Influence of Project Planning Processes on Construction Project Success in Nigeria

The success or failure of any construction project begins from the planning stage. Thus, the aim of this study investigates the influence of 19 project planning processes on construction project success measured by project efficiency and project effectiveness and also identify the most critical planning processes which have the highest influence on construction project success in Nigeria. In this study, a structured questionnaire was developed by using Likert scale and applied on 60 respondents. A total of three organizations in the Federal Capital Territory were surveyed. Construction project success acts as independent variable while project planning processes as dependent one. The method used for the research is quantitative and applied survey instrument for data collection. For data analysis purpose, SPSS is used for descriptive statistics. The results have shown that Creation of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) or Gantt Chart, Project Schedule Network, Determine Budget and Quality Management Plan have the highest awareness and usage by the selected firms and WBS has been found to be the most significant planning process. Additionally, the correlation between total level of planning and project success rho (60) = -.493 with p=.032, and between total level of planning and the efficiency component of project success rho(60) =- .618 with p=.005, were statistically significant , given ɑ = .05 (two tailed) while the correlation between total level of planning and the effectiveness component of project success was not statistically significant. Overall, an increasing awareness of project planning processes was observed and that has also led to the success of construction projects. The findings of this research therefore signify the necessity of frequent use of some other project planning processes like risk management plan, activity resource requirements in other to see better performance of construction projects. Continuous development seminars and trainings in project management should also be organized for all professionals in the sector both in private and government organizations. Keywords: project planning processes, project success, construction projects. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-9-05 Publication date: March 31 st 2020


Introduction
Construction Projects have a major role in the economy of many countries and especially in developing countries. According to Olawale & Sun (2010), the construction industry contributes to the GDP and employment rate of many nations and for this reason, it is considered vital for the economic development of any nation. According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), economic growth in 2018 was driven by the non-oil sector, principally the construction and real estate sectors, which include cement and wood manufacturing. In this regard, the Nigerian federal government has earmarked about 30% of its 2018 budget on infrastructure projects. The capital expenditure has provided a stimulus for the construction industry and gear toward housing development (Nigeria Construction Equipment, 2018). Ameh and Odusami (2010) stated that construction industry in Nigeria comprises a group of heterogeneous and fragmented firms and, within firms, there is often a great diversity of activities. In addition, they added that a large construction company may be engaged in activities ranging from general building and civil engineering to material manufacturing, property development, and trade specialization. According to Menches, Hanna, Nordheim & Russel (2008), performance of any construction project involves numerous processes, with various permutations of stakeholders, typically including procurement, design, planning, execution and management of diverse tasks, control, site management and project closeout. Thus, the success of any project is measured by its end time, within the budget cost and meets the planned performance based on the initial plan. Hence, planning has an important role on the project success.

Statement of the Research Problem
Despite the efforts by all players in the construction industry, many construction projects in Nigeria and generally in the region run a high-risk poor performance by being well over budget and significantly late. The construction industry generally has poor planning and poor schedule performance. While some degree of poor planning and time schedule performance is inevitable in construction projects, it is possible to improve the project planning processes and techniques to minimize their negative impact thus improve the project performance.
There are several activities to be executed to achieve the planning stage entirely and each of these activities has different contributions to make for the project's success. These activities require significant time and effort of customer satisfaction and the overall project performance.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework
However, the structure of Nigerian construction industry is very complex in that it has a wide range of different types of clients and contractors (Adamu & Kolawole, 2011). The professionals in the industry are group of individuals often assembled into temporary and functional teams which include; architects, engineers, estate surveyors, project managers, quantity surveyors (Mudi et al., 2015). They added that this group of professionals is expected to possess the relevant skills, knowledge, tools and techniques to achieve the project goals. According to Idiake & Bala (2012), in Nigeria the construction companies are categorized on the scope of operation, ownership and management control. Trading Economics (2019)  However, in construction projects we make a lot of decisions in the planning phase. Most are critical and can cause the project to be successful or to fail. According to Parth (2013), decision-making is critical to being successful as a project manager and it is something we do on a daily basis as we juggle schedule, resources, risks, quality, and other factors. He also added that the academic world has taught for many years that decision-making should be rational, looking at all possible facts and logically arriving at the best solution. Therefore, decision rationality, as expressed in decision theory, economics and finance, has contaminated the conceptual underpinnings of many practical tools for project selection, organization, contact design, and activity planning (Garvin and Ford, 2012). From this perspective, project planning is a series of decision moments, in which planners choose between alternative projects or output parameters; designing a contract is allocating responsibilities and risks between parties given the uncertainties and means of control that characterize its object (von Branconi and Loch, 2004). And operational planning, guided by tools such as work breakdown structure, is a consistent programming of activities, given their anticipated length, dependencies and uncertainties.

