Project Delays in the Malaysian Public Sector: Causes, Pathogens and the Supply Chain Management Approach

Abstract

The inability to complete a project before its deadline has been a severe dilemma in Malaysian public sector projects. Despite initiatives introduced by the government to improve performance, few positive outcomes have been achieved due to inappropriate implementation and a lack of contemporary approaches. Past methods in delay studies have also fallen short in identifying the underlying causes of delays; thus, delay has remained an incessant phenomenon. Thus, this study was conducted in an attempt to shed light on the current delay scenario, taking the “pathogen” approach in identifying the very root of the causes of delay in an effort to propose a way forward for its mitigation via a contemporary approach known as Supply Chain Management (SCM). The research design that was adopted involved three stages. The first stage was an identification of factors that cause delay, whereby six industry experts with a minimum of 20 years of experience were interviewed to gain their insight on this matter. Then, the factors were grouped into pathogens and pathogen sub-categories using a concept taken from other prominent research that took a similar research approach. The third and final stage involved matching beneficial SCM tools that were carefully selected from a literature review that had the potential to overcome each of the delay pathogens and pathogen sub-categories. The conceptual framework, as concluded by this research, provides a thorough overview of the delay factors, pathogens, and pathogen sub-categories, as well as the available tools via SCM that could be used to overcome these issues. It is anticipated that this framework will lead to better time management in future Malaysian public sector construction projects.

Keywords

• Delay
• Malaysia
• Pathogen
• Public sector
• Supply chain management (SCM)