CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.

0 Introduction

Uganda is a landlocked country in the East African region. It borders with Kenya in the East, Tanzania and Rwanda in the south, Democratic Republic of Congo in the west and Southern Sudan in the North. The country covers a total surface area of 241,038 Sq. km and is basically an agrarian economy with over 80% of the population deriving their livelihood from the agricultural sector. Uganda relies on its road network for the movement of over 95% of its goods and passenger traffic. As such, a sound road transport infrastructure is crucial to the attainment of the national policy objectives of a strong private sector led growth that contributes to economic development and poverty eradication. The Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) underlines the need to improve road transport infrastructure in order to boost production, incomes and competitiveness by linking producers to their markets and facilitating integration, (ESIA report, 2009). Road construction and maintenance activities in Uganda reached a virtual standstill around the 1980s as a result of political instability and economic decline. The physical resources required to operate and maintain the road network gradually disintegrated as the professional and support personnel were displaced (Planning and Evaluation Unit, 1992). Consequently, a significant portion of the feeder road network deteriorated severely. This resulted into economic and social depression in the country. In early 1986, the Government of Uganda accorded high priority to the rehabilitation of critical physical infrastructure such as roads, water supply and electrical installations in order to help revitalize the economy. Almost all local resources and foreign assistance in the field of transport were devoted to the improvement of highways, railroads and air transport For the last one decade, the Government of Uganda has prioritized development and maintenance of the road network by increasing the sector funding by Ushs.468 billion to a total of Ushs.1.118 trillion and also implementing key sector reforms like the creation of the
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Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) in 2006, restructuring of the Ministry of Works, and the operationalization of the Road Fund in 2008 in order to be able to sustain its high economic growth record, (Background to the Budget, 2010/11). As a result of the road sector reforms, which were fruits of the Road Sector Development Programme 1(RSDP1) and Road Sector Development Programme 2 (RSDP 2), Uganda today has a comprehensive road network, comprising of 20,000km of National Roads, 13,000km of District Roads, 2,800km of Urban Roads and 30,000km of Community Roads. These roads serve to interconnect communities and districts and link land locked Uganda to neighbouring countries. Over 2,000km of road have so far been completed and another 10,000km, according to the Works Ministry, is expected to be completed in less than two years. (Njoroge, Daily Monitor, Fri, 7th Jan, 2011). He adds that there are approximately 1,000km of roads currently under construction and these include Soroti-Lira (123km), Kabale-Kisoro (100km), Kampala-Gayaza-Zirobwe (42km) Matugga-Semuto-Kapeka road (42km), Kampala-Masaka-Mbarara (300km), Kawempe-Kafu (166km), Kampala-Mityana (57km), Fort Portal-Bundibugyo (103km), Lira-Kamudini-Karuma (111km), Masaka-Kyotera (38km) and Mbarara-lshaka (58km) and others are yet to begin.
1.1

Background to the Study

The status of Ugandas road network presents a discrepancy between capital investment in road projects and quality delivery of these projects. It is common for roads in Uganda to revert to their original dilapidated status two to three months after repair in Kampala, (Njoroge, Daily Monitor Fri, Jan 7th, 2011). Njoroge adds that many roads lack proper paving and most lack adequate drainage systems, a thing that contributes heavily to their short lifespan. He concludes his article, True Status Of Ugandas Road Network with a general remark, Road maintenance has been very poor with substandard and inefficient contractors pocketing tax payers money only to produce nothing. In the same line, Alinange (Roads Authority Communication Manager) was quoted by a Kyambadde in his article why dont Ugandan Roads Last? published in the Dispatch, (Thursday 29 September, 2011) asserting that among other factors contributing to the reduced life span of some roads is the shoddy work and lack of competence or capacity attributed to some of the local companies contracted to do the repairs.

The major problems that affect the construction industry include the following: Too much emphasis is placed on the business aspect of firms with little or no emphasis on technical competence; there is a lack of critical mass of local professional managers and specialists with sufficient experience and knowledge in the management and operation of large construction projects; the management capacity of local firms is very weak both at company level and project implementation level; the number of contractors is too high for the workload available; there is also a lack of equipment and qualified professionals. Said Ssebanakitta the Executive Director of UNRA in an interview with Bissika of the Observer (Wednesday, 22 October 2008 19:24). Despite the creation of UNRA and the allocation of a big part of the national budget to the Works and Transport Sector, the condition of roads remained unsatisfactory, and according to the Budget Monitoring Report by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MOFPED) in 2009, the absorption of funds by UNRA was rated as poor, (Auditor General Report on The Management of Road Maintenance of National Roads by UNRA 2010). In this report, Hon. John Nasasira, the Minister of Works and Transport was quoted at the Launch of the second report of commission of Global Road Safety (5 th May 2009) acknowledging that the road safety condition in Uganda is still unsatisfactory and road accidents, fatalities and injury have been increasing during the past 10 years. The Minister also estimated that road accidents in Uganda cost about 2.7% of Uganda GDP in terms of lives, injury, vehicle and other property loss. Analysis of accident statistics reports in Uganda indicates that 5% of the accidents are due to road condition, including: bad road surface, pot holes, poor road designs and inadequate road furniture. There is evidence that although most road projects complete in Uganda, they are badly designed, the scope is not effectively managed in terms of road dimensions and they do not last their life span due to poor quality. This is one reason why road accidents are rampant in the country. Makuma in his article, Northern Bypass turns into a Passage to Death in the independent, (Tuesday, 28 December 2010) brings out shocking statistics from Kira Police station which oversees the road. According to these statistics, the road has since it was opened in October 2009 last year to October this year witnessed 109 accidents in which 34 people have died. Of the 34 dead, 62 percent were people knocked while either walking along or crossing the road. Makuma goes ahead to bring out a testimony from a policeman at the nearby Kiwatule Police Post who testifies that the Kiwatule flyover has been a very tragic
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area because even during day, drivers find visibility hampered. One needs to enter the tunnel, which is about five metres long and dark, with the vehicle full-beam on. Unfortunately, there is no warning sign. It gets worse because the Kiwatule underpass is a major crossing point for patrons of the Kiwatule Recreation Grounds, which is a venue for major concerts. In another context, Nasasira in his article Do not judge our performance basing on sorry Kampala roads published in the Observer (Sunday, 16 January 2011 22:21), disputes the impression created in the media and other public fora, over the last several years that the national road network has been in steady decay and that very little or nothing is being done about it. Although the Minister disputes this impression as false, it is still an indication that the public is not satisfied with the road network in the country despite the huge amounts of money that the Government of Uganda is investing in the sector. In the same article Nasasira outlined a number of roads that are under reconstruction among which are Mukono-Jinja, Bugiri-Malaba-Busia, Kampala-Jinja road, Kampala-Masaka-Mbarara road, -Fort PortalKasese-Mpondwe road, mbarara-Ibanda road just to mention but a few. Unfortunately none of these roads has lasted 20 years since they were constructed. This is also an indication that road projects in Uganda do not for some reason deliver quality as desired by the end users. The heading of his article was also an indirect acknowledgement that the state of Kampala roads is sorry and yet every financial year huge amounts of money are pumped into the sector for road maintenance and upgrading. Kyambadde in his article why dont Ugandan Roads Last? published in the Dispatch, Ugandas Leading Daily (Thursday 29 September, 2011) quoted Alinange, the Roads Authority Communications Manager admitting that : If there is good drainage, then a road with that will last longer than one without any drainage system, Alinange added that among other factors contributing to the reduced life span of some roads in Uganda is the shoddy work and lack of competence or capacity attributed to some of the local companies contracted to do the repairs. In the same article, Kyambadde quoted an engineering consultant who preferred to remain anonymous. The consultant asserted that What we have in Uganda today are many engineers practicing without licenses which are wrong. People should get registered immediately after they finish school and go through a mentoring program under the supervision of a registered engineer, and this statement explained his proceeding statement about the road condition in Uganda; These roads are bad from their geometrical designs, accessibility by human traffic and motorcycles/bicycles.
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1.2

