335 Sixth International Conference on Construction in the 21 st Century (CITC-VI) “Construction Challenges in the New Decade” July 5-7 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Critical Success Factors for the Construction Organization in the Malaysian Construction Industry: A case study in Penang Siti Hamidah Abdull Rahman Malaysia Institute of Transportation (MITRANS), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor hananbalqis_85@yahoo.com Ilias Said School of Housing, Building and Planning, Univeristi Sains Malaysia (USM), 11800 Minden, Penang ilias@usm.my Intan Rohani Endut Malaysia Institute of Transportation (MITRANS), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor intan@salam.uitm.edu.my Abstract The construction organisation plays an important role in the construction industry. It establishes buildings and infrastructure works required for social economic development which contributes to the overall economic growth. The success of the economic development will further lead to an increase in disposal income, generating the demand for additional construction activity. The study of project success and the critical success factors (CSFs) is considered to be a means to improve the effectiveness of a project. However, the concept of project success has remained ambiguously defined in the minds of the construction professionals. Consequently, this study is conducted in order to make an attempt to identify the factors that influence the success of a construction organisation, to establish critical success factors for the construction organisation, and to identify the strategies that are undertaken by the construction organisation in order to be more successful. The quantitative approach was used on 100 construction players in Penang. The results were analysed by using descriptive analysis, frequency analysis and the relative importance index (RII) technique. As a result, it was found that sufficient cash flow was the most influential factor that contributed to the success of a construction organisation, while the critical success factor for the construction organisation was the human factor. Yet, tight controls of labour and materials have become the most contributed strategies for success. Lastly, it could be concluded that there were many factors that influenced the success of a construction organisation with several strategies that could be adopted in order to be more successful. Keywords Construction organisation, Critical success factors, Construction industry 1. Introduction The construction organisation plays an important role in the construction industry. It establishes buildings and infrastructure works required for social economic development which contributes to the overall