Search results

Bedroom Feng Shui practices have been criticized as myth over the years but in fact having its scientific origin that is not purely superstitious. This paper aims to examine whether the architects' design practice for bedroom interior arrangement is concurring with the recommended bedroom Feng Shui practices. The study has successfully interviewed 16 architects from diverse backgrounds to avoid bias, seeking their design perspectives in bedroom interior configuration. Subsequently, the interviewees submitted sketches of ideal bedroom layout based on their expertise, with pre-set requirements. Data from semi-structured interviews were analyzed using mixed method approach. In agreement with our expectations, majority of the interviewees have matching thoughts that “bed arrangement” is the primary consideration in bedroom interior configuration. Most of the design outputs were highly attached to favorable Feng Shui conditions. The overall findings implied that bedroom Feng Shui is not merely superstitious but most components are practical design references for architects from diverse backgrounds.

In Malaysia, there are a few numbers of frameworks and checklists in order to evaluate the sustainable performance of buildings. In addition, most of these assessment frameworks or checklists focus on environmental sustainability disregarding social and economic pillars. The research in social and economic sustainability in the construction industry is pushing forward, albeit at a slow pace. In addition, the growing number of sustainable criteria in the literature highlights the importance of a systematic framework for construction initiatives. This research aims to propose a comprehensive framework based on three pillars of sustainability, and, additionally, to categorize them in a manner that is applicable for all relevant stakeholders based on their level of involvement and needs. Finally, it identifies the relation between each criterion and stage of the construction lifecycle with the assistance of an expert panel. This research produces a framework that is useful for Malaysian construction stakeholders to reinforce their approach towards sustainability through social and economic aspects that are currently underestimated in the construction industry.

A description of failure events during construction illustrates the urgent need to emphasize the management of quality in civil engineering projects. During the construction of a civil engineering project, cost control techniques are used to monitor cost trends and to detect cost deviations in order to control project cost. However, this technique does not reveal the cause of any failure. The nature and collection of failure costs have been part of quality costing. Hypothetical illustrations show how failure costs can be extracted during construction using a matrix. Quality cost information can be used to supplement cost control techniques for cost control purposes and in identifying weaknesses within a system.

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a design management tool to enhance the quality aspect of products and services as well as to increase customer satisfaction. This paper describes the concept and technique of QFD as applied to the construction industry with special focus on a low‐cost housing scheme. The benefits of QFD on the aspects of reliability in quality, cost and time for low‐cost housing from the customers’ viewpoint are also presented.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the measurement constructs of learning within construction projects' milieu. The literature indicated some mechanisms of learning in projects under four aspects, namely knowledge sharing, knowledge creation, team action to learn, and learning support. The empirical study attempts to verify whether intra-project learning can be measured through these aspects.

The study used a survey method to collect the data from 36 mega-sized building projects in Malaysia. In total, 203 questionnaires were collected from professionals working in the sites of these projects. The data were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the constructs of intra-project learning. Partial least squares-path modeling was used then to confirm the results of PCA and determine the contribution of each construct to intra-project learning.

The results affirmed two constructs of intra-project learning, named, social and technical and each consisted of four indicators of learning.

The paper emphasized the socio-technical perspective of learning and contributed to developing a hierarchical measurement model of learning in construction project. A project manager can propose new initiatives in response to the new perspective of learning for team building and continuous development. Lastly, the paper provides a comprehensive presentation of how to estimate the hierarchical measurement models of project learning as a latent variable.

Looks at how the construction industry’s demand for better management of quality in construction projects is becoming increasingly important for every project participant. Says that one important aspect of a quality improvement programme is the cost of quality which is relatively new to participants of construction projects. Describes the results of a survey among professionals in the construction industry on the issues relating to the management of quality and especially its cost. Shows that results of the investigation indicate, among others, the importance of client role in determining the quality of the end product; the usefulness of information on non‐conformances in preventing failures and improving a process; problems with ground conditions; how most failure costs can be eliminated; how the contractor’s role should include anticipating of problems; and how information on the cost of failures can be an indicator of weaknesses and assist in preventing the same failure in the future.

Conflict was recognized as a major cause of inefficiency and limited performance of construction projects. Factors pertaining to conflict in construction are vast; however, there have been less recognition of these factors in international construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to provide in-depth understanding of conflict in this context and analyze how it influences project performance.

A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 161 professionals working in Malaysian companies, which are undertaking construction projects overseas.

