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Article
Publication date: 1 January 2004

Jim Smith, Nellie O’Keeffe, Jim Georgiou and Peter E.D. Love

As clients have become more aware and demanding of the construction industry, they are also becoming less tolerant of the problems and the risks involved in the delivery of major…

6383

Abstract

As clients have become more aware and demanding of the construction industry, they are also becoming less tolerant of the problems and the risks involved in the delivery of major projects. Presents a case study of design management within a design‐construct organization on a large residential apartment project. Identifies and analyses issues concerned with the organization, responsibilities, relationships and stages of development in a typical design‐construct project.

Details

Facilities, vol. 22 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2008

Azlan Shah Ali, Ismail Rahmat and Hasnanywati Hassan

This paper aims to analyse the relationship between the degrees of involvement of key design participants in the decision‐making process of refurbishment projects on the design

1886

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the relationship between the degrees of involvement of key design participants in the decision‐making process of refurbishment projects on the design performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach takes the form of a literature review of the published journals and textbooks along with a postal questionnaire with professional architects. In total 234 selected professional architects in Malaysia were involved in a postal questionnaire survey. A total of 82 questionnaires or 36 percent were identified as being fit to be used for the data analysis.

Findings

The degree of involvement of key participants are varied at all stages. Greater involvement of key participants is one of the ways to obtain more information on increased integration in the design process. Highest involvement of key design participants was found in the construction stage, which implies that more tasks need to be carried out in refurbishment projects. The involvement of an M&E engineer outside their normal domain in the design process could improve the design performance of refurbishment projects.

Research limitations/implications

The literature review in the refurbishment design process was rather limited. Only limited study was carried out in specific areas owing to time and cost constraints.

Practical implications

The paper helps the project manager identify skills and professions that are important in the refurbishment design process, which could improve the completeness and accuracy of design product before work is started on site. This would help to reduce unnecessary design changes during the construction stage. The scale of fees for payment of the architect's services in refurbishment projects needs to be amended so that the amount paid up to contract documentation stage would be reduced from 70 percent to a more reasonable figure.

Originality/value

The paper determines the types of designers that are critically required in refurbishment projects, in order to have a more effective design process and thereby improve the accuracy and completeness of refurbishment design before work is started on site.

Details

Facilities, vol. 26 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 March 2020

Raghu Pucha, Kata Dosa, Sunni Newton, Meltem Alemdar, Ruthie Yow and Jennifer Hirsch

In January 2016, Georgia Tech launched a campus-wide academic initiative (“Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain”) aimed at preparing undergraduate students in all majors to use their…

Abstract

In January 2016, Georgia Tech launched a campus-wide academic initiative (“Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain”) aimed at preparing undergraduate students in all majors to use their disciplinary knowledge and skills to contribute to the major societal challenge of creating sustainable communities. The initiative calls for faculty members from all six Georgia Tech colleges to develop courses and co-curricular opportunities that will help students learn about sustainability and community engagement and hone their skills by engaging in real-world projects with nonprofit, community, government, and business partners. Affiliated courses address various aspects of the Center’s sustainable communities framework, which presents sustainability as an integrated system connecting environment, economy, and society. This chapter reports on one engineering instructor’s ongoing efforts that bring sustainability into the engineering classroom through sociotechnical project-based learning. This cornerstone design course is one of more than 100 Center-affiliated courses currently offered; the full set of Center-affiliated courses enrolls over 5,000 students per year across all six colleges. The sustainability activities introduced in the freshman design course pertain particularly to the Center’s vision that all graduates of the institute, a majority of whom will graduate with engineering degrees, are able to contribute to the creation of sustainable communities and to understand the impact of their professional practice on the communities in which they work. A situated knowledge and learning pedagogical theory is used in the Center-affiliated course, where concept, activity, and context are involved in student learning to produce useable robust knowledge. The sociotechnical project-based teaching model with contextualized design problems is used to engage students throughout the course by utilizing computer-aided-design problems that incorporate sustainability within both individual and team projects. In this chapter, the authors present the pedagogical approaches to learning, strategies, and challenges for implementation and assessment of intervention activities, and data analyses of both student reflection data and pre- and post-survey data.

