Construction Team Research Articles

Investigating the Relation Between Team Learning and the Team Situation Model

The development of a team situation model (TSM), a shared understanding of the current situation developed by team members moment by moment, and its impact on team effectiveness have received minor attention in team research. This study investigates a moderated mediation model including the relationship between the team learning processes of co-construction and constructive conflict, the TSM, and team effectiveness. Forty-seven emergency management command-and-control teams participated in this field study. Their task was to manage a realistic emergency simulation developed and organized by field experts. The multi-rater approach included ratings of team members, researchers, and field experts. Results show that co-construction is related to the TSM under the condition of high constructive conflict. The TSM predicts team effectiveness in terms of the quality of actions at the incident scene.

COLLABORATIVE ENGINEERING FOR SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS ASSISTED BY VIRTUAL CONSTRUCTION

The paper outlines a decision-support environment that actively supports collaboration during decision making and problem solving. A complementary partnership was formed between computer agents and human agents; one brought selected intelligence to the solution process from “unlimited” multi-domain knowledge sources, the other brought human cognitive rationality. In particular, the proposed system articulated how domain knowledge and know-how can be shared, thereby creating a truly integrated construction team. The author’s investigation measured the views of practitioners in the main building professions—architecture, engineering and construction management—before proposing the decision support system. The conclusion of the work is a conceptual model: a definition of the contractors’ construction management computer agents, and a specification based on scenarios of how these agents would interact with design agents. The significance of Virtual Design and Integrated Project Delivery are also discussed in the context of improved collaboration on the construction project.

Architecture Information in Construction Environment in Malaysia

This paper aims to look at the current construction environment in Malaysia to examine and review all aspects of the information used during construction. An educational building selected as a case study in order to have through a monitor of the construction processes. This involves information and problems involves during the construction progress and sustainable practice. This study focus on the progress in the construction environment in Malaysia related to the management of information in the area of construction to provide new knowledge about the sustainability in construction progress. The paper concludes with a brief discussion and finding that can be used by future researchers, consultants, construction teams and the community.

Essential factors towards optimal utilisation of construction resources

Purpose– This paper aims to evaluate and present the essential factors that will enhance site managers’ efficient performance which will perpetuate optimal construction resources utilisation. The capability of controlling and monitoring construction resources and the application of production information to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, cost, time, quality and clients’ satisfaction are the primary functions of site managers. However, the effective implementation of this production information is usually hindered by some factors, often resulting in conscious, unconscious or unavoidable resource wastage.Design/methodology/approach– The research is triangulated. The investigations are based on an action survey, comprising structured quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interview surveys conducted with a few project managers in the UK construction industry.Findings– The research evaluates problems associated with the site managers’ project delivery and establishes essential factors towards efficient resources utilisation. Among the identified predicaments are the design team’ attitudes towards site managers’ corrections, modification and alterations; communication gap between the design and construction teams; and production information inadequacy. Thus, the factors identified which will enhance the efficiencies of the site managers are communication effectiveness and effective information dissemination, conducive environment, production information simplicity and explicitness, in addition to skilled workers’ participation in knowledge transfer and sharing, to mention but a few.Originality/value– The facts presented in this study will significantly enhance site managers’ optimal resources utilisation, and provide the opportunity for construction resources waste minimisation. Thus, the adequate implementation of the innovative measures presented in this study will not only enhance the performance of site managers on resources utilisation, but will also augment client satisfaction.

Evaluation of site managers’ hindrances towards optimal utilisation of construction resources

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to delineate different types of site manager attributes that significantly contribute to construction project management efficiency and evaluate the factors that hinder the site manager during construction production processes. Towards efficient resources utilisation, site managers require various qualities and potentials. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve valid result, the research study was triangulated by exploring literature, which was augmented with both quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interview research methods. The research data were collected in the UK building industry. Findings – It was found that the barriers that often affect efficient utilisation of construction resources in the industry are poor communication, disagreement, misunderstandings, bad weather, union strikes and construction participants’ personality conflicts. This research study presents severity of site manager’s hindrances, factors that affect site manager’s efficiencies, solutions to minimise the hindrances on site manager’s efficient performance and factors that should be constant towards site mangers’ efficient performance. Among these solutions found evident that will enhance site managers’ performance and minimise the effect of the hindrances are an enhanced planning and adequate programming of construction resources before and during project execution, rational team building and an efficient construction team for project, in addition to adequate information dissemination and transfer of knowledge. Originality/value – The adequate implementation of the solutions presented in this paper will not only enhance the performance of site managers on resources utilisation but will also augment client satisfactions.

Comment on “China's Foreign Aid at a Transitional Stage”

Comment on “<scp>C</scp>hina's Foreign Aid at a Transitional Stage”

Amnesiopolis: FromMietskasernetoWohnungsbauserie 70in East Berlin's Northeast

On April 11, 1977, near a small village northeast of Berlin called Marzahn, construction teams from the Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) Tiefbau Berlin began digging the first foundation for what became the largest construction site and the largest prefabricated housing settlement (Plattenbausiedlung) not just in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), but in all of Europe (see Figure 1). An army of more than 6,000 workers arrived, and over the course of the next decade, built more than 200,000 apartments in Marzahn and the surrounding areas of the northeast edge of Berlin. These came to house more than 400,000 residents, who moved there from the older neighborhoods of East Berlin and from all over the GDR.

Feet on the ground: engineering geology past, present and future

Engineering geology has a long and rich heritage and the UK has been in the vanguard of the development of the subject as a distinct discipline, with the first book on the subject being published in London in 1880. Since then, engineering geology has been applied to projects around the world and engineering geologists have become core members of planning, investigation, design and construction teams in the civil engineering and mining industries. However, in the past few decades we have seen numerical analyses increasingly being accepted as the answer to all geotechnical design questions, although as engineering geologists we are used to dealing with natural materials and processes and recognize that their inherent variability cannot always be reduced to a simple numerical value. Consequently, how do we ensure that any proposed construction works in civil engineering or mining take full account of this variability and the uncertainties that result? To enable engineering geologists to understand and describe these uncertainties are there fundamental skills that define an engineering geologist and, if so, how can these skills be taught or acquired? Also, in a world dominated by readily accessible data that can be downloaded and analysed for so many planned development sites, how important are the field techniques of observation and mapping that an older generation of engineering geologists, including the author, considered their defining skill? Concentrating on the role of engineering geology in relation to civil engineering, these are amongst the questions explored in this paper, leading to observations as to how the profession might develop in the future in order to meet the needs of society.

Soundscape and architecture—What is your vision?

The soundscape technique combines physical acoustical parameters with user perceptions of the sonic environment in a context of meaning. This method can be a powerful analysis and design tool for a wide range of projects, including building interior and exterior spaces, site planning, urban and transportation planning, environmental noise control, public parks, etc. The soundscape method can also be a useful marketing and project management tool, with the goal to address acoustical concerns as early as possible in the architectural design process, even in the inspiration phase. Sonic perceptions of the built environment are often a vital part of the vision for a project, and must be expressed at the outset to be fully incorporated in the design. Innovative project delivery methods and contract structures such as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), unlike design-bid-build, assign shared risk and reward among the design, construction, and management teams. Design inputs are solicited from all stakeholders and design team members very early, before programming. This and similar delivery methods offer great opportunities for practitioners, through soundscaping, to include acoustics in the initial project discussions, and to advance the implementation of quality sonic environments. Project case study examples are discussed.

The Key Technologies Research in Demolition Construction of Liuxi River Bridge

Because the flow of river bridge was not suitable for bearing existing vehicle load, it is needed to be dismantled, and a new bridge will build on the original site. The overall construction plan is using double bridge girder erection machines to remove box girder and the suspended beam of the main bridge. In order to guarantee the security of assembling the bridge girder erection machines and lifting the beam, we did some research in assembling technology, using the finite element software MIDAS to establish model of sling equipment, and analyses whether the sling equipment can bear the design load . With the purpose of ensuring the stability and safety of the suspended beam in the process of hoisting, the suitable order of hoisting suspended beam and risk control of slipping the suspended beam were analyzed. For purpose of guaranteeing the stability of the hoisting box girder, the construction team designed the stabilization system. Due to the complexity of the stress of the girder in the demolition process, we use the finite element software ANSYS to establish the model of e box girder in the process of hoisting, and analyze its stress and deformation. According to the practical engineering, we draw a conclusion: the box girder, suspended beam remained stable in the process of hoisting, and their internal forces conform to the requirements of the specification. The overall construction plan can provide a reference for other similar projects.

Designing Collective Behavior in a Termite-Inspired Robot Construction Team

Complex systems are characterized by many independent components whose low-level actions produce collective high-level results. Predicting high-level results given low-level rules is a key open challenge; the inverse problem, finding low-level rules that give specific outcomes, is in general still less understood. We present a multi-agent construction system inspired by mound-building termites, solving such an inverse problem. A user specifies a desired structure, and the system automatically generates low-level rules for independent climbing robots that guarantee production of that structure. Robots use only local sensing and coordinate their activity via the shared environment. We demonstrate the approach via a physical realization with three autonomous climbing robots limited to onboard sensing. This work advances the aim of engineering complex systems that achieve specific human-designed goals.

Mixing Pile and Rotary Jet Grouting Pile New Monitoring Technology Research and Application

Construction of buildings on soft ground, key issues need to improve the bearing capacity on soft ground. The cement mixing pile and high pressure rotary grouting pile technology are widely applied in road soft foundation consolidation engineering. However, due to the impact of various factors of construction technology, machinery and equipment, geological conditions, such as the quality of the construction team, quality control has great difficulty. This paper presents three indicators - SPT blow count, and core samples described and unconfined compressive strength of cement mixing pile quality evaluation, which SPT blow count based, core sample description, followed by anti-supplemented unconfined compressive strength. According to certain standards of each score, and assign different individual scores are weighted average weights to obtain weighted score of three indicators of the quality.

Integrated Analysis of Anatomical Gene Expression Maps and Co-Expression Networks Using a Database, ViBrism

Event Abstract Back to Event Integrated Analysis of Anatomical Gene Expression Maps and Co-Expression Networks Using a Database, ViBrism Yuko Okamura-Oho1*, Kazuro Shimokawa2, Satoko Takemoto3, Gang Song4, James Gee4 and Hideo Yokota3 1 BReNt-Brain Research Network and Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Japan 2 Department of Gene Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Japan 3 Bio-research Infrastructure Construction Team, Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN , Japan 4 Penn Image Computing and Science Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, United States Detection of gene expression-anatomy association in biological structure is crucial for understanding its function based on the molecular and genetic/genomic information. Particularly in the mammalian brain where there are estimated 25,000 genes expressed, systematic and comprehensive quantification of the expression densities in the whole three-dimensional (3D) anatomical context is critical. The combinatorial number of randomly selected genes is more than the cell number in the brain, which assumes that non-random combinatorial gene expression underlies the formation of a wide variety of functional brain regions composed of multiple cells. To determine the association systematically, we have introduced a novel framework, Transcriptome Tomography, for spatially integrating comprehensive endogenous gene expression within an isotropic anatomical context. Using this rapid and unbiased 3D mapping technique, in the first instance, we have generated a dataset of 36,000 maps covering the whole mouse brain (ViBrism: http://vibrism.riken.jp/3dviewer/ex/index.html ) and validated them against existing data with respect to the expression location and density (paper submitted). Here, we used an informatics approach to identify the combinatorial gene expression as a broad co-expression network. The gene network links covering the whole brain followed an inverse-power law and were rich in functional interaction and gene ontology terms. Developmentally conserved co-expression modules underlie the network structure. To demonstrate the relevance of the finding, we mined Huntington's disease gene (Htt) and found a novel disease-related co-expression network containing genes potentially co-functioning with Htt in neural differentiation and modulating the disease specific differential vulnerability in brain regions. The maps are spatially isotropic and well suited to analysis in the standard space for brain-atlas databases, e.g. Waxholm Space (PLoS Comput Biol 2011, 7[2]: e1001065) as shown in the related poster by J. Boline et., al. Our time and cost effective framework will facilitate research creating and using open-resources for a molecular-based understanding of complex structures. A part of this work was conducted within the Waxholm Space Task Force of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) Program on Digital Brain Atlasing. We thank the program members, particularly, R. Baldock, I. Zaslavsky, L.Ibanez and J. Boline. Keywords: digital atlasing, Gene Expression, Network analysis, mammalian brain development, computational neuroscience Conference: 5th INCF Congress of Neuroinformatics, Munich, Germany, 10 Sep - 12 Sep, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Neuroinformatics Citation: Okamura-Oho Y, Shimokawa K, Takemoto S, Song G, Gee J and Yokota H (2014). Integrated Analysis of Anatomical Gene Expression Maps and Co-Expression Networks Using a Database, ViBrism. Front. Neuroinform. Conference Abstract: 5th INCF Congress of Neuroinformatics. doi: 10.3389/conf.fninf.2014.08.00079 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Mar 2013; Published Online: 27 Feb 2014. * Correspondence: Dr. Yuko Okamura-Oho, BReNt-Brain Research Network and Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Zushi-shi, Japan, yoho-tky@umin.ac.jp Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Yuko Okamura-Oho Kazuro Shimokawa Satoko Takemoto Gang Song James Gee Hideo Yokota Google Yuko Okamura-Oho Kazuro Shimokawa Satoko Takemoto Gang Song James Gee Hideo Yokota Google Scholar Yuko Okamura-Oho Kazuro Shimokawa Satoko Takemoto Gang Song James Gee Hideo Yokota PubMed Yuko Okamura-Oho Kazuro Shimokawa Satoko Takemoto Gang Song James Gee Hideo Yokota Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. 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Impact of Design and Construction on Quality, Consistency, and Safety of Traffic Control Plans

State departments of transportation (DOTs) develop traffic control plans (TCPs) as part of construction projects. TCPs communicate required traffic control measures to the construction team and help ensure safe travel through construction work zones and a safe environment for construction workers. TCP quality can vary from project to project as a result of many factors, including the process by which the TCP is designed, reviewed, implemented, and inspected; the features and layout of the TCP and roadway; and the communication of the TCP to the constructor. This paper presents a research study conducted to understand how to improve work zone safety performance by improving the TCP design and implementation processes, identifying the TCP and roadway attributes that made TCP implementation challenging, and identifying factors that affected TCP quality and consistency. A sample of 39 construction projects of varying types and sizes was studied with a mixed methods research approach that included a survey of 12 key personnel on each project, a quantitative evaluation of each project's TCP, analysis of project crash data, and an on-site evaluation of the work zone. TCP quality and consistency and worker and motorist safety were found to be higher on projects for which constructability reviews and design peer reviews had been conducted and on projects on which the contractor super intendent and TCP designer had more years of experience and had undergone specialized TCP training. The TCP features found to increase TCP complexity to the greatest extent were multiple traffic control stages, multilane closures, and dense temporary signage.

How Strong and Weak Forms of Collective Responsibility Shape Team Processes

Team effectiveness literature recognizes collective responsibility (CR) as an important dimension of team design, but has not specifically defined CR, nor shown how it is designed and enacted by managers and teams. This paper reports a multi-method study of team design in hospital emergency departments and highlights two key findings about CR. The first finding is that teams were designed with a strong form or a weak form of CR. Managers designed a strong form of CR by letting teams collectively experience the outcomes of their joint work. When working under this condition, team members coordinated as a group, helped each other, and interpreted monitoring communication as teamwork, rather than as criticism or control. Managers designed a weak form of CR by assigning work to teams but buffering them from the outcomes of their work. When working under this condition, team members variously avoided work or worked around those who were avoiding work, which undermined the sense that they were a team. Operational data showed that under the strong form of CR, teams worked more efficiently when facing more work, and under the weak form, teams slowed down as work increased. The second finding from the study is that workers enacted the weak form of CR when they had contentious relationships with managers, even when the managers had intended the strong form. Thus CR shapes constructive team processes, but not when enacted weakly or amid contentious manager- worker relationships.

The characteristics of and cornerstones for creating integrated teams

PurposeDefective stakeholder management has frequently resulted in conflicts and partial failures. Integrated project delivery (IPD) and team integration provides opportunities for organizations to achieve more than they could on their own. The purpose of this study is to analyze the level and challenges of team integration. In addition, study tries to recognize the cornerstones for creating integrated teams in construction projects.Design/methodology/approachThis paper discusses the characteristics and level of team integration in a construction project, but the main purpose is to derive the cornerstones for creating integrated teams. Results are derived from the analysis of current literature and an empirical case study.FindingsThis paper describes the 12 characteristics of an integrated project team. In addition, the cornerstones for creating integrated teams were recognized as the early involvement and assessment of stakeholders, continuous communication and interaction, cultural change, and making the IPD process well known.Practical implicationsThe construction industry is aware of the need to improve control over its delivery processes. In addition, the customers are aware of waste and have started to demand more value. Because IPD and team integration supports the controlling over delivery processes and enables the more efficient value creation, these are extensive issues in developing construction industry.Originality/valueTeam integration is an important part of value creation. Limited research attention has been directed at what the level of integration is compared with the characteristics of integration. This paper also advances team integration research by identifying the cornerstones for integration.

The Effect of Cross-Cultural Uncertainty and Complexity within Multicultural Construction Teams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine challenges faced by senior construction managers in managing cross-cultural complexity and uncertainty. The rationale was to identify the key strategies that are considered essential for managing cross-cultural complexity and uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews with 20 senior construction managers, ten in Kenya and ten in the UK, were recorded, transcribed and entered into the qualitative research software NVivo. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the cultural issues raised by participants. The findings were presented to the participants through workshops and group discussions. Findings – The emerging key issues suggested that project leaders need to learn how to control their own characteristics and to use them selectively. An effective multicultural construction project team should focus on team output and attributes that characterise a multicultural team as a social entity. Practical implications – Findings indicate that the role of construction project managers has significantly changed over the past two decades. In order to deal with cross-cultural uncertainty, project leaders must have superior multicultural and interpersonal skills when managing global multicultural heavy engineering projects. Originality/value – The research shows that leaders of global construction project teams need a good understanding of their culture, environment and the value of their individual contributions.

Communication Network Analysis of Project Teams in Korean Building Constructions

This study used social network analysis (SNA) in order to analyze communication relationship between project team members in typical cases of Korean building constructions. Data was collected by conducting a survey from key members of construction project teams. We analyzed and digitized degree centrality by using Netminer, a SNA analysis program. According to the result of analysis in communication frequency, intermediate managers such as construction deputy managers were shown the highest and architectural designers were shown the lowest. With respect to communication credibility, construction managers were shown the highest and architectural designers were shown to be low. We discovered that intermediate managers and construction managers of the construction teams play important role in the communication of project teams.

Risks of TBM Construction and Corresponding Measures

To get better understanding of TBM construction risk and avoid it, comprehensive analysis and summary of various factors to TBM construction risk were made in three aspects, such as geological and hydrological conditions, TBM equipment, construction team of TBM. Based on the detailed presentation of hydrological conditions, the corresponding demands of TBM equipment and construction team were put forward. Emphatically from the two aspects of bad geological and countermeasures, design of TBM equipment, corresponding strategies to avoid all kinds of risk were proposed. Using Taiwan Hsuehshan Tunnel as the class project, this paper introduced and analyzed the construction risk and of solutions to it, with the hoping of providing guidance for TBM design, risk analysis and evade of construction and other aspects.

Managing intragroup conflicts in construction project teams: case studies in Sri Lanka

Conflict is intrinsic to individuals, teams and organisations. Due to the unique and complex nature with various parties, conflict is inevitable in most construction projects. According to the general management literature, three distinct types of intragroup conflicts can be identified: task, process and relationship conflicts. However, very little consideration has been given in the literature addressing the three types individually in a construction project team setting. Therefore, this study has explored the existence of types of intragroup conflicts and their management in this context. This research was approached through case studies of six construction projects, which were operating under the traditional procurement method in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three distinct participants from each team. The findings revealed that both process and relationship conflicts offer disruptive effects to construction projects and teams, while task conflicts offer positive effects when they exist at low levels. Based on the most critical sources identified within the cases, suggestions are offered here to construction project team managers on how to manage intergroup conflicts proactively. Since the research is based on six case studies on traditional procurement arrangement in Sri Lanka, further research is required to generalise the findings across different contexts.