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The focus of quality management (QM) in the construction industry, and its literature, has been on during construction and on product quality. The construction phase represents the final step in the construction procurement process, however it is the outcome of the previous stages of analysis, planning and design and represents but a small fraction of the overall cost and value that is created in the construction and use of buildings and built infrastructure. In other industry sectors and through the international quality movement, the focus in QM has moved to total quality. This is reflected internationally in the criteria for quality awards in which product quality represents only some 20 per cent of the total score for an enterprise. This paper briefly reviews the development of the quality movement and its application within the construction sector and suggests a broader scope for the application of quality concepts within the procurement process from a whole‐of‐life perspective. Identifies also areas which require further research.

The purpose of this paper is to address a shortfall in the literature dealing with optimal sharing arrangements. In construction projects, where the owner is concerned about multiple project outcomes (cost, time, quality, […]), there exist no guidelines in the literature on what a sharing arrangement should be between the owner and the contractor. This paper gives that arrangement, under defined risk assumptions on the contractor (risk averse ranging to risk neutral) and the owner (risk neutral). The sharing aligns the contractor's interests with those of the owner.

The results are based on solving a constrained maximisation problem involving the expected utilities of both the owner and contractor. Construction practitioners were interviewed in a designed experiment to validate the results.

It is demonstrated that, at the optimum, the proportions of outcomes sharing to the contractor should be higher for outcomes with lower effort cost and a lower level of uncertainty, and by increasing the correlation between outcomes, the fixed component of the contractor’s fee should increase and the proportions to the contractor should decrease.

The theoretical results assume that the contractor is risk-averse ranging to risk-neutral, and that the owner is risk-neutral. The theory is supported through conducting an empirical study based on interviewing a sample of practitioners working for medium-sized contractors, and hence the support is limited to similar situations, until further data are assembled.

By providing a broader understanding of sharing arrangements within contracts, a contribution is made to the current practice of contracts management. The results may be used in the design of contracts, or as benchmarks, by which contracts designed differently, may be compared.

The results address a shortfall in the literature and are an original solution to establishing an optimal multiple-outcome sharing arrangement.

The heavy civil engineering industry (railways, sewage treatment, chemical and pharmaceutical facilities, oil and gas facilities, etc.) is one of the major contributors to the British economy and generally involves a high level of investment. Clients in this industry are demanding accurate cost estimate, proper analysis of out‐turn cost and cost escalation and a high quality risk analysis throughout the construction processes. Current practice in the industry has suggested that there is a lack of structured methodologies and systematic cost escalation approach to achieve an appropriate cost analysis at the outset of projects and throughout the construction processes. In this context the prime objective of this research work is to develop a structured cost escalation methodology for improving estimating management and control in the heavy engineering industry construction processes. The methodology is composed of a forecasting model to predict cost indices of major items in industry and a risk knowledge base model for identifying and quantifying causes of cost escalations. This paper, as part of the research, reviews and discusses a knowledge‐based model for applying a cost escalation factor. The cost escalation factor is made up of market variation, a risk element and a component for bias. A knowledge elicitation strategy was employed to obtain the required knowledge for the model. The strategy included questionnaires, interviews and workshops and deliverables came in the form of influences and their effect on project cost escalation. From these deliverables, the concepts of a decision support model and system specification for applying cost escalation to base estimates is proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of current uncertainty management practice in projects with a special focus on the organization's cultural dimension.

The empirical data were obtained using in‐depth interviews with project management professionals in three project‐oriented organizations in Norway, Statsbygg, Telenor and the Norwegian Defence Logistic Organization. All the respondents from these three organizations are people who actively work with projects and uncertainty management.

The study results show that a supportive uncertainty management culture is characterized by: positive attitude, commitment of time and resources, openness and respect, understanding of uncertainty management, uncertainty management internalized into daily work, senior managers asking for and using uncertainty information, proactive uncertainty management, a focus on opportunities, clear areas of responsibility, accepted and operationalized policy and terminology, and a holistic uncertainty view. Moreover, the interviews revealed that commitment, knowledge, communication, openness, and trust are factors that contribute to building a supportive uncertainty management culture.

Future research should investigate other organizations, types of projects, and countries, so that these findings may be generalized.

This paper concludes that a supportive culture is important for achieving effective uncertainty management in projects. Uncertainty management practice will run more smoothly, there will be less problems and benefits of the uncertainty management activities will be more easily achieved.

A supportive organizational culture for creating a well‐performing management of uncertainties in projects is studied in this research paper.

The aim of the paper is to examine attitudes of general contractors operating in the Sydney region to the potential use of probability estimating and databases in cost estimating. A sample of 10 large general contractors with a turnover over $100m was selected for the study, which took place in 1993. Responses of the contractors to a standard questionnaire were obtained using face to face interviews. The research described in this paper confirmed the popularity of traditional single value estimating and highlighted the lack of use of probability cost estimating by the general contractors surveyed. The limited availability of client‐prepared bills of quantities for tendering has neither diminished their popularity among bidding contractors nor increased the use of elemental cost planning. Although databases are generally available, subjective judgements of estimators are of greater value in cost estimating. The research has concluded that a change in the estimating paradigm towards probability cost estimating, and the use of databases, are unlikely to occur in the near future.