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1995

Raykun R. Tan and Yaw‐Guang Lu

Utilizes approaches from systems analysis, quality management andprevious empirical results to formulate the framework for the study.Took selected engineering consulting firms in…

3617

Abstract

Utilizes approaches from systems analysis, quality management and previous empirical results to formulate the framework for the study. Took selected engineering consulting firms in Taiwan as research subjects for the empirical portion of the studies. The scope is restricted to the design phase of the construction project. Synthesizes an AHP architecture from the system concept and total management philosophy and provides an in‐depth understanding of the criteria of quality and impacting factors to form the basis on which to enhance and control quality. Combines expert opinions from project owners, engineering executives and project managers. Integrates these diversified, intangible quality perceptions into a concrete representation. Among the eight quality criteria, conformity to codes and standards, constructability and conformance to owners’ requirements are ranked high on the list, although the ranking may be somewhat influenced by the expertise of those included in the survey. Analyses the relative importance of impacting factors among the respondents and concludes by suggesting potential uses for the AHP architecture and indicates areas for future research.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 12 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2006

R. Jakkilinki, N. Sharda and I. Ahmad

This paper seeks to describe the process used to develop the multimedia design and planning pyramid (MUDPY) ontology, and the role played by the MUDPY ontology as a planning…

1541

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to describe the process used to develop the multimedia design and planning pyramid (MUDPY) ontology, and the role played by the MUDPY ontology as a planning, design and development tool in multimedia projects.

Design/methodology/approach

The MUDPY model was implemented for the semantic web by developing an ontology for it. This ontology facilitates defining the concepts existing in that domain, their attributes and the relationships between them.

Findings

The MUDPY ontology can guide developers through the various phases of a multimedia project in a systematic fashion by allowing them to create a project proposal, specify the functional requirements, decide on the navigational structure and create a storyboard, and thus create high‐quality projects.

Research limitations/implications

The current system is a prototype. This MUDPY ontology can be extended by adding more classes in order to increase its functionality; for example, one can develop special plug‐in widgets to generate project reports required during multimedia project planning and design.

Practical implications

By using the MUDPY ontology, developers can follow a systematic process for project development, and better manage the complexity of multimedia projects.

Originality/value

The paper introduces the MUDPY model and its ontology, and shows a multimedia author the pathway to manage a multitude of concepts and assets required in a multimedia project.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 August 2022

Yan Ning and Florence Yean Yng Ling

Project managers rely on control strategies to deliver excellent outputs. However, little is known about how clients' project managers select control strategies in projects which…

Abstract

Purpose

Project managers rely on control strategies to deliver excellent outputs. However, little is known about how clients' project managers select control strategies in projects which are knowledge-intensive and have intangible outputs. This study aims to examine how clients' project managers select project control strategies in professional service projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey of 360 architectural and engineering (A/E) design projects was adopted. Data were analyzed through the hierarchical regression.

Findings

Both clients' knowledge of measuring outcomes and process uncertainty give rise to their project managers setting up behavior and social controls. Level of process uncertainty positively moderates the impact of client's knowledge of measuring outcomes on outcome control.

Research limitations/implications

This study mainly examined the client's knowledge of measuring outcomes and process uncertainties. Future studies could be conducted to expand the scope by including other contextual factors, for instance market and regulatory factors.

Practical implications

From the client side, if they want to simultaneously adopt outcome, behavior and social controls, they would need to increase their knowledge of measuring outcomes by adopting established assessment tools or appointing a third party to assist in design outcome evaluation.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by showing that the level of intangibility of project outputs influences the types of control system which project managers adopt.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 30 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 December 2022

Rouzbeh Shabani, Tobias Onshuus Malvik, Agnar Johansen and Olav Torp

Uncertainty management (UM) in projects has been a point of attention for researchers for many years. Research on UM has mainly been aimed at uncertainty analyses in the front-end…

2033

Abstract

Purpose

Uncertainty management (UM) in projects has been a point of attention for researchers for many years. Research on UM has mainly been aimed at uncertainty analyses in the front-end and managing uncertainty in the construction phase. In contrast, UM components in the design phase have received less attention. This research aims to improve knowledge about the key components of UM in the design phase of large road projects.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a literature review and case study. The literature review was used to identify relevant criteria for UM. These criteria helped to design the interview guide. Multiple case study research was conducted, and data were collected through document study and interviews with project stakeholders in two road projects. Each case's owners, contractors and consultants were interviewed individually.

Findings

The data analysis obtained helpful information on the involved parties, process and exploit tools and techniques during the design phase. Johansen's (2015) framework [(a) human and organisation, (b) process and (c) tools and techniques)] was completed and developed by identifying relevant criteria (such as risk averse or risk-taker, culture and documentation level) for each component. These criteria help to measure UM performance. The authors found that owners and contractors are major formal UM actors, not consultants. Empirical data showed the effectiveness of Web-based tools in UM.