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite Government relentless efforts to improve the road sector and bring it to a desired standard by restructuring the Ministry of Works and Transport and increasing the sector funding, road projects still have not delivered the desired quality from the Users point of view. Repaired roads do not last a year before they are full of potholes, newly constructed roads last a few years and then demand for major repairs while the number of accidents recorded every year keeps increasing. This leads to numerous questions regarding the competence of road construction practitioners, leadership styles of those manning road projects and the style of negotiation used during the process of road construction in Uganda. This study thus seeks to assess the effect of competence, negotiation and leadership on success of road construction projects in Uganda. 1.3 General objective

To assess the significant effect of competence, leadership, negotiation on the performance of road construction projects in Uganda. 1.4

Specific Objectives To evaluate levels of competences among road construction practitioners To assess the styles of leadership among road construction practitioners To determine levels of negotiation among road construction practitioners To establish the relationship among leadership, negotiation and competence and project performance

Specifically, this study is intended to achieve the following objectives:

1.5 1.
2.

Research Questions What are the levels of competences among road construction practitioners in Uganda? What are the styles of leadership among road construction practitioners in Uganda? What are the levels of negotiation among road construction practitioners? What is the relationship among leadership, negotiation and competence and project performance with regard to Ugandas road construction industry?

This study was guided by the following questions:

3. 4.

1.6

Scope of the Study

This study concentrated on Ibanda, Kamwenge, Kiruhura road projects in south-western Uganda and Kampala road projects in central Uganda. The study focused on competence, leadership, negotiation and road project performance. The study took four months starting June through October, 2011. 1.7
i.

Significance of the Study This research and its findings provide insight into the human resource competences, leadership styles and negotiations skills needed to successfully perform in the road construction and upgrading sector in Uganda.

ii.

The findings of this study are useful to the Government, related Ministries, development partners and project managers and contractors in road project initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to ensure success.

iii.

This study has generated a new framework for further research pertaining to HR practices and project performance relationships. Further research can be conducted basing on the findings of this study to enhance project performance in any other filed other than road construction.

1.8

Conceptual Framework

Competence
Skills Knowledge Attitude

Negotiation
Problem identification Solution appraisal Respect for all persons

Project performance
Efficiency Effectiveness

Leadership
Vision Resource management and mobilisation Motivation & Inspiration

CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter presents a review what previous scholars have written about Human resource competences, leadership, negotiation and project performance. The presentation in this chapter is guided by the objectives of this study. 2.0 OPINIONS AND IDEAS OF EXPERTS

A project can be characterized by a few elements such as objectivity as it is definable with result, output or product, complexity with normally interrelated activities and large number of different tasks, unique where it is usually a one-off assignment, uncertainty as it has element of risk, temporary with its well defined beginning and end and lastly operate in a life cycle as emphasis and resource needs change during the life of the project (Munns & Bjeirmi, 1996). A projects success therefore is defined by how the project manage balances the technical and human aspects to deliver expected products within the specified time frame and budget. On the other hand, project management is defined as the process of controlling the achievement of the project objectives, using the existing organizational structures and resources and managing the project by applying a collection of tools and techniques without interrupting the routine operation of a company (Munns & Bjeirmi, 1996). Some of the functions of project management are defining the work requirement, allocating resource needs, planning the execution of work required, monitoring the progress of the work and taking action to unexpected events that took place. Roepke, Agarwal, & Ferratt (2000) contend that leadership transcends all other organizational factors. While Shore (2005) asserts that Leadership affects corporate culture, project culture, project strategy, and project team commitment and affects business process reengineering, systems design and development, software selection, implementation, and maintenance; without appropriate HR competence, the risk of project failure increases. A study by Hauschildt et al. (2000) concluded that a projects technical components make up only 50% of the challenge of executing and completing a project. The authors further contended that the other 50% of the challenge involved the organizational and human aspects of leadership and team building/collaboration, with the majority of the human element being
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ascribed to leadership. Srica (2008) argued that since the late 1990s project management has experienced a shift towards a stronger emphasis and focus on the organizational and human aspects of project work. This is in comparison to the past, where the emphasis was more on the technical aspects of project accomplishment. The emphasis placed on leadership and human relations contributed to increased efficiency in addressing the problems encountered in the project process (Johnson, 1999). The development of better processes and the organizing of teams more effectively resulted from an increased emphasis on leadership and human resources (Kloppenborg & Opfer, 2002). Leadership and competence therefore constitute project management culture. Many project management processes and techniques (planning, scheduling, control, and automated tools) exist for tracking and measuring the technical elements of projects. The processes and methods do not, generally, track or measure human elements of managing people such as communication, building relationships, resolving conflict, and team engagement or motivation (Kloppenborg & Opfer, 2002). It is believed that leadership competencies are required to enable project management to effectively use human resource skills to improve project outcomes (Schmid & Adams, 2008). Different scholars measure project success and failure in different ways: according to Cleland (1964; Thilmany 2004), determination of a successful project outcome is measured by the extent to which the project accomplished complex endeavours that met a specific set of objectives within the constraints of resources, time, and performance objectives. Indications of successful project outcomes are the accomplishment of the specific objectives of the project as defined by the project stakeholders and are dependent on the combined efforts of project management and the project team (Johnson, 1999). Essential to the successful outcome of projects are the project manager and the project team (Berg & Karlsen, 2007; Blackburn, 2002; Cleland, 2004; Kerzner, 2006). The project manager is responsible for leading the project team towards achieving the desired outcome of the project (Cleland, 2004; Kerzner, 2006). The role of project manager combines human and technological resources in a dynamic, temporary organization structured to deliver results that include social as well as technological aspects (Blackburn, 2002). Leadership in a project environment requires the project manager to integrate and lead the work of the project team (Berg& Karlsen, 2007). Project management is not an isolated activity, but rather a team

effort (Johnson, 1999). A team requires leadership in order to function effectively (Cathcart & Samovar, 1992). Kumar (2000), in a study of reengineering projects, found that failure was primarily linked to the organizational context and could be attributed to the lack of leadership, organizational culture, the lack of integration, and the lack of commitment by senior management. 2.1 2.1.1 To evaluate levels of competences among road construction practitioners Competence

