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This paper aims to examine briefing practices and whether these are related to the quality of brief documents and client satisfaction in constructed health-care facilities in South Africa. The rational for the examination stems from the view held by scholars that the briefing process is critical to the success of projects, as well as client/user satisfaction in the constructed facility, and also because of undocumented reports of client/end-user dissatisfaction in constructed health-care facilities in South Africa.

The research process consisted of a literature review to identify existing briefing framework and practices in use applicable to facilities. This was supported by an exploratory case study of a recently completed public hospital in East London, South Africa. Data collection for the study was undertaken by means of conducting semi-structured interviews with two groups consisting of client representatives and the technical design team on the project.

The research established that in the context of this case study, inadequate client consultation took place, not all design consultants were adequately involved in the development of the project brief, limited use was made of a specific briefing framework in developing the project brief and that despite these shortcomings in the briefing process followed, a comprehensive good quality briefing document was produced and the client was satisfied with the health-care facility constructed.

The results of this study are generalizable with health-care facilities only. As such, research inferences and projections can only be made within this set and may not necessarily be applicable to the wider construction sector or to all projects within this sector.

The implications of this research are applicable to constructed health-care facilities. Practical inferences include the need to acknowledge that there is a need for a briefing framework, which should outline the involvement of all design consultants and client representatives when developing the project briefs for health-care facilities. The briefing framework is proposed for use in addressing the shortcomings in the briefing processes and practices and will also help the client in the choice of a brief process and practice which will comprehensively capture their requirements, give clear directives/information to the design consultants and will result in higher levels of end-user/patient satisfaction in the constructed health-care facility.

Clients and allied professionals in charge of health-care facilities’ construction are encouraged to consider the implementation of a standard framework for use in the briefing process. This reflection should encourage engagement through formative legislative provision and transparent awareness campaigns.

This work is original insofar, as it directly addresses the alignment of briefing practices to quality of brief documents and client satisfaction in constructed health-care facilities within the context of the South African construction industry. However, similar exercises have been undertaken on briefing practices in the wider construction sector.

An effective client briefing process and the selection of an appropriate building procurement system both contribute to the attainment of client objectives with respect to time, cost and quality for construction projects. The present paper documents the results of an empirical study into the nature and effectiveness of the project briefing process, and the selection and effectiveness of procurement methods in the attainment of client objectives. A national questionnaire survey was administered to clients, architects, quantity surveyors, engineers, project managers and general contractors in South Africa. The results show that room for improvement exists in the manner in which project briefing is conducted and the manner in which procurement methods are selected.

The aim of the paper is to investigate the architectural firm's role in the briefing process on international projects and to identify the strategies of successful firms to overcome barriers.

A model is developed based on a critique of briefing models and international design management theory. The development of a reflexive capability model borrows cultural theory concepts of capital and reflexivity. The model is based on maximizing reflexive capability through the management of social, cultural and intellectual capital. Two case studies of architectural firms identify barriers during the briefing process and strategies to overcome these barriers. Data collection involved 16 interviews with senior management and design team staff.

There are various barriers and strategies used to achieve success in the briefing process. However, the management of a firm's capital is key to successful briefing on international projects and is a characteristic of reflexive practice. Reflexivity is based in a positive interpretation of change, and a continual responsiveness to change by participants in a system. The study provides useful information on management of the design and briefing stages of international projects.

The study is limited by the number of case studies used and the difficulty of generalisability of findings.

The research is that it provides useful information about how to approach constant change during briefing for the architects and clients who work on international projects.

The model is original and has value as it assists in explaining why some firms are more successful than others. The case studies provide new knowledge on international projects and the briefing process. The value of the paper is for the academic community, professionals in the built environment and clients involved in international projects.

To describe a research project which seeks to establish a value management framework for project briefing to systematically identify and clarify client requirements, and represent these requirements precisely and explicitly to facilitate the design process.

Two research instruments are used: structured questionnaire survey to validate the theoretical framework established; and experiments to test the proposed value management framework with real‐life projects, supported by case studies.

The primary research findings of this project are the identification of 13 variables that have an impact on the briefing process, which form the basis of the theoretical framework. It is revealed that the theoretical foundation of the research supports the use of value management to the briefing process. Further validation will be completed by conducting questionnaire survey and real‐life case studies.

This paper improves comprehension of the nature, characteristics and problems of the briefing process. It also introduces the theoretical foundation of the research project and describes the process for the development of the value management framework for project briefing.

This paper aims to provide a better understanding of how architects perceive and use briefing documents. It discusses what type of briefing information architects find relevant for their design process, and how and when briefing information should be presented. It also gives recommendations for clients and consultants that produce the brief.

The article is based on a review of briefing literature, six exploratory interviews with two clients, two architects and two consultants, 18 in‐depth interviews with Dutch architects, and a workshop with Dutch experts on briefing.

