Execution Of Construction Projects Research Articles

Critical factors affecting schedule performance

PurposeTime overrun is one of the most significant issues being faced by Ethiopian construction industry today. For effective time performance, the successful execution of construction projects and keeping them within prescribed schedule is very important. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors responsible for impacting performance of Ethiopian public construction projects.Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature and personal interviews of key construction professionals in Ethiopia, a list of 35 project performance attributes having strong effect on performance of the projects were identified and a questionnaire using these attributes were prepared and administered in Ethiopia. Statistical analysis of responses on the attributes segregated them into distinct sets of success attributes and failure attributes. The attributes were also subjected to factor analysis separately for better understanding and it resulted into six success factors and six failure factors. The relative importance of these factors was established with multiple regression analysis.FindingsIt is concluded that the success factor “owners’ competence” can significantly contribute to schedule performance of Ethiopian public construction projects. On the other hand, “conflict among project participants,” “poor human resource management,” and “project manager’s ignorance and lack of knowledge” are detrimental to schedule performance of Ethiopian public construction project.Research limitations/implicationsAs with any other opinion-based study, the present study also has some limitations. The majority of respondents have evaluated the projects in their execution stage only and very few have evaluated the performance of projects in planning and operation stages and also the study has been carried out in the Ethiopian context. Hence the study has a limitation in these regard.Originality/valueThe results presented in this study provide sufficient evidence and useful understanding to researchers and industry practitioners to focus on a few factors than giving attention to all the factors and take proactive measures for the timely delivery of public construction projects.

Improving the quality of construction project execution at University of Hail

Improving the quality of construction project execution at University of Hail

Consultant Identification on Critical Risk Factors Affecting Construction Project Execution in Ghana

The consultants are front liners in execution of construction project and their perceived critical risk factors affecting construction project delivery is wealth considered and being aware to such hindrance will ensure efficient and effective project management technique to manage such risk should it occur. The purpose of the study was to identify critical risk factors affecting construction project delivery in Ghana. The study objective was to identify consultant’s perception on critical risk factors hindering construction execution and how to manage the risk. The study adopted a quantitative approach involving a cross-sectional design using survey, questionnaires administered to a population of 355 consultants of the Ghana Consulting Engineering Association (GCEA). Descriptive statistics, cross tabulations, factor analysis were used to analyse the resulting data. The study found that the most critical risk factors hindering construction delivery included high performance expectations, tight project schedule, poor program planning, excessive approval procedures, and bureaucracy of government. The study has establish that For all government funded projects, the main financial risk was the delay in payment and bankruptcy of stakeholders and main source of time overrun risks was enlargement of the project scope. The study further shown that the management of time schedule risk and financial risk included setting and agreeing on reasonable time lines , prompt payments on the part of stakeholders and obtaining reliable source of project funding, government to reduce the interest rates in order for stakeholders in construction projects to secure loans to fund projects respectively.

Malaysian construction firms' social sustainability via organizational innovativeness and government support: The mediating role of market culture

The increasing demand by construction stakeholders for ecologically viable construction is pushing the construction firms to adopt social sustainability practices while executing construction projects. While there are several studies establishing how external factors and organizational innovativeness have been influencing social sustainability performance of construction firms, social sustainability performance of Malaysian construction firms is still relatively low. This study therefore proposed that market orientation culture is a significant mediator through which government support can favourably influence firm's social sustainability performance. Empirical support for the argument was derived from the data collected from 172 large construction firms in the Malaysian construction industry. The results suggest that construction firms require managerial initiatives to comply with government regulations and leverage it to facilitate market orientation cultures so as to improve their social sustainability performance.