Competent comes from the Latin root competere which means to be suitable. In todays workplace, the term competent is generally used to describe someone who is sufficiently skilled to perform a specified task or to fill a defined position; a competent physician, a competent salesperson, a competent plumber. Increasingly, organisations are interested in assessing the competence of individuals in order to guide employment and development decisions, (GAPPS, 2007). Global Alliance for Project Performance standard outlines are two major approaches to defining and assessing competence: i. Attribute based wherein personal attributes such as knowledge, skills, and other characteristics are identified and assessed. Competence is inferred based on the presence of the necessary attributes. ii. Performance based wherein work outcomes and performance levels are identified and assessed. Competence is a complex subject that is impacted by many variables, for example the varying roles assumed by team members and leaders and the impact of factors that affect these roles. This complexity could explain the absence of a comprehensive understanding of what constitutes competences (Skipper & Bell, 2006). Boyatzis, (1982) defines competence as an underlying characteristic of an employee (i.e., a motive, trait, skill, aspects of ones self-image, social role, or a body of knowledge) which results in effective and/or superior performance. It is important to note that competence has levels. Two different employees could be described as competent and yet their levels of competence vary. Essential Competencies serve as the foundation of knowledge and skills needed by everyone. (Spencer et al., 1990). These can be developed through training and are relatively easy to identify. Competences can also be developed through experience; doing the same job over and over again can also make someone competent in that job to some level.

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The Editor of Public HR (April 1999) noted that: Competencies can offer [HR practitioners] an opportunity to define excellence - and, even more importantly, demonstrate the value they bring to their organizations. Ultimately, HR practitioners who can demonstrate their value to their organizations will inevitably be rewarded with that ever-elusive seat at the table. Janice (March 1999), asserted that HR professionals in all sectors are in a state of transition. Narrowly focused specialists are being asked to grow into the new generalists roles in the evolving workplace. She went on to note, In addition to the technical competencies that already are required, the HR generalists of the future will have to have all the skills necessary to play an active role in charting the strategic direction of our agencies. Historically project managers have been considered competent if they understood the triple parameters of cost, schedule, and technical performance. Currently, the role of a project manager requires competence in project management, the demonstrated ability to perform, in three general areas Technical, Contextual, and Behavioral, (Ireland, 2008, p2). Ireland explains these areas: i. Technical competence for a project manager entails the ability to manage cost, schedule, and technical objectives through a series of planned actions and adjust the course of actions when there are circumstances that do not conform to the plan. ii. Contextual competence for a project manager entails an understanding and ability to work within the project environment, which includes the parent organization or organizations that have project oversight. iii. Behavioral competence for a project manager is exhibiting those social and attitudinal attributes that promote harmony within the project team and a smooth working relationship with project stakeholders. 2.1.2 Competence and project performance

Rubin and Seeling (2003) investigated the relationship of the project managers experience on the projects success or failure. The findings indicate that a project managers previous experience had a minimal impact on the projects performance. The size of the previously managed projects did not influence the managers performance. A project Managers may not have an impact on the performance of a given project simply because every project is unique.

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This implies that for a project manager to influence the success of a project, he needs the exhibit the essential competences other than the experience. Thite (2000) on the other hand asserts that in the project environment, possessing management skills is not sufficient to be successful for Project management practices require that managers have the due competence, experience and leadership skills to see a project through. Achieving successful project outcomes require the combination of technical and Human resource competencies. 2.2 2.2.1 To assess the styles of leadership among road construction practitioners Leadership

Leadership is a dynamic relationship based on mutual influence and common purpose between leaders and collaborators in which both are moved to higher levels of motivation and moral development as they influence others through action to accomplish an objective (Freiberg & Freiberg, 1996, p. 298). Bass (1990) suggested that leadership was the ability to influence those you are leading towards the achievement of goals and objectives. Pierce & Newstrom (2006) defined a leader as one who exercised intentional authority over one or more other individuals, in an effort to guide actions towards the accomplishment of some mutual goal; such a goal requires mutually supporting actions among members of the group. An organizational setting requires the leader to interact with followers on a regular basis while listening and directing them towards success (Lapp, 1999). Dvir et al., (2002) suggests that good leaders should be trusted by their followers for whom they provide a sense of autonomy. The leader should be consistent with decision making for followers as well as the overall good of the organization. The leader should also be able to envision potential problems and pitfalls before they happen (Gehring, 2007). Hackman & Johnson (2000) believed that to be effective the leader ought to be able to balance many variables while mobilizing the organizations resources in pursuit of a common objective. They further alleged that achieving such objectives required the unification of purpose for both leader and followers. To achieve balance does not necessarily rely on the development of any particular trait or style of leadership but more on the leaders ability to
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analyze the situation and adopt a leadership approach that mobilizes followers (Winston, 1997). Geoghegan and Dulewicz in their article, Do Project Managers Leadership Competencies Contribute to Project Success? published in the project management journal (Vol. 39, No. 4, 586, 2008)expounded on the ideas of Dulewicz and Higgs (2005) and proposed a new model for leadership, which recognized that leadership encompasses competences and personal characteristics, and since organizations characteristics, such as culture, vary, different competence profiles are appropriate in different circumstance. There is therefore no one size fits all in leadership. The leadership competences required to ensure success of a given project will always vary according to the circumstances and nature of the project. 2.2.2 Leadership and project performance

Thompson (2010) in his study, Servant-Leadership: An Effective Model for Project Management reviewed the works of Ravichandran (2000); Reeser (1999); Pinto & Trailer (1998) and observed that the general observation is that most project managers come from technical backgrounds and exhibit an engineering mentality with limited consideration for leadership skills. With the absence of the proper leadership skills needed for building a network of balanced interpersonal relations, avoiding unnecessary control, destructive conflict and excessive bureaucracy the complex and highly standardized project management approaches of plans, standards, methodologies, or software are unlikely to achieve successful project outcomes. Construction projects therefore do not necessarily have to be managed by engineers for there is a difference between the technical competence and leadership capacity. The engineers may have the technical competences while lacking the leadership skills required leading the project to success. Tornatzky & Fleischer (1990) found that projects failed to achieve successful results because of three factors. The factors are the organizational background, the external environment, and the technological framework. Failure in the organizational context can be attributed to leadership, corporate culture, corporate project knowledge base, and top level support. Failure in the external environment is linked to competitors, suppliers, customers, vendors, government, and education. Failure in the technological framework can be hardware, software, and telecommunications or a combination of the three areas. Leadership run through all the three factors. A good leader will be to strike a balance in a project

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environment to ensure that all these factors are taken care of; only then can the project achieve its goals. Hauschildt et al. (2000) reported that the success of a project depended more on human factors, such as project leadership, top management support, and project team, rather than on technical factors. They also found that the human factors increased in importance as projects increased in complexity, risk, and innovation. The researchers found that the critical role of the project manager's leadership ability had a direct correlation to project outcomes. 2.3 2.3.1 To determine levels of negotiation among road construction practitioners Negotiation

Negotiation can be defined as the attempt to reach a result by discussion acceptable to both parties. This does not mean that both parties are particularly happy with the outcome, but whatever compromise has been agreed, business, or relationship between the parties can continue, (Lester, 2006). Lester adds that however a project is well managed, it inevitable that soon or later a disagreement will arise between two or more parties, be they the stakeholders or members of the same project team. The ideal negotiation should always end in a win-win situation where all parties are satisfied that their main goals have been met.

