Engineering Construction & Architectural Management

Hans Voordijk

2011 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/09699981111145790

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to characterize construction management research at the interface of explanatory science and design science. Design/methodology/approach – The dual nature of construction management research is analyzed by relating this field of research to natural science, design science and its interface. Research at the interface of explanatory science and design science is characterized by identifying studies published on this interface in high quality construction management journals. Findings – Research at this interface should focus on technological rules developed through testing in practical contexts as in design science as well as grounding in the explanatory sciences. The nature of testing technological rules is highly similar to the replication logic recommended for comparative case studies. Research limitations/implications – Developing and testing technological rules combines the design science and the explanatory science mode of knowledge production in construction management research, while it also respects some of the methodological differences between the two modes. Originality/value – Developing and testing technological rules is the common ground on which research in construction management practice and research can meet and reduce the relevance gap between science and the world of practice.

Franck Taillandier; Gérard Sauce; Régis Bonetto

2011 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/09699981111145808

Purpose – Buildings maintenance is a complex activity: importance of issues, scales crossing, diversity of civil engineering domains … The key point of this activity is the elaboration of the maintenance. This paper seeks to present a method and the associated tools to elaborate a building maintenance plan considering the complexity of the facility management. Design/methodology/approach – The risk notion can be a solution to handle the complexity. Specialists may specify each decision in terms of risk form in order to purchase (reflecting the probability and the associated consequences) a rich view about the global situation. The principle is to use a simulation logic, to compare the situation in terms of risk, with or without the realization of an action (work, equipment replacement, formation, etc.). This simulation logic must be based on efficient software tools, which enable one to manage the risk database ergonomically. Findings – The method took the form of an experiment in a leading French company. The experiment's results and plan were highly beneficial. Although the method was based on personal choices rather than on a mathematical function, the final maintenance plan was considered sound and seemed to correspond to the expectations of all the participants. Originality/value – Most facilities management methods and tools find answering the complexity problem difficult. They ignore the complexity by focusing only on the technical aspect. The work takes place at the highest facility management level, therefore shedding new light on this domain. The risk notion enables one to consider the complexity of the maintenance and to formalize it into an understandable form for the decision‐maker.

Martin Loosemore; Florence T.T. Phua; Kevin Dunn; Umut Ozguc

2011 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/09699981111145817

Purpose – Australian construction sites are culturally diverse workplaces. This paper aims to compare operative and manager attitudes towards cultural diversity on Australian construction sites, and to examine the strategies that are used to manage it. Design/methodology/approach – A face‐to‐face questionnaire survey was undertaken of 1,155 construction operatives and 180 supervisors on Australian construction sites. Findings – The vast majority of operatives and managers are comfortable with cultural diversity. However, there is some anxiety about cultural diversity, especially around safety risks, and there is evidence of racism. Those concerns are more keenly perceived by operatives than by managers. Both operatives and managers see some of the negative issues (discrimination, racist joke telling) as inevitable daily outcomes of cultural diversity on sites. The normalisation of these negative forms of cross‐cultural interaction reveals a pessimistic disposition towards cultural diversity. Cultural diversity policy, and programs, are not seen as a priority by managers, and some see such strategies (e.g. affirmative action plans) as discriminatory, and unfair, since they may favour some groups over others. Originality/value – No research has compared operative and management attitudes towards cultural diversity in the Australian construction sector. This paper provides a first glimpse into the value attributed to cultural diversity programs by managers within construction sites. These insights will be of value to managers and supervisors who have to manage multicultural workforces in the construction industry. Conceptually, the paper reveals how the “politics of sameness” are hegemonic within the construction industry, presenting as an a priori anxiety towards difference, the normalising of poor cross‐cultural relations, the non‐prioritising of policies to better manage cultural diversity or their ad hoc adoption.