Criteria for Construction Project Success: A Literature Review

Execution of construction projects in an efficient and effective way is a core competency of project-based organizations. Evaluation of project success plays a key role in improving project management competency. Project success is an elusive topic and goes beyond project management success and traditional criteria. The lack of an agreed definition and a set of criteria for construction project success have long been the reasons for failing to evaluate success. The main possible causes for such disagreement would be the abstract nature of the concept itself and studies including different industry projects and different participants’ viewpoints with different priorities. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to define construction project success and to develop a framework with a practical set of measurement criteria to evaluate the same. This study has followed the Systematic Review Approach recommended by Tranfield et al. (2003). The recommended check-list by Saunders et al. (2007) was used to ensure the criticality of the review. A definition for Construction Project Success and ten criteria – subjective and objective have been identified. The criteria are Time, Cost, Quality, Safety, Client’s Satisfaction, Employees’ Satisfaction, Cash-flow Management, Profitability, Environment Performance and Learning and Development. The paper stresses the need for a long-term perspective rather than having a short-term perspective of Construction Project Success. Further, it has disentangled complications in literature over some criteria such as Quality and Satisfaction. Employee Satisfaction and Learning & Development have been completely overlooked as a result of short term perspective. Criteria should facilitate measuring project success during the execution stage as well as at the end of the project. It is recommended that, through the studies of relationships between critical success factors and success criteria a stronger model to ensure project success could be established. Proposed framework will be tested in Sri Lankan context in future and findings would be added to the project management body of knowledge. Proposed framework will be instrumental for filling the existing empirical gaps.

Exploring cost planning practices by Ghanaian construction professionals

Cost planning remains core in the construction process, its importance is dated to the pre modern construction activities in both developed and developing countries. However, in developing countries, the adoption of effective cost planning practices is lacking to the extent that construction projects are often abandoned because of poor cost planning practices leading to cost overruns that are not sustainable. This study expounds on cost planning practices of Ghanaian construction professionals and their extent of application. The study adopted a mixed method approach and data generated from this survey were further subjected to mean score analysis. The findings of the study revealed that knowledge of cost planning practices among Ghanaian construction professionals is appreciable but its application is egregious. However, a few professionals were found to be applying concepts such as unit, elemental and comparative cost analysis in planning their cost activities. This study espouse cost planning practices by construction practitioners and policymakers who are seeking innovative ways to manage cost in the whole process of the planning and execution of construction projects.

Exploring cost planning practices by Ghanaian construction professionals

Cost planning remains core in the construction process, its importance is dated to the pre modern construction activities in both developed and developing countries. However, in developing countries, the adoption of effective cost planning practices is lacking to the extent that construction projects are often abandoned because of poor cost planning practices leading to cost overruns that are not sustainable. This study expounds on cost planning practices of Ghanaian construction professionals and their extent of application. The study adopted a mixed method approach and data generated from this survey were further subjected to mean score analysis. The findings of the study revealed that knowledge of cost planning practices among Ghanaian construction professionals is appreciable but its application is egregious. However, a few professionals were found to be applying concepts such as unit, elemental and comparative cost analysis in planning their cost activities. This study espouse cost planning practices by construction practitioners and policymakers who are seeking innovative ways to manage cost in the whole process of the planning and execution of construction projects.

Analysis on Components Complexity During Execution of Construction Projects

Development is the fundamental area in enabling India`s economy and urban and provincial structure. Development is a multi-connected structure where all variables are bury connected and multi-centered. All the three limitations time, expense and quality ought to be adjusted in an improved way, so that no segment gets influenced by dismissing those. The goal of this study is to distinguish the managerial variables which will prompt limitations which let-down the development concerning cost, time and quality parts of development from five segments which are critical in execution of development venture. A sum of 51 managerial variables is considered from five components specifically material, labor, equipment, quality control and safety. Data validation is completed for 51 calculated managerial factors. Results revealed that Cronbach coefficient value for all components in three constraints are with range of 0.8-0.9 which is considered as highly reliable with assumed scale. Relative significance is done on these factors. The obtained results reveal that value acceleration of material is 1st most variable with 0.85 RII esteem, which would be a basic element prompting limitation and may let-down the development. Truancy of work with 0.866 RII esteem as far as time limitation, low material quality observing framework with 0.903 regarding quality requirement and afterward relationship examination is finished with variables harmonizing the three imperatives. The result revealed that work efficiency is critical among all components which is associated with 19 different elements above moderate scale. Any need and impact on these elements will demonstrate way on different perspectives which may prompt requirement that let-down the development venture.

