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Article
Publication date: 4 September 2017

Ahmet Anil Sezer

This paper aims to analyse the factors influencing refurbishment site managers’ waste management efforts.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the factors influencing refurbishment site managers’ waste management efforts.

Design/methodology/approach

Twenty-seven semi-structured interviews were held with managers from two large contractors involved in housing and office refurbishment projects in Sweden. Also, a web and postal questionnaire survey was sent to 232 refurbishment site managers and received a 34 per cent response rate.

Findings

Site managers devise waste management strategies based on environmental inventories and project size. In smaller projects, waste contractors are employed only for physical activities rather than providing advice. Site managers’ waste management efforts are influenced by project-related factors, organizational and personal factors, technical factors, industry culture and legislation. The level of contract detail, specific client demands related to waste management and project size are important factors.

Practical implications

Policies and guidelines for projects of different sizes should be developed at least for large contractors; scale influences site managers’ waste strategies. Waste management efforts in refurbishment projects can be improved by addressing simple technical problems including providing clear labelling of containers and ensuring shelter from rain and snow.

Originality/value

This is a pioneer survey of refurbishment site manager opinions and practices. Inefficient waste management in building refurbishment projects can be costly and harmful to the environment. There are many opportunities to improve waste management efforts.

Details

Journal of Facilities Management, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-5967

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Julius Ayodeji Fapohunda

The purpose of this paper is to delineate different types of site manager attributes that significantly contribute to construction project management efficiency and evaluate the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to delineate different types of site manager attributes that significantly contribute to construction project management efficiency and evaluate the factors that hinder the site manager during construction production processes. Towards efficient resources utilisation, site managers require various qualities and potentials.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve valid result, the research study was triangulated by exploring literature, which was augmented with both quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interview research methods. The research data were collected in the UK building industry.

Findings

It was found that the barriers that often affect efficient utilisation of construction resources in the industry are poor communication, disagreement, misunderstandings, bad weather, union strikes and construction participants’ personality conflicts. This research study presents severity of site manager’s hindrances, factors that affect site manager’s efficiencies, solutions to minimise the hindrances on site manager’s efficient performance and factors that should be constant towards site mangers’ efficient performance. Among these solutions found evident that will enhance site managers’ performance and minimise the effect of the hindrances are an enhanced planning and adequate programming of construction resources before and during project execution, rational team building and an efficient construction team for project, in addition to adequate information dissemination and transfer of knowledge.

Originality/value

The adequate implementation of the solutions presented in this paper will not only enhance the performance of site managers on resources utilisation but will also augment client satisfactions.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2014

Julius Ayodeji Fapohunda and Nicholas Chileshe

This paper aims to evaluate and present the essential factors that will enhance site managers’ efficient performance which will perpetuate optimal construction resources…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate and present the essential factors that will enhance site managers’ efficient performance which will perpetuate optimal construction resources utilisation. The capability of controlling and monitoring construction resources and the application of production information to achieve predetermined objectives of scope, cost, time, quality and clients’ satisfaction are the primary functions of site managers. However, the effective implementation of this production information is usually hindered by some factors, often resulting in conscious, unconscious or unavoidable resource wastage.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is triangulated. The investigations are based on an action survey, comprising structured quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interview surveys conducted with a few project managers in the UK construction industry.

Findings

The research evaluates problems associated with the site managers’ project delivery and establishes essential factors towards efficient resources utilisation. Among the identified predicaments are the design team’ attitudes towards site managers’ corrections, modification and alterations; communication gap between the design and construction teams; and production information inadequacy. Thus, the factors identified which will enhance the efficiencies of the site managers are communication effectiveness and effective information dissemination, conducive environment, production information simplicity and explicitness, in addition to skilled workers’ participation in knowledge transfer and sharing, to mention but a few.

Originality/value

The facts presented in this study will significantly enhance site managers’ optimal resources utilisation, and provide the opportunity for construction resources waste minimisation. Thus, the adequate implementation of the innovative measures presented in this study will not only enhance the performance of site managers on resources utilisation, but will also augment client satisfaction.

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2018

Andrew T. Carswell

This paper aims to examine whether property managers who live on-site within a residential apartment building provide a value-added benefit to the management in the form of cost…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether property managers who live on-site within a residential apartment building provide a value-added benefit to the management in the form of cost control and revenue maximization.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses two large US data sets that cover operational and financial data of apartment owners/operators and the financial and individual housing situations of renters themselves. The regression models developed were general linear models with operating expenses, rent collection and monthly rent paid as dependent variables, with on-site resident manager status as the experimental variable.

Findings

This research finds that the value of on-site property managers does not definitively maximize rent revenue, as expected. On-site property managers also don’t show significant reductions in operating expenses, although they are not cost centers either. Individual renter households do, however, pay a significant rent premium for units in communities with on-site personnel living there.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of this research include the inability to merge the two data sets and the inability to measure the intangible attributes of the on-site residential manager’s experience.

Practical implications

As roughly 30 per cent of US rental apartment buildings have some form of on-site manager, this research has some practical implications for multifamily housing investors/owners, a highly visible US building sector.

