Principles of Management Application in Building Construction Projects: Perspectives of Project Managers’

Abstract

One of the most crucial factors to consider when setting up and managing organizational activities is the application of management principles. Most of the time, organizational failure is attributed to either as a violation of management principles or an organization's inability to establish this precedent in the running of its day-to-day activities. This paper, therefore, focused on the application of the management principles of Henri Fayol in the management of human resources for construction projects. The study utilized a descriptive design using a survey study and explorative design through a literature search. Relevant literature was reviewed to identify management principles for the design of the questionnaire. The population is the core building professionals working as project managers in a construction site of three tertiary institutions in Bauchi. Forty-five (45) questionnaires were distributed and successfully filled and retrieved. SPSS software was used for the analysis. The study used descriptive statistics and the Kruskal-Wallis test for the analysis. The results show that the majority of the respondents (80 %) acknowledged the importance of these principles to the construction industry in the management of human resources in the construction site. Also, the findings revealed that project managers always used most of these principles in the management of human resources in the construction site. Although, lack of planning and motivation, non-adherence to principles and standards, clashes of interest and corruption revealed as top challenges of its implementation on construction site. The finding concludes that the more the respondent works longer on construction sites, the higher the application of these principles in managing human resources on sites.