Integrated Project Delivery Case Study: Guidelines for Drafting Partnering Contract

This paper presents a case study through which a multinational contracting firm aimed to introduce integrated project delivery through strategic partnering into its industry operations. The study reports on a research carried out by the author on behalf of the firm to set out series of principles and guidelines to consider when drafting a standard partnering contract whereby the owner, contractor, suppliers, and manufacturers collaboratively work together under the same terms and conditions. A partnering contract would never, on its own, change the culture and environment of the construction process and thus, strategic partnering should be promoted not only at project specific activities but at all organizational activities. Based on this project, the paper presents a list of ten managerial and contractual issues to promote strategic partnering. The author hopes that the results of this case study would foster legal professionals toward drafting a modern partnering contract, which should help in developing a more effective and efficient contracting environment.     

Master Builder Project Delivery System and Designer Construction Knowledge

The master builder system for designing and building construction projects was the dominant project delivery system in the construction industry during the early part of the 20th century. Master builders were generally charged with both design and construction services for a project. During the last half of the 20th century, many different systems for project delivery with fragmented responsibilities have replaced the master builder system. Reducing the use of the master builder system has led to the creation of elaborate systems for managing projects in the construction industry. In order to investigate the use of the master builder delivery system and other systems, a research project was conducted that included reviewing (1) the history of the construction industry, (2) project delivery systems, (3) constructability issues, (4) construction industry fragmentation, (5) the results of a survey of architecture, engineering, and construction professionals from the San Francisco Bay Area in California on the current processes they use for training engineers and architects, (6) an analysis of the survey results, (7) construction industry recommendations, and (8) conclusions based on the survey results and analysis. The information obtained from the research project, including the survey and an analysis of the results, is included in this document. The results of the research indicate that reduction in the use of the master builder project delivery system and the rise of numerous fragmented delivery systems have limited the designer’s knowledge of construction processes.     

ISO 14000 and the Construction Industry: Survey in China

The rapid growth of the Chinese economy sparked off a great volume of construction activities, but the damage caused by construction activities to the environment is indisputable and has alerted some large Chinese construction firms to seek effective environmental management. The ISO 14000 series offers a framework for managing construction operations to improve environmental performance. To discover the conditions of implementation of ISO 14000 in the construction industry, a structured questionnaire survey was conducted whose results show that the major motivation for implementing the system was to seek entry to the international construction market. Other motivations include standardization of the environmental management procedures for internal operations, obtaining social recognition, gaining confidence from clients and a better corporate image, enhancing the environmental awareness of subcontractors, and cleaner sites as a result of better housekeeping. However, some obstacles remain along the path, such as the financial burden, poor rates of return for most firms, low environmental awareness, and inadequate legal enforcement. Based on the analysis and discussion, the paper concludes that the government should take the lead in encouraging training, providing financial support, and improving the legal framework to promote ISO 14000 for the Chinese construction industry.     

Relative Effectiveness of Project Delivery and Contract Strategies

Project delivery systems define the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in a project. They also establish an execution framework in terms of sequencing of design, procurement, and construction. The decision made in the selection of a project delivery system for a project impacts all phases of execution of the project and greatly impacts the efficiency of project execution. Such decisions should be facilitated by thorough analysis. Structured, quantitative decision analysis processes have been shown to have several benefits over the simplistic, holistic, and informal processes that typically characterize subjective evaluations. However, a dearth of quantitative values of project delivery systems established and validated through research has invariably left project managers with no alternative than to make project delivery selection decisions on the basis of subjective evaluations. Development of the needed quantitative values for application in a decision analysis process would greatly enhance the quality of the decision-making process and provide a defensible rationale for selection of project delivery systems for capital projects. This paper presents research findings that provide the needed quantitative values in this area. Based on the quantitative values defined here, interested parties can develop and implement quantitative evaluation of project delivery alternatives to identify the optimal solution for a given project. Multicriteria decision analysis was found to be the suitable approach for a quantitative, analytical evaluation of project delivery systems. Consequently, the quantitative values presented in this paper were developed in accordance with the requirements of the multicriteria decision analysis technique known as simple multiattribute rating technique with swing weights (SMARTS). Utilizing the quantitative values presented here and applying the analysis technique of SMARTS, a decision support tool has been developed and validated for the Construction Industry Institute. The decision support tool is presently being utilized by member companies of the Construction Industry Institute that were privy to its development. With the presentation of the quantitative values in this paper, other parties interested in developing similar tools would benefit from the research results presented here.     

