St Helena Airport Case Study: Project Quality and Client Satisfaction

This case study delves into the St Helena Airport project, examining the critical roles of client satisfaction and quality control in project outcomes. The report highlights the project's background, including its aim to boost tourism through improved transportation. It reviews relevant literature on client satisfaction, engagement, quality design, measurement, and control, emphasizing their impact on project success. The discussion covers project limitations, risks, and issues, such as location challenges, climate constraints, political uncertainties, and infrastructure deficiencies. Actions taken to overcome these challenges, like infrastructure improvements and supply chain integration, are also discussed. The study concludes that prioritizing client satisfaction and quality measurement is essential for project success, advocating for effective infrastructure development to meet stakeholder requirements. This document is available on Desklib, where students can find more solved assignments and past papers.

Project Quality

Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................1
2.1 Project client satisfaction and engagement............................................................................1
2.2 Quality design, measure and control.....................................................................................2
3. ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................3
4. PROJECT BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................3
5. DISCUSSION..............................................................................................................................4
5.1 Limitations.............................................................................................................................4
5.2 Risk and issue........................................................................................................................4
5.3 Actions for overcoming from the issues................................................................................5
5.4 Recommendations..................................................................................................................6
6. CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................7
7. REFERENCES............................................................................................................................8
List of figures
Figure 1 Arrival to St Helena by mode of transport, by quarter......................................................5

1. INTRODUCTION
In the project management, the clients’ satisfaction and quality of the project is
imperative for the successful implementation of project (Harrison& Lock, 2017). In this regard,
the present report is based on the case study of St Helena Airport project. The local government
targets to increase the tourism on Island by providing easy transportation through Airport. In this
context, present report analyzes the impact of client satisfaction and quality control measure on
the outcome of project with the help of several studies. At the same time the recommendation
has been provided to beat the negative impact.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Project client satisfaction and engagement
According to Müller & Turner (2010) the client satisfaction plays important role in the
field of project management since it create base through the clarification about the requirement.
By using the specification provided by the client, project manager can effectively define the
project and its scope along with the allocation of resources. However, Jun, Qiuzhen & Qingguo
(2011) stated that poor interaction with clients affect the progress of the project as it leads their
dissatisfaction.
According to several studies, cost, quality and schedule are the key factors of project
success. By considering on these factors the project manager enhances the effectiveness of the
project (Müller & Jugdev, 2012; Hwang & Lim, 2012). In this manner, the clients are one of
main stakeholders and satisfying them are the key practices in the project management (Papke-
Shields, Beise & Quan, 2010). In this context, Ayegun, Abiola-Falemu & Olawumi (2018)
asserted that the assessment of clients’ perceptions is significant for enhancing the quality
standards of the projects. For this purpose, the interaction with clients is the best method which is
helpful for understanding the opinion with the deep knowledge. On the other hand, the feedbacks
from the clients are also supportive for considering the requirement of clients (Peppers &
Rogers, 2016). However, Sebastian (2011) stated that poor interaction with clients affect the
progress of the project as it leads their dissatisfaction. Therefore, the managers of the project set
their focus on the communication with the clients and obtain their perspective to enhance the
quality of project which further enhances the satisfaction in the clients.
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There are many communication platforms to enhance interaction with clients as social
media, press conferences and feedback through personalize communication channels (Binder,
2016). With the help of these communication channels, the manager ensures the engagement of
clients and enhances their satisfaction towards the project. For instance, in the case of London
Heathrow Terminal 2, the client engagement enhances the project capabilities to obtain the
operational outcome of the project (Zerjav, Edkins & Davies, 2018). However, the consideration
on communication channel increases the cost of project (Bryde, Broquetas & Volm, 2013). Thus,
the project manager gives priority to effective communication channel such as social media
through which manager can communicate with the large mass of clients.
The perspectives from clients’ is also helpful for estimating the cost of projects (Doloi,
2012). The over cost of project are the main reason for the clients’ dissatisfaction. Due to this,
the understanding of clients’ perspective through several interaction mediums provide the broad
view of clients’ requirement and consideration of these views in the project enhances the quality
of project together with enhanced client’s satisfaction. Apart from this, the involvement of
clients in the decision making of project is also imperative for the quality management of project
(Flyvbjerg, 2013). For example, the ideas came from different view enhances the decision-
making capabilities of management through which the management handles the work effectively
related to the particular situation of project by taking appropriate decision. Therefore, the client
engagement is significant for improving project quality through the effective decision making on
the cost management.
