Impact Of ISO 9000 Series Application On The Performance Of The Construction Firms in Sudan

Abstract

It has been lately observed that more and more construction companies are getting ISO – certification. However, there are no evidences to confirm any improvement in the construction process. This gives rise to some concerns about the usefulness of the ISO- certification and the problems and challenges that might accompany quality system implementation. This study analyzed how the ISO 9000 framework could be employed in the construction industry in Sudan. The main objectives of the research are to provide an overview of the ISO 9000 series and to investigate the influence of employing ISO 9000 series framework in the performance of construction companies in Sudan.

A literature review, mainly covering a very detailed overview of the ISO 9000 series, and their application in construction industry was carried out

To investigate the research problem, a two stages investigation was conducted. The first included personal instructed interviews and the second included the development of a questionnaire to survey the industry in order to gather the required information from some construction companies that are already ISO – certified.

The main conclusions were that many of the concepts contained in the ISO 9000 requirements were found by experience as being abstract or tended to be confused with one another or to be misinterpreted. The key finding confirms that the application of ISO 9000 series requirements serves the function of improving the company’s competitiveness and allowing the company to be more efficient.

The recommendations arising from this research are that there is a need to expand the culture of quality and to integrate ISO 9000 requirements as a dominating part of the whole construction process.