scholarly journals The Passing Fads and Emergent Trends of Project Culture in Construction Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qinghua He ◽  
Jin Li ◽  
Jingyuan Wan ◽  
Zhenyu Zhang ◽  
Zhen Chen

Project culture in construction industry is unique, distinguishing one project from others, and plays a role in the processing of construction projects. The aim of this paper is to conduct a holistic review of the extant literature and identify the future trends of project culture. The method of a systematic literature review was conducted to overview the extant articles on project culture in construction industry until 2019. After searching in ISI Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, we obtained a total number of 31 papers and refinement was made by content analysis. Four aspects were analyzed: the nature of project culture, the diagnosis of project culture, factors influencing project culture, and research focus. It provides a map of project culture from philosophy paradigms. And findings show that research on project culture was mainly from the function paradigm (the integration position) in which culture can be manipulated for better project performance. A few from nonfunction paradigm (the fragment position) stressed sense making of project culture. This study proposes a framework consisting of a hybrid function/nonfunction paradigms and diagnoses project culture from explicit and implicit aspects. These findings make a firm foundation for the exploration of project culture from multiperspectives in theory and practice.

2013 ◽  
Vol 357-360 ◽  
pp. 2228-2232
Author(s):  
Xiu Feng Xue ◽  
Jian Guo Chen

Lean Construction attracts widespread attention since it was formally proposed in 1993, which have made far-reaching development both in the theory and practice. Construction projects seldom happen as ideally as planned because of constructions nature uncertainty and variability, which always spoil plans and become major factors that affect project performance and productivity. The goal of the construction industry is to increase the planning-reliability, to impact the productivity of workflow and hence the project performance. The attention on improve the workflow will be a practical way to avoid these bad affections. This paper, through focusing the measurement of workflow and the methods to maintain the continuous workflow, introduces all-round methods called Last Planner System and Buffer Management two key indexes for keeping continuous workflow within giving reasonable improvements for better performance in construction industry.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Murat Çevikbaş ◽  
Zeynep Işık

Numerous studies have been conducted by researchers on the delay analysis topic, which is one of the primary areas of scientific study due to the effects of delays on time and cost in construction projects. Following fruitful contributions made by the researchers, it is believed to be extremely important to summarize the existing studies in terms of being a road map for future studies and practitioners. In this context, not only does this study aim to detect the most significant authors, sources, organizations and countries contributing to the improvement of delay domain in the construction industry concerning delay analyses worldwide but also to provide the researchers with extensive insights concerning the prominent research themes, trends and gaps in the literature. Hence, 168 documents related to delay analyses from 1982 to 11 February 2021 were detected through the Scopus Database and the Web of Science Database, and scientometric analyses were conducted via VOSviewer software. By evaluating the related research, two main research areas were detected in this field, namely; improving the delay analysis methods and resolving the disputes before they occur. This study is believed to make theoretical and practical contributions in that it examines the delay analysis topic in all aspects such as prominent institutions, countries, authors and sources, synthesizes the data and highlights possible research domains, gaps and trends concerning the delay analysis topic in construction industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Boon Hui Yap ◽  
Shi Min Tan

Construction practitioners recognise that rework is undesirable due to the detrimental effects. While rework literature has examined rework causation factors in construction projects, the problem continues to plague the industry resulting in poor delivery performance. To better understand this phenomenon and given the scarcity of Malaysian-based rework study, a questionnaire survey involving 130 Malaysian construction practitioners (consultants, contractors and clients) were undertaken to obtain feedback about nature, implications, causes and solutions for rework. Data were analysed using descriptive statistical techniques to prioritise the variables studied. From the analyses, rework is a causal factor for delays and cost overruns, higher wastage and productivity inhibitor. The findings revealed the leading causes of rework are poor quality management, improper planning, lack of communication, design changes and poor subcontractor management. Some practical rework minimisation approaches are also suggested to better manage and prevent rework towards enhanced project performance.


Kybernetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 1778-1800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vipula Sisirakumara Gunasekera ◽  
Siong-Choy Chong

PurposeThis paper aims to review the knowledge management (KM) processes, knowledge conversion modes and critical success factors (CSFs) and contextualise them to the construction setting to guide effective KM implementation.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is conceptual in nature. It begins with a review of issues faced by construction organisations, which led them to consider implementing KM. This is followed by a comprehensive review of KM processes, knowledge conversion modes, KM CSFs and their application to the construction industry.FindingsBased on the socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation (SECI) model, the knowledge conversion modes are discussed, linking them to the KM processes of knowledge creation, sharing, storage and application. The KM CSFs identified from construction literature suggest that they can be categorised into two groups, namely, factors within organisational control (managerial influence, technological influence and resource influence) and factors beyond organisational control (social influence, political influence, environmental influence, economic influence, industry influence and construction technology influence). The resulting review is discussed in terms of how construction organisations can implement KM effectively to achieve the desired project performance outcomes in terms of time, cost and quality.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this paper has made some theoretical contributions, a quantitative analysis will further reinforce its value both in theory and practice, particularly in terms of applying the KM processes and CSFs to different organisational, industry and country settings. A quantitative research is being carried out in the major construction sector in Sri Lanka to establish the relationships between the KM processes, knowledge conversion modes and KM CSFs with project performance outcomes, which will be reported in a subsequent publication.Practical implicationsAs the construction industry uses a considerable number of knowledge workers, implementing KM for project planning and execution is the key to sustaining the growth of construction organisations and industry, particularly when KM implementation is linked to project performance outcomes. Practical implications are provided in terms of what successful KM implementation entails.Social implicationsEffective KM implementation can serve as a conduit for construction organisations to build capacity and develop the ability to react quickly to social challenges brought about by different stakeholders, even before the project commences, so that the project performance outcomes will not be affected. Another social implication is the role played by project team members, in which efforts have to be put in place to facilitate the use of KM processes, so that teams can align project activities to the general good of their organisations.Originality/valueA comprehensive KM framework that guides the construction industry on KM implementation is long overdue. This research represents the first of such attempts to view KM from a wider perspective, both in terms of internal and external influences affecting construction organisations. Once the conceptual framework developed is validated, it is expected to bring enormous benefits to different stakeholders.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benti Gadisa ◽  
Hong Zhou

PurposeIt is well recognized that the construction industry is characterised by inefficient and ineffective service delivery due to various causative factors. Thus this study aims to examine the influential factors affecting public construction project performance in Ethiopia to improve the industry's service delivery.Design/methodology/approachFrom the extensive literature reviewed, 58 potential factors affecting construction project performance have been compiled. Based on the evidence accumulated, the conceptual model of this paper has been developed. By using survey questionnaires, valuable data were collected from the construction industry professionals in Ethiopia; analysed and interpreted with the use of both SPSS and AMOS software.FindingsIt is concluded that failure factors related to the “performance” of the contractor, the “capability” of the owner, the “project design-procurement process,” and project contract management can significantly contribute to the poor performance of public construction projects in Ethiopia. Ten key factors include inadequate contractor capacity, weak project site management and supervision, weak project management skills and capabilities of the owner, additional work orders, delayed payment, lack of comprehensive project plans between parties and incomplete project design, rising material prices, ineffective project schedules, and cost management, rising market prices and devaluation of the currency.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of this study confined to public projects in Ethiopia. It suggests that further research needs to consider public and private construction from a comprehensive perspective in the developing countries.Practical implicationsIt provides practitioners with information and guidance on the factors that affect the performance of construction projects.Originality/valueIt provides inclusive evidence related to many factors that affect the performance of public construction projects.