Benchmarking national culture and decent work practice indicators in project-based industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to benchmark national culture in the context of decent work practices in project-based industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This should help in achieving successful short-term migration. The study also aims to validate the decent work practice indicators for Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani construction labourers working in the UAE. Design/methodology/approach – This study takes an ethnographic approach in its qualitative research methodology. The research involves observational methodology for its data collection during the execution of construction projects, semi-structured interviews to confirm the data collection during observational approach and a narrative methodology for the data collection within the labour camps, grassy fields and town streets. The qualitative data were expressed in quantitative terms to signify statistically the effect of the national culture in the context of decent work practices in this industry. Hence, the research involved triangulation in its data collection and analysis. Findings – The study reveals that the national cultures of the migrant construction labourers in this context are not the same as identified by Geert Hofstede about four decades earlier. It was found that Indians were high in uncertainty avoidance, Pakistani construction labourers were high in masculinity, Bangladeshi construction labourers were low in long-term orientation (LTO) and individualism and Chinese labourers were found to have high individualism and LTO. This study verified decent work practice indicators for Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi construction labourers and identified different decent work practice indicators for Chinese construction labourers in the UAE than Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi construction labourers. Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to the construction labourers in the UAE. The data were collected during observation while execution construction projects and limited to visiting construction labour camps, grassy fields and town streets. Practical implications – The differences in the national culture of the migrant construction labourers and the decent construction practices in the UAE have economic, social and environmental implications for construction labourers in the Arab world, for both migrant sending and receiving countries. Understanding and managing various national cultures and improving prevalent decent work practices would help to improve economic and social condition of the migrant construction labourers and help to arrest the advance of looming health problems. Originality/value – The study identifies the national cultures of the migrant construction labourers in the context of decent work practices in the UAE. Improvement in the decent work practices of the migrant sending countries and the UAE and understanding of the culture of the migrants will help in preparing effective migration policy by both migrant sending and receiving countries. No study was found to have identified national cultures in the context of decent work practices and assessed the need for improvement in this regard.

A critical analysis of supply chain issues in construction heavy equipment

Heavy equipment refers to heavy-duty vehicles that hold an important role in executing construction projects and production operations. The available literature lacks sufficient information to provide an understanding of the characteristics of the heavy equipment supply chain. The purpose of this research is to examine the heavy equipment supply chain in Indonesia and to identify barriers and opportunities. This research was conducted based on a two-stage research design, starting with qualitative interviews and followed by a focus group discussion. The heavy equipment supply chain shows unique characteristics of production, distribution, and utilization cycles. The findings from the analysis show typical problems faced by the heavy equipment supply chain in Indonesia are that it lacks communication and incentives.

Understanding the gap between green building practice and legislation requirements in South Africa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine green building legislation requirements and practices in the construction project execution stage within the context of the South African construction industry. The rationale for this examination rests with the perception that the implementation of green practices (per se) has been recognised as being “behind” the legislation enacted to control the design and construction of green buildings. Design/methodology/approach – The research process consisted of a literature review to identify existing green building legislation and practices applicable to the project execution phase. This was supported by a sequential mixed-method research approach, which involved a survey of contracting companies based in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to undertake focused interviews with management staff and site operatives. Findings – Research findings established a number of issues, not least: a gap between green building practices and legislation requirements; a high degree of unawareness of green building legislation/practices by construction company stakeholders; selective implementation of health and safety legislative requirements; that management staff had a more “positive” attitude to green building practices than site-based staff who tended to be less motivated and open to such practices. Research limitations/implications – Results from this study are considered generalisable with the sample frame only. Research inference and projections should therefore only be made within this set, and not to the wider population of South African contractors (as this study was limited to the Western Cape Province). Practical implications – Implications from this research are applicable to construction company stakeholders within the population set. Practical considerations include the need to acknowledge a formal commitment to developing a sustainable built environment – especially cognisant of the gap between practices on site and green building legislation requirements. Moreover, this lack of awareness in respect of green building practices and legislation requirements impinges upon several wider areas, not least: construction company stakeholders’ positioning, health and safety practices; managerial and operational staff perceptions, and stakeholders’ willingness and motivation to proactively address these gaps. Social implications – Government bodies and allied professionals in charge of construction industry development are encouraged to consider the implementation of green building legislation requirements on construction sites. This reflection should encourage engagement through formative legislative provision and transparent awareness campaigns. Originality/value – This work is original insofar as it directly addresses the alignment of legislation to current practices within the context of the South African construction industry. However, similar exercises have been undertaken on green building legislation in other countries such as USA, UK and Australia.