Matlon, (2008) argues that Negotiation is an invaluable skill to have in your business continuity management toolkit. He emphasized the importance of taking the time to learn different negotiation skills, tactics and practice through role-play or other means for this enhances increased effectiveness in all of communications. Matlon adds that skilled negotiators are fantastic listeners, question askers, and are adept at finding alternative solutions. Successful negotiations arise when one has taken the time to plan and prepare, keep a win-win mentality, and understand what both sides are bargaining for. Road construction project involve a range of stakeholders with varying interests. This is what makes negotiation an essential element in such projects. Interests of different stakeholders must be effectively communicated and it through negotiation that these interests are reconciled to set a common goal. Project Managers should take an active role in negotiating the project scope, the schedule, the budget and the personnel resources for an engagement. Project Managers can have the most
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influence in negotiating when they are involved early, at the inception and scope definition phases of the project lifecycle. At this point, they have more control over the commitments that are made to the client regarding scope and schedule, and are in a better position to acquire the needed personnel resources at a reasonable cost, (Hartley, 2006). He adds that when they are already committed to a schedule and under time pressures to deliver, they can be at a disadvantage in negotiating. Greater project success comes if they can set the client expectations and allow some flexibility for the inevitable change requests. The negotiation leverage of the Project Manager diminishes as the project delivery work begins and other personnel are deployed on other projects. The time to negotiate for needed resources is before commitments are made to the client 2.3.2 Negotiation and project performance

Without skill in negotiation, the project vision is rarely fulfilled. Too much is promised or too little is delivered. The unique nature of projects involves a constant stream of negotiation. Often, we negotiate the sale of something that doesnt exist, the completed project, and then must negotiate with a wide range of others to make it happen. Negotiating is an hourly event on projects. Project personnel can switch from buying to selling many times in a day. On one side, we negotiate the definition of scope, results, and performance for the project and then we negotiate the means of fulfilling that contract, (Peters &company, 2001). For a project to succeed, good negotiation is therefore essential. Thompson et al. (1990) in their article Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes observed that Planning and change management regarding scope, resources, scheduling, budgeting, to mention but a few can benefit from good negotiating skills. Since these are the key defining elements of project success, good negotiation will therefore have a positive impact on project success. Negotiation is one potential process to make construction projects succeed or fail, (Panja, 2009). Panja argued that negotiation between project participants is the first step to do businesses even construction industry, and it can take place all stages of construction projects. In negotiation process, the characters of project participants can affect to their behaviour which can lead to resolve conflicts and outcome with satisfaction. Thus the ability of project participants for negotiating effectively is one essential success or failure. Weakness of negotiation can also affect to sizeable loss not only negotiators needs but also affect to
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other sides involved. Notwithstanding, both the behaviour of negotiation, negotiation issues and outcomes are valuable for practices and academics. 2.4. Project Performance

One focus of project management research has been on establishing the attributes of effective project performance and the factors that facilitate effective project performance. Traditionally, project performance had been defined in terms of meeting cost, time and quality criteria. Tukel and Rom (2002) reported an empirical study conducted in the USA to determine the performance measures project managers commonly used to evaluate the success of their projects. Specifically, they identified the project managers orientation toward using internal and/or customer driven measures of performance. In general, they found that the project managers primary measure is quality and their most important objective is meeting customer needs. According to Kerzner (2000), project performance was defined as the completion of an activity within the constraints of cost, time, and performance. This definition of excellent performance has been modified to include completion within budgeted cost, within the allocated time period, at the proper specification level and the customers satisfaction. 2.4.1 Project performance Criteria The very famous and well-known Golden Triangle or Iron Triangle, have been traditionally used as criteria to measure project success. This Golden Triangle refers to the basic criteria of cost, time and quality. Project success will be accorded if it is completed within the budgeted cost, implemented on time and to quality parameters requested. However, these criteria have received many critics for being inadequate in determining project success, customer opinion and contact was minimal and no long term follow-up effort was established. Over the time, various attempts have been made either to add more dimensions to the basic criteria or to abstract to fewer dimensions (Atkinson, 1999). Later it is observed that other researchers try to extend the measurement of process to include perception from the client, this is not surprising as this is an era where the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) has begun to evolve where customer satisfaction is one the most important element to measure performance. In an effort by Kerzner (1998) in his book, In Search of Excellence in Project Management, he identified 5 criteria that can be used to measure project success. The criteria are completed in time, within budget, completed at the
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desired level of quality, accepted by the customer and resulted in customers allowing the contractor to use them as a reference (Kerzner, 1998: p. 25). Further exploration through the literature reveal that researchers were now extending the measurement of project success to the after delivery stage in contrast to the early literature where emphasis was given to measurement criteria on the project management stage. One of the researchers, Atkinson (1999) in his study extended the measurement of project success beyond the Iron Triangle; he proposed a new way to consider project success criteria called the Square Route. The three additional success criteria categories are the information system which looks into the maintainability, reliability, validity and the quality of the information used, benefits as perceived in the organization which can be measured in terms of improved efficiency, effectiveness, increased profits, organizational learning and lastly benefits or effectiveness of the project as perceived by the stakeholder community such as satisfaction of users, social and environmental impact and personal development, to name a few. The elements under these three new criteria categories are not exhaustive and can be added whenever an appropriate and applicable element is identified to be deemed related to the individual project being measured. The article written by Lim and Mohamed (1999) proposes to classify project success into two categories: the macro and micro viewpoints. The macro viewpoint of project success is determined by two criteria which are completion and satisfaction whereas the completion criterion alone is sufficient to determine the micro viewpoint of project success. The macro viewpoint of project success will address question like: Is the original project concept achieved? If it is then the project is considered to be successful and vice versa. This can only be known at the operational phase of the project and the achievement depends on the users or stakeholders. The criteria for measuring project success must be established at the beginning of the project, otherwise team members and project leader will find themselves heading into different directions and the result of the project will not be successfully determined due to difference in perception, emphasis and objectives (Baccarini 1999). Four success dimensions have been classified by Shenhar (1997). The first dimension is the efficiency which is not limited by the dimension of time, cost and quality but can be extended to number of engineering changes prior final design release, production efficiency and yield, efficiency of purchase order and safety measures. Organizations need to be cautious as not to limit the measurement of success
17

using efficiency measures as these efficiency measures are basically measuring project success in the implementation success and do not represent the total success of the project. The second dimension is the impact on the customer or end user followed by the third dimension which is impact on the organization. Lastly the success of the project need to be measured by the way it helps the organization to move and prepare for the future. Questions like does the project explore new opportunities for further markets, ideas, innovations and products? Does the project management build new skills, develop new technologies and core competencies need to be addressed before determining the success of the project. 2.4.2 Factors Contributing to Project Success

