Measuring complexity for building projects: a Delphi studyBo Xia; Albert P.C. Chan
2012 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699981211192544
Purpose – The aim of this study is to identify complexity measures for building projects in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Design/methodology/approach – A three‐round of Delphi questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the key parameters that measure the degree of project complexity. A complexity index (CI) was developed based on the identified measures and their relative importance. Findings – Six key measures of project complexity have been identified, namely: building structure & function; construction method; the urgency of the project schedule; project size/scale; geological condition; and neighboring environment. Practical implications – These complexity measures help stakeholders assess degrees of project complexity and better manage the potential risks that might be induced to different levels of project complexity. Originality/value – The findings provide insightful perspectives to define and understand project complexity. For stakeholders, understanding and addressing the complexity help to improve project planning and implementation.
The effect of bidding success in construction biddingBee Lan Oo; Hing‐Po Lo; Benson Teck‐Heng Lim
2012 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699981211192553
Purpose – Winning a bid will carry implications for capacity level of a construction firm. This paper aims to examine the impact of a winning bid on contractors' bid pricing strategies. Design/methodology/approach – In identifying the specific types of bidding trends before and after a winning bid, the variations in bids are expressed as a function of time relative to winning bid – the “event” of interest in this study – using a piecewise mixed effects model. The bids analysed comprised series of bids with a winning bid in between, recorded from Hong Kong building contractors. Findings – The results show that there is a relationship between bid price and bidding success. The bidders in general bid low for time periods before a winning bid and they are less competitive in time periods after a winning bid. However, by considering the individual bidders' characteristics that relate to differences in bidding competitiveness, it is shown that there is remarkable heterogeneity among the bidders in bid pricing decision for pre‐ and post‐winning periods. Nevertheless, the statistically significant bidding trends before and after a winning bid strengthen the notion that systematic changes in bidding behaviour over time do occur in reality in response to changes in firm capacity level. Originality/value – This empirical investigation provides strong evidence on the systematic changes in bidding behaviour over time in response to changes in firm capacity level, supporting the need to incorporate firm capacity level in the future development of a suitable theoretical framework on construction bidding.
New life‐cycle costing approach for infrastructure rehabilitationMazen Farran; Tarek Zayed
2012 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699981211192562
Purpose – Several rehabilitation planning methods are reported in the literature for public infrastructures, such as bridges, pavements, sewers, etc. These methods, however, are limited to specific types of infrastructures. The purpose of the present research is to develop a novel and generic method for Maintenance and Rehabilitation Planning for Public Infrastructure (M&RPPI), which aims at determining the optimal rehabilitation profile over a desired analysis period. Design/methodology/approach – The M&RPPI method is based on life‐cycle costing (LCC) with probabilistic and continuous rating approach for condition states. The M&RPPI uses a new approach of “dynamic” Markov chain to represent the deterioration mechanism of an infrastructure and the impact of rehabilitation interventions on such infrastructure. It also uses genetic algorithm (GA) in conjunction with Markov chains in order to find the optimal rehabilitation profile. A case study is presented with a comparison between the traditional Markov decision process (MDP) and the newly developed method. Findings – The new method, which generates lower LCC, is found practical in providing a complete M&R plan over a required study period, compared to a stationary decision policy with the traditional MDP. In addition, GA is found useful in the optimization process and overcomes the computational difficulties for large combinatorial problems. Research limitations/implications – The implementation of the developed models is limited to only four alternatives/actions. However, the developed models and framework are superior for MDP. Practical implications – The developed methodology and model play essential roles in the decision‐making process. Originality/value – The new method is beneficial to researchers and practitioners. It is developed for a single facility; however, it provides a major step towards a broader infrastructure management system and capital budgeting problems.