An ontological approach for technical plan definition and verification in construction

Abstract Construction planning is a fundamental and challenging process in the management and execution of construction projects. The task of developing technical plans is critical to ensuring the success of a construction project. This task of preparing a technical plan is usually undertaken manually using two separate processes: (1) plan definition and (2) verification/checking. This paper introduces an ontological approach to support the plan definition and verification process. Using this approach, the technical plans are modeled into plan ontology in a layered modeling structure. The verification knowledge is modeled into ontology axioms and semantic rules. A case example is used to demonstrate the proposed approach for pit excavation. In addition, the proposed approach enables the compliance verification process to be undertaken in parallel with the technical plan definition. As a result, the plans' compliance can be ensured during the project delivery process. The research provides a novel ontological and semantic mechanism for reusing plans and their automatic verification in construction, which is semantically reasoned.

Unravelling causes of defects in construction

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify the primary root causes of defects in terms of why they persist in construction, despite the increasing implementation of quality systems. Defects in construction continue to be a source of concern in the construction industry. There have been studies that have tried to identify causes of defects. Although concepts are usually related to organisational factors, previous studies have been carried out on an operational level. There is a well-trodden area within the literature relating to the operational level, but little is known about the causes of defects on a higher, organisational level within construction. Design/methodology/approach – A new approach based on the notion of process causality and the use of cognitive mapping has been adopted. The aim was to take a step back and unravel causes of defects in the execution of construction projects. From workshops with representatives drawn from different parts of the industry, themes have been identified and investigated from a causation perspective. Findings – It was found that the causes of defects mainly reside in endogenous factors within organisations as opposed to execution failure or exogenous factors related to market, material or equipment behaviour. Originality/value – More specifically, it was found that the dominant cause of defects lies within organisational shortcomings, suggesting that improvements can be found on the management and strategic levels within projects instead of on the operational level.

EMBEDDEDNESS AND COLLABORATIVE VENTURE NETWORKS AMONG KOREAN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS FOR OVERSEAS CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Finding competent collaborators while executing construction projects overseas is of paramount importance for project success. The partner choice and project performance cannot be understood only from an economic viewpoint because it is constrained by the firms’ embeddedness in social relations. Based on this premise, this paper provides not only a theoretical explanation of the impact of structural and relational embeddedness on firms’ economic behaviour and outcomes, but also empirical evidence by analysing the collaborative process among Korean construction firms working overseas during the past 18 years. Three conclusions are drawn. First, the inter-firm network, at least asymptotically, has scale-free network properties with variance. Second, the network retained endogamic characteristics in that a great majority of smaller firms had worked with only one large firm, forming strong subgroups. Last, there is a plausible evidence of the impact of both structural embeddedness and relational embeddedness on profits.

Identification of Critical Delay Factors in Execution of Construction Projects in India

The Indian construction industry plays a imperative role in the national economy. In the recent past quite a lot of ambitious projects have been undertaken by central as well as the state governments. It is highly unfortunate that most of the proposed infrastructure projects are plagued by severe time overruns which have a propensity to escalate the costs involved and make the efforts futile. Any construction project can be divided into three main phases, i.e. project conception, project design and project construction or execution phase. It is observed that mainly the project delays occur during the construction or execution period, where many unforeseen factors are continually drawn in. This study therefore aims to recognize the critical factors responsible for schedule delays in construction projects in India. A questionnaire consisting of ten critical factors was formed and distributed to professionals engaged in construction projects across India. A total of eighty five respondents consisting 33 clients, 10 consultants and 42 contractors took part in the survey. The Mean Score was calculated for each of the factor considering various groups of respondents and subsequently ranking of the factors was carried out. Lack of human resources-skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled, poor site management and lack of coordination and control emerged as the top three factors.

Assessment of the likelihood of implementation strategies for climate change adaptation measures in Dutch social housing

Housing providers have to keep adapting their building stock to keep pace with the dynamic changes in the urban environment. One of the main drivers of adaptation is climate change, caused primarily by man-made greenhouse gases. Climate change is impacting on urban areas largely through drought, flooding from extreme precipitation, and heat stress. Climate change not only threatens the building stock, but also the quality of life of people living and working in urban environments. In the Netherlands, housing associations have strong interests in and responsibilities for managing the social housing stock and maintaining quality of life, but they seem scarcely aware of the challenge that lies ahead in terms of adapting their stock to the impacts of climate change. This paper focuses on physical adaptations to the housing stock and discusses the likelihood of the adoption of five implementation strategies for climate adaptation measures as assessed by decision-makers in Dutch housing associations in an online survey. The strategies combine conceptual approaches in policymaking, involvement of external players, and the execution of construction projects in a partnering approach, with the addition of one extra strategy that assigns a central position to the tenants. There was no strategy that stood out clearly as the one most likely to guide the implementation of measures. Many housing associations do, however, see opportunities in this area and might be persuaded to take action if they were provided with a wide palette of implementation strategies from which they could select the most suitable combination.