Recent changes in corporate environment coupled with emerging challenges as a result of turbulent economy have exposed participants in the construction industry to more and more surprises in project management. As a result, the construction industry has witnessed significant changes particularly in procurement methods with clients allocating greater risks to contractors, making risk management a necessity, with organizations needing to look across the whole life of a project from inception to occupancy. To minimize or optimize all these risks, formulating an effective risk management system is a crucial challenge faced by any construction contractor. This paper aims to investigate contractors' perceptions of risk.

The perception of risks at estimating and tendering stage was investigated through a survey among construction contractors operating in the Singapore construction industry. The preferences of risk identification procedures and techniques are observed. Factors which are dominating constraints for the implementation of risk management elements are assessed. The process of risk identification from the standpoints of contractors and their preference of various risk response strategies to reduce the likelihood of occurrence of the identified risks and their impact were evaluated.

The findings from the study highlight that risk factors having great impact on the financial aspect of the project, namely lack of financial resources of the contractor, financial stability of the client and cost overruns due to delay are considered most important by contractors and that risk response methods are favored in the order of risk reduction, risk transfer, risk avoidance and risk retention.

The findings may help construction contractors in reviewing decision factors they consider when making bidding decision at estimating and tendering stage, and also be useful for improving their risk management plan in line with important risk factors considered by the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of some major trends that have marked discussions on global learning for sustainable development (GLSD) in higher education. The aim is formulated against the background of the complexity represented in GLSD, as well as the fact that sustainable development (SD) is an issue of global interest for universities.

The authors conducted an overview in recent trends in research on GLSD in higher education over the last 20 years, based on the combination of the keyword higher education for Sustainable Development with global learning (GL) and global education.

The overview suggests that only relatively limited steps have been implemented to achieve GLSD, and rhetoric still dominates the discussions. It appears that little empirical research has been undertaken on learning in global settings. Several authors have identified the need for a competence‐based curriculum for GLSD.

Universities, professionals and students need to take greater responsibility. How knowledge, values and abilities are formed and developed from the global learner's perspective therefore, remains an open and fundamental question. The paper underlines the crucial role that higher education plays in GL for sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between risk management and uncertainty and the contextual variability of risk management practice. More precisely, the research empirically measures the relation between the extent of use of risk management and the level of project uncertainty.

The research defines risk management from an empirical perspective., i.e. from an empirically‐identified set of tools that is actually used to perform risk management. This toolset is derived from the results of an ongoing major worldwide survey on what experienced practitioners actually do to manage their projects. This paper directly relates uncertainty to the degree of project definition. It uses a sample of 1,296 responses for which the interplay between risk management and uncertainty could be measured.

The results are very coherent. They verify and empirically validate many of the propositions drawn from a review of the literature. But results challenge some of the propositions found in the conventional project management literature and some commonly held views. The research shows that the use of risk management practices and tools is negatively related to the degree of project uncertainty. This somewhat counter‐intuitive result is consistent with a general tendency for all project management tools and techniques to be used more intensively in better defined contexts.

The empirical investigation of actual risk practices and their contextual variability can help better understand risk management practice and manage risks better. The research also clarifies the concepts of uncertainty, risk and risk management.

The results confirm some well‐known assumptions about practices, but at the same time produced unexpected results that can stimulate the development of new practices adapted to highly uncertain contexts. The project management field needs to develop new responses for specific contexts for which it was not primarily developed. The results of this research point in the direction of such a need for ill‐defined projects and highly uncertain contexts.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature concerning the various causes of failures of external wall tile finishes.

A 4×3 matrix hierarchy framework is developed for a systematic analysis of the literature reviewed.

The findings from this paper indicate the importance of environmental effects, movement joints, and adhesive on the performance of external wall tile finishes. Thermal and moisture effects induce movement of tiles, and the failure of the tiling system depends very much on the adhesive strength and the provision of movement joints. Workmanship is also a key factor affecting the performance of external wall tile finishes and should not be overlooked.

Various studies have been carried out on the causes of defects in external finishes in the past. However, many of them were case‐oriented and were not supported by laboratory findings. The hierarchical framework developed in this paper serves as a basis for further laboratory and field studies on this issue.

The framework is conducive to the diagnosis of external wall tile delamination.

This paper reviews systematically and comprehensively the literature on the causes of external wall tile delamination.

To develop a method for measuring consumer‐perceived tolerances concerning the appearance of unitised construction finishes (e.g. tiling, brickwork, paving, jointed façades).

Consumer perceptions were converted into physical tolerances by drawing on an area of the behavioural sciences known as psychophysics. In particular, Weber's Law was used, which applies a formulaic approach to creating perception‐based constants. A trial of this approach was undertaken on floor tiling in 50 residential properties. Tiling was chosen because it was considered representative of situations where the appearance of the finished work was important to consumer perceptions. In particular, consistency of tile joint width was measured, which had the advantage of tapping into tiles laid askew, in poor alignment or affected by variable tile sizes.

Weber's Law offers an appropriate means of objectifying consumer perceptions into physically measurable tolerances. It was found that joint width in tiling can vary up to 70 per cent before consumers find the work beyond their threshold of acceptance – causing them to think the work “ugly”. Saturation of such joints can occur up to three times per 5m² area without causing consumers to complain.

Such an approach can be easily applied to any unitised construction element where the regularity of appearance is important.

The study provides a new and more balanced approach to the assessment of construction quality by ensuring THAT consumer expectations are taken into account, as well as the normal emphasis on technical quality standards.