Developing or identification of success factors has dominated the field of project management from 1980s to 2000. Many researchers have tried to a certain extent to identify success factor for project management. These include Kerzner (1987), Pinto and Slevin (1987), Pinto, Slevin and Dennis (1989), Clarke (1999), Cooke Davis (2002) and Muller (2003). The following paragraphs are dedicated in reviewing the main contributors in setting the success Pintos Model of Ten Critical Success Factors of the Project Management Profile Pinto and others have published a number of articles from 1987-1990 on critical success factors and has established a widely known accepted 10 critical success factors. Pinto used a fifty-item instrument called Project management Profile (P.I.P) to measure a projects score on each of the ten factors in comparison to over 400 projects studied. The 10 critical success factors identified by Pinto (1986) are listed as follows: 1) 2) Project mission initial clarity of goals and general direction Top management support willingness of top management to provide the necessary resources and authority of power for project success 3) Project schedule/plans detailed specification of the individual action steps required for project management 4) Client consultation communication and consultation with, and active listening to all affected parties 5) Personnel recruitment, selection and training of the necessary personnel for the project team
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6)

Technical tasks availability of the required technology and expertise to accomplish the specific technical action steps

7) 8)

Client acceptance the act of selling the final project to its intended users Monitoring and feedback timely provision of comprehensive control information at each stage in the implementation process

9)

Communication provision of an appropriate network and necessary data to all key actors in the project management

10)

Trouble shooting ability to handle unexpected crises and deviations from plan

The first seven factors can be laid out on a sequential critical path while the remaining three factors which are monitoring and feedback, communication and troubleshooting must be necessarily present at each point in the implementation process. As the project moves along its life cycle, different factors are emphasized. The first three factors (mission, top management support and schedule) are related to the early planning phase of project management whereas the other seven are concerned with the actual execution stage of the project life cycle. As both strategic and tactics are essential for successful project management, their importance shifts as the projects moves through its life cycle. Strategic issues are most important at the beginning and tactical issues gain in importance toward the end. It is vital that a successful project manager/leader must be able to make transition between strategic and tactical considerations as the project moves forward. In addition, Pinto also stresses the importance for both project team and clients to perform regular assessments to determine the health of the project and to involve team members in early planning and conceptual meetings. By doing so it can reinforces the goals of clients in the mind of the project team as well to obtain clients perceptions on the ability of the project to satisfy their expectation besides influencing team members to achieve a common project goal. Regular and continuous communication is essential to ensure the team is moving in one common direction and members are aware of transition and also to emphasize the importance of joint effort in making the project a successful one. Based on Pinto empirical research conducted in 1986 where 418 responses were obtained from a group of project managers in multiple industries, the ten factors identified explained 63.3% of the total variance in the dependent variable which is project success and 7 factors with p-values less than 0.05 were obtained.
19

2.5

Summary

Previous scholars have extensively studied competence, leadership, negotiation and project performance. Despite the differences in the opinions of different scholars in the area of projects management, the importance of competence, leadership and negotiation in determining the success of a project is undisputed. The Chaos reports by the Standish Group (1994, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009) suggested that problems related to successful project outcomes and inevitably the solution to achieving project objectives that meet stakeholders expectations, originates with people in HR roles and the procedures adopted by project managers. A research study by Cambridge Universitys School of Business and Economics concluded that 80% of projects failed because of poor HR management (Zhang & Faerman, 2007). The findings further suggested that poor leadership skills reflected limited or no teamwork, inadequate communication, and an inability to resolve conflicts as well as other human related inefficiencies. Notwithstanding the validity and importance of previous research in relation to competence, leadership, negotiation and project performance, there is still limited research on the significant effect of a combination of these variables on road project performance specifically in Uganda. This study therefore seeks to fill this gap in the body of project management knowledge.

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CHAPTER THREE Research Methodology 3.0 Introduction This chapter presents the methods and techniques that were used in conducting this research. It describes in detail the data sources, study design, study population, geographical and subject scope of the study, sample size and design, data collection and analysis, ethical considerations during the study and the limitations/ challenges of the study. 3.1 Research Design

The study was both quantitative and qualitative descriptive inquiry that examined whether a relationship exists between competence, leadership, negotiation and successful project outcomes. The study employed cross- sectional corelational survey design. It was cross sectional in as far as data was collected from roads construction projects in the selected districts. It was corelational survey in that questionnaires were administered at once and later collected for cleaning, processing and analysis; the results were thus correlated in regard to the cause variable (competence, leadership and negotiation) and effect variable( project performance). A quantitative descriptive approach was chosen because it allows for the exploration of relationships between variables through statistical treatment of data (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2007; Swanson & Holton, 2005). 3.2 Study Population

The study population was composed of 815 stakeholders in road construction projects. These included people from the district administration, staff from UNRA, Ministry of works, the contractors and local opinion leaders. This population was deemed appropriate to reduce the
21

margin of errors since a bigger population would include people who practically had no knowledge of project management and yet the subject under investigation required that a respondent has some knowledge of project management and has had a relationship with the initiation and implementation of any road construction project. 3.3 Sample size and design

Appropriate minimum samples of respondents were drawn randomly. The sample frame comprised of key stakeholders of the. The sample size was based on Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table for determining the sample size for any population of a definite size; thus shown below: Category administration Contractors Practitioners Opinion leaders Total Target population 10 5 500 300 815 Sample size 10 5 217 169 401

3.4

Data Collection

Data was collected using non standardized self administered questionnaires. Section one asked questions regarding the demographics characteristics of respondents. Section two used Likert scaled questions that sought to identify the levels of competence among practitioners in road construction. Sections three sought to identify the leadership styles among road construction practitioners the negotiation skills possessed by practitioners in road construction. The last section of the questionnaires sought to identify the various views of practitioners on project performance and the relationship among competence, leadership, negotiation and project performance. 3.5 i. RESEARCH PROCEDURE Initial preparation for the study involved reviewing related literature, designing the questionnaires, identifying the target groups to provide information, identifying the appropriate samples and seeking the introduction letter from the university authorities.
ii.

This study was conducted in four stages and these are:

After the initial preparations, the researcher moved to the field to collect data. This involved giving the questionnaires to the targeted respondents and explaining
22

important issues about the questionnaire and negotiating the time when the questionnaires would be collected. The questionnaires were self administered and so the researcher collected the filled questionnaires from the respondents later.
iii.

With due respect to the time agreed upon with each respondent, the researcher collected the questionnaires and when all were collected, the data was cleaned, organised and entered into the computer for analysis.

iv.

After the analysis, the researcher interpreted the results and incorporated them in the final report.

3.6

Ethical Considerations

The Belmont Report (1979) outlines three basic principles relevant to the ethics of research involving human subjects, namely respect of persons, beneficence, and justice. In conducting this research great care was taken to understand and be familiar with any and all of the regulations associated with the fields of the study. It was extremely important to protect the rights of the participants. Cooper & Schindler (2003) argued that research must be designed so that a respondent does not suffer physical harm, discomfort, pain, embarrassment, or loss of privacy. Informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity and, the participants right to privacy are some of the measures that were used to ensure that the participant, respondent or subject in this research were treated with the principles of respect of person, beneficence, and justice. 3.7 Data analysis and interpretation

Data collected from the respondents was analysed using SPSS 12.0 in which cross tabulation of variables, correlations between the variables and regression of the variables was done. The level of assessment of the competence of the practitioners, Leadership styles and negeotiation levels were all analysed using frequency and percentage distribution while the relationship among competence, leadership and negotiation and project performance was analysed using Pearson Corelational Coefficient and the regression model was used to analyze the degree to which these three variables influence project performance. 3.8
I.

