Total quality, public management and critical leadership in civil construction projects

The effective and efficient use of resources in public project management requires a commitment to driving down costs and exploiting value opportunities. In achieving this, public management, being a civil service, must also be aware of social, political and ethical requirements that can impinge upon strict economic reasoning. Opening public management to market pressures has been criticized as potentially weakening concerns of social justice, but in areas like civil construction, it is vital if procurement, build and operation are to improve. A hypothesis was formulated that uses a total quality perspective to link improvements in project performance with the effective promotion of public interest. This hypothesis-that a total quality orientation can reconcile and enhance economic and public interests-was tested through a survey of major stakeholders in public construction projects. It was found that, by developing a concept of critical leadership to drive through quality commitment, there were cogent reasons for further developing this total quality research.