Project Parties Research Articles

Application of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) in the Middle East: Implementation and Challenges

The Integrated Project Delivery method (IPD) is a contractual framework that features enhanced collaboration, risk and reward sharing under a single contract among the major project parties. This delivery method is gaining popularity in the US and other parts of the world, due to its proven results in efficient risk and cost sharing. Despite that, no significant investigations have been made to address the adaptability of the Middle East construction sector to the IPD delivery system. The objective of this research is to investigate the level of preparedness Middle Eastern markets have for adoption of the IPD delivery system. First, a thorough literature review was carried out to identify common barriers and enablers of applying IPD in construction. Second, a survey was carried out to assess and rank such barriers and enablers as they specifically apply to the Middle East construction sector. Third, through structured interviews with contract experts, strategies and guidelines were devised to be used by Middle East owners, consultants, and contractors who have the intention to implement the IPD delivery method in their projects. Finally, a thorough comparison was made between two major Middle Eastern countries, Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), in terms of IPD application. The findings reveal that the main barriers to implementing IPD stem from cultural resistance to the new system and lack of knowledge about it. The subsequent strategies outlined by the research are expected to help the construction industry in the Middle East gain more depth of knowledge about the benefits and application of IPD.

Exploring the Barriers to Implementing the Integrated Project Delivery Method

The willingness of Kuwait’s construction industry to implement the new and emerging delivery system, the Integrated Project Delivery method (IPD), was explored in this research. As general conclusions to the barriers to IPD are already established by existing literature, this research aims to identify the specific barriers to IPD by evaluating the willingness of non-IPD teams to implement the principles of IPD. Data was collected from members engaged in multiple construction projects located in Kuwait. Statistical analyses were performed on the collected data to examine differences and similarities in their responses. A Delay Index variable revealed that ongoing Design-Bid-Build (DBB) projects are suffering a delay that amounts to half their original construction duration and that is almost double the delay incurred on Design-Build (DB) projects, which suffered a lesser delay. The data was further analyzed based on the respondents’ project delivery system, project sector, years of experience, and project party. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents working in Kuwait were willing to implement most of IPD’s principles. Astonishingly, respondents working on DBB projects were more willing to implement the principles of IPD than those working on DB projects. The respondents from both the public and private sectors were equally willing. The main contractors were found to be less willing to implement IPD than all the other project parties. Moreover, the most prominent barriers prohibiting most respondents from implementing IPD was their unwillingness to sign a contract that includes liability waivers and one that includes IPD’s organizational hierarchical structure. The findings of this research contribute to the current body of knowledge by exploring the construction industry’s willingness to implement IPD and by simultaneously identifying the specific barriers to its implementation, as well as identifying where these barriers lie. These findings may be used as evidence by owners or industry pioneers in promoting the implementation of IPD in their respective organizations.

Benefits of Using BIM Tools to Resolve Clashes in Iraqi Construction Projects: A Case Study

When the components that make up a built asset are not spatially coordinated and clashed, this is referred to as a clash in design language. These incompatibilities can be identified more quickly in a BIM process during the design phase of a project, before construction begins on site. Most construction projects in Iraqi ministries suffer from a lack of coordination between project parties, which leads to problems in later project stages, particularly during the building stage, when one of the primary issues is a confrontation between civil, architectural, and other parties. This study aims to shed light on architectural element clashes and detect them early in the design process, resulting in fewer errors during the implementation phase. The study conducted a quantitative technique that included creating a questionnaire divided into three sections and focused on time and expense overruns. The result showed that, (The financial deficit of the contractor) is the most critical factor; (the contractor’s non-compliance with the technical specifications) was the second rank. The second part (Using Building Information Modeling technology that reduces and resolving clashes between project elements during the design phase) was the most critical factor. Moreover, the second factor is (BIM technology increases communication between the project team) is the second rank.

Assessing Stability in the Relationship Between Parties in Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing Projects During the COVID-19 Crisis

This research reviews challenges in building sustainable relationships between the parties involved in the crowdfunding and crowdsourcing projects, which are running in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to solve problems that generate the crowdsourcing concerns and to find better alternatives to increase trust for crowdfunding among donors, as this impacts their strategic sustainability in the conditions of turbulence and COVID-induced financial crisis. It was found that factors influence donor decisions in different ways, yet the common tendency for donor activity is non-monotonicity. Future development in the field of sustainable relationships should focus on creating a donor classification system.

Financial management of construction projects: Hyperledger fabric and chaincode solutions

This paper proposes a novel interconnected financial management system based on Hyperledger fabric and chaincode solutions to address endemic problems with financial management practices adopted within construction projects. Increasingly complex construction projects have necessitated a corresponding evolvement of financial management tools and systems to augment security and control. A decentralised financial management system is introduced to deal with all financial tasks across various construction stages using blockchain technology. Under different delivery approaches and payment methods, the proposed system enables parties to record/invoke their transactions safely and automatically, with no third party involvement. Moreover, the proposed approach allows non-owner parties to control remaining financial rights during the Defects Liability Period (DLP) automatically through a pre-agreed endorsement policy. The proposed system is tested on a real-life case project, where results corroborate its ability and workability in providing a secure and scalable platform for all project parties.

Review Article: Investigating the Delay Factors of Construction Projects Using Narrative Analysis Approach

Construction delays are common problems in civil engineering projects in Arab countries. Because of the importance of this problem, the study reviewed many studies that dealt with the topic of delay in the construction projects of their countries.The study included the delay in projects in Iraq. Jorden, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria and Morocco. The projects included infrastructure facilities, public buildings, housing complexes, water treatment plants, sports facilities, water supply, roads. Quantitative method via a structured questionnaire was implemented in all these studies, the questionnaires were distributed to experienced project parties such as the owner, contractor, consultant and other parties. The relative importance method was used to analyze the results of the questionnaire to obtain the highest ten or five factors with the highest rank which cause delay. The results showed that the groups of contractor and owner has the highest percentage and were repeated several times compared to the rest of the groups.The top five factors causing delay of construction projects in Arab countries are, problems of cash flow and financial by owner, difficulties in financing the project by the contractor, Poor site management and supervision of the contractor, selecting the contractor who has the lowest bid and ineffective planning and scheduling by contractors

Quantifying the predictability and preventability of conflicts between construction project parties

PurposeAlthough several studies have aimed to present models to predict conflict outcomes, fewer methods have been developed to analyze conflict manageability and provide management strategies based on prediction models. This research pitches into the manageability analysis of conflicts occur during the implementation of a proposed change in construction projects. In this way, a framework has been developed by defining two parameters: the predictability index and the preventability index.Design/methodology/approachWithin this framework, the predictability index determines how many outcomes of the prediction model can be used for conflict management based on the degree of clarity. The preventability index demonstrates how preventive measures for conflict management can be identified. Eventually, three preventive measures can be determined: (1) identifying weaknesses of decision-making patterns and organizational culture, (2) identifying events that may be prevented using soft skills and (3) identifying differences among similar change-implementation scenarios and evaluating causes of the differences. To demonstrate the capabilities of proposed framework, a practical example has been analyzed.FindingsThe results show that the behavior of the project parties can be psychologically analyzed, and psychological conflicts can be distinguished from technical conflicts. Moreover, identifying the weaknesses of parties' decision-making patterns and their organizational culture is the most effective measure to prevent the conflicts.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the construction body of knowledge by quantifying the predictability and preventability of conflicts between the project parties in a construction project based on: (1) the certainty level of the conflict occurrence and (2) the level of alignment between predicted outcomes of the conflict occurrence and the issued change request and/or change order.

The Role of Building Information Modeling in Offsite Construction Projects

Offsite construction (OSC) and building information modeling (BIM) are two new and promising developments in the construction industry. However, few studies to date provide general empirical evidence for the role of BIM in OSC projects. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this research performs an investigation in the UK construction industry into OSC in the context of BIM with a large and representative sample of empirical data. The analysis of empirical data demonstrates that working with BIM makes OSC easier and more effective. With regards to the integration of OSC and BIM, there are no significant differences in attitudes between project parties. It is found in this research that BIM plays various important roles in OSC design, manufacturing, transportation and construction, which significantly contribute to OSC project success. This research presents a model to conceptualize BIM-driven OSC. It also identifies the need for further transforming from BIM-driven OSC to more advanced digital-driven OSC through the integration of OSC and multiple digital technologies.

Ambiguity and Knowledge Asymmetry in Knowledge-Intensive Projects— The Case of Enterprise System Implementations

Background: This research aimed to examine the interrelations between ambiguity and knowledge asymmetry in Enterprise System implementation projects and determine how ambiguity and knowledge asymmetry affect the management of such projects. Enterprise System projects are a subgroup of knowledge-intensive business service projects. Literature regarding knowledge-intensive business service firms acknowledges ambiguity and knowledge asymmetry between the supplier and the client as essential characteristics of their relationship. However, insufficient empirically grounded research has been made to date to determine the interrelations between the two phenomena and their impact on the project management of knowledge-intensive projects. Method: The research was based on a multiple case study method. Five cases of Enterprise System implementation projects were selected using literal replication until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data collection methods involved participant observation and analysis of documentation. Results: Knowledge asymmetry was identified as a factor significantly increasing ambiguity in the projects subject to this study. As the project parties had different knowledge bases, the information transmitted by the sending party could not be appropriately interpreted by the receiving party. Co-production, i.e., joint synchronous work of the client and the consultant, was the means to overcome knowledge asymmetry and ambiguity. The phenomenon of problem-solution entanglement was also observed: the proposed solutions impacted the definition of the problems and vice-versa, which led to a revision and revisiting of problems considered to be already solved. Conclusion: This research showed that knowledge asymmetry and resulting ambiguity had consequences for project definition, contracting, planning, and execution. Due to different knowledge bases, project parties could not interpret the information they received correctly. Therefore, synchronous work, resulting in an incremental reduction of knowledge asymmetry and ambiguity as well as constant reconciliation, revision and revisiting of problems and solutions, were necessary during the whole project life-cycle.

The Specifics of Creating Student Multimedia Projects in University Humanitarian Education under the Conditions of the Pandemic

The creation of student multimedia projects in university humanitarian education is especially relevant under the conditions of the pandemic and in the context of the necessity to interact, motivate and involve students in cooperation. The purpose of the academic paper lies in developing a methodology for creating student multimedia projects in university humanitarian education under the conditions of the pandemic. The research methodology is based on the requirements, criteria, methods, tools for creating multimedia projects, qualitative analysis of multimedia works on the basis of criteria for work assessment defined by teachers. The academic paper contains content analysis, visual analysis of 3 multimedia projects of students created as part of teamwork during the pandemic (2020-2021). The results testify to the effectiveness of the proposed flexible methodology for creating student multimedia projects, which has provided the following basic requirements, namely: sufficient quality for public announcement; compliance of audio and video with the requirements of broadcasting, clarity, intelligibility; author’s musical accompaniment of the work; providing students with the opportunity to determine the idea and format of the project. The principal features of creating student multimedia projects are as follows: 1) active use of social networks and websites by students; 2) involvement of various interested parties in projects; 3) participation of teachers as mentors, active participants of projects; 4) flexibility in defining the idea, genre, format, tools for promoting projects, content. The practical significance of the research results lies in the possibility of using the developed methodology for creating multimedia projects. As part of the implementation of projects, students have developed their own technical, organizational, creative abilities, the ability to work in a team and manage resources and time.

An analysis of the causes and consequences of the information gap in IT projects. The client’s and the supplier’s perspective in Poland

The high IT project failure rate means that the stakeholders start recognizing the need to analyze the factors influencing project success, previously deemed irrelevant in the face of technology, including the agile approach, eliminating project documentation, effective prototyping, information asymmetry between project parties, while also perfecting communication and the methods of knowledge transfer between team members. Currently, IT projects are researched using a holistic approach, seeing an implementation project as a whole, subject to specific regularities, which may not be deduced based on the knowledge of their individual components. We would like to enrich the research perspective with the notion of the information gap. The article aims to evaluate and analyze the information gap in ERP and CRM project implementations. We have researched the information gap from the perspective of project managers on the supplier’s and the client’s sides. The study was conducted in Poland between 2014 and 2021 in a group of medium companies, using qualitative research methods: unstructured interview and direct observation. The study led to a qualitative characterization of the information gap and the identification of its causes and consequences. The presented research result can help achieve three goals, i.e. studying the information gap in the selected group of IT projects, indicating the nature of imperfection in information access by the project participants, and raising awareness amongst project managers regarding risk management issues, especially uncertainty. Reducing the information gap can be used by the transaction parties to implement a strategy of building the object’s resilience to uncertainty and its consequences. These results can help develop methodologies of IT project implementation, limiting the level of risk and uncertainty.

Dual-Attribution Model of Trust Development between Contracting Parties in Construction Projects: Psychological Perspective

AbstractThe importance of understanding individuals’ psychology when studying interorganizational trust has been increasingly acknowledged by researchers in the construction industry. However, few ...

Analisis Penerapan Klausul-Klausul Sistem Manajemen Lingkungan ISO 14001:2015 pada Pekerjaan Konstruksi di Proyek X

Infrastructure development, according to the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of PUPR 2020-2024, is prioritized to support basic services, economic development, and urban development. The implementation of infrastructure development is strived to increase economic growth. However, non-compliance with quality standards is still a problem in infrastructure development. One of the quality standards that is often overlooked is the environmental management system to ensure environmental quality in construction projects. There is a need for environmental management on a project that runs according to the standards planned and the importance of implementing environmental management in the project. Therefore, a detailed study is needed in identifying and analyzing the implementation of the environmental management system and the constraints on its implementation in construction projects obtained by scientific questionnaire method and observation with contractor employees as internal parties and construction management consultant employees and owners as external parties in a construction project in Jakarta. The data were analyzed by using statistical tests with multiple linear regression, seeing its application in the field, and analyzing supporting documents. The clauses that are considered in the ISO 14001:2015 environmental management system are clauses 4-10. The results of the analysis show that clause 5 is the clause with the highest application effect with a regression coefficient of 0.967. Factors that become obstacles and need special attention in this project are clauses 4, 6, and 10.

Roadway design and construction in infrastructure limited contexts: a risk breakdown structure

The United Nation's sustainable development goals prioritize roadway development, as it is necessary for socio-economic prosperity. Despite rapid growth in the industry, progress has been crippled by budget and schedule overruns. There is often a lack of knowledge regarding risks that could impact project success. A content analysis of published research is performed to construct a preliminary risk identification and analysis framework—in the form of an initial risk breakdown structure (RBS) and codebook. They include 16 subcategories within the following six categories: ‘construction & planning’, ‘economic & financial’, ‘regulatory & legal’, ‘equipment, materials, & land’, ‘site disposition’, and ‘relations & recruitment’. This study provides researchers and project parties—including owners, contractors, consultants, and financial institutions—with a starting point to discuss and identify context-specific risks. It also suggests areas for future research.

Critical Factors Affecting the Success of Construction Projects in Oman

Construction in Oman is an important sector that contributes greatly to the country’s economic growth. Recently, the construction projects in Oman have been delayed which has led to delays in the projects’ completion and sometimes to their failure. This study aims to examine the critical factors affecting the success of construction projects in Oman. The extent to which factors related to project parties affect this success was assessed. A quantitative approach based on systematic literature review and questionnaire survey technique was used. The factors were identified and classified into six main categories, namely, time; finance; project designing, planning and scheduling; quality; project progress and development; and environment and nature. The factors are also classified as client-, consultant-, contractor- and external-related factors. This study was conducted by distributing questionnaires to people who experienced working in the public and private construction sectors in Oman. Relative importance index method was used for analysis. Results show that quality is the most important amongst the six investigated categories, followed by time; finance; project progress and development; project designing, planning and scheduling; and environment and nature. The client-related factors have the highest impact on the success of construction projects in Oman, followed by consultant-, contractor- and external environment-related factors. The selection of a low bid, rather than accurate and reliable bids, and the quality and experience of the project team and labour are the most significant factors affecting the success of construction projects in Oman. The contractors’ administrative corruption, indiscipline and dishonesty and the frequent equipment breakdowns are the two least important factors affecting the success of construction projects. The government should encourage clients to improve their procurement strategies and force the construction companies to implement innovative approaches to project delivery.

The documentation of design decisions in engineering projects: A study in infrastructure development

In most design projects, the documentation of design decisions is considered important. Among others, documentation of design decisions contributes to the traceability of decisions that shape a project’s development process, helps deal with changes in the project and prevents the recurrence of old discussions. Yet, little attention is given to documenting design decisions in the engineering literature. In this study, a theoretical framework for the key elements of this documentation process was developed. Four infrastructure projects were studied and compared to this framework by means of pattern matching. This method compares theoretical and empirical patterns and determines whether they match or do not match. The findings demonstrate that accessibility of documentation for all involved project parties and the division of documentation tasks are in accordance with the literature. However, the documentation of design decisions and their rationale is not done as completely as is recommended in theory. Literature states that the documentation of interrelations and context of decisions should be described thoroughly, but that is barely done in practice. In addition, the findings show that neither immediate documentation nor periodical monitoring of documentation is applied. Based on these findings, this research proposes a strategy for improving the documentation of design decisions.

Factor Influencing Basecamp Location Selection of Highway Projects Based on Spatial Analysis

The highway project has a significant challenge in carrying out its work. The procurement of massive and constant materials is a significant problem. There are problems in basecamp selection: high transportation costs due to the distance to the raw material from the quarry, and on a managerial level, selection of basecamp location is the basis for construction firm management in controlling costs, time, and quality of the project. The literature review has mapped technical and non-technical factors in two decades. However, the lesson learned from historical data as a basis for decision-making is limited—the mileage factor between the quarry to the basecamp and from basecamp to the project site. This study aims to analyze the factors that influence determining the basecamp location for highwayprojects. The research method used is a case study, with a qualitative approach strategy using a questionnaire from experienced parties in similar projects. Analytical Hierarchy Process approach and in-depth interview with the former technical manager of highway project from a construction company were used as a decision support tool. The results showed that a priority of basecamp selection was determined based on the factor of the distance from the base camp to the project site, the distance from the basecamp to the quarry, the plan for independent material production. Apart from technical constraints, licensing and social issues were a factor in the location determination stage. This study contributes to the decision-making model for selecting basecamp locations at the managerial level in a construction company.

The role of public actors in construction logistics: effects on and of relational interfaces

Public actors are increasingly enforcing the use of specifically designed construction logistics setups (CLS) to cope with logistical challenges and minimising disturbances on third parties in large construction projects. The organising of these CLS is contingent on the interaction among several types of actors. The purpose of the paper is to advance the understanding of the design and use of CLS and the distribution of various outcomes of such arrangements on the actors involved. The paper analyses the role of public actors in the initiating of CLS and how this affects the relational interfaces in the CLS triad of developers, contractors and logistics service providers, and the outcomes of their interactions. First, the main reason for a public actor to initiate a CLS is not cost, productivity or innovativity gains, but to decrease disturbances on third parties. Second, developers and contractors are forced to use the CLS initiated by the public actor. This makes them take on a forced customer role, explaining why these actors are often resistant to adopt to a certain CLS. Third, ripple effects, such as unintended costs and productivity impacts, occur in the construction supply chain because of the use of CLS.

Construction Cost Overruns of Residential Building Projects in Oman: Root Cases and Mitigation Strategy

Characteristics of construction project includes a specific purpose and it must meet the requirements and expectations of the client. The construction project activities are always linked together and the time required for each activity does vary. The working on the project will not complete unless there are experts from different departments ranging from site workers, civil engineers, architects, electricians, designers, project engineer, site engineer, project manager and administrative staff such as procurement department and others. One of the primary objectives is to finish the project within budget. Excess of construction costs has a negative impact on project parties. Therefore, the causes of these abuses must be identified, especially in the Sultanate of Oman. This research investigates and evaluates the root causes of the cost overrun, cost trend and financial risks related to the residential projects in Sultanate of Oman. A questionnaire has been designed to collect the primary data and literatures are studied to collect the related secondary data. The causes are categorized into three groups according to the responses of the specialists with the contractor, consultant and client .Aspects of agreement between groups were identified after analyzing the questionnaire.

Claim study of contractors in Commercial Berth Project in Duqm Port in Oman

The claim during the implementation of projects is very important for the contractor and the consultant. As for the owner, it is considered expensive and cumbersome,and therefore the project contract must be very clear so that there are no gaps or defects against the owner.The aim of this research is to analyze and study deeply contractor's claim.The objectives of this study are to study the main factors for the contractor's claim to the commercial pier project in the Sultanate of Oman,including eleven factors. The second objective is to study the impact of the contractor's claim on the commercial pier project in the Sultanate of Oman, and it includes five factors, as the questionnaire was distributed to customers and various segments of society.The results of analyzing 16 factors to identify the key factors and the impact of the study of the contractors claim conclude that the main factors affecting the contactor's claim to the pier project.The factors and impacts are valid to the study after conducting analysis on the obtained data. The factors include the development unexpected weather conditions, inconsideration of the time frame, government approval of delays,poor coordination with the project parties, poor site management and supervision,a change in the clients requirements, the lack of experienced staff, incompetence among teams, low items in the bill of products,and misunderstanding the scope of work and specifications.The impacts to the completion of the Berth project include payment delays, delays in the extension of time,issuing variation order,value implementation engineering and cost reduction,and contractor's performance.