Factors Affecting the Success of a Construction Project

Different researchers have tried to determine the factors for a successful project for a long time. Lists of variables have been abounded in the literature, however, no general agreement can be made. The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework on critical success factors (CSFs). Seven major journals in the construction field are chosen to review the previous works on project success. Five major groups of independent variables, namely project-related factors, project procedures, project management actions, human-related factors, and external environment are identified as crucial to project success. Further study on the key performance indicators (KPIs) is needed to identify the causal relationships between CSFs and KPIs. The causal relationships, once identified, will be a useful piece of information to implement a project successfully.     

Greening Project Management Practices for Sustainable Construction

Environmentally sustainable building construction has experienced significant growth during the past 10 years. The public is becoming more aware of the benefits of green construction as prominent politicians, celebrities, documentarians, and journalists highlight the built environment’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource consumption. Other factors, including higher energy prices, increased costs of building materials, and regulatory incentives, are also pushing the green building market to grow and expand. However, barriers to green building continue to exist, including the ability to deliver a green project within acceptable cost constraints. In order for project managers to deliver sustainable construction according to clients’ cost expectations, modifications must be made to traditional project management processes and practices. The objective of this paper is to suggest specific modifications to conventional building practices to optimize the delivery of cost-efficient green building projects. This paper presents an overview of research related to the costs and trends of green building and uses these research findings to make recommendations for greening project management practices for the construction industry. Our research results show that greening project management practices can add significant value to a sustainable construction project while delivering it within acceptable cost constraints. A detailed analysis using matrix present specific adjustments to traditional project management practices, with a premise that a green project improves its chances for financial success if a cross-discipline team is involved at the earliest stages and throughout the project.     

End-User Attitudes toward EDM Use in Construction Project Work: Case Study

This paper reports on a cross-sectional case study of a large construction project in which electronic document management (EDM) was used. Attitudes toward EDM from the perspective of individual end-users were investigated. Responses from a survey were combined with data from system usage log files to obtain an overview of attitudes prevalent in different user segments of the total population of 334 users. The survey was followed by semistructured interviews with representative users. A strong majority of users from all segments of the project group considered EDM as a valuable aid in their work processes, despite certain functional limitations of the system used and the complexity of the information mass. Based on the study a model describing the key factors affecting end-user EDM adoption is proposed. The model draws on insight from earlier studies of EDM enabled projects and theoretical frameworks on technology acceptance and success of information systems, as well as the insights gained from the case study.     

Project Management in the Chinese Construction Industry: Six-Case Study

Originating from the West, project management was introduced into China after the country’s economic reforms in the 1980’s and has since spread quickly throughout the whole country, particularly in the construction industry. However, despite the wide adoption of project management practices by construction organizations and the growing recognition of the importance of project management as an enabler of organizational success, empirical studies on project management in the context of the Chinese construction industry have been inadequate. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of six Chinese construction organizations in order to come to a more comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of project management practices in the Chinese construction industry. The findings revealed: (1) a good appreciation of the role of projects and project management and satisfaction with current project management practices; (2) 11 key aspects of project management implementation; (3) 12 resultant value and benefits; and (4) five aspects of the main challenges facing the organizations. Meanwhile, variations in project management practices and the resultant organizational value were identified, first between the three owner- and the three contractor-case study organizations, then between the two construction contractor organizations and the one design contractor organization.     