Empirical Review
While planning typically is a fraction of overall project effort, it has a disproportionate impact on project success. Zwickau (2009) studied the contribution of the PMBOK® Guide's nine knowledge areas to project success. He reported that the knowledge areas related to the planning phase had the highest impact on project success "the more frequently planning processes which are related to these Knowledge Areas are performed, the better project success is". Conversely, "Cost and Procurement are the Knowledge Areas that contribute least to project success, maybe because they are practiced mainly during project execution". According to Singh et al. (2017), The European Journal of Business and Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1905 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2839 (Online) Vol.12, No.9, 2020 relationship between process group planning and project success was investigated on real estate companies using Pearson product -moment correlation coefficient (r). There was a moderate, positive correlation between the two variables, r = 0.475, n = 641, p < .01 (statistically significant). Hence, as the practice of project planning process group increases, there is a high likelihood that project success will also increase. Additionally, Zwikael (2009) conducted a study on 555 projects managers across four industries spanning three countries. He found that relative to other industrial sectors, organizations belonging to the construction sector obtained high quality of project planning and the highest success rate. He also identified that the processes that have the greatest impact on project success are "Activity Definition" and "Project Plan Development".
Similarly, Choma and Bhat (2010, p.5) analyzed 73 projects from 49 different organizations. They reported "As would be expected, the projects with the worst results were those that were missing important planning components at authorization". However, they did not find a correlation between time spent in the planning phase front end loading (FEL) and project success. Through a survey of 1,386 projects, Serrador and Turner (2015) also demonstrated that project efficiency correlates moderately strongly to overall project success. They asserted that project efficiency, which is mainly dependent on time and cost performance, is an important contributor to project success.

Methodology
In alignment with the research objectives, the research model, which is shown in Figure 1, aims at investigating the influence of 19 project planning processes on four project success measurements in the construction sector, in order to find the planning processes which have the most significant impact on project success. This research is quantitative. The research used two data collection approaches, physical (questionnaire), online surveys and literature review. A total of 70 questionnaires were administered to professionals from the selected construction companies namely Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, Bilaad Realty Nigeria and Zavati Construction. The population of the study comprised of registered project managers, consultants, engineers and contractors in three construction companies. Random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used in this study. The research validity has been evaluated by comparing the overall planning index (PPI) with the project success. The PPI index has been calculated from the questionnaires as the average of all nineteen planning items and to test the reliability of the instrument, the Cronbach Alpha test is used. Also the statistical analyses of the two hypotheses are provided below using spearman correlation at 95% confidence level. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is used for the statistical analysis for the questionnaire.

Correlation Results
Hypothesis one: There is no statistically significant correlation between construction project success and the overall level of planning of a project.  Table 4: Correlation between construction project success and the level of usage of each project planning process

Discussion of Findings
Analysis of hypothesis one explored the relationship between the level of planning observed on construction projects and the success of these projects. We found a statistically significant correlation between the overall level of planning applied to construction projects and both the efficiency component of project success and total project success. The correlation between level of planning and project effectiveness was not statistically significant. Thus, this implies that construction projects were completed as scheduled and according to budget or plan. However, even though those construction projects were considered a success and the projects objectives were completed, the quality of the result was not always perceived as expected.
The overall level of planning as measured in this study is a function of the level of usage of nineteen individual project planning processes. Analysis of hypothesis two found that use of five individual planning processes out of nineteen had a statistically significant correlation with total project success measured by project efficiency and project effectiveness. This means that project managers, in the construction sector do not consider some planning processes while planning their projects. In addition, this study also found that use of several individual planning processes had a significant correlation with project effectiveness only. Use of project management plan, requirements document, activities list, Activity duration estimate, project staff assignments, communication management plan and stakeholder management plan were most effective in supporting project success. Use of requirements document was the planning process that had a significant correlation with project effectiveness European Journal of Business and Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1905(Paper) ISSN 2222-2839(Online) Vol.12, No.9, 2020 among the rest. It can be speculated that clear definition of product requirements early in the project will allow clear assignment and execution of tasks to complete the project on schedule. Creation of the Work Breakdown Structure has been found the most critical planning process for the construction sector, significantly influencing project success. However, some planning processes receive less attention than is expected. Use of Project Scope Document, Activity Resource Requirements, Role and Responsibility Assignments, Risk Management Plan, Project Staff Assignments and Procurement Management Plan processes displayed a relatively low usage.

Conclusion 5.1 Summary of Findings
The results of study reported in this research work indicate a significant effect of the use of processes related to project planning on project success, especially in carrying out construction projects. Additionally, the results obtained from the assessment of both variables demonstrate a significant level of project management processes. However, not all of the 19 project planning processes analyzed in this study and included in the PMBOK have an equal impact on project success. The six processes with the highest impact include Work breakdown Structure, utilization of PERT or Gantt Chart in the project, Development of a Project Schedule Network, Quality Management Plan, Determination of the Project Budget and Design Specification of the Project.
By far, the Creation of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is the most significantly critical planning process. This process is part of the project scope document knowledge area and is detailed described in the project management literature. In order to correctly execute this planning process, a project manager has to define activities. Then, decomposition is required, subdividing the project work packages into smaller, more manageable components, called activities. The two low impact processes include: Risk Management Plan and Activity Resource Requirements. Obviously, it is impossible to execute a project without performing these processes. One may also assumes that each project manager may perform the above processes in different ways, without his awareness concerning their actual execution.

Recommendations
Based upon the above conclusion and findings of the study, this research work is focused on the following recommendations to enhance the use of project planning processes by project managers in the creation of construction projects in Nigeria.
i. This research work recommends the use of a formal and structured project planning processes and with the involvement of project mangers in the construction sector in Nigeria. ii. Professionals in the industry such as project managers, engineers, contractors should explore more frequent use of some other project planning processes like risk management plan, activity resource requirements in other to see better realization of construction projects. iii. This study also proposes continuous development seminars and trainings in project management for all organizations in Nigeria and especially those in construction projects planning and procurement departments of both private and government organizations. iv. Project managers should always and in a continuous manner, plan, do, check and act, throughout the creation process of construction projects, in other to see continuous improvements.