Construction Projects In Malaysia Research Articles

PRELIMARY STUDIES OF DELAYS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Project delays are referred to a situation where the project is not completed within the schedule. Projects can be delayed for a large number of reasons and usually will contribute to the cost and time overruns. Project delays are considered as one of the common problems in the construction industry and usually, causing negative effects on the project in terms of performance, time and cost. In relation to the construction projects in Malaysia, the objectives of the study are as to identify the factors causing project delays and to suggest solutions to reduce project delays. The researcher conducted three (3) semi-structured interviews to collect data to achieve the objectives. The interview sessions were conducted among three contractors chosen from different companies to access about their experience involving the project delays. The respondents were requested to comment to the factors for project delays and to suggest approaches for overcoming the problems of project delays. The research findings indicate that financial constraints, delay in subcontractors’ works and improper project planning are the major causes of project delays. The findings of the research suggest that manage financial resources efficiently, clients to pay progress payment to contractors on time, effective communication between contractors and labours, motivate labours through proper training, and proper project planning can help to reduce project delays.

Project manager personality traits towards project success: Moderated role of working experience in perspectives of small public construction projects in Malaysia

Project manager personality traits towards project success: Moderated role of working experience in perspectives of small public construction projects in Malaysia

Evaluating the Impact of Building Information Modeling on the Labor Productivity of Construction Projects in Malaysia

Globally, the construction sector suffers from low productivity levels due to a large proportion of the workforce consisting of low-skilled laborers. There is a significant need to move from traditional approaches to advanced methods, such as Building Information Modeling, in order to integrate design and construction workflows with the aim of improving productivity. To encourage more organizations, especially small to medium enterprises (SME), to transition to building information modeling (BIM), clear and convincing benefits are key to ensuring the viability of the BIM implementation process. This study presents the findings obtained through a quantitative structured close-ended survey questionnaire distributed among BIM-pioneering construction companies in terms of the three factors of the project, organization, and individual. The results suggest that BIM factors related to the individual supervision category have the highest positive impact, while the Individual (Labor) factor has the most negative impact on labor productivity. The study concludes by recommending the incorporation of BIM in the Individual (Supervision) category to improve the low construction productivity. A practical recommendation for building regulatory bodies is to develop comprehensive credential training programs with the greater utilization of BIM-related design and construction management to diminish the negative impact of Individual (Labor) factors and thus improve labor productivity in the construction sector.

Ameliorating time and cost control with project learning and communication management

PurposeLegions of projects fail to attain their time and cost objectives due to ineffective coordination. This is often due to a lack of essential learning from projects because of insufficient communication and working experience. One of the key reasons why this occurs is that managers are unaware of what knowledge needs to be retained. In contrast with knowledge management research, which mostly focuses on the systems and processes for capturing, storing, and retrieval of knowledge, this paper investigates the nature of project communication and learning and their role on project time and cost control.Design/methodology/approachA stratified proportional purposive sampling approach was adopted in choosing the interview participants for the study. They are experienced industry practitioners working on building construction projects in Malaysia. Content analysis was then performed on the interview data. The identified variables were further validated by 11 industry experts from the three primary construction stakeholders.FindingsThe results of a series of 12 in-depth interviews with industry practitioners are provided to reveal the effective communication tools for sharing and learning in a project-based environment, the learning inducing situations involved, and the use of reusable project experiences to improve project time and cost control.Research limitations/implicationsA possible limitation of the study is its focus on a small group of Malaysian practitioners delimits the generalizability of the findings.Originality/valueA two-phase model with three-step project management process of input, tools, and output is developed from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide as an aid for more effective knowledge reuse in project time and cost control in the future.