Limitations of the Research Some respondents, especially those in higher positions were not ready to provide information related with their project performance.
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The researcher while conducting this study encountered the following challenges:

To overcome this challenge, the researcher took the time to explain in detail the purpose of the study so that they understood it as a purely academic research and nothing more. The researcher also assured respondents who had hesitations that any information provided would be confidential. II. Some respondents were only ready to provide information on condition that the researcher paid them for the information. To overcome this challenge, the researcher tried to dialogue with such respondents explaining that the research was purely academic and as a student, involving money in conducting the study would make it almost impossible. III. Other respondents did not understand the questionnaire and so some left it half filled while other filled it but with irrelevant information. Some respondents took the initiative to contact the researcher for guidance and the researcher carefully guided the respondents without biasing their point of view. Some questionnaires were however collected by the researcher and found with irrelevant information. To prevent them from distorting the results, such questionnaires were excluded from the others during the cleaning process.

CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

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4.0

Introduction

This chapter contain the findings of the researcher after analyzing the data that was collected. Specifically, this presentation was guided by the following research objectives: To evaluate levels of competences among road construction practitioners To assess the styles of leadership among road construction practitioners To determine levels of negotiation among road construction practitioners To establish the relationship among leadership, negotiation and competence and project performance 4.1 4.1.1 Background Information of respondents Project Engaged With

The results in the table below indicate the nature of the Project that the respondents were engaged with Table 1: Project Engaged With Among Respondents

Frequenc Va...lid y Engineering Construction Information Technology Valid Enterprise Resource Planning Other Total 130 147 40 41 16 401 Percent 32.4 37 10 10.2 6.7 4 100.0

Cumulative Percent 32.4 69.4 79.4 89.6 96.3 100

Infrastructure Design & Development 27

4.1.2

Approximate the size of project teams

The results in the table below indicate the size of the project teams that respondents had worked with in the projects they were engaged in.

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Table 2

Approximate the size of project teams

Frequenc y Less than 5 05 10 Vali d 11 20 21 50 51 100 Over 100 Total 57 100 70 97 15 61 401

Valid Percent % 14 25 18 24 4 15 100

Cumulative Percent 14.2 39.2 57.2 81.4 85.5 100

4.1.3

Capacity in which Respondents Performed

The results in the table below show the various capacities in which the respondents performed when the participated in project implementation. Table 3 Capacity in which Respondents Performed

26

Frequenc Valid y Project Manager Project Coordinator Project Team Member Vali Customer/ User d Advisor Administrative Support Other Total 66 21 198 53 21 21 21 401 Percent 16.5 5.2 49.4 13.2 5.2 5.2 5.2 100.0

Cumulative Percent 16.5 21.7 71.1 84.3 89.5 94.7 100.0

4.1.4

Age Group and Gender Distribution

The gender and age group of the respondents were presented as indicated in the table below using a cross tabulation. Table 4: Age Group and Gender Distribution

Gender Male Age 21 - 30 yrs Count

27

Female 48

Total 150

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Column % Group 31 - 40 yrs 41 - 50 yrs Count Column % Count Column % Count Total Sample %

42.8% 56 23.5% 80 33.6% 238 59.4%

29.4% 37.4% 89 26 163 40.6% 145 106 401 100.0 % 54.6% 36.2% 15.9% 26.4%

4.1.5

Participation in the implementation of projects and Gender Distribution

The table below show results of the number of respondents who had ever participated in project implementation and their gender and those who had not participated in project implementation

Table 5

Participation in the implementation of projects and Gender Distribution

Gender Male
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Female

Total

Ever in

participated the

Yes No

Count Column % Count Column % Count Sample %

304 100.0%

87 10

391 10

89.6% 97.5% 10.3% 2.5%

implementation of projects Total

304 75.8%

97

401

24.2% 100.0%

4.1.6

Total years of work experience and Human resource competence

The results in the table below indicate the respondents who had received formal human resource training before assuming their current jobs and those who had not alongside their work experience.

Table 6

Total years of work experience and Human resource competence training

before assuming present role Distribution

Received formal Human resource present role Yes Total years work experience Less than 2 25 6 10 Count Column % Count Column % Count Column %
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competence

training before assuming Total No 5 2.9% 86 50.5% 50 29.4% 215 53.6% 96 23.9% 57 14.2%

210 90.9% 10 4.3% 7 3.0%

11 20

Count Column % Count

4 1.7% 231 57.6%

29 17% 170 42.3%

33 8.2% 401 100.0 %

Total

Sample %

4.1.7

Total years of work experience and Leadership Training

The results in the table below indicate the respondents who had received formal leadership training before assuming their current jobs and those who had not alongside their work experience.

Table 7

Total years of work experience and Leadership training before assuming present role Distribution

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Received

formal Total

Leadership training before assuming present role Yes Less than 2 25 6 10 11 20 Count Column % Count Column % Count Column % Count Column % Count Total Sample % 12 9.2% 4 3.0% 111 85.3% 3 2.3% 130 32.4% No 176 64.9% 28 10.3% 50 18.5% 17 6.7% 271 67.6%

188 46.8% 32 7.9% 161 40.1% 20 4.9% 401 100.0 %

Total years work experience

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4.1.8

Present role and Negotiation training

The results in the table below indicate the respondents who had received formal training to enhance their negotiation skills in their current roles and those who had not.

Table 8

Present role and training in negotiation Distribution

Any training in negotiation in present role Yes None leader Present Role Leader Count Column % Count Column % Count Total Sample % 24 82.7% 5 17.2 29 7.2% No 274 73.6% 98 26.3% 372 92.7% 298 46.8% 103 7.9% 401 100.0 % Total

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4.2 4.2.1

Relationship between the variables The Pearson (r) correlation coefficient

This was used to examine the nature of the relationships between the variables. According to this correlation coefficient a positive relationship between two variables X and Y is said to occur if an increment in one of the variables either x or y, brings about an increment in the other variable. On the hand, a negative relationship between the two variable X and Y occurs when an increment in one of the variables leads to a decrease in the other variable.

Table 9

Relationship between the variables Leadershi Project p Performance

Competences Human Resource Competences 1.000 Negotiation HR Leadership Project Performance .115 .294* .533**

Negotiation

1.000 .113 .158 1.000 .433** 1.000

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

. 4.2.2 Regression model Regression analysis was used to examine the degree to which Human Resource Competences, Human resource leadership and Negotiation can influence the Projects Performance. Table 10 Degree to which Human Resource Competences, Human resource leadership and Negotiation influence Projects Performance Unstandardized
33

Standardized

Sig.