Research limitations/implications

The studied cases were Norwegian, and this study focussed on uncertainties in the project's design phase. Relevant criteria did not cover all the criteria for evaluating the performance of UM. Qualitative evaluation of criteria allows further quantitative analysis in the future.

Practical implications

This paper gave project owners and managers a better understanding of relevant criteria for measuring UM in the owners and managers' projects. The paper provides policy-makers with a deeper understanding of creating rigorous project criteria for UM during the design phase. This paper also provides a guideline for UM in road projects.

Originality/value

This research gives a holistic evaluation of UM by noticing relevant criteria and criteria's interconnection in the design phase.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 16 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 May 2020

Lina Ghazi Gharaibeh, Sandra T. Matarneh, Mazen Arafeh and Ghaleb Sweis

The problem of design changes in the construction industry is common worldwide, and the Jordanian market is no exception. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors…

Abstract

Purpose

The problem of design changes in the construction industry is common worldwide, and the Jordanian market is no exception. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors causing design changes in construction projects in Jordan in both the public and private sectors. Furthermore, this research will examine the effect of these factors on project's performance during the construction phase.

Design/methodology/approach

This research commences by identifying the factors causing design changes in construction projects worldwide through an intensive literature review. The identified factors were then filtered to those applicable to the Jordanian construction market based on the results obtained from a questionnaire survey and real case construction projects. In total, 252 professionals from the Jordanian construction industry and 10 completed and/or ongoing construction projects in different parts of Jordan were compared.

Findings

The results find that the top major factors affecting design changes are owner's requirements; design errors and omissions and value engineering. The research also studies and documents the impacts of design changes on project cost, schedule and quality.

Originality/value

The results obtained from this research will assist the construction professionals representing owners, consultants and contractors in applying control measures to minimize the occurrence of the identified factors causing design changes and to mitigate their sever impacts on projects in terms of cost, schedule and quality.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 70 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 August 2021

Chuanjing Ju and Yan Ning

Sharing tacit knowledge across firm boundaries is challenging in architectural and engineering design projects as tacit knowledge is embedded in the designer’s mind. It thus…

Abstract

Purpose

Sharing tacit knowledge across firm boundaries is challenging in architectural and engineering design projects as tacit knowledge is embedded in the designer’s mind. It thus requires autonomous motivation. This study aims to examine how clients integrate distributive justice (DJ), procedural justice (PJ) and interactional justice (IJ) to motivate tacit knowledge sharing in interorganizational architectural and engineering (A/E) design projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model was built, describing how the combination of distributive, procedural and interactional justice influences tacit knowledge sharing. This model was then verified using latent profile analysis (LPA) of 360 A/E design projects.

Findings

A total offour subgroups with quantitatively different combinations of distributive, procedural and interactional justice were identified. Within each subgroup, the levels of the three forms of justice were quite aligned. The results indicate that clients often implement interorganizational justice in a collective manner. Among the four subgroups, projects with the highest level of justice combination have a significantly higher level of tacit knowledge sharing than the other three. This indicates that sharing of tacit knowledge is driven by the overall level of interorganizational justice.

Originality/value

The configurational approach complements previous research by presenting how combinations of interorganizational justice influence tacit knowledge sharing in A/E design projects.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 29 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2004

Donald R. Deis, Helmut Schneider, Chester G. Wilmot and Charles H. Coates

The purpose of this project was to compare the cost of transportation engineering design services provided by private contractors versus services provided by state transportation…

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to compare the cost of transportation engineering design services provided by private contractors versus services provided by state transportation agency staff for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD). Due to shrinking budgets, staff cuts, and a trend toward privatization, state transportation agencies now outsource the majority of the services they provide. The merits of doing so, however, have been difficult to discern for lack of “apples-to-apples” comparisons. For engineering design services, this problem is particularly acute due to the uniqueness of many projects (e.g., a bridge over the Mississippi river). A simulation approach was used in this study to make “apples-to-apples” comparisons for 39 design projects, 22 in-house projects and 17 consultant projects. For each in-house design project, the cost was estimated had the work been done by a consulting firm. Similarly, for each consultant design project, the cost was estimated had the work been done by in-house staff. The result of the study was that in-house design costs were cheaper by an average of 17 to 19 percent.

Details

Journal of Public Procurement, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1535-0118

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