Cross-Cultural Understanding of Construction Project Managers’ Conceptions of Their Work

In recent reforms of the Chinese construction industry, significant efforts have been made toward the introduction of Western project management theories and practices. However, little is known about the extent to which Western project management concepts have been supported by the Chinese culture. Because of certain differences between the two cultures, Chinese managers’ conceptions of their work are likely to be different from their Western counterparts. This paper reports an interpretive comparison of Chinese and U.K. construction project managers’ conceptions of their work. The findings reveal three of the most similar and five of the most different aspects between the two cultural sets of conceptions. The identified similarities reflect some key characteristics inherent in the construction project management profession. Two of the identified differences, namely Chinese emphasis on commercial awareness and U.K. emphasis on health and safety, arise from social structural differences in the two nations, whereas the other three differences, namely Chinese attention to relationships, Chinese concern for their company, and U.K. attention to project contract, are due to the cultural differences between the two nations.     

Integrated Methodology for Project Risk Management

This article presents a generic project risk management process that has been particularized for construction projects from the point of view of the owner and the consultant who may be assisting the owner. The process could also be adapted to the needs of other project participants, and many points referred to in the article can be directly applied to them. Any project risk management process must be tailored to the particular circumstances of the project and of the organization undertaking it. First, the article explains a complete or generic project risk management process to be undertaken by organizations with the highest level of risk management maturity in the largest and most complex construction projects. After that, factors influencing possible simplifications of the generic process are identified, and simplifications are proposed for some cases. Then the application to a real project is summarized. As a final validation, a Delphi analysis has been developed to assess the project risk management methodology explained here, and the results are presented.     

Assessment with 360° Evaluations of Leadership Behavior in Construction Project Managers

Although the literature documents substantial research on enhancing the performance of construction project managers, one central component has been inadequately researched: leadership behaviors. This study of a major construction company had two objectives: (1) to analyze the differences in leadership behaviors between a top performing group and a control group of construction project managers; and (2) to identify the causal influences for those leadership behavior differences. This paper addresses the first objective. Of 335 construction project managers, 40 were identified as top performers and 40 were selected randomly from the remaining 295 to serve as controls. The final two groups (35 top performers and 33 controls who completed the evaluation) were not significantly different in terms of age, gender, type/amount of formal education, or type of project experience. A 360° leadership evaluation found that the top performers had quantifiably better leadership behaviors than the controls. These findings may indicate a need in the construction industry for a comprehensive leadership culture, including leadership training and development programs.     

Component-Based Framework for Implementing Integrated Architectural/Engineering/Construction Project Systems

Current practices and integration trends in the architectural/engineering/construction (A/E/C) industry are increasing the demands for the implementation and deployment of integrated project systems. Much of the research throughout the last decade was driven by the need to develop integrated project systems and standard industry-wide data models to support their development. This paper presents a multitier component-based framework that aims to facilitate the implementation of modular and distributed integrated project systems that would support multidisciplinary project processes throughout the project life cycle. The framework addresses the specific requirements of A/E/C projects, and highlights the required functionality and approach to develop integrated project systems. The framework defines a three-tier architecture: Applications tier, common domain-services tier, and project data-repository tier. The applications tier includes a set of function-specific software tools that interact with the domain-services-tier components via a set of adapters. Adapters map the applications’ internal proprietary-data models to and from a standard integrated data model. The domain-services-tier components implement a number of generic services, such as data management, transactions management, document management, and workflow management. The data-repository tier represents a centralized shared storage of all relevant project information. The paper also discusses the implementation of a prototype software system that demonstrates the use of the framework’s reusable components and the industry foundation classes data model in typical building projects.     

Project Planning for Construction under Uncertainty with Limited Resources

Much of the project scheduling literature treats task durations as deterministic. In reality, however, task durations are subject to considerable uncertainty, and that uncertainty can be influenced by the resources assigned. The purpose of this paper is to provide the means for contractors to optimally allocate their skilled workers among individual tasks for a single project. Instead of the traditional use of schedules, we develop control policies in the form of planned resource allocation to tasks that capture the uncertainty associated with task durations and the impact of resource allocation on those durations. We develop a solution procedure for the model and illustrate the ideas in an example. The data for the example is collected from a real project.     

