Agile Risk Management Practices in the South African Construction Industry Project Delivery: Fid-Bau Portal

Agile Risk Management Practices in the South African Construction Industry Project Delivery

Nketekete, Molefi / Babatunde, Oluwayomi

Risks in construction projects can be dynamic and complex in nature. Construction projects continue to succumb to the impacts of these varied risks thus requiring innovation in risk management practice (RMP). Like most developing countries, the South African Construction Industry (SACI) is not an exception in terms of consistent record of project failures. To date, there are different practices in risk management that are being utilised across the SACI. However, there are knowledge gaps in the RMP that require an agile approach for improving project delivery within the SACI. Furthermore, it is vital to note that agile approaches ensure inter alia constant improvement and innovation, as opposed to traditional methods. As such, introducing an Agile RMP (ARMP) tool is essential to transform the SACI in terms of project delivery success as findings have shown. This exploratory literature review-based study is aimed to analyse the effectiveness of traditional Risk Management (RM) methods and assess the need for an ARMP approach relative to improving project delivery within the SACI using eleven (11) snowball sampled articles. Through content analysis, the study revealed the need for further research on agile methods and training among others. However, this requires an in-depth investigation and inputs from stakeholders in the future. In so doing, this will reduce the effects of prevalent risk management’s knowledge gaps among project stakeholders. Furthermore, it is vital to introduce digitalisation-enable innovative agile methods for identifying and assessing risks that affect the construction projects whilst stipulating pragmatic training tools essential for improving the project delivery. Ultimately, the formulation of an ARMP framework appropriate for the SACI will contribute to sustainable construction projects.