Social implications

The action of hiring an on-site residential property manager also addresses issues related to the optimization and efficient allocation of human resources for property management companies.

Originality/value

This appears to be the first research addressing property managers who live at the site where they also work.

Article
Publication date: 24 February 2020

Martin Löwstedt and Rikard Sandberg

Research concerned with standardization of the construction process has generally considered the challenges from only rational and instrumental perspectives. The purpose of this…

Abstract

Purpose

Research concerned with standardization of the construction process has generally considered the challenges from only rational and instrumental perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to foreground a social perspective of this challenge. Specifically, the work of construction site managers is explored through a professional work lens in order to emphasize significant misalignments with the principles of standardized production in the construction industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are drawn from a longitudinal (2014–ongoing) case study of site managers’ work in a large Swedish construction company. The research design is characterized by an explorative approach, altogether consisting of 44 in-depth interviews at the site manager level (28) and at other managerial levels (16). All the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed particularly to highlight two contrasting dominant discourses: “standardized construction production” and “site manager work.”

Findings

The findings show that site manager’s work is enmeshed with a particular type of professional expertise and identity that is ideologically crafted around a proclivity for free and independent work. It is outlined in detail how these social dimensions of work are enacted to form an ongoing (and successful) resistance to organizational initiatives that are based on principles of standardization.

Originality/value

This study improves our understanding of an unresolved social challenge that impedes the transformation toward more standardized construction production. It adds new perspectives and value to current research by reminding that (and how) significant changes in production processes also seriously implicate professional work.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 27 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2019

Ahmet Anıl Sezer and Jan Bröchner

The purpose of this paper is to analyse site managers’ ICT preferences for monitoring resource use in refurbishment projects.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse site managers’ ICT preferences for monitoring resource use in refurbishment projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Information and communication technologies (ICT) developments for the construction industry are increasing the scope for more efficient planning and monitoring of refurbishment projects. The analysis is based on the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology model. After a short initial survey, a Swedish web/postal questionnaire has received 78 responses from refurbishment site managers, implying a 34 per cent response rate.

Findings

Managerial choices related to ICT depend more on perceived performance expectancy than on effort expectancy. Large projects and larger firms are associated with more extensive ICT use. Site managers see little need to link to refurbishment clients’ ICT systems. Performance expectancy and age are found to influence ICT choices.

Practical implications

Site managers play a crucial role in everyday use of ICT tools in the construction industry. The outcome of this investigation is useful for developing digital support, including applications of building information modelling, to improve refurbishment site practices.

Originality/value

Much has been written about ICT support for new construction practices, but not much attention has been paid to refurbishment site managers’ media choices.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2008

Alexander Styhre

Executive coaching has emerged as a widely used leadership development practice in organizations. To date, however, the literature on coaching is largely devoid of studies of how…

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Abstract

Purpose

Executive coaching has emerged as a widely used leadership development practice in organizations. To date, however, the literature on coaching is largely devoid of studies of how coaching works in practice and no unified comprehensive theoretical framework has been agreed upon which supports the practice of coaching. This paper aims to draw on the social systems theory of Niklas Luhmann and argue that the distinction between first‐ and second‐order observations is central to the practice of coaching.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports on a yearlong study of the coaching of site managers in construction projects. The study shows that coaching actively helped the site managers to relate to their previous experiences and modes of operating and to conceive of new and effective ways of leading their work.

Findings

The participating site managers looked upon the coaching program as being helpful both with regard to dealing with practical day‐to‐day problems and concerns and with regard to their development as managers. Above all, the site managers appreciated being provided with a space where they could articulate their problems and discuss them with an external interlocutor.

Practical implications

Coaching programs may be helpful for both site and other managers in the construction industry, and in other industries. Further research is needed to explore the benefits and limitations of executive coaching.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature on coaching by providing a study of coaching wherein both coaches and coachees are given a voice and by means of references to Luhmann's work.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 February 2019

Christina Geng-qing Chi, Chaozhi Zhang and Yuanyuan Liu

This study aims to examine how tourism impacts on local community, managers’ attachment to the community and their identification with the value of heritage resources influence…

1405

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine how tourism impacts on local community, managers’ attachment to the community and their identification with the value of heritage resources influence managers’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) attitudes, utilizing the value identification and agency theories.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed hypotheses were tested utilizing cross-sectional data collected from 228 managers of a plethora of travel and tourism companies that operate at a UNESCO World Heritage site in China. A structured questionnaire was administered in person in managers’ offices by a team of trained research assistants. A total of 202 valid surveys were included in the data analysis. A two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to first examine the psychometric properties of the measurement model, and then test the causal relationships proposed in the structural model.

Findings

The findings indicate that managers’ place attachment, their heritage value identification and their perceptions of positive tourism impacts affect their CSR attitudes. However, the negative effects of tourism do not significantly influence CSR attitudes. Data collected through open-ended questions incorporated in the structured survey have provided justification for the insignificant relationship.

Originality/value

CSR perceptions of managers, especially those at heritage sites, have not received much attention from tourism scholars. Because travel and tourism companies at heritage sites are integral in the preