Women hold relatively few project management positions in the construction industry. Most studies conclude that women's exclusion from the industry is mostly due to the industry's male-dominated culture, but no study ever attempted to find out whether women are excluded from project management positions in construction because they are deficient in managerial competencies. This study evaluates the managerial competencies of female project managers by administering a competency assessment test and comparing the results with the managerial competencies of male project managers. The management development questionnaire was used, where competency is defined by subjective comparison. All respondents occupied project management positions and were assessed in 20 different competencies. The study concluded that female project managers do not differ much from male project managers in terms of their managerial behaviors but perform better in "sensitivity," "costumer focus," and "authority and presence."
In recent years, as Information Technology (IT) tools and Building Information Models (BIM) are adopted by more practitioners, it has become apparent that it is possible to have a faster and more efficient quantity take-off system. The efficiency of quantity take-off lies in the smart transfer of the information produced in the design process to construction. Existing BIM-based quantity take-off is performed in the design phase of a project. BIM-based systems provide a smart platform for information exchange between design and construction. A “model-based” system refers in this paper to a Building Construction Information Model (BCIM) coupled with a location-based scheduling process. BCIM offers an environment in the construction phase, where data are stored, updated, and reused via the evolving project libraries of a building contractor. BCIM is composed of three sub-models: (i) a building product model that provides the sections and quantities, (ii) a building resource and cost model that provides activity lists and labour consumptions to calculate activity durations, and (iii) a building process model that introduces the interdependencies of the activities. In the location-based scheduling process, a preliminary master schedule is obtained automatically from an information database, and then improved by the planner to fit the conditions of the company and of the project. The use of Advanced Line of Balance (ALoB) is proposed in location-based scheduling. The objective of this paper is to introduce the principles involved in quantity take-off in a “model-based” system as implemented by a contractor. The paper consists of three parts: (1) the “model-based” system (composed of BCIM and ALoB) is introduced as the theoretical background; (2) the steps in performing quantity take-off in “model-based” systems are described; and (3) Two residential construction projects are used to test the proposed quantity take-off principles.
The factors that affect process quality in the three phases (design, construction, and operation) of the life cycle of a building project are identified and ranked by degree of importance. The perceptions of long-time practitioners are obtained by means of a questionnaire survey. The findings indicate that management commitment to continuous quality improvement, management leadership in promoting high process quality, quality training of all personnel, efficient teamwork to promote quality issues at the corporate level, and effective cooperation between parties taking part in the project are generic factors that affect process quality. Industry-specific factors that are perceived by practitioners to enhance the quality of the building process include drawings and specifications that are consistent, designers and contractors that are selected on merit, communication practices between the parties that are effective, inspection of quality on the construction site that is diligent, a building operation manual that is thorough, and an adequate operation and maintenance budget that is planned as early as in the design phase.
The objective of the study reported in this paper is to compare contracts that include incentive/disincentive (I/D) provisions against contracts that do not include I/D provisions, with regard to the consequences of these measures. The study involves both completed and ongoing highway and bridge renovation/rehabilitation projects undertaken by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). After a general overview of I/D implementation, the results of a study that covered 28 I/D contracts (contracts that included I/D provisions) and 29 non-I/D contracts undertaken by IDOT during the five-year period 1989–93 are presented. The major finding of this study is that the majority of the I/D contracts are completed on time or sooner, which supports the use of I/D provisions in these contracts. However, this saving in contract duration seems to be accompanied by increased project costs most of the time.
Collusion is an insidious issue in the construction industry. Even though it is widely acknowledged as unethical and illegal, there are not many research studies conducted to detect collusive bidding. This study proposes a step-by-step method to detect collusive bidding by analyzing historical bidding data provided by a construction owner. The construction owner in this study is a public agency that commissioned 108 construction projects that were worth $1.3 billion during a 10-year study period (2001–2010). The number of bidders (80 in total) was small considering that a total of 108 contracts were awarded in the study period. Five of the 80 bidders jointly undertook 72% of the total contracts awarded by this public agency during the study period. The proposed detection method is on the basis of a regression model and involves identifying the potential cartel bidders using two tests called the residual test and the cost structure stability test. After conducting the study, it was found that two of the six potential cartel bidders that were identified in this study had been audited by the public agency for bid fraud, and that another potential cartel bidder had been found guilty by the courts and forbidden from doing business with the public agency.