Author(s):  
Ramin Asadi ◽  
Suzanne Wilkinson ◽  
James Olabode Bamidele Rotimi

Rework occurs across the life cycle of projects and has significant impacts on construction project performance. A rational approach to managing rework is by identifying the main sources of rework; then mitigation measures can be implemented to enhance performance on projects. Rework has been widely studied within the construction industry, but the link between rework and contract conditions remain unexplored. This study identifies and classifies the root causes of rework at the construction stage of projects. It then examines the relationship between the conditions of contracts with the identified root causes. A comprehensive list of rework root causes was determined through the review of literature, which was categorized into five classified factors. The classified factors include process, human resource, material/equipment, technical, and other related environmental and financial factors. The next step comprises a questionnaire survey designed to determine relationships between rework and contracts. The result of the study is presented descriptively for ease of understanding. The results show that rework could be managed more efficiently through contracting processes, which ultimately benefits construction projects’ performance.


2012 ◽  
Vol 452-453 ◽  
pp. 1002-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chidambaram Ramanathan ◽  
Narayanan Sambu Potty ◽  
Arazi B Idrus

The construction industry in Malaysia is very important for creating employment, both directly and indirectly. It faces two repeated problems during the construction stage: slippage of project-schedules, i.e. time overrun and overrun of project cost; to the dislike of owners, contractors and consultants. This paper studies the time delay and cost overrun factors for Design and Build D&B projects in Malaysia. A Questionnaire was used to collect data from practitioners and analyse the responses and rank the factors and groups on overall view of the contracting parties. Identified risk factors from the theoretical domain were used to prepare 79 time related question and 18 cost related question categorized in 9 groups and 1 group respectively. Total of 136 respondents recorded their ratings to the factors in the questionnaire. Labour-related group has the top 1 rank with RII 0.684. The results can be used as a guideline to successfully handle construction projects in Malaysia; contributing for better project performance and lead to positive risks, opportunities.


The United Arab Emirates construction industry is beset with negative project performance outputs, such as defects, low productivity, delay in completion, and higher costs. Most critical among the recorded reasons for having these undesirable outputs is the engagement of unskilled craft workers. However, the demand for construction projects in the UAE is continually increasing, especially after Dubai won hosting of Expo 2020, as this consequently translates to increased demand for skilled construction craft workers, if optimal project delivery performance must be achieved. Therefore, subject matters related to skillfulness and productivity of construction craft workers become research windows for academic scholars and industry investigators in the UAE built environment. The main purpose of this study is to explicate the reasons behind employment of unskilled craft workers in the construction projects from the management level perspective. To meet this purpose, the authors conducted in-depth interview with construction project managers. The results show number of reasons why unskilled craft workers are been hired and the effect of specialized certificates on hiring the craft workers


Value Management (VM) and Value Engineering (VE) are techniques concerned with defining, maximizing and achieving “value for money”. It should be noted that VM is not about reducing the cost but about adding value and where necessary the cost can be added to achieve value. Despite its proven significance in securing maximum output from limited resources, this approach is not a common practice in Rwanda’s construction Industry. This study therefore defines VM and describes all the processes and techniques involved in it. The merits and demerits of VM process in construction projects are discussed in details and relevance of its uses is discussed and recommended in consideration of the scope and complexity of the projects as well as the risks involved. While the benefits of a value management review are often perceived in terms of improved quality and reduced cost, this report discusses the exercise as a functional mechanism to measure value, taking into account monetary and non-monetary benefits and thus demonstrating value for money. While the author has not been able to obtain relevant literature on VM practice in Rwanda, It can be deduced from the review of the related literature that most of the evaluation techniques conducted for construction projects in developing world have mostly relied on evaluation of project performance in terms of cost, quality, delivery and progress. Since project evaluation is carried out after the work has been undertaken, the output of the analysis will just give the client an indication or a good understanding of the project performance. Such evaluations only reveal the competence or incompetence of the project participants instead of providing value for money which is addressed by VM practice which is an ex-ante analysis that takes into consideration of all value parameters. The study used a quantitative survey method of research to obtain responses from professional practitioners in construction industry in Rwanda. The sample size of 115 were selected from members of professional practitioners in the construction industry out of which 106 members were responsive. Finally, it is concluded that VM approach is not used in construction industry in Rwanda and recommended that VM practice be adopted in construction industry in Rwanda as a mandatory requirement for conception of all construction projects with a budget of $20M and above


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