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The purpose of this research is to determine a comprehensive coursework for teaching quality management in the universities of developing countries i.e. Pakistan pertinent to the construction industry. Additionally, a framework was also developed based on the results.

Factors and course contents of quality management are extracted through a content analysis of the published literature. Further, a questionnaire survey is conducted involving 150 professionals to assess the requirements of the industry and academic professionals of the construction industry for effective quality management. Finally, for getting a more objective perspective, using quality function deployment (QFD) matrix a framework is developed.

The results show the level of importance of each design requirement. We can identify the design requirements through which we can fulfill the needs and demands of the stakeholders. Contents like benchmarking, supply chain management, six sigma and other data analysis methods, costing and auditing of quality, customer satisfaction analysis, TQM: theory and practices and ISO certification processes and procedures should be included in any course program related to quality management pertinent to the construction industry. Along with these contents, workshops and seminars must be arranged to address the user requirement for increased leadership and communication skills.

There is a lack of literature available on course content for quality management in the universities for the construction sector, therefore, a huge scope of future research in the field of quality management in the construction industry needs to be investigated. This research highlights the most significant quality management factors and course contents as per the requirement of industry professionals. Therefore, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge by developing a robust framework that will help decision-makers and top management to develop constructive quality management course work at university level that will help in producing qualified and trained quality professionals to the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to explore existing problems and potential solutions of managing Employers' Requirements in the project development process of construction projects under traditional procurement systems.

Two research instruments are used: semi‐structured interview and questionnaire survey, to investigate the problems and potential solutions to Requirements Management in the construction industry.

The research revealed that Requirements Management is crucial to the successful delivery of construction projects. However, the current practice of Requirements Management in the industry is informal and there is a lack of a systematic approach to tackle the problems. The authors also propose potential solutions to Requirements Management as well as a vision for further research.

The paper presents the problems of managing Employers' Requirements, and the potential solutions to improve the Requirements Management process that need to be addressed.

The paper improves one's comprehension of the nature, characteristics, problems and potential solutions of Requirements Management in the project development process under the traditional procurement systems in the construction industry, relevant to both practitioners and scholars. A model is proposed as a “preliminary framework” to show the processes involved.

The purpose of this paper is to capture the up-to-date development of quality management (QM) programs in China’s manufacturing landscape. The study aims to gain understanding on the current state-of-the-art QM programs adopted by Chinese manufacturing companies. Furthermore, the study investigates the key drivers and organizational characteristics that may shape the decisions on QM program adoption.

To gain a deep understanding of QM in China’s manufacturing landscape, in-depth interviews were conducted with production managers, quality managers, and/or executives of 12 manufacturing companies in four cities in China in May and June 2012. Each interview lasted about two hours and covered all aspects of QM in the business, including what quality programs are in place and why the business adopts and implements these programs. Grounded theory approach is used to conduct qualitative analysis on the interview transcripts using NVivo 9, a qualitative data analysis program.

Two categories of QM programs adopted by Chinese companies emerged from the analysis, namely, QM systems and QM certifications. QM systems include Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, and Lean. QM certification includes ISO 9000 series standard certificates, ISO 14000 certificate, OHSAS heath certificates, government regulatory certificates, and industry certificates. The authors found while Six Sigma and Lean adoption is related to parent company requirement, TQM adoption is related to internal quality improvement and control, quality assurance, leadership ideology, culture, and employee commitment. QM certification adoption is significantly related to external drivers. Regarding the effect of organizational characteristics, the study reveals that while corporate governance and ownership influence parent company requirements as an adoption driver, industry, product, and market segmentation influence industry requirements and government regulations as adoption drivers.

The findings and proposed conceptual framework are based on qualitative data collected from 12 companies in four cities in China, which may be limited to represent and reveal every aspect of QM programs adopted in Chinese manufacturing industries. The findings provide theoretical propositions that can be verified using a large sample set in future studies. In addition, although the study identified a variety of QM programs adopted, how these programs are implemented warrants further investigation.

This study gives a status update and in-depth investigation on the development of QM programs adopted in Chinese manufacturing companies. How internal drivers, external drivers, and organizational characteristics shape companies’ decision on program adoption were explored. The study results provide implications not only for companies that are involved in supply chains with operations in China, but also for Chinese domestic companies competing in global markets to have QM systems in place to ensure quality performance.

This study used multiple case study approach and grounded theory approach to conduct in-depth investigation on the current state of QM landscape in China’s manufacturing companies. It contributes to the body of knowledge on QM programs in China by uncovering the linkages between program adoption, key drivers, and organizational characteristics in an integrated framework.