Fall-related accidents have received more attention in building construction than in civil construction as fall-from-heights is more common in building construction. In addition to social costs, construction companies face a significant financial burden when fall-related accidents occur. The major portion of the direct cost of accidents that involve falls includes the compensation paid by the employer to the worker. The employer and the worker try to reach an agreement on the size of the compensation, however, most of the time the process is contentious. The objective of this study is to predict the parties’ responsibilities for a fall-related accident by modeling the relationship between the employer and the worker using a multi-agent system. The research pursued a three-step method, including collection of data, development of a multi-agent model, and testing of the model. The model provides satisfactory results and can be used to quantify the employer’s and the worker’s responsibilities in construction fall accidents, hence avoiding any escalation to pursue arbitration or litigation.
This paper introduces an automated tool named Advanced Stochastic Schedule Simulation System (AS4). It integrates critical path method (CPM) schedule data exported from Primavera Project Planner (P3) and historical activity duration data obtained from a project data warehouse, computes the best-fit probability distribution functions (PDFs) of historical activity durations, assigns the PDFs identified to respective activities, computes the optimum number of simulation runs, simulates the schedule network for the optimum number of iteration runs, and estimates the best-fit PDF of project completion times (PCTs) without user intervention at any time. AS4 improves the reliability of simulation-based scheduling by effectively dealing with the uncertainties of the activities' durations, increases the usability of the schedule data obtained from commercial CPM software, and effectively handles the variability of the PCTs by finding the best-fit PDF of PCTs. AS4 encourages the use of simulation-based scheduling because it is simple to use and it simplifies the tedious and burdensome process involved in finding the PDFs of the many activities' durations, in assigning the PDFs to the many activities of a new network under modelling, and in estimating the best-fit PDF of PCTs.
Purpose In smaller projects with limited resources, schedule updates are often not performed. In these situations, traditional delay analysis methods cannot be used as they all require updated schedules. The objective of this study is to develop a model that performs delay analysis by using only an as-planned schedule and the expense records kept on site. Design/methodology/approach This study starts out by developing an approach that estimates activity duration ranges in a network schedule by using as-planned and as-built s-curves. Monte Carlo simulation is performed to generate candidate as-built schedules using these activity duration ranges. If necessary, the duration ranges are refined by a follow-up procedure that systematically relaxes the ranges and develops new as-built schedules. The candidate schedule that has the closest s-curve to the actual s-curve is considered to be the most realistic as-built schedule. Finally, the as-planned vs. as-built delay analysis method is performed to determine which activity(ies) caused project delay. This process is automated using Matlab. A test case is used to demonstrate that the proposed automated method can work well. Findings The automated process developed in this study has the capability to develop activity duration ranges, perform Monte Carlo simulation, generate a large number of candidate as-built schedules, build s-curves for each of the candidate schedules and identify the most realistic one that has an s-curve that is closest to the actual as-built s-curve. The test case confirmed that the proposed automated system works well as it resulted in an as-built schedule that has an s-curve that is identical to the actual as-built s-curve. To develop an as-built schedule using this method is a reasonable way to make a case in or out of a court of law. Research limitations/implications Practitioners specifying activity ranges to perform Monte Carlo simulation can be characterized as subjective and perhaps arbitrary. To minimize the effects of this limitation, this study proposes a method that determines duration ranges by comparing as-built and as-planned cash-flows, and then by systematically modifying the search space. Another limitation is the assumption that the precedence logic in the as-planned network remains the same throughout construction. Since updated schedules are not available in the scenario considered in this study, and since in small projects the logic relationships are fairly stable over the short project duration, the assumption of a stable logic throughout construction may be reasonable, but this issue needs to be explored further in future research. Practical implications Delays are common in construction projects regardless of the size of the project. The critical path method (CPM) schedules of many smaller projects, especially in developing countries, are not updated during construction. In case updated schedules are not available, the method presented in this paper represents an automated, practical and easy-to-use tool that allows parties to a contract to perform delay analysis with only an as-planned schedule and the expense logs kept on site. Originality/value Since an as-built schedule cannot be built without updated schedules, and since the absence of an as-built schedule precludes the use of any delay analysis method that is acceptable in courts of law, using the method presented in this paper may very well be the only solution to the problem.
The objective of the research presented in this paper is to explore the factors associated with company failures in the context of the construction industry. To that end, the four quadrants of an ‘environment/response’ matrix developed by Boyle & Desai (1991. Journal of Small Business Management , 29 , 33–42) are populated with Dun and Bradstreet's US business failure data for the construction industry. The study indicates that budgetary and macroeconomic issues represent 83% of the reasons for construction company failures. This implies that firms that take vigorous administrative measures to address budgeting issues and that react promptly to economic conditions by implementing appropriate strategic policies should be able to avoid failure. On the other hand, issues of adaptability to market conditions and business issues appear to have limited effects on company survivability (6% of the reasons for failure). This implies that administrative measures to fend off internal conflicts that originate for reasons beyond management's control and long‐term strategic decisions to regulate the firm's adaptation to market conditions can also help to prevent failure. An ‘input/output’ model appears to explain the business failure phenomenon better than the ‘environment/response’ one.