Coefficients Model (Constant) Human Resource Competences Negotiation Leadership B -.944 .758 .665 .522 Std. Error 1.968 .221 1.000 .231

Coefficients Beta -.480 .634 .434 .081 .286 3.43 2 2.25 7 .001

.665 .510 .029

Dependent Variable: Project Performance R Square Adjusted R Square 0.367 0.324 F Statistic Sig. 8.50 3 0.00 0

CHAPTER FIVE Discussions 5.0 Introduction

This chapter presents a discussion of the findings as presented in the previous chapter. The percentages are interpreted and discussed to provide a deeper understanding of the findings of this study. 5.1 Table One

The results in table one indicate that most respondents were engaged with the construction projects (37%) while least represented were the respondents engaged in other kinds of projects other than those listed in the table (4.0%). Those engaged in Engineering, Enterprise Resource Planning and Infrastructure Design and Development, comprised 32.4%, 10.2% and 6.7% respectively. Finally respondents engaged in projects related to Information Technology comprised 9.6% of the sample. The research primarily targeted the road construction projects and therefore the higher percentage (37%) that represented the construction projects is justifiable. This does not make the information revealed about other projects irrelevant for all projects share some common characteristics like objectivity, definite start and end point, uniqueness just to mention but a
34

few. Information about this project that some respondents were engaged with therefore enhances the results of this study with regard to road construction projects. 5.2 Table Two

The results in table two indicate that most of the respondents had worked with teams between 5-10 members (25.0%) and just a few in the sample had worked with teams of 51-100 members (4.0%). In most projects the workforce is normally grouped into smaller teams for purposes of building a stronger team spirit, efficient and easy supervision and for motivation purposes. It was found out that the highest percentage of respondents had worked with a team of 5-10 members which suits the criteria described above. A few members had worked with bigger teams for bigger teams are usually hard to supervise and the bigger the team the weaker the team spirit. 5.3 Table Three

Results in table three indicate that 49.4% of the respondents in the sample had performed in projects as project team members. The rest had performed in the capacities of Project coordinator, advisor, administrative support and other capacities not listed; each of these capacities constituted 5.2% of the sample. 16.5% of the sample had performed in the capacity of project manager while 13.2% of the sample had performed in the capacity of user/customer. The biggest number of the sample size used in this study was composed of practitioners and opinion leader while a smaller number was composed of administrators and contractors. It is therefore justifiable that the highest percentage (49.4%) of respondents had performed as project team members. This implies that most of the work on road projects is done by practitioner rather than administrators. 5.4 Table Four

Results in the table four indicate that the majority of the sample were Male, constituting 59.4%% of the sample while females were in the minority, constituting (4.0%) of the sample. Among the males, 42.8% were in the 21 30 year age bracket, only 33.6% of the males were above 40 years old. Generally speaking, most respondents were in either the 21-30 year age

35

bracket or the 31 -40 year age bracket (73.6%). Only 26.4% of the respondents were in the 41- 50 year age bracket. This is justifiable because the years 21-40 are the years when people are active and strong to work in Uganda. Most people finish school when they are in their twenties. Males are mostly preferred in the road construction industry because of the nature of the jobs there. Traditionally those jobs were seen as requiring physical strength which most women do not have of recent however, a number of women are willing to take up such jobs. 5.5 Table Five

The results as in table five indicated that most of the respondents had participated in project implementation (97.5%) and all the male respondents had participated in project implementation before. Only ten females in the sample had not participated in project implementation before (1.9%). The results are as such because the researcher targeted respondents who had some knowledge in projects in order to get reliable results. 5.6 Table six To evaluate levels of competences among road construction practitioners

Table six indicates that most of the respondents in the sample had received formal human resource training before assuming their current roles (57.6%) but 90.1% of these had a working experience of less than two years. Only 9.9% of the respondents who had received formal human resource training had worked for 2 years and above. This implies that the practice of providing employees with formal human resource training before assignment tasks to them has started of recent. Most of the senior workers in the road construction industry were not trained formally in their jobs but they just learnt from on job experience. 5.7 Table Seven To assess the leadership competences among road construction practitioners

The results in table seven indicate that most of the respondents had not received formal leadership training before assuming their present roles (67.6%) and most of these were those juniors who had less than 2 years of work experience (64.9%). Those who had received some
36

formal leadership training accounted for 32.4% of the total sample and the majority of these had an experience of between 6-10 years. The results in table seven imply that there is no practice of training worker in leadership. Just a few people receive the training and this is after some good time of work. There is however a range of a range of leadership roles in road projects such as team leaders, supervisors, administration and so forth. The general implication of this is that most people lead naturally; they are guided by their natural abilities to lead.

5.8

Table Eight To determine levels of negotiation among road construction practitioners

Results in table eight show that the majority of the respondents had not received any formal training in their present roles to enhance their negotiation skills (92.7%); only 7.2% of the sample had received some formal training to enhance their negotiation skills. This implies that negotiation has not been given taken as an important factor that can affect project performance. Most practitioners in road construction actually use their natural skills to negotiate and those they have learnt from experience. 5.9.0 To establish the relationship among leadership, negotiation and competence and project performance This section presents an interpretation of the relationships among the variables as presented in tables Nine and Ten 5.9.1 Table Nine Assessing the relationship between competence and project performance

37

The researcher observed a positive and significant relationship between the Human Resource competences and project performance (r = .533**, p<.01). This implies that a project will most likely perform better in terms of time scope, value for money and quality if manned by persons with excellent communication and management skills; the project managers ability to motivate and energize his/her team, adapt to changes along the way and make appropriate decisions immediately, just to mention a few among other competences, will therefore significantly improve the projects performance. This result also implies that projects manned by an unskilled human resource will most likely perform poorly in terms of planned schedules, budget management and quality of the end product.

5.9.2

Table Nine

Assessing the relationship between leadership and projects performance The researcher also observed that leadership and project performance are positively related (r = .433**, p<.01). The Implication of this relationship is that good leadership has a positive impact on project performance. If a project manager has good leadership qualities and leads his/her team in a style that energizes them, involves everyone in decision making, articulates roles for every team member and appraises member for the good work done then the project will perform better in terms of delivering a product/service that meets end users requirements, effective scope management, schedule and budget management and satisfaction of stakeholders objectives. The reverse is true as well, that is, a project will perform poorly if it is manned by leader who exhibit inadequate Human resource leadership qualities. 5.9.3 Table Nine

Determining the relationship between negotiation and project performance

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Results from the study revealed that Negotiation was not significantly related to project performance. (r = .158, p>.05). In other words, good negotiation is not necessarily a guarantee that there will be good project performance. This implies that there can be instances when there is good negotiation and yet the project does not perform any better in terms of time scope, value for money and quality. Similarly good negotiation may sometimes, when combined with other factors such as adequate Human resource competences and Human resource leadership, lead to better project performance. Some of the circumstances that led to poor project performance in spite of the good negotiation included political influence especially in Government projects, poor management of funds by project managers, poor selection of project team members (selecting unskilled team members for technical projects) and lack of inadequate project planning skills on the side of project managers.