Analyzing the data using factor analysis revealed six new factors of conflict: external, internal, control-related, knowledge-related, mismanagement, and social conflicts. Further analysis of the data using partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) affirmed a significant relationship between project performance and two factors of conflict only: internal and social. The results also showed that conflict contributes to about 27 percent of the variance in project performance.

This paper provided a clear picture for project managers and team members about specific aspects of conflict and how to mitigate them to attain better performance of international construction projects.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) from the perspective of the customers and its relationships with perceived overall SERVQUAL in retail banking and also investigate the relationships between perceived overall SERVQUAL and customer trust, customer satisfaction, and bank reputation.

A survey questionnaire was constructed, and data were collected from 375 regular customers of local banks. The convenience sampling method was employed to collect data from existing customers of local banks operating in the Klang Valley area of Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the data.

The results of the study indicate four key dimensions of SERVQUAL – tangibles, empathy, reliability and security, and internet banking – all of which are significantly and positively related to customers’ perceived overall SERVQUAL. Internet banking facilities are another significant determinant of the perceived overall SERVQUAL. The results are indicative of the strong and positive effect upon customer satisfaction, their trust in the bank, and, finally, a bank’s reputation.

This study has presented and tested empirical study of perceived overall SERVQUAL model in the banking industry, particularly in the Malaysian context. This research identified the dimensions of SERVQUAL (i.e. tangibles, empathy, reliability and security, and internet banking) that influence the overall perceived SERVQUAL, and how these overall perceptions will eventually influence customer trust, customer satisfaction, and bank reputation is valid and reliable in retail banking industry. This study, however, only focussed on the banking industry. Given the diversity of the service industry, these findings may have to be tested for the applicability to different service industries in future studies.

This research is useful to bank managers as it helps them improve SERVQUAL to protect and expand their respective market share in a highly competitive industry. Banks could utilise the results of this study to improve their service tangibility, empathy, reliability, and security, which will affect both customer trust and satisfaction, and enhance a bank’s reputation.

The findings of specific dimensions of SERVQUAL will contribute to customer perception of banks’ image and reputation, and strengthen trust and satisfaction. Moreover, assisting customers towards the understanding of how they should received high quality of services with regard to quality should be perceived as emphatic, reliable, secured and tangibility of service.

The findings of this study highlight the specific dimensionalities of SERVQUAL in influencing the perceived overall SERVQUAL. This study will increase the understanding on the impact of perceived overall SERVQUAL on consumer trust, customer satisfaction, and a bank’s reputation. Specifically, it reports an empirical study of a model of perceived overall SERVQUAL that simultaneously considers the direct effects of perceived overall SERVQUAL on customer trust, customer satisfaction and bank reputation.

Risk management in defence aircraft industry has considerable interest among academics and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to develop interactions among risk factors dimensions (RFDs) and inspect the importance relationship among the performance measures in Indian aircraft industry and, finally, understand the effect of involvements provided by the managerial team on risk reduction process.

An extensive literature review was carried out to identify 26 risk parameters and 13 performance measure indices relevant for an aircraft industry. Survey method was used to obtain the importance of these parameters and measures. Further, these factors are grouped into five risk dimensions based on the brain storming session by the project managers. Initially, Risk factors for defense aircraft industry (RFDs) analyzed by Interpretative structural model (ISM) to know the contextual relationship among the RFDs and then applied Interpretive ranking process (IRP) to inspect the pre-eminence relationship among them. Finally, SD is applied to understand the effect of involvements provided by the managerial team on risk reduction process.

Government policy and legal RFDs has emerged as the key driving RFDs. In IRP modelling, technology RFD has emerged as more influential RFD which is the more relevant factor with respect to performance measure indices and this result is supported by detailed sensitivity analysis of system dynamic model.

The outcomes of this research can help project management team to identify the high severity risk factors which need immediate risk reduction/mitigation action.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the production processes utilized by the Malaysian construction industry (MCI).

The paper follows an earlier work published in this journal in which the authors analyze the global construction industry focusing on the evolution of lean production systems.

The future of construction is exciting. International markets, innovations in technology, and techniques of construction project management, new relationships across disciplines are all avenues of development. To make the best use of their opportunities, the MCI must invest in research and development (R&D), undertake public education about the field and develop new methodologies to improve operational performance in construction.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the MCI, it's impact on the economy, key success factors, struggles and problems that the industry currently faces. Analysis of key functional areas like operations management, R&D, and occupational safety and health administration provide insights into improvement.