Critical determinants of project coordination

Coordination among project participants is an important function having considerable effect on the outcome of a construction project. Literature review and interviews of experts led to the identification of 59 construction coordination activities. Results of a questionnaire survey conducted among Indian construction professionals on these coordination activities recognized 20 important coordination activities essential for achieving day-to-day project coordination. A second level of questionnaire survey was then conducted using the 20 coordination activities. Analyses of responses on the 20 coordination activities found that only six activities are significant in enhancing coordination rating of the project. The analyses indicated that the extent of contribution of different coordination activities varies with the present coordination ratings of a given project. While estimation of the optimum resource requirements has the highest positive effect on achieving coordination at low coordination rating levels, the activity preparation of a project quality plan in line with contract specification is observed to contribute most when the coordination rating is already at high level. A model is also suggested that can evaluate the impact of these six coordination activities in achieving the coordination rating of a project.