5.10

Table Ten

Degree to which Human Resource Competences, leadership and Negotiation influence Projects Performance Results show that the Competences, Negotiation and Leadership can predict 32.4% of the changes in Project Performance (Adjusted R Square = .324). The regression model had acceptable levels of significance (sig. <.05). This implies that if the Performance improves by say 1000 units, 324 of these units will be a result of efforts towards the Human Resource Competences, Negotiation and leadership. 5.11 Further findings

Other factors for project failure The researcher observed not most projects in Ugandas construction industry failed not because of gaps in Human resource competences, Human resource leadership or negotiation but rather because of the following factors:
a. Political influence; a good number of respondents indicated that government projects

in construction were failing in terms of time and scope management, value for money
39

and quality because of the political pressures exerted on the project team by political leaders. It was said that some political leaders have selfish interests in some projects and causes them to tamper with the project plans just to make the project serve their interests at the expense of the general public. several example were cited among which was that some of the project budgets fall short not because there as a variation in the bills of quantities quoted but because a portion of the budget was diverted to the pockets of some politicians on claims that they played a big role in securing those contracts and so they deserve some pay.
b. Bureaucracy; it also came out that governments bureaucratic processes negatively

impacted on project performance especially in terms of budget and schedule management. A number of respondents indicated that government takes long to make decisions and implement them and this affects the budgeting process and planning project schedules. Two examples were cited on this: one was that when the bills of quantities are quoted for a given project, the quoting is done according to the market prices. But government takes long to release the funds and sometimes when the funds are released later the market prices have changed already and yet the government does not provide for those changes. Consequently the project managers are forced to manage the projects within the funds available which affect the quality of the end product. Another example is that when government process take long, sometimes the project is put to a standstill until a decision in made by the appropriate authorities, this finally makes it hard for the project team to complete the project on schedule.
c. End user involvement in Planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects; it was

also observed that the end users of project products/services are involved in the monitoring and evaluation of projects. Some respondents mentioned that Ugandas system of planning, monitoring and evaluating projects especially in the road construction industry does not involve the customers. The customers are left out on claims that they are not technical enough and therefore projects are planned, monitored and evaluated by a few people who in most cases do not represent actual view of the customers.

40

CHAPTER SIX Conclusions and Recommendations 6.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the conclusions inferred from the finds of the study and then recommendations of researcher based on the findings. 6.1 6.1.1 Conclusions To evaluate levels of competences among road construction practitioners

The culture of providing workers with training to enhance their competences in their roles has just begun. This is the reason why the highest percentages of those who have received formal human resource training are juniors who have just started working. This implies that Ugandas road construction industry is dominated by a workforce whose competences have not been formally developed through training. Most of the senior officers responsible for initiating, planning, implementing and monitoring road construction projects in Uganda, therefore, mostly rely on their experiences other than the competences they gained through
41

training. Failure of some road projects in Uganda can therefore be attributed to human resource incompetence. 6.1.2 To assess the styles of leadership among road construction practitioners

Ugandas road construction sector is dominated by a belief that leaders are naturally born and leadership skills are gained through experience. There is no culture of training workers in leadership to develop their skills in leadership. The study however found that leadership is a very significant factor that influences project performance. It can therefore be justifiably inferred that incompetence leadership is one factor that has hindered road projects in Uganda from delivering the desired quality. 6.1.3 To determine levels of negotiation among road construction practitioners

The role of negotiation in ensuring successful project performance has been neglected in Ugandas road construction industry. This study found out that the majority of the practitioners in this industry have not undergone any training which could enhance their negotiation skill. Although the finding of the study indicated that the relationship between negotiation and project performance is not a significant one, it still remains an important factor which, if completely neglected, could negatively affect the performance of a road project. This is because the process of constructing or upgrading a road involves a number of stakeholders which makes negotiation important. 6.1.4 To establish the relationship among leadership, negotiation and competence and project performance

Competence, Leadership and negotiation have a very significant effect on the performance of a road project. Under looking any one of these variables can cause serious defects on the outputs of a given road project. For a road project to deliver the desired quality, complete on schedule and within the budget and to satisfy the expectations of all the stakeholders, it has to be manned by a competent human resource, good leaders who are to vision, motivate, resolve conflict and motivate the project team towards the project objectives and all the key stakeholders especially the project managers should have excellent negotiation skills to be able to strike a balance the interests of all stakeholder.
42

In Ugandas road construction projects, these factors have not been given the ideal attention they deserve. Some of the contractors focus on the business aspect of the projects and end up employing entrusting the projects into the hands of an incompetent human resource. This makes the whole process right from the initiation phase to the monitoring and evaluation ineffective and inefficient. The results of such a process are the sub standard roads we have in Uganda and the continued Government expenditure on road repairing and construction. 6.2 Recommendations Government of Uganda should establish a competence based criteria for employment into public offices specifically in the road sector. Public offices should be occupied by those who have the appropriate competences. Major offices in the Ministry of works and Transport, UNRA, URF and other relevant offices should be given to those who not only have experience but who have been formally trained to gain the required skills. Most people who claim to have learnt from experiences still lack in competence because their experiences have developed through the trial and error method which is itself wasteful of resources. There is a standardized way constructing roads and so people only have to be trained to be able to deliver the right quality. On job training is one way to provide the current workforce with required leadership skills while juniors can be taken through the training before assuming their roles. Once the top officials have the appropriate competences, all the processes involved in road construction such as road design, feasibility studies, tendering processes, project monitoring and evaluation will be streamlined this these are usually the drivers of these processes. Government should develop a mechanism of evaluating local contractors in the road sector to before after licensing them to operate. This study has proved that some contractors actually lack in competences and so end up producing shoddy work and other companies just present a competent work force just for winning contracts and thereafter use semi-skilled personnel to man the projects. This indicates incompetence in the monitoring and evaluation systems. A mechanism of evaluating and monitoring these contractors should therefore be established to ensure that all licensed contractors in the road sector actually have the required capacities and abilities to deliver quality products upon completion of projects. These contractors should also be monitored frequently to ensure that quality is at their finger tips in every piece of work done.

43

Government should facilitate the development of a leadership training culture. However much some leadership traits are in-born, training in leadership enhances these traits and increase ones capability of leading. This study has proved that most people hold leadership positions in projects but a minority of these has actually received formal training in leadership. According to the findings of this study, leadership significantly affects project performance and therefore whereas good leadership leads to successful project performance, poor leadership can lead to project failure. As a way to improve on the performance of road projects in Uganda, there is therefore need to make sure that road projects are led by good leaders. One of the ways to achieve this is through training; a culture that good leaders are trained should be established in the road construction industry and this will enhance project performance. On job training is one way to provide the current workforce with required leadership skills while juniors can be taken through the training before assuming their roles. To ensure timely delivery of projects, budget management, long lasting roads and satisfaction of key stakeholders, good negotiation is important. Although good negotiation does not necessarily guarantee project performance, Government of Uganda and all concerned Ministries and bodies need to ensure that road projects are negotiated skillfully. This implies that good negotiators should do the negotiations in order to strike a balance in the interests of all stakeholders. Poor negotiation could lead to problems to do with schedule management, time, and the quality of the end project. All concerned Ministries, organizations and Government bodies should therefore begin to provide their workforce with training in negotiation to enhance their natural skills. This can be done in form of workshops at work, short course designed to suit their needs and sponsoring both senior and junior officers in Universities to do related courses. Ensuring that most of the road project practitioners have good negotiation skill is one way that will enhance the success of road projects in Uganda. The Government of Uganda should refrain from politically interfering with the activities of UNRA and Ministry of Works and Transport. All road projects should be focused on delivering quality roads for sustainable development and so the Government should, though support them, let the mandated bodies do their job. This does not mean that the Government should not supervise, monitor or evaluate road projects but it should just mobilize required funds and any other support and then stick to its supervisory role. This study found that most projects in the road sector fail to deliver as expected because of political influences. Some
44

politicians have at times interfered with these projects thus negatively affecting their schedules, budgets and quality.

45