Mikael Frödell

2011 Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/09699981111145826

Purpose – Despite numerous examples of benefits when adapting supplier relationship management in the manufacturing industry, the construction industry still lags behind in such areas as long‐term relationships with suppliers and continuous cost‐reductions. This may be because the characteristics of the construction industry differ from those of the manufacturing industry due to their project‐based structure, its inherent tendency for sub‐optimization and the vast number and variety of suppliers. The purpose of this study is to identify criteria for achieving efficient contractor‐supplier relations in the construction industry and for large contractors. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the literature on efficiency and differentiation of efficient buyer‐supplier relationships as well as a two‐year case study based on participatory observations and interviews with strategic purchasers at a large Swedish contractor. Findings – As it is not always possible to increase efficiency in the interface‐related value‐creating processes by only aiming the development and improvement efforts directly at these processes, relationship enablers such as total cost focus, aligned core values as well as willingness and capability for collaboration and development must first be in place. In order to achieve this, the contractor has to adopt a long‐term orientation towards the relationship with the suppliers, which is a decision for the management to make. Practical implications – Drawing from the findings, this paper elucidates the connection between increased efficiency and input variables in the contractor‐supplier relationship, which might be difficult for contractors to see. Furthermore, contractors need to take responsibility over their own processes in order to be an attractive customer to the supplier. Originality/value – Even though research within construction has focused on relations between different actors, mostly client and contractor, this paper widens the perspective and takes a grasp of the relationship between contractor and supplier.

Bon‐Gang Hwang; Zong Bao Yeo

2011 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/09699981111145835

Purpose – Increased disposal costs and reduction in number of landfills have created a need for implementing effective waste management in the construction industry. As every construction project is unique in its way of development, benefits from the waste management may also differ from project to project and thus project characteristics should be taken into consideration when implementing the strategy. This study seeks to investigate how different project characteristics affect perception on benefits, from construction waste management, based on the survey results from 66 industry experts. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was conducted to gather information on project characteristics and its classification, construction waste management, waste management plan and its benefits. Subsequently, a set of questions was formulated to gain insight and opinion on the selection of project characteristics and particular benefits of construction waste management. A set of questions pertaining to different project characteristics linked with benefits of waste management was sent to each of the personnel for their views. Findings – The results of this study establishes that the key materials used in projects, project size in terms of total installed costs, and project type have perceptual impacts on benefits from construction waste management. Originality/value – Understanding how project characteristics will affect the benefits can help the construction industry to identify projects to which the waste management should first be applied, maximizing its benefits.

Sangki Kim; Sanghyo Lee; Jaejun Kim

2011 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management

doi: 10.1108/09699981111145844

Purpose – This study aims to analyze the relationship between the financial crisis of Korean construction firms and macroeconomic fluctuations. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, current ratio has been used an acting variable for liquidity ratio, and debt ratio for leverage ratio. GNI (Gross National Income), L (index of Liquidity), exchange rate, interest, and CPI (Consumer Price Index) were used for the macroeconomic variables. VECM consisted of Cr t model and Dr t model to analyze the relationship between current ratio and macroeconomic variables, and between debt ratio and macroeconomic variables, in order to analyze each model through variance decomposition and impulse response function. Findings – In Cr t model, L is revealed as highly influencing current ratio. In other words, most fundraising is focused on highly capable financial institutes, investment corporations and public funds, since the scale of construction project funds is huge. Such financial sources actually belong to index L (index of Liquidity), but are calculated as current liability in the financial statements of construction firms, knotting an inverse relationship with current ratio. In Dr t model, interest is revealed as significant against debt ratio. This seems to be because each construction project needs to raise substantial funds, and the amount to repay is directly influenced by interest fluctuation. Research limitations/implications – The collected data are limited, as the time series data of current ratio and debt ratio were secured based on the financial statements of the most capable 30 construction firms in Korea. If the sample companies were divided in future research according to scale, in order to analyze the relation between financial crisis and macroeconomic fluctuation by company scale, a more developed result could be obtained. Practical implications – This study is a useful research to analyze the dynamic relationship between the financial crisis of construction firms and macroeconomic fluctuations. This study can be used to establish a set of countermeasures to apply in the event of macroeconomic fluctuation. Originality/value – The financial ratios of construction firms are directly used for analysis, making this a more practical analysis than studies of the relationship between macroeconomic fluctuations and the comprehensive indices of construction business.