Model for Fostering Trust and Building Relationships in China’s Construction Industry

Trust is an underlying psychological condition that can cause cooperation or risk-taking. Trust is considered as a predominant feature and a central mechanism in business transactions, especially among Chinese. Trust-based relationships create advantages in conducting business such as lowering cost, shortening duration, and improving performance. Indispensable conditions for trust to arise are relationships and risks. Different risks surface as a result of different levels of relationships. Sustained trust is therefore fostered by various means to counterbalance those risks. In order to assess the links between distinct trust-related features, a model is constructed and tested through a questionnaire survey in China. The findings generally support the model in terms of explaining the dominant relationships, inherent risks, and trust-fostering tools. It is recommended that firms adopt the refined model and utilize successful practices verified in this paper to foster trust and relationships and in turn secure project success.     

Attitudes toward Productivity Pay Programs

Impressive results have been achieved by implementing financial incentive programs in construction in several foreign countries and in numerous other industries in the United States. This paper identifies the historical causes for the scarcity of such programs in the U.S. construction industry, highlights current obstacles to their introduction, and recommends steps to avoid or overcome them, so as to open the way to future introduction of incentive programs. The study employs the Delphi technique and concludes that the near absence of pay programs in the construction industry in the U.S. can be attributed to: (1) Tradition and conservatism of the industry; (2) union opposition; and (3) the nature of the work. The panel predicted significant differences between the overall attitudes of the various parties toward productivity pay programs; the contractors and the owners will be supportive, the employees somewhat supportive, the government neutral, and the union opposed.     

Lean Processes for Sustainable Project Delivery

Facility owners and project teams often struggle to engage “green” or “sustainable” requirements on building projects and can incur additional project costs as a result. Although “investments” in high performance building features can be paid back through operational savings, the project delivery methods currently adopted by most teams are laden with process waste. Lean production principles have been proven to reduce waste and improve process performance in highly complex development and production environments. Adopting these lean principles, this paper reports a study that identified the presence of value and waste in a sustainable building project. Through an empirical investigation of the Real Estate and Facilities Division of Toyota Motor Sales, Toyota’s capital facility delivery process was mapped to identify both the steps in project delivery critical for success (value) and those that are waste. The investigation focused on the South Campus Facility, which received U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification at a project cost equivalent to a conventional facility. Through post hoc process-based analysis, insight about what added value and waste in sustainable project delivery at Toyota was obtained. The results also identify further improvement opportunities to Toyota’s delivery process. For corporate facility owners and the Architecture Engineering Construction industry, the results unearth insights about how to successfully and economically deliver sustainable facilities.     

Survey of the Construction Industry Relative to the Use of CPM Scheduling for Construction Projects

While critical-path method (CPM) scheduling has been around since the 1950s, its application in the construction industry has still not received 100% acceptance or consistency in how it is used. Project controls, and CPM scheduling in particular, have gone unchanged in the standards arena with little focus for a common understanding and recognition of what is required for CPM schedule development, implementation, and use. In recent years, little research has been conducted relative to the use of CPM and its benefits. In order to determine how the industry views its applicability and usage, a survey was developed for the stakeholders in the construction industry. This paper summarizes extensive research that was performed of the construction industry relative to the use of CPM scheduling, its applicability and its acceptance in the execution of today’s constructed projects. The research obtained the stakeholders’ views on the use and effectiveness of CPM scheduling; the necessary qualifications of scheduling personnel; and opinions relative to whether standards and/or best practices are necessary. The paper discusses the different views of the stakeholders and recommendations as to how consistency can be obtained in the use of CPM scheduling in order to improve the construction industry.     

Integrated Electronic Commerce Model for the Construction Industry

The construction industry has been relentlessly searching for technology solutions to enhance its productivity and efficiency. This paper presents an investigation that was conducted to obtain an overview of the current situation of electronic commerce applications using Internet and web-based technologies for the construction industry. A conceptual model named Integrated Electronic Commerce Model for the construction industry is proposed in this paper. Based on this model, construction project scheduling process and its related business activities at the industry and enterprise levels are analyzed to compare the interaction and integration of construction processes, in the electronic commerce environment versus those in the traditional environment.