Chandra and Loosemore investigate the process of cultural learning in the briefing process. Understanding this process in critically important to ensuring project objectives are met. Using two case studies of major hospital projects in Australia and adopting the perspective that project participants are the actors of learning, ‘Comparative Cause Mapping’ was used to visually represent the learning process over time. The authors question previous research which supports the common perception that clinicians are all‐powerful actors in health policy circles and suggests that their ability to influence hospital design‐outcomes is constrained by their relative social marginalization in the briefing process. This may explain many deficiencies in hospital design. They also point to the importance of seeing the briefing process as a cognitive rather than mechanical process through which project participants interact to socially construct common understanding of project objectives. Project managers who can effectively control these interpersonal interactions are more likely to achieve a shared cultural understanding about hospital requirements and therefore better project outcomes.
Li et al. introduce the IKEA model of the manufacturing industry and VP technology into a prefabricated construction process in order to improve the performance of prefabricated construction. They argue that prefabricated construction is regarded by many as an effective and efficient approach to improving construction processes and productivity, ensuring construction quality and reducing time and cost in the construction industry. However, many problems occur with this approach in practice, including higher risk levels and cost or time overruns. The authors use the IKEA model to solve such problems. Due to the unique characteristics of prefabricated construction (e.g. non‐repeatable, complex), it is difficult to design, produce and install prefabricated construction components ‐ in contrast with furniture which is simple, small, and repeatable ‐ in a real environment. This, the authors argue, requires a virtual environment in which the design, production and installation methods or processes of prefabricated components can be tested or optimized many times to find an appropriate solution. VP technology is adopted to provide such a virtual environment to support the application of the IKEA model in construction, i.e. design optimization, production optimization and installation optimization. Through a case study of a prefabricated hotel project in Hong Kong, the authors demonstrate that the VP‐based IKEA model can improve the efficiency and safety of prefabricated construction in addition to reducing cost and time.
Although much research has been done in Public‐Private Partnership (PPP), there are still some major unanswered questions, such as the factors influencing the structuring of a PPP, the identity of the key stakeholders and the roles of the participants. Chowdhury, Chen and Tiong argue that the application of network theory can help answer these questions and effectively contribute to an in‐depth analysis of the relationships among the participating stakeholders in a PPP affiliation. They use two sources of data. First, a set of secondary data sources like articles, newspaper reports, online databases and World Wide Web pages are reviewed to shape the basic understanding of network theory. Second, a set of five PPP projects are documented to analyse PPP structures. Considering the five projects, the authors select the HubCo Power project of Pakistan as the best case to analyse the PPP structure using network theory. With the introduction of network theory, the authors suggest that a thorough analysis of PPP structures on power, position, opportunity and obstacles of stakeholders can be well‐comprehended, so as to provide valuable information to project sponsors, and legal and financial advisors while preparing a PPP project.
Tabish and Jha analyse irregularities in public procurement in India. They suggest that corruption in public procurement is of the order of US$340 billion per year. The investigate 61 irregularities using a questionnaire survey and the Delphi technique. They classify the irregularities into five categories of: transparency, professional standards, fairness, contract monitoring and regulation and, finally, procedural irregularities. The authors recommend adopting a systemic approach to address all five categories which they suggest provides a framework for addressing such irregularities in the future. Tender documents form a significant part of the construction procurement process. However, in practice, the documents provided by clients and their consultants to contractors for the calculation of a bid price and programme are not always clear or complete.
Using ethnographic case studies of the tendering process of contractors in the UK, Laryea explores the nature and quality of real tender documents and how contractors deal with unclear and incomplete aspects of the documents. Content analysis of the data generated from live observation, interviews and documentary analysis shows that unclear and incomplete documentation presents a significant challenge to contractors and clients at both the tendering and construction stages of a project. Clear, consistent and detailed project information can help to avoid problems such as inaccurate estimates, claims and disputes. Therefore, six recommendations are provided to help in improving quality of tender documents in practice. An industry‐wide investigation into the level of incorporation of project information production standards by design teams may also be necessary.
Mbachu and Frei argue that the strategic health of an organization depends on how the key strengths are leveraged to exploit prime opportunities. At the same time, it is important to minimize exposure of the critical weaknesses to serious threats in the external environment. The authors developed the Strategic Health Index (SHI) as a conceptual tool for diagnosing the strategic health of an organization based on the results of the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. The tool was evaluated though in‐depth interviews with 15 cost managers in Australia and New Zealand. As an improvement to the current approach to strategic management process, the authors argue that it is critically important for organizations first to assess their strategic health condition in order to ascertain their ability to achieve strategic goals and succeed in the long‐term. They suggest that their assessment will reveal areas where urgent attention is needed in order to put the organization on a sound footing.
Shan, Goodrum, Zhai, Haas and Caldas examine the impact of various management programmes on mechanical construction productivity. Construction practitioners often fail to recognize the magnitude of the impact of a well‐implemented management program. The authors used a dataset from the Construction Industry Institute Benchmarking and Metrics program containing 41 sampled industrial projects located throughout North America. They investigated the relationships between mechanical construction productivity and the level of implementation of different management programmes. They quantified the productivity difference between good and bad programme implementers and also identified critical practices under the following programmes: pre‐project planning, team‐building, automation and integration of information systems, and safety. Among the programmes, pre‐project planning had the greatest impact on labour productivity in the piping trades. Another notable finding was the strong correlation between mechanical labour productivity and safety management practices; mechanical trades’ labour productivity on projects with a high‐level of safety‐related management practices was 52% better than the projects that were weaker implementers of the same practices.