2.2 Quality design, measure and control
The design is early stage of project wherein the project structure is ensured with help of
scope, rationale and the key features of project and helpful for achieving project goals (Van
Rooij, 2011). Furthermore, it influences the outcome of project by affecting the quality of the
project. However, low focus on the design of Grand Canal Bridge negatively affected the quality
of bridge because of the design of stairs on the bridge were odd which were inconvenient for
travelers to carry their heavy luggage on the bridge. Apart from this, the glasses used on the walk
way of the bridge were slippery which created causes for many injuries of tourists at the bridge
(Khan, 2008). Thus, it created the dissatisfaction in the stakeholders through the low quality
output. In this context, Eastman (2018) stated that the focus on project design is imperative for
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the gaining superior project quality through assessing the risk associated with the project. On the
other hand, the controlling the risk from poor design of project adds additional modification cost
in the project (Ika, 2012). Thus, the project design is accountable for project quality and the cost
of project.
The standard of project quality is maintained by considering the main factors as quality
match to expectation and meets the requirement of users (Harrison & Lock, 2017). In this
manner, the standard project quality enhances the safety of product with lower cost of project
(Turner, 2016). Apart from this, the quality standards help managers to control the process of
project in an effective manner. Similarly, the project builds according to the standard of quality
decrease the chances of future losses (Kendrick, 2015). Therefore, the measurement of project
quality is significant for satisfying the stakeholder from the quality output.
3. ABSTRACT
The consideration on the quality is the important measure for any construction project. In
this regard, the purpose of current report is to identify the impact of clients’ satisfaction on the
quality of the project with the help of case study of St Helena Airport project. This project has
been selected as it was considered as the most useless airport in the world due to its safety
concern and higher level of dissection among stakeholders. By taking this project, it would be
helpful to critical analyze the role of quality management, stakeholder’s management and risk
assessment related aspects in the field of project. According to the case study, the findings of
current report reveal that, it necessary for project success to consideration on the clients’
satisfaction and measurement of project quality. For this purpose, project manager should focus
on developing effective infrastructure through which performance of overall project can be
improved in order to meet the requirement of all related stakeholders.
4. PROJECT BACKGROUND
The current study is based on the St Helena Airport project which faced several issues in
context of safety concern. The issue related to safety was so significant which not only affected
the quality of project but also caused major delay along with the loss of huge amount of money.
For example, £285.5-million was spent by the Department for International Development
(DFID) of UK but still it is not usable for the commercial airlines. The major cause of it was
wind shear which increased the threat of accidents. For this purpose, cited project has been
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selected for its detailed study in the project management. Owing to this, the current project has
been selected to assess the influence of stakeholders and quality related issues.
5. DISCUSSION
5.1 Limitations
The project of building ST Helena Airport has several of limitations including the
location and climate (Saint Helena Island Info, 2018). In this regard, the airport was built on the
remote location on the St Helena Island where the construction process suffered through the poor
supply of material (Oracle Aconex, 2018). Apart from this, the weather conditions at ST Helena
Island are not suitable for the larger size planes because of the direction and speed of winds on
the runway is changed rapidly. It has also been evidenced in the literature review that the quality
of project should be considered in the advanced by focusing on its safety concern; otherwise, it
has direct impact on the users of the services (Harrison & Lock, 2017). This rapidly changes in
winds created poor handling of Air craft at the runway and enhances the chances of accidents.
Therefore, these are the major limitations of the current project which enhances the cost of
project and negatively affect the expected outcome as operate large size airplane to increase
traveler.
5.2 Risk and issue
The project of ST Helena Airport has many risks from the political parties, privatization,
infrastructure and category of the airport. In this manner, the government of UK paused the
construction of airport without giving clarification. This situation created uncertainty in the
project progress and accountable for the delay of project. Apart from this, the first test flight
revealed that the infrastructure of airport is not supportive for the flight take-off and landing
because the airport was built on the cliffside (Buckley, 2017). Thus, poor infrastructure
prevented the commercial use of airport. These issues created the enhancement in the completion
time of construction which increased the cost of project. In this context, several studies also
evidenced that projects are generally approved at the initial stage and the influence of
stakeholders cause significant changes. However, ignorance to major risks and warnings
associated with the project waste the employed resources as well as time (Ika, 2012).