Leadership – style, satisfaction and commitment An exploration in the United Arab Emirates' construction sectorKasim Randeree; Abdul Ghaffar Chaudhry
2012 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699981211192571
Purpose – This paper aims to provide an examination of the extent to which different leadership styles impact employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a case analysis in the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a survey of three companies, one client organization, one consultancy firm and one contracting company. The useable survey comprised 251 individual responses from 600 distributed, giving a response rate of 41.83 percent. Findings – The findings show that consultative and consensus leadership styles are prevalent in the construction sector in the UAE. Further, it was found that an employee's job satisfaction is strongly affected by leadership, with more than 50 percent of survey respondents stating that leadership strongly influences their job satisfaction. Leadership style was found to moderately to strongly affect organizational commitment of employees in the industry in the UAE. Practical implications – The survey provides a useful instrument by which organizations across other sectors and within different cultural contexts can evaluate the significance of leadership style, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Originality/value – The work is unique in that it is an examination of the impact of organizational leadership style within a contemporary regional context. A number of studies have been carried out in the Arab world that suggest that leadership in Arab culture nurtures consultative and participative tendencies. These are all outdated by more than a decade and no recent study in the Arabian Gulf region exists and none which explore leadership styles' impact on employees.
Capacity building of construction industries in Sub‐Saharan developing countries A case for MalawiGrant Kululanga
2012 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699981211192580
Purpose – The need for capacity building of construction industries in developing countries cannot be over‐emphasised in order to ensure quality of services and products as well as the application of innovative ways for delivering construction services. Accordingly, using systems institutional paradigm approach as a conceptual premise, this paper aims to make the case for a fundamental turnaround for construction developmental approach in developing countries, that identify levels which should be considered as instrumental for capacity building of the construction industry in the Sub‐Saharan region, for example Malawi. Design/methodology/approach – To ascertain a quad‐level framework which should be considered essential for capacity building of the construction industry, a questionnaire survey was employed. Data were elicited from prominent heads of sections from five stakeholders of the construction industry that operated in Malawi on the constructs for capacity building of a construction industry. Sixty completed questionnaires were received with a response rate of 90 per cent to the designed sample size. Findings – The quad‐level framework for capacity development of a construction industry for developing countries was validated by an overall level of 77 per cent of agreement from key and prominent heads of sections of the five stakeholders of the construction industry. The rankings of the variables for capacity building for each level of the framework have provided the key foci and orientations of the industry for one of the Southern African countries of the Sub‐Saharan region. Research limitations/implications – The study forms the basis for further research; future research could be directed towards other developing countries to further enrich the industry on the dynamics of capacity building of construction industries in developing countries. Originality/value – This paper is the first to critically examine the antecedents and invoke a quad‐level framework for capacity development of construction industries.
Human resource practices of contractors that lead to job satisfaction of professional staffLewis J.W. Lim; Florence Y.Y. Ling
2012 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699981211192599
Purpose – The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of contractors' human resource (HR) practices on job satisfaction of their professional staff. The specific objectives are to: determine the effectiveness of contractors' HR practices; find out the level of job satisfaction that professional staff who work for contractors have; and study the relationship between HR practices and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – The research method was based on survey and a structured questionnaire, which was specially designed for the study, was the data collection instrument. Data were collected via e‐mail surveys and face to face interviews. The sampling frame comprised randomly chosen professionals who work for building contractors in Singapore. Findings – Results showed that contractors' professionals are significantly satisfied with many of their firms' HR practices. The study found that these professionals have significant job satisfaction in terms of career opportunities, nature of their jobs and overall working environment. The results also show that many of the HR practices are significantly correlated with job satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the research is the relatively small sample size and low response rate. In addition, respondents' indication of their satisfaction level is contextualized to professional staff working in Singapore in a specific market condition, thereby limiting generalization of the results. The implication is that the findings would be more relevant to construction firms in Singapore at the time when the industry is just emerging from a recession. Practical implications – It is recommended that contractors make an effort to understand what their professional staff want in HRM so as to efficiently channel their resources to create job satisfaction through appropriate HR practices. The study uncovered HR practices that employees are unsatisfied with. These include dissatisfaction with quantum of rewards, and firms' methods of dealing with employees' feedback and resolving conflicts. The practical implication of the findings is that contractors should improve on these practices so that their employees would not be more dissatisfied. Originality/value – The originality of the study is that some HR practices that lead to job satisfaction of construction companies' professionals have been uncovered. The results could inform construction firms on what HR practices they may adopt to engender higher job satisfaction among their professional employees.