Effects of cultural assimilation on the performance of a construction project – evidence from UAE

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of the national culture on the performance of a construction project in the UAE. This study benchmarks reason for the success or failure of construction projects from the cultural perspective.Design/methodology/approach– This study takes a case study approach, using the qualitative research method. Data were collected through participant observation and project records as part of the lessons learned and the data were analysed using the coding procedure of grounded theory. Re-confirmation and cross-checking interviews were also conducted to confirm the correctness of the coding. The qualitative data were expressed in quantitative terms to signify statistically the effect of the national culture on the construction project. In this way, the research methodology employed triangulation in its data analysis.Findings– This study found differences in the national culture of the Chinese construction project management teams in overseas construction projects in the UAE. The level of uncertainty and long-term orientation contributed to the success of one of the construction projects under scrutiny and the failure of the other.Research limitations/implications– The study was limited to two construction projects in the UAE. Further research into construction projects is required to validate whether the national culture is generally an element to consider in overseas construction projects.Practical implications– The research study provides reasons for the success and failure of the two projects from the perspective of differences in national culture. Understanding the cultural differences in international construction projects should help to resolve project issues before these need to be terminated. The termination of a project has economic and social implications for all the stakeholders.Originality/value– No research study was found to have identified the national culture dimensions of overseas construction project management teams in the UAE. The longitudinal study helped to understand cultural assimilation during the execution of construction projects in the UAE.

Multicultural large construction projects: the key role of trust

This paper aims to explain why trust is regarded as the cornerstone for successfully leading a large multicultural construction project, and to understand the interdependency of developing trust on different levels, interpersonal, intergroup and inter-organisational level. Issues like increasing employees self esteem, publicly acknowledge partners’ contribution, professional skills, caring attitudes and emotional intelligence helps in developing interpersonal and institutional trust during the construction project execution. The methodology applies a qualitative research. It is based on an Austrian case study which objective was to build an electricity storage power plant over five years. The research technique uses in-depth interviews with engineers who have been working in different fields of the project and participant observation. The research provides recommendations that can be taken by companies to prepare their employees in advance before the actual work begins helping them to save project costs, time, facilitate knowledge transfer and the overall project quality.

Multimedia Educational Programs for Improvement of Occupational Safety Awareness in Construction Industry

One of the most effective ways to improve health and safety conditions in construction sites rests in sound education and training of people incorporated in construction planning, managing or executing. In our region, the creative approaches are essential to encourage new methods to teach health and safety in a stimulating way. In the paper are presented two multimedia educational programs, both centred on development of construction safety awareness through unconventional teaching techniques. The first one is addressed particularly to designers or future designers and is focused on implementation of well known concept of “Prevention through design (PtD)”. The second educational program was prepared and realized within practitioners from construction companies participating in construction projects execution as project managers, site managers or workers. The last part of the paper deals with the effectiveness of safety education in Civil Engineering students.

Proactive Productivity Management at Job Sites: Understanding Characteristics of Assumptions Made for Construction Processes during Planning Based on Case Studies and Interviews

AbstractDuring planning and execution of construction projects, project planners and managers make various assumptions with respect to execution of construction activities, availability of resources, suitability of construction methods, and status of preceding activities. However, not all of these assumptions are explicitly documented and verified before the construction activities start. Decisions made based on invalid assumptions can negatively impact the outcomes of construction projects, such as rework, activity delays, and extra material cost. To address the problems caused by invalid assumptions, this paper proposed to develop a formal approach to capture and represent assumptions and proactively verify assumptions to reduce the uncertainties associated with construction projects. To develop such a formal approach, an initial step is to identify characteristics of assumptions. The research team conducted two detailed case studies (i.e., a bridge rehabilitation project and a research lab renovation p...