Indicators of Management Capability in Small and Medium-Sized Construction Organisations: A Literature Review

Most construction small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not have the necessary capabilities to manage construction projects, in terms of use of resources, and expertise to deliver construction projects within time, below budget and at a required quality standard. Poor management capability leads to delays, cost overruns and compromised quality standard. The objective of this chapter is therefore to identify indicators of management capability to successfully deliver construction projects. A review of extant literature was undertaken. The sources of materials were databases accessible from the university’s coffers, including Science Direct, Ebscohost, Academic Search Complete, as well as Google and Google scholar. Journal articles, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations were consulted. The materials were selected based on their currency and possession of keywords related to the study. Findings revealed that the indicators of management capabilities are resource base, project governance, organisational structure, technical personnel, productivity and workload of the organisation. This chapter contributes to the existing theory on improving performance of construction SMEs. Further, the study is envisaged to be beneficial to construction SMEs development board, SMEs management, owners and project teams in utilising resources effectively in order to deliver construction projects within contract duration, below budget and at a required quality standard.