A brief (or “program of requirements”) is a crucial means of communication in the interaction between clients and architects. A good brief explains what the client needs, desires and expects from a project. This is all crucial information for the design process. In the interviews, however, many architects indicated that, in daily practice, briefing documents are not as useful as they should be. In their opinion, briefs are often too long, containing overly‐detailed specifications, that are not always clear, consistent or complete.

In addition to the analysis of architects' complaints, six recommendations are given with respect to the briefing process, the contents and structure of the brief, and the status of the brief.

Most publications on briefing focus on the client and brief writing at the start of a project. The present paper discusses the opinions and experiences of the architect and the use of the brief in the design process.

To identify the management tools and variables that impact briefing, assess the nature of current briefing practices, review the need for more structured techniques and determine the place of facilities management in briefing.

A detailed literature review to analyse and critique the briefing process was followed by a brainstorming session to explore relevant technical frameworks. A questionnaire survey investigated opinions of structured approaches to briefing.

The facilities manager operating within the strategic framework of the client organisation and having the necessary skills is a natural choice as brief writer. Facilities managers’ involvement is not strongly reflected in this research, indicating perhaps that they do not consider briefing a natural role or that they do not possess the skills for its undertaking. It is concluded that while briefing remains an unstructured investigative process, the skills for which are learned through experience, then architects and project managers will continue to dominate the activity.

Currently, briefing is unstructured, iterative, and uses a variety of media for its exposition. More formalised processes recognising strategic and project briefing are advocated in the literature. Options for improvement include a structured approach to investigative briefing and facilitated value management.

The limited involvement of facilities managers in briefing prompted this research. This paper identifies the structure and variables impacting the briefing process and concludes with options for formalised approaches to briefing.

Briefing in a project delivery context is one of the most critical factors in the project success. It defines client requirements, translates these needs into design criteria and generates a design concept. A lack of briefing clarity is one of the main causes of design changes and may lead to project cost and time overruns. This research aims to assess the brief clarity and its influence on project cost and duration.

This research created the PDRI-SD technique by utilising a system dynamic (SD) approach and project definition rating index (PDRI) tool to model the complex system of project briefing and associated variables. Stock and flow diagrams of the main subsystems including the briefing, the detailed design and the construction process, were developed to assess the influence of brief clarity on project cost and time. The PDRI was adopted to measure the briefing clarity and apply in the model. PDRI-SD was then tested in Australian building refurbishment projects to assess the model's effectiveness.

The simulation results indicated that a minor reduction of the lack of clarity throughout the initial briefing process could significantly mitigate unpredicted delay and cost overruns during the detailed design and the construction stage.

This research contributed to the existing body of knowledge by developing an effective technique to measure the impact of lack of brief clarity on project cost and time performance. PDRI-SD can also aid project clients to predict the influence of the initial defined brief on the detailed design and construction process using the historical data of similar previous projects. It provides clients with feedback, indicating whether the brief meets project requirements or whether parts of the project brief require more clarification/rectification before the project handover to the builders.

Initial briefs (programs) were examined in order to obtain an overview of current practice in documenting the briefing process for new health care buildings in Sweden.

An audit instrument was developed and used to examine briefs for the content and quality of information and to determine whether and to what extent the information was comprehensive and patient‐oriented.

The results indicate that few strategic briefs make use of evidence to support their statements. Moreover, few briefs had an explicitly patient‐focused goal for the project or measurable outcomes.

This new audit approach can be applied in various organisations and over time to improve the briefing process and create clearer goals and guidelines.

This paper aims to examine how client requirements undergo representational and transformational shifts and changes in the design process and explore the consequence of such changes.

A series of design resources relating to hospital departmental configurations are examined and analysed using a social semiotic framework. The findings are supplemented by practitioner opinion.

Construction project requirements are represented and transformed through semiotic resource use; such representations deliver specific meanings, make new meanings and affect project relationships. Requirement representations may be understood as socially motivated meaning-making resources.

The paper focuses on one set of project requirements: hospital departmental configurations from a National Health Service hospital construction project in the UK.

The use of semiotic resources in briefing work fundamentally affects the briefing and design discourse between client and design teams; their significance should be noted and acknowledged as important.

The findings of the paper indicate that briefing and design work may be understood as a social semiotic practice.

This original paper builds upon scholarly work in the area of construction project communications. Its fine-grained analysis of briefing communications around representations of specific requirements is novel and valuable.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the variable stakeholder briefing in the successful completion of merger negotiations in the Greek banking branch.

The codification is attempted by means of software, so as to clarify the trends for negotiations in win‐win conditions. Data collected by the negotiation process of two large banking companies.

The paper concludes that an important factor for the successful outcome of a merger is also the methodology of briefing enacted by the leaders of the banking branch during both the negotiation and merger process.

The two banks follow a different briefing strategy in the issue of stakeholder briefing as well but there is congruency in briefing strategies concerning substantial goals, because both banks develop in a market that modulates tactics of consuming and investing behaviors through forming an “opinion” by the image that the banks give to consumers and investors about their plans.