Search results

Although several studies have evaluated effective factors for conflict occurrence, researchers have developed few methods of determining preventive capacities and determining preventive measures on the basis of an analysis of chain of risks that cause conflict. The purpose of this paper is to devise a mechanism for conflict prevention by evaluating chain of risks that cause conflict and different conflict types.

Efforts centered on facilitating the prevention conflicts through analyzing the effects of chain of risks on change causes, decomposing the mixture of conflict types in each conflict and determining the contribution of each conflict type to conflict creation.

The paper expands the existing body of knowledge on conflict management through the determination of complex relationships, namely, the relationship between conflict causes and project parties and the coherence between project parties and conflict types.

A practical example is analyzed to demonstrate the proposed approach capabilities. The results showed that using the developed approach to determine conflict type can serve as a means of control in projects and the developed approach can be incorporated into construction contracts as a conflict resolution mechanism. This paper presents an understanding of complex relationships among the chain of risks which cause conflict, the important players in conflict management process and different conflict types. It also provides a basis to select an effective management method for each conflict.

Although several studies have aimed to present models to predict conflict outcomes, fewer methods have been developed to analyze conflict manageability and provide management strategies based on prediction models. This research pitches into the manageability analysis of conflicts occur during the implementation of a proposed change in construction projects. In this way, a framework has been developed by defining two parameters: the predictability index and the preventability index.

Within this framework, the predictability index determines how many outcomes of the prediction model can be used for conflict management based on the degree of clarity. The preventability index demonstrates how preventive measures for conflict management can be identified. Eventually, three preventive measures can be determined: (1) identifying weaknesses of decision-making patterns and organizational culture, (2) identifying events that may be prevented using soft skills and (3) identifying differences among similar change-implementation scenarios and evaluating causes of the differences. To demonstrate the capabilities of proposed framework, a practical example has been analyzed.

The results show that the behavior of the project parties can be psychologically analyzed, and psychological conflicts can be distinguished from technical conflicts. Moreover, identifying the weaknesses of parties' decision-making patterns and their organizational culture is the most effective measure to prevent the conflicts.

This research contributes to the construction body of knowledge by quantifying the predictability and preventability of conflicts between the project parties in a construction project based on: (1) the certainty level of the conflict occurrence and (2) the level of alignment between predicted outcomes of the conflict occurrence and the issued change request and/or change order.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of implementing value stream mapping (VSM), just in time (JIT), continuous flow and total productive maintenance (TPM) methods throughout production and erection processes of pre-fabricated steel frames (PSFs) of building projects.

As phased lean management, after implementing the VSM technique, the JIT technique is implemented as first lean phase and the TPM and the continuous flow techniques are implemented as second lean phase. To evaluate the expected improvement of project performance due to reduce wastes by implementing lean techniques, discrete event simulation (DES) is utilized. In this research, an eight-story residential building project in Tehran, Iran, is studied.

Simultaneous use of lean techniques to integrate production and erection processes of PSFs leads to the improvement of the performance of production and erection stages, significantly. The results indicate 43 and 17 percent reduction in PSFs production and erection processes time and cost, respectively.

In the present study, only the effects of implementing lean techniques on the production and erection of PSFs have been evaluated. However, it is also possible to apply these lean approaches and the key strategies to the other modular or pre-fabricated construction methods.

The main contribution to knowledge is improving the construction project performance by integrating the production and erection processes, using phased lean management through implementing lean techniques. The results of the current study provide valuable insight into the possibility of integrating and improving construction processes of pre-fabricated construction.

This study aimed to explain how a framework could be developed for (1) the preliminary estimation of project safety level (PSL) in current projects, (2) the estimation of the maximum possible PSL using limited financial resources and (3) the estimation of the minimum financial resources required for reaching a specific PSL.

The data of 95 steel structural building projects were collected via a questionnaire to evaluate the proposed framework for the Iranian construction industry. Based on unofficial local construction statistics and literature reviews, six safety influential factors (SIFs) were selected to which a cost could be assigned. The costs associated with various levels were also determined for each SIF through literature reviews and expert interviews. A multiple linear regression (MLR) model was developed as a predictive model to determine PSL for future projects based on the data of previous projects. Moreover, linear programming (LP) was applied to take modeling constraints and project conditions into account.

The results demonstrated the impacts of all the factors on PSL and the model's potential for the preliminary estimation of PSL using SIFs. The results also indicated that a higher PSL could be achieved by optimizing the allocation of financial resources to each SIF.

This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by developing a step-by-step framework to identify an optimal safety cost allocation (OSCA) to achieve the maximum possible PSL using a limited safety budget and considering the data of similar projects. The main objective was to promote project safety, decrease construction site injuries and fatalities and help local construction industries exploit potential financial advantages.

