Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

LANDIN, ANNE M.; PERSSON, MATS H.

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021075

Quality systems are being adopted by the Swedish building industry to an increasing degree. The present paper examines two categories of specialist contractors electrical contractors, and plumbing, heating and ventilation contractors and the introduction of quality systems in these environments. The companies were assessed in terms of the ISO 9001 standard and the Crosby Quality Management Maturity Grid. The evaluation shows that much has been accomplished in efforts to ensure quality, but that much is yet to be done. Considering the investment in resources which the introduction of a quality system represented for these firms, it is noteworthy that none of them measured the effects of quality control in a concrete way. A specific instrument, based on ISO 9001 and the Crosby Grid, is seen as applicable. The importance of developing the evaluation of quality systems further is emphasized, an approach which can be used both by suppliers and by customers.

ABDELRAZEK, REFAAT H.

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021076

The present paper explains the details of a study that was carried out in Egypt. The study involved the participation of 159 construction professionals representing traditional sectors of the construction industry, i.e. clients, consultants, and contractors, in addition to university professors. The Delphi technique was employed to obtain a consensus conclusion on the factors required to improve construction quality in Egypt, together with their relative importance. The respondents generated 16 factors and the relative importance of each factor was determined. For example, the first factor in order of priority was the improvement of the design and planning in the preconstruction stage, with a relative importance of 16.67 the third factor was the improvement of the financial level and standard of living of employees, with 9.20 and the sixteenth and last factor was the encouragement of innovation for simpler and more accurate work methods, with 2.14. The analysis of the results showed that only five factors represented more than 50 of the total weight of all the factors. Improvement in the aspects of work specified in these factors should make it possible to improve construction quality progressively in Egypt.

KUMARASWAMY, MOHAN M

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021077

The findings from a set of related investigations into construction megaproject management were integrated into models, frameworks and basic guidelines that would help to improve and integrate 1 work packaging, 2 project participant selection and 3 operational management subsystems. More creative approaches to work packaging and participant selection were seen to significantly support construction industry development and the consequent longerterm benefits in developing countries. A paradigm of technology exchange is proposed as the basis of more viable and mutually beneficial joint ventures which would also facilitate the innovative packaging and integrated management of megaprojects in developing countries. Additionally, it is recommended that hitherto isolated initiatives related to quality, safety or dispute resolutionavoidance should be integrated into synergistic management systems which also incorporate builtin monitoring and evaluation subsystems. In turn, the latter would trigger both short and longterm remedial measures related to improved project packaging, for example, as well as to personnel training and organizational development programmes.

ALKOC, EDIZ; ERBATUR, FUAT

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021078

The present paper reports on the development of SITE EXPERT a prototype knowledgebased expert system. It is an advisory system. SITE EXPERT is intended to be used for productivity improvement in construction and provides advice on 1 the productivity of three basic operations of construction, i.e. pouring and placing of concrete, erection and removal of formwork, and fixing reinforcement and 2 human resources and site layout as productivity factors. The system uses information from construction experts, text books, data recorded at construction sites and the engineer's own knowledge, as well as knowledge obtained by running simulation models. In the present paper, the development, operation and evaluation of the prototype system is described. The results of this prototype system development demonstrate that artificial intelligence methodologies provide powerful facilities for capturing information about construction processes and advising the practitioners of construction on productivity improvement within a computer format close to human reasoning.

MEZHER, TOUFIC M.; TAWIL, WISSAM

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021079

The present paper presents the major causes of delays in the construction industry in Lebanon and the relative importance of these postponements. A survey of a randomly selected sample of 11 owners, 15 contractors and 10 architecturalengineering AE firms from Lebanon was undertaken. The survey included 64 causes of delay, grouped into 10 major groups, in which the participants were asked to indicate their level of importance of each delay. The level of importance of the causes and the groups were measured and ranked by the importance index for owners, contractors and AE firms. It was found that all three parties generally agreed on the ranking of the major categories of delay factors. Owners had more concerns with regard to financial issues, while contractors ranked contractual relationships highest, and finally, AE firms ranked project management highest.

GOH, BEEHUA

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021080

It is widely believed that the construction industry is more volatile than other sectors of the economy. Accurate predictions of the level of aggregate demand for construction are of vital importance to all sectors of this industry e.g. developers, builders and consultants. Empirical studies have shown that accuracy performance varies according to the type of forecasting technique and the variable to be forecast. Hence, there is a need to gain useful insights into how different techniques perform, in terms of accuracy, in the prediction of demand for construction. In Singapore, the residential sector has often been regarded as one of the most important owing to its large percentage share in the total value of construction contracts awarded per year. In view of this, there is an increasing need to objectively identify a forecasting technique which can produce accurate demand forecasts for this vital sector of the economy. The three techniques examined in the present study are the univariate BoxJenkins approach, the multiple loglinear regression and artificial neural networks. A comparison of the accuracy of the demand models developed shows that the artificial neural network model performs best overall. The univariate BoxJenkins model is the next best, while the multiple loglinear regression model is the least accurate. Relative measures of forecasting accuracy dealing with percentage errors are used to compare the forecasting accuracy of the three different techniques.

CARRILLO, P.M.

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021081

Recently, there have been significant corporate changes within the major contracting organizations in the UK. Mergers and acquisitions are creating large, panEuropean contractors. Such changes have a fundamental impact on the way these contractors operate. The reasons behind the increased mergers and acquisitions activities, and how these corporate changes affect information systems and information technology ISIT are examined. The present paper illustrates these ISIT changes using the acquisition of two British contractors as case studies. The results show that issues such as leadership, communications and culture have a significant impact on how organizational changes are implemented.

LOOSEMORE, M.

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021082

The confrontational nature of the construction industry is as much a threat to effective research as it is to effective construction management. In methodological terms, it presents particular challenges of emotion, sensitivity, tension, stress, pressure and uncertainty which a researcher has to address. The present paper discusses the methodological challenges of conducting research within a confrontational environment and presents a model of solutions developed to meet these problems. This model will be of value to all researchers involved within construction projects, but particularly those interested in construction conflict.

MATTILA, KRIS G.; ABRAHAM, DULCY M.

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021083

Since the early 1960s, there have been different techniques to schedule linear projects, but for the most part, these have been overshadowed by the critical path method CPM. Recently, there has been renewed interest in linear scheduling and in adapting some of the CPM techniques to linear scheduling. This necessitates a review of the research in the area of linear scheduling. The present paper provides an overview of linear scheduling, discusses the different approaches that have been used and expresses new avenues for research in the area of resource levelling of linear schedules.

UHER, THOMAS E; RITCHIE, JAN

1998 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/eb021084

The present paper reports on research which attempted to ascertain the attitudes of the management and site personnel of general contractors and subcontractors on the issue of health promotion in the workplace. The main focus was on fitness and nutrition programmes, and the existence of a relationship between the health of employees and their productivity. The data were collected using questionnaires from a sample of eight large general contractors and 14 subcontractors operating in the Sydney region of the Australian construction industry. The responses in the sample were received from eight occupational health and safety OHS managers and 34 site workers employed by general contractors, and 14 site workers employed by subcontractors. The attitudes of the respondents toward health promotion in the workplace were found to be highly positive, and supportive of the development and implementation of health promotion programmes. In the opinion of the respondents, job performance and productivity may be increased through health promotion programmes in the workplace.