Developing quality assessment elements for shrub planting works

Abstract

This research focuses on the quality of shrub planting works. It aims to develop assessment elements for shrub plating works. The objectives of this study are, i) to identify the status of soft-scape quality management in relation to shrub planting works in Malaysia, ii) to develop element of assessment for shrub planting works, and iii) to establish weighted soft-scape quality assessment elements for shrub planting works in Malaysia. The data was collected using mixed-method approached. There are four stages in collecting data, which are, i) research framework and background study, ii) developing initial list of planting assessment elements; iii) conducting survey among 258 landscape architects listed in ILAM Directory, and iv) analyzing and producing a set of critical success factor for shrub planting works. The analysis is divided into three parts. i) The analysis on the general commonness of the socio-demographic of respondents based on different duration of work experience, gender, occupation and status of ILAM members, ii) The mean comparison on the Critical Success Factors (CSF) of the elements of assessment, iii) To analyze Contribution Weightage for elements of assessment. There are nine elements of assessment for shrub planting works which are i) Overall height, ii) Leaves, iii) Flower, iv) canes, v) Soil Mixture, vi) Planting hole, vii) Root ball size, viii) Mulching and ix) finishing and treatment. The findings reveal that leaves, canes and overall height are the elements ranked as the three most critical for the success of shrub planting work. Meanwhile, planting hole, soil mixture and mulching are among the three lowest ranked for the success of shrub planting work. Finally, it is hoped that the findings would help to facilitate the process of establishing the quality assessment tool for landscape work. Besides, the findings can be a reference in the process of improvement on the quality documents for landscape work in Malaysia as a whole.