Incorporation of Risk Index for Risk Response and Risk Mitigation Strategies of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Housing Construction Project in Malaysia

The present work attempt to derive a risk index that causing performance failures among Public-private partnership (PPP) housing construction project, and to propose a risk response and monitoring strategy based on the risk index obtained. A total of thirty-three (33) respondent involved in the PPP housing construction assessing the risk elements employing the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Findings reveal that among the risks that were captured for high to extreme risks (0.100 < RI ⩽ 0.150) are geologic hazard risk (0.125), and inflation and interest rate risk (0.116) whereas strategy proposed for both of the extreme risks are avoiding the risk and it best to be assigned the risks to the private sector. On contrary, results for moderate risks captured with unreliable value for money (0.066), fluctuation in currency exchange rate (0.058), absence of transparency and accountability during procurement process (0.084), absence of robust and clear agreement (0.077), unforeseen ground condition (0.058) and shortage of technical expertise (0.054) the strategy advocated for the moderate risk is to transfer the risks and shared within both parties i.e. public and private. Eventually, low risks occupied within the risk index of (0.000 < RI ⩽ 0.050) are financial incapacity if private partners (0.034), weak state intervention (0.039), persistent land acquisition (0.039), insufficient capacity in procurement and negotiation (0.035), frequent design change (0.039), design over specification (0.023), poor quality workmanship (0.029), absence of specific PPP framework (0.046) and inadequate PPP skills and knowledge leading to poor planning (0.043) all the risks best to accept and retained within the public sectors. Taken together, the development of risk response and risk mitigation plan that emerged from the risk index offered significant contribution which has gain a new understanding that risks with severe or low exposure can be reduced or avoided taking into account its strategic and effective response and mitigation approaches.

Key challenges faced by Chinese contractors in Malaysian construction industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the major challenges faced by Chinese international contractors (CICs) in the Malaysian construction industry.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory sequential mixed-methods research approach was adopted where following a detailed literature review and semi-structured interviews with local professionals, 20 prevalent challenges experienced by CICs are identified. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was used to elicit the views of 100 construction practitioners. Descriptive statistics were used to prioritise the challenges, while exploratory factor analysis was conducted to uncover the underlying factors.FindingsThe five most crucial challenges identified relate to: changes of regulation, cost control, contract clauses, language barrier and quality control. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four major underlying dimensions of these challenges, in connection to financial and government policy management, organisational performance management, supplier relationship management and cross-cultural management.Research limitations/implicationsThe challenges are considered primarily involving CICs in the context of Malaysia; further work can be extended to Western or other East Asian, such as Japanese and Korean, international contractors undertaking construction projects in Malaysia or selected developing countries around the region.Practical implicationsThis study will benefit professionals involved with China-backed construction projects in countries sharing demographics and socio-economic characteristics akin to Malaysia. The outcome of the study is expected to facilitate project managers to devise proactive risk-mitigation measures to reduce the impact of these challenges and to improve project delivery.Originality/valueThe paper examined the challenges faced by CICs in the Malaysian context. This is a timely study, as China’s Belt and Road Initiative will provide considerable opportunities for Chinese companies in Malaysia.

Safety Manager Competencies In Managing Construction Projects In Malaysia

This paper aims to identify the core competency required by safety manager in managing construction safety on construction projects and their level of effectiveness. Total of 30 questionnaires received form 100 questionnaires distributed to qualified safety managers work within Klang Valley registered with the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Malaysia with various post of safety officer, manager and consultant. It was found that safety managers consume of several important skills and knowledge on general management functions, practices, and procedures regarding safety and occupational health concepts, principles, practices, methods, and techniques based on the working experience on the construction field. The skills and knowledge on general management functions, practices and procedures can be accomplished by presenting personal concerns for the health and safety of employees, conducting the job-training program, participating in the management of safety committees, considering safety in job design, and reviewing the level of work. It has been recommended that safety managers must invest time and energy themselves for own development of skill, knowledge, and other competencies for more efficient professional safety manager.

LEVEL OF RISK MANAGEMENT PRACTICE IN MALAYSIA CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY FROM A KNOWLEDGE-BASED PERSPECTIVE

The construction industry is a competitive high-risk industry with unprecedented uncertainties in technology, budget, and development processes. The need then evolved to develop a framework for project performance in Malaysia construction company. This study investigated the associated problem in the management of risks in Malaysian construction projects using the knowledge-based approach. This perspective proposed a methodology based on a one-fold arrangement involving the application of risk management modelling function, evaluation of the comparative effectiveness and desired quality with the availability of a best practices model. The preliminary conclusion from these findings revealed that risk management in Malaysian construction projects is ineffective and still at a developmental stage. The applications of a knowledge-based framework, therefore, allow clients, contractors and consultants to develop a project’s risk management function based on best practices. The implementation of knowledge management will, therefore, avoid the organization the cost of repeating the same mistakes. This will invariably lead to improvement in the performance of construction work in Malaysia when incorporated as part of the organizational strategic plan.