The study aims to review the currently available Industry 4.0 (I4.0) maturity models (MMs) for manufacturing industries and analyse their applicability in the oil and gas (O&G) upstream sector. Knowing that the growth in demand for energy through crude oil and natural gas is still viable over the next decade, there is the drive to ensure sustenance and improvement in production. The study sees an opportunity in harnessing the gains of Industry 4.0 technologies for better solution-driven strategies in production processes, equipment availability and reliability which would translate into higher production performance. So, a review on the Industry 4.0 MMs is considered important.

A systematic and in-depth literature review was performed to identify the specific requirements of this industry. This study examined the key characteristics of the O&G upstream sector and identified research gaps that need to be addressed to successfully support this industry for Industry 4.0 implementation. An Industry 4.0 MM that reflects the industrial realities for this industry more accurately from insights drawn from reviews of existing MMs is proposed

The review of 19 selected Industry 4.0 MMs revealed that the existing MMs are not a direct fit for the O&G upstream industry. Only a few of the models were clear on validation but with subjectivity, low number of persons and industries involved as limitations; none of the models confirmed validation with the O&G industry. There are varying views on the model dimensions and maturity levels by each author and not all required areas specific to the O&G industries were acknowledged by the models. An MM specific to this industry is therefore required.

Although the journey of digitisation has commenced in the O&G industry, a reduction with the challenges of transition towards Industry 4.0 implementation and provision of support for improved efficiency is assured using a robust MM, as proposed in this paper.

This paper aims to focus on requirements management of projects constructed under traditional procurement system. It seeks to discuss the requirements management processes highlighting the limitations and addressing the need for a practical framework for facilitating the implementation of requirements management in the construction industry.

Two research instruments were used in this paper: semi‐structured interviews and case studies.

The literature review introduced a generic process for requirements management practice potentially to be adopted in the construction industry. The research study identified that the processes and limitations of current practice included the lack of a practical framework, misinterpretation of requirements, difficulties in identifying requirements, conflicts between expectation and constraints, complex hierarchy of client's organisation and communication problems in eliciting client requirements. Recommendations are given that an inclusive project brief and a competent project manager to manage the project requirements are necessary in capturing and tracing the requirements during the project development process. A practical framework is needed to improve the requirements management practice within the construction industry.

The research findings establish the basis for further research to examine the implementation of these potential solutions and development of a systematic framework for RsM. The research is of significant value to the construction industry where value generation is essential and critical, especially in difficult economic and financial situations.

Requirements are the foundation of the projects which are critical to the successful delivery of the projects. Although many guidelines have been published for managing client requirements, the existing practice on requirements management is still considered to be inadequate. This research provides insight for professional practitioners in the construction industry to improve the requirements management practices for development projects.

Requirements management has become a challenge for new product development (NPD) as products are getting increasingly complicated and customer segments more fragmented. The purpose of this paper is to provide new ideas for improving requirements management in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

A qualitative interview study is carried out in the ICT sector to clarify the current challenges in requirements management. The results of the interview study are analysed using a benchmark from the automotive industry. This benchmark is chosen, as the automotive industry is a developed business sector that has streamlined its business processes, including its requirements management.

The paper shows how ICT can benefit from the experience of the car industry on issues such as managing customer needs throughout the NPD process, overflow of data and communicating requirements with suppliers.

Using another sector as a benchmark is not a straightforward process and results cannot be directly copied. Fresh ideas are, however, obtainable when a well‐developed benchmark is used and results are applied flexibly. Deeper analysis on individual areas indentified here might be interesting topics for further study.

The paper shows that managers in the ICT sector should pay more attention to their requirements management and serving the needs of internal customers. The requirements management of the Japanese automotive industry is a potential source for improvement initiatives.

The paper provides new perspectives for the requirements management of the ICT sector by benchmarking the Japanese automotive industry.

This paper aims to disclose the implications of the 4th Industrial Revolution for vocational and professional qualifications and their systems. It also seeks to enhance more active discussion of experts and researchers about the change of vocational and professional qualifications created by the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Research is based on the case studies of the design and development of vocational and professional qualifications focused on the skills requirements of the 4th Industrial Revolution. There are analyzed and compared two cases of the international (EU) projects aiming to design and implement new qualifications in the metalworking industry and the case of introduction of additional qualifications in Germany. The main research methods include content analysis of the qualifications descriptors and vocational education and training (VET) curricula, a meta-analysis of the research on the implications of Industry 4.0 for VET.