This study provides an integrated risk-based cost and time estimation approach for deep excavation projects. The purpose is to identify the best practices in recent advances of excavation risk analysis (RA) and integrate them with traditional cost and time estimation methods.

The implemented best practices in this research are as follows: (1) fault-tree analysis (FTA) for risk identification (RI); (2) Bayesian belief networks (BBNs), fuzzy comprehensive analysis and Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) for risk analysis; and (3) sensitivity analysis and root-cause analysis (RCA) for risk response planning (RRP). The proposed approach is applied in an actual deep excavation project in Tehran, Iran.

The results show that the framework proposes a practical approach for integrating the risk management (RM) best practices in the domain of excavation projects with traditional cost and time estimation approaches. The proposed approach can consider the interrelationships between risk events and identify their root causes. Further, the approach engages different stakeholders in the process of RM, which is beneficial for determining risk owners and responsibilities.

This research contributes to the project management body of knowledge by integrating recent RM best practices in deep excavation projects for probabilistic estimation of project time and cost.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a quantitative comprehensive model for construction project success evaluation, from the viewpoint of a contractor company.

In this paper, the authors used a comprehensive definition of project success consisting of two components: Product success, which deals with the effect of the project's final product; and Project Management success, which focuses upon the project process. The research methodology includes five steps: identification of the critical performance indices for the two above mentioned components; quantification of the performance indices; normalization of the indices; integration of the various performance indices to develop an overall project performance function; and applying the model on a real project in Iran and analyzing the results.

This paper introduces a novel model to evaluate and measure the construction project success from the viewpoint of a contractor company. The results show that this model can be used as a reliable tool to measure the project performance of contractors and their points of strength and weakness can be determined precisely.

Analyzing the results of the case study shows that the evaluation model is absolutely applicable. All necessary elements to quantify the critical performance indices and overall project success can be recorded precisely and easily. Thus, this model can be used in every contractor company concerned about its projects’ performance.

The evaluation model proposed in this paper is a unique and comprehensive quantified model which considers difference between project success and project management success and all critical indices which can affect them.

Nowadays, thermal comfort plays a prominent role in contemporary construction practices. Appropriate thermal insulation not only offers energy efficiency benefits in buildings but also enhances occupant well-being, comfort, and productivity. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the thermal properties of building materials is essential. This research aims to prepare and investigate a lightweight gypsum-based composite incorporating nano montmorillonite with advanced thermal insulation properties, considering both quality and cost-effectiveness while ensuring environmental compatibility.

This study adopts a laboratory experimental approach. A gypsum sample (without additives) and seven samples of gypsum combined with varying percentages of sodium and calcium montmorillonite nanoclays undergo extensive testing and analysis. Subsequently, the properties of these samples are compared.

The results indicate that adding montmorillonite nanoclays to gypsum composites reduces the density of the tested samples and increases their porosity. Moreover, the thermal conductivity coefficient decreases in these samples, significantly improving the thermal insulation properties of the lightweight gypsum plaster. This improvement is more pronounced in samples containing sodium montmorillonite nanoclay compared to calcium-based samples. Additionally, the investigations reveal that compressive strength decreases with the addition of montmorillonite to the samples.

In this research, laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of gypsum plaster with varying percentages of sodium and calcium montmorillonite nanoclays. The studied properties include density, porosity, thermal conductivity coefficient, and compressive strength. Additionally, stress-strain diagrams, elastic modulus, and initial and secondary critical stresses were analyzed for each specimen.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) play a pivotal role in evaluating the level of success of an organization in achieving its business objectives. The objective of the current research is to identify and prioritize effective KPIs in branding products and construction projects, which contribute to the success of construction companies in a competitive environment.

The present research is of an inferential, descriptive and survey nature. In this study, we identified the influential key performance indicators of construction companies in branding products and construction projects for success in a competitive environment through a literature review and expert opinions. The data were collected using a questionnaire, and a combination of the one-sample t-test method with a 95% confidence level and the fuzzy multiple attribute decision-making (FMADM) method was employed for analysis.

The results indicate that the most influential key performance indicators for construction companies in branding products and construction projects for success in a competitive environment are, in order of significance, the following indices: “Marketing and Advertising,” “Financial,” “Creativity,” “Technical and Operational” and “Social and Political.”

The present research examines the importance of branding construction products and projects for the success of construction companies by improving their business objectives and utilizing key performance indicators throughout the product lifecycle (production and construction). This study provides solutions on how construction companies can increase their competitive advantage through branding and achieve long-term success in the global construction industry.