This paper reports the findings of a study conducted by researchers at Illinois Institute of Technology under the direction and supervision of the ASCE Committee on Management Practices in Construction to investigate the expectations of the parties involved in the construction process, including designers, owners, general contractors, subcontractors, construction managers, and educators, relative to construction managers' duties. The findings suggest that while there is some consensus among parties to a construction project relative to CM duties particularly in the construction phase, there is also some disagreement, most of which appear to be between contractors and designers. Most disagreements are related to CM duties performed in the bidding and postconstruction phases of projects.
A Delphi process and a questionnaire survey are conducted to investigate the differences in the perceptions of entry-level professionals and long-time practitioners with regard to process quality in building projects. The factors that affect process quality in the three phases (design, construction, and operation) of a building project's life cycle are identified and ranked by the respondents' perceived degree of importance. The findings indicate that the perceptions of entry-level professionals and long-time practitioners are in agreement for most (74%) of the factors. Given the differences in the respondents' background, expectations, and experience, differences in perceptions are to be expected in the remaining 26% of the factors. Analyzing these differences helps in revising and improving existing training courses and academic programs. It is recommended that college programs include courses that treat the administrative aspects involved in the building project in great detail and that continuing education programs cover quality training and life cycle cost analysis.
<p>The outcome of construction litigation depends on a large number of factors. To predict the outcome of such litigation is difficult because of the complex interrelationships between these many factors. Two attempts are reported in the literature that use, respectively, case-based reasoning (CBR) and artificial neural networks (ANN) to overcome this difficulty. These studies were conducted by using the same 102 Illinois circuit court cases; an additional 12 cases were used for testing. Prediction rates of 83% in the CBR study and 67% in the ANN study were obtained. In this paper, CBR and ANN are compared, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed in light of these two studies. It appears that CBR is more flexible when the system is updated with new cases, has better explanation facilities, and handles missing data and a large number of features better than ANN in this domain. If the use of CBR and ANN is understood better and if, as a result, the outcome of construction litigation can be predicted with reasonable accuracy and reliability, all parties involved in the construction process could save considerable money and time.</p>
Many contractors prefer on-site fabrication of rebar while others find that off-site fabrication is more advantageous. The economics of on-site and off-site fabrication of rebar need to be compared on the basis of several factors that include the project environment, wages, labour considerations, the initial investment for equipment, waste of rebar, the cost of inventory, cycle time, and supply chain management. This study presents an economic comparison of the on-site and off-site fabrication practices of rebar by means of a simulation model that makes use of the factors mentioned earlier. The model is populated with actual data obtained from a trade centre project in Istanbul, Turkey. The article indicates that the off-site fabrication practice would have been more costly than the on-site practice in the project in Istanbul, a finding that was to be expected in circumstances that prevail in most developing countries.
Computer aided design (CAD) technology is one of the most influential information technology (IT) innovations of the last four decades. This paper studies the factors that influence the spread of this important IT innovation in the context of the Turkish architectural design practice. It builds on the innovation diffusion theory which proposes that internal (i.e., copying behaviors of others) and external influence (i.e., complying with clients' requirements, changes in government regulations, demand conditions, and consulting firms' suggestions) factors drive diffusion of an innovation. The paper empirically tests the propositions of innovation diffusion theory by using three mathematical models: The internal influence model, the external influence model, and the mixed influence model. Research findings point out that the mixed influence model has the highest exploratory power. They show that the diffusion of CAD technology in architectural design practice is primarily driven by internal rather than external influence factors. This study is of importance to researchers because this is the first application of the influence models to the study of the diffusion of CAD technology in architectural design practice. It is also of relevance to design practitioners since the findings should provide a useful guide in their decision to adopt or not to adopt CAD technology.
Alliances between construction companies have become popular because of their importance as an alternative in global competition. Construction companies complement skills, experience, and resources with their partners to successfully complete a construction project through the formation of alliances. Alliances provide several advantages for the participants, but are subject to several risks too. The quality of inter-company relations determines how well an alliance performs. In this study, the effect of the similarity/difference between the organisational cultures of partnering companies on the quality of inter-company relations is examined through a questionnaire survey. The results of the study suggest that similarities in the organisational culture of the partners have a significant and direct impact on the quality of inter-company relations. It also has a significant and direct impact on the organisational structure of an alliance, which in turn affects inter-company relations. The findings reveal that allied companies maintain better relations when the organisational structure of the alliance is properly designed.