The choices of the structure and contents of qualifications and VET curricula in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution are defined by the specific state of technologies and work organizations in the enterprises, limitations of VET providers, individual skills needs of learners, national and sectoral policies in the field of qualifications and curricula. It requires compromises between the concept of solid qualifications based on the holistic orientation to work processes and the trends toward flexible curriculum; between the design of new qualifications and adjustment of the existing ones, as well as between the individualistic and collective approaches to qualifications.

The research is focused on the development of qualifications in the manufacturing sector (metalworking and engineering industry). The paper contributes to the theoretical discussions and research of qualifications, competence, VET and human resource development by suggesting a theoretical framework for the analysis of the development of qualifications in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution, as well as by stressing the importance of holistic view to this development which should comprise both policies and practices of the design of qualifications, curriculum design, education and training and assessment of learning outcomes.

The paper provides insight into the implications of the 4th Industrial Revolution to the key processes of the national systems of qualifications by referring to the cases of current efforts to adjust qualifications in the metalworking sector and engineering industry. It also suggests possible scenarios for the future development of vocational and professional qualifications in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate in-depth the current approach of managing client requirements in construction and to highlight the significant factors, which contribute to the complexity of managing the requirements in order to define a better approach.

A case study of a leading international global built asset and engineering consultancy organization was conducted over two years. The case study was conducted principally using semi-participant observations supplemented with other qualitative data collection methods (i.e. interviews, questionnaires and document analysis). Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

The results highlight major factors associated with the complexity of managing client requirements information, which include: mechanisms for documentation, storage and access, distribution of requirements information between stakeholders and across lifecycle phases of a project, traceability management and the provision of effective change management incorporating dependency checking and impact analysis.

The main limitation of the research is the use of an in-depth study of a single organization, which applied the same project management method across all the projects they managed. Further work is planned to develop the proposed framework fully, and develop a software platform to operationalize and evaluate its industrial applicability with construction projects.

The implications of this research is that a better approach to managing requirements information is needed, which will facilitate the design, construction and operations of buildings within budget and time. An integrated framework and an associated tool are suggested to implement the approach.

This study identifies major research gaps and problems in the architecture, engineering, construction and facilities management industry; proposes and presents Electronic Requirements Information Management framework to facilitate lifecycle management of the requirements.

The increasing adoption of informatization in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries has raised the competency requirements for AEC practitioners. However, existing research primarily focuses on the integration of emerging technologies in AEC education programs, with little attention to the development of informatization-related competencies. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the competency requirements in the information age of the AEC industry.

Taking a policy perspective, this study investigates the competency requirements within the context of AEC industry informatization. By employing a competency-based theoretical framework, content analysis is conducted on China's policy document, the Outline of the Development of Informatization in the Construction Industry.

The study identifies crucial emerging technologies in the AEC industry, such as building information modeling (BIM), Big Data, Internet of things, networking, and cloud computing, along with their application scenarios. It considers various market players, including survey and design institutes, construction companies, and general contracting enterprises. Comparative analysis reveals the technology application patterns of these market players, shedding light on their preferences and perspectives. Based on these findings, the study proposes recommendations for competency requirements in the AEC industry.

This study extends the competency-based theory to AEC education from a macro perspective. The findings enhance understanding of informatization by providing insights into the related technologies, their applications, and the market players utilizing them. Moreover, the study's results have significant implications for AEC education, particularly in the design of curriculum systems for emerging technology-related fields.

Project-based learning is one of the most effective methods of transferring academic knowledge and skills to real-world situations in higher education. However, its effectiveness is not much investigated focusing on the students' narrative. This study aims at evaluating the students' experience and perspective on adopting project-based learning in master by research and doctoral programmes for proactive skills development.

This study evaluates the self-reflection of 10 postgraduate students and their supervisor who have participated in developing a software tool for solar photovoltaics (PV) integrated building envelope design, management and the related education.

Findings reveal that the students have effectively improved their knowledge on the subject via collaborating with the industry, self-learning/observation, peer learning, problem-solving and teamwork. Dividing the project into student-led tasks has improved the decision-making and leadership skills, risks identification, planning and time management skills. The overall experience has (1) built up confidence in students, (2) enhanced their creativity and critical thinking and (3) improved their proactive skills and context knowledge.

A clear research gap can be seen in exploring the effectiveness of project-based learning for master by research and doctoral programmes, which mainly focus on extensive research. These programmes do not necessarily focus on developing students' proactive skills, which is the main requirement if they intend to work in the construction industry. This paper addresses the above research gap by demonstrating the effectiveness of project-based learning for developing the proactive skills in a research-intensive learning environment.