The project was implemented at the remote location of South Atlantic Island which
creates the logistic problem in the construction process because of inconvenience in the
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transportation of material (Oracle Aconex, 2018). In this context, the Air Safety Support
International certified St Helena Airport to Category C airport which means the use of airport has
many risks in related to takeoff and landing purpose (Saint Helena Island Info, 2018). Apart from
this, the negative publicity of the project impacted the project bidder mind negatively and created
the causes for delay in the construction process (Venter, 2016). Therefore, the risk from political
uncertainty, infrastructure and negative publicity influenced the quality of ST Helena Airport
project negatively. This has been shown in the literature review that without considering the
views of stakeholders and their convenience project cause higher level of dissatisfaction among
stakeholders (Peppers & Rogers, 2016). This further causes lower acceptance and this has been
noticed in case of St. Helena project.
5.3 Actions for overcoming from the issues
The St Helena government signed the contract with Basil Read Ltd for overcome the
impact of above-mentioned issues through the improvement in the infrastructure of airport with
additional facilities (St Helena Govrmenet, 2018). In the same manner, for minimizing the
impact of wind shear, the planes had to carry limited travelers because light weight plane are
easy to handle on the wind shear (Smith, 2017). Further, for reducing the complication related to
operating the project on the remote location, the contractor of project ‘Basil Read’ integrated
their supply chain and imported all the material and other equipment from South Africa (Oracle
Aconex, 2018). Apart from this, the problems related to wind shear were not solved properly
because the location of runway cannot be changed (Buckley, 2017). Similarly, the budget of
airport project was not maintained properly and increased cost of project up to 285m pound
because of political issues paused construction process for two years (Watton, 2017). On the
other hand, according to below mentioned figure, the demand of St Helena Airport was not
increased after the completion of construction till 2018.
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Figure 1 Arrival to St Helena by mode of transport, by quarter
(Source: St Helena Government, 2018)
However, Ayegun, Abiola-Falemu & Olawumi (2018) asserted that schedule, perception
and timeline expected by the major stakeholders is the crucial in increasing the success rate of
the project. This is because stakeholders’ perception related to quality and safety can provide the
right direction to the project. Therefore, the St Helena government and the contractor solve many
of the issues yet many issues left unresolved.
5.4 Recommendations
As per the above discussion, it has been found that project of St Helena airport was
greatly affected from the natural environment of the location. This caused major dissatisfaction
among stakeholders since the airport was quite risky where passengers less likely to use the
same. This indicates that it is necessary to carry out the initial research and find the safety
concern so as to select the right location for the construction of the project. Also, it was found
that view point of experts, stakeholders or government should be considered in the advanced
through which the risk related to waste of resources can be reduced to a great extent. In this
regard, it is recommended that, the focus on the selection of location for project is most
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important because it is necessary to operate project in effective manner. Apart from this, it is also
recommended that the project manager should improve the infrastructure by additional changes
such as wall for stopping winds or can built another runway to overcome the problem which
occur from wind shear. These solutions can helpful for building safe airport for commercial use.
6. CONCLUSION
On the basis of literature review in above report, it can be concluded that the clients’
satisfaction is important to streamline flow in the project. Similarly, the focus on the project
measure is helpful for controlling the quality of project. Apart from this, on the basis of case
study, it can be concluded improper research related to location and without considering the view
of stakeholders the projects get failed. This further increases the risk of users and accordingly it
might increase the overall risk. At the same time, resources go waste; however, prior study
through the inclusion of experts can provide the significant outcome for proceeding the project.
It has also been concluded that quality measures should be priority for the purpose of increasing
the satisfaction of different stakeholders. This proves to be effective in completing the project
successful manner and offering quality services to users. Apart from this, risk assessment, proper
design and quality parameters are crucial which determines the success of the projects like St.
Helena airport. Although, the quality of above-mentioned airport construction project could be
improved through the focus on the additional changes in the infrastructure. Therefore, the low
focus on the project’s outcome quality increases the cost of project.
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7. REFERENCES
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