011) assert that, two of the main problems in the construction sector are low productivity and high rates of losses.…”

“…Several recent works have been concerned with identifying barriers related to the implementation of LC in developing countries, such as Zimbabwe (Moyo and Chigara, 2021), Jordan (Albalkhy et al , 2021), Bangladesh (Ahmed and Sobuz, 2020), Malaysia (Ahmed and Wong, 2020), Ecuador (Martinez et al , 2019) and Morocco (Bajjou and Chafi, 2018). Although these studies provide important insights into the barriers to the implementation of LC in several countries, the contextual and exploratory nature of these studies has promoted different results in relation to the barriers encountered, this is also verified by Albalkhy and Sweis (2021) in a comprehensive review.…”