Public-private partnership for housing construction projects a comparative analysis of the success factors between Malaysia and Nigeria

Public-private partnership (PPP) has become a popular strategy for housing construction projects due to financial resource constraint and inefficiency of the public sector particularly in the developing countries of the world. However, numerous studies have attributed the success of PPP projects to the contextual peculiarities of different administrative settings. This case study research aims to undertake a comparative analysis of the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of PPP for housing construction projects between Malaysia and Nigeria. The study reveals that while “equitable risk allocation”, “stable political system”, and “reputable developer” are the most critical success factors in Nigeria, “action against errant developer”, “consistent monitoring”, and “house buyer’s demand” are found to be the most important factors that influenced the success the PPP housing construction projects in Malaysia. The findings of the study revealed the contextual predictors that influences the success of PPP for housing construction in the two countries. The authors concluded that although the PPP strategy was applied in housing construction projects in the two cases examined, the comparative importance of the CSFs for Nigeria differs from that of Malaysia due to differences in contextual peculiarities in the two countries.

The selection of optimum water-cement ratio for production of low thermal conductivity cement sand brick with Oil Palm Mesocarp Fibre as admixture

The development of housing construction project in Malaysia has rapidly increasing. However, the development of the projects only focusing on the exterior look without giving consideration on the thermal properties of materials used for building envelopes which may influence to external gain and thermal comfort for the occupants inside. As way to encounter the problem, one of the methods is by passive design which through utilized a low thermal conductivity of brick wall in creating good thermal insulation of the building envelops. This study investigated the characteristics of the cement sand brick (CSB) with incorporated of Oil Palm Mesocarp Fibre (OPMF) as admixture by using different water-cement ratio ranging from 0.45 to 0.65. All bricks were tested for compressive strength, water absorption and thermal conductivity. The result reveals that the higher water-cement ratio increased the compressive strength and water absorption, while decreased in thermal conductivity of bricks. It was found that, by incorporating of 0.65 water-cement ratio enhances the production of low thermal conductivity brick with value of 0.891 W/mºC, compressive strength of 12.4 MPa and water absorption of 1.99% that meets the standard requirement. Foremost, the incorporation of OPMF with water-cement ratio of 0.65 provides alternative solution for energy efficiency and improve the comfort in buildings by improving CSB insulation properties.

Exploring the Quantitative Measures for Multi-Organization Integration in Malaysian Construction Projects

ABSTRACT Construction literature in past decades has reflected a steadily increasing interest in the assessment of organizational integration practices. This interest has led to the development of a multi-organizational team integration performance index based on five weighted key determinants (KDs) for Malaysian construction projects as follows: commitment from top management; team leadership; focus on goals and objectives; communication; and trust and respect. In order to advance the index into a full working model, this paper aims to identify the appropriate leading and lagging quantitative measures (QMs) based on their importance, measurability, and obtainability to evaluate the five KDs. A two-fold research approach was adopted; first, structured face-to-face interviews with eight practitioners were conducted to identify the candidate QMs; followed by two rounds of a rating-type Delphi survey with 18 experts to rate the candidate QMs. The findings indicate that the recommended leading QMs were influenced by the output-oriented measures, while lagging QMs were framed within the scale-oriented measures, depending on the characteristic of the KDs. The establishment of these measures advance the existing index for a quantitative-based assessment of multi-organization performance. The present study adds to the construction literature by enhancing the learning of measuring organizational performance in the Malaysian context.

Value management / value engineering (VM/VE) application in Malaysian public construction projects: application of VM/VE study improved roads project sustainability

The application of Value Management/Value Engineering (VM/VE) in project development has a significant impact on the sustainability of a project. There is a relationship established between VM/VE methodology/process with the sustainability concept, which enables to enhance and achieve the intended project values. As such, to ensure value for money projects, the Malaysian Government has introduced the application of VM/VE in the development of public projects. Public Works Department (PWD) Malaysia is the organization responsible for VE application in public project development. In relation to sustainability, PWD has developed a sustainable rating tool known as Penarafan Hijau JKR (pH JKR) as a mean to determine the sustainability level of projects. This paper elucidates the relationship of the application of VM/VE towards sustainability of road projects by using selected VE case studies. Verification was done between the findings of VE for the selected case studies with the sustainability criteria of pH. It shows a significant result whereby VE findings improved the sustainability of road projects. It also provides evidence that the application of VE contributes to the sustainability of the project.

The Influence of Risk Management on Construction Project Performance: A Case Study

Risk Management is recognized as an important exercise that creates value to a project and improves project performance. Time, cost and quality are the primary measures of a project performance in this industry. The success or failure in any construction project can be monitored through the attainment of these primary measures. Notably, Malaysian construction industry is considered as one of the important industries that positively contribute to the increase of Gross Domestic Product and subsequently the growth of the country’s economic development. Unfortunately, this industry suffers poor performance in which it leads to failure in accomplishing effective time, cost and quality performance. Most construction projects face a schedule delay, cost overrun and are poor in product quality. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the influence of risk management on construction project performance of Malaysian companies based on these three primary measures. The degree of diffusion of risk management practice in the chosen construction project in Malaysia is also examined. The methodological approach exploited in this study is a case study approach involving analysis of documented data and face-to-face interviews with key players that hold different roles and responsibilities. They include a director, project managers, finance managers, contract managers and quantity surveyor managers. The results demonstrate that adopting effective risk management practices positively impacts project performance thus leading to project success. Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge and poor communication of risk management practices in construction projects contribute to the weak implementation of an effective and systematic risk management practices in Malaysia.

Determining factors for enhanced skilled worker requirements in IBS construction projects in Malaysia

Industrialized Building System (IBS) refers to prefabrication and offsite construction in Malaysia. The construction industry embraces IBS for better construction quality with reduced failure risks and cost effectiveness. This method is highly supported by the Malaysian government through Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia. However, IBS demands workforce that is skilled enough to produce and install construction components either on-site or off-site. The workers are deemed to be knowledgeable in handling materials, methods, and tools for constructing structures like houses, buildings, highways and roads. In fact, workers involved in construction projects are often found with low knowledge, skills, and accustomed to conventional methods instead of IBS. This research aimed at determining factors that may contribute enhancing skilled worker requirements for improving the implementation of IBS construction projects in Malaysia. The questionnaires were used to collect data from contractors involved in IBS construction projects in Malaysia. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0 software was used to analyse the collected data. The results show that skilled labour with awareness of IBS implementation can handle and implement IBS projects properly. The results of this work revealed that the skilled workers also ensure the projects can be accomplished on time with better quality. The usage of foreign workforce can be minimized by encouraging local labours to participate in IBS as skilled workers, which enhances the market share of construction industry in Malaysian economy. This research provides valuable information regarding the importance of skilled workers and addresses the role of stakeholders in improving knowledge in IBS construction.

A review of causes of variation order in the construction of terrace housing projects in Malaysia

Variation order refers to any changes from the scope, plan, specification or contract document in the construction project. This changes of work is a common problem in construction projects in Malaysia. It is inevitable in any construction project and this problem can become more serious when variation order causes work progress to be impaired as a results it increased the construction time and cost that affects the construction industry in Malaysia. This paper critically review the causes of variation order in the construction industry on the double-storey terrace housing project in Malaysia. The discussions began with the construction industry in Malaysia and then related parties involved in the construction industry. The extensive local and abroad literature review on the definitions of variation order and analysis of past studies conducted on variation order and the previous study of the prediction model of variation. The extensive literature on variation order in the construction of building project may help to improve the performance in term of time, cost and quality of the construction of building projects in Malaysia.

Sustainable practices barriers towards green projects in Malaysia

The Malaysian construction industry significantly contributes as an empowerment to its development vision of 2020 by reducing up to 40% of carbon emission. Moreover, the industry accounts as threat to the environment, not only in terms of natural resources consumption but also in emitting million tons of carbon emission annually. In fact, Malaysia is categorized the 30th in the world’s ranking in carbon emission level. Several studies attempt to investigate and review barriers that face construction stakeholders in order to provide integration of sustainability in construction industry. However, the barriers were lacking in terms of addressing carbon emission aspects of sustainable practice and limit the emissions from construction projects in Malaysia. This paper investigates the major barriers of organization in achieving sustainability’s best practice. The identified barriers from the perspective of construction stakeholders in Malaysia were categorized based on factor analysis, which are professional and capacity, design and technologies, cost and finance, and, knowledge and culture.

Automatic Materials Tracking Practices Through RFID Implementation in Construction Projects

Materials tracking for materials management play a vital role and contributed a major portion of the total cost in a construction project. In addition, the improper handling and storage of materials at the construction site has made it difficult to track and locate at the time are needed to carry out construction works. These problems subsequently contribute to the project delays and increase in the total project costs. Thus, this paper seeks to identify problems regarding current material tracking practices in materials management processes. In this paper, ICT and potential implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for automatic materials tracking is also scrutinised. Data for this paper was obtained from the literature review and the case studies conducted in several construction projects. Semi-structured interviews with construction practitioners were carried out in order to gain insights into current problems, information and communication technologies (ICT) implementation, and RFID capability in assisting materials tracking practices. This paper reveals that construction projects in Malaysia are still using manual materials tracking practices, basic ICT implementation, and totally none RFID existence. Thus, there is a need for the application of RFID in order to facilitate materials tracking automatically for enhancing construction industry processes through IR 4.0.

Certification for Green Project Managers (GPM) in the Malaysian Construction Industry: Analysis of Success Factors

Since the 19th century, the sustainability concept has grown rapidly especially in terms of recognition and the issues of achieving it have been addressed by the construction players. The Construction Industry Transformation Plan (CITP) aims by the year 2020 to develop the Malaysian construction industry into an environmentally sustainable construction industry to a point that it can eventually be rolled out as a model to the emerging world. In order to achieve it, the Project Manager’s involvement is important when confronting sustainable issues. Therefore, Malaysia has launched its first National Green Project Managers (GPM) Awards in 2015. Although it has been two years, the promotion of certification of GPM is still lacking. Hence, the aim of this paper is to determine the success factors of promoting certified GPM in the Malaysian construction industry. Using a questionnaire survey of 30 respondents, comprising of Project Directors, General Managers and Project Managers, this research focuses on three (3) objectives which are to : (a) explore the need of certified GPM; (b) identify the limitations of promoting certified GPM; (c) establish the success factors of promoting certified GPM in Malaysian construction projects. From the analysis using SPSS, this research discovered the top reason GPMs are needed in the construction industry is because of the responsibilities of GPMs to ensure successful delivery of green development goals. However, there are a number of barriers to promoting certified GPM, which include limited training for Project Managers that touch on sustainability elements. To date, a private sector organization, known as Bridgit, is the sole provider of specific training in GPM in Malaysia. Therefore, training for Project Managers is important to provide them with the necessary skill and knowledge towards becoming certified GPM and turn to achieve as a true success factor. Finally, the outcome of this research will become a baseline to promote certification of GPM in the future.

Risk Factors That Leading to Cost and Time Overrun in Mega Construction Projects in Malaysia

Risk Factors That Leading to Cost and Time Overrun in Mega Construction Projects in Malaysia

The Influence of Risk Management on Construction Project Performance: A Case Study.

Risk Management is recognized as an important exercise that creates value to a project and improves project performance. Time, cost and quality are the primary measures of a project performance in this industry. The success or failure in any construction project can be monitored through the attainment of these primary measures. Notably, Malaysian construction industry is considered as one of the important industries that positively contribute to the increase of Gross Domestic Product and subsequently the growth of the country’s economic development. Unfortunately, this industry suffers poor performance in which it leads to failure in accomplishing effective time, cost and quality performance. Most construction projects face a schedule delay, cost overrun and are poor in product quality. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the influence of risk management on construction project performance of Malaysian companies based on these three primary measures. The degree of diffusion of risk management practice in the chosen construction project in Malaysia is also examined. The methodological approach exploited in this study is a case study approach involving analysis of documented data and face-to-face interviews with key players that hold different roles and responsibilities. They include a director, project managers, finance managers, contract managers and quantity surveyor managers. The results demonstrate that adopting effective risk management practices positively impacts project performance thus leading to project success. Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge and poor communication of risk management practices in construction projects contribute to the weak implementation of an effective and systematic risk management practices in Malaysia.