Conceptual Framework of Performance Management for Northern Iraq Construction Industry

Due to increasing competition between construction companies and changing demands on the type and quality of construction projects in the last two decades, the importance of performance management has been significantly elevated. Therefore, in the recent years a need for a comprehensive system of performance management has been identified for construction organizations. Performance management is a proactive closed loop control system which provides effective strategies for the organizational procedures, tasks, and activities and performs feedback on the whole processes of the system. Since 2003, construction industry in Northern Iraq (NIQ) has been significantly developed and business links of the region with the other countries has been substantially progressed. In addition, due to the stability which exists in the region compared with the other parts of Iraq, the region has been focused by international construction companies. Despite of that, the involvement of foreign companies in the region has been facilitated by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as a strategy to gain international expertise and foreign technical competency. As a result, a competitive environment for international and local companies has been created in the region that made construction companies make a great effort for improving their performance within the industry. The main objectives of this study are to analyze the existing performance management system (PMS) in NIQ construction industry on the base of recognizing the most appropriate performance measures for construction companies working in the region and proposing a framework by using these measures. For the purpose of forming a suitable framework for NIQ construction industry, two different techniques Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) have been adapted with the addition of a number of perspectives regarding to the business environment of construction industry in NIQ. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey has been performed among the construction organizations working in the region to know the importance level of the framework variables/perspectives. The questionnaire has been sent through e-mail, transmitted in social networks, and filled in face-to-face meetings among NIQ construction companies. As a result, a framework of performance management has been introduced that can be used as a management control system for managing and evaluating performance of NIQ construction organizations. Since in developing the framework two different frameworks have been used and some other perspectives have been added based on experience, the study can be considered as a significant contribution to the field. Furthermore, the framework can be further investigated to be used as a control system in different times and countries. Keywords: Performance management, Performance measurement, Management control system, Strategic management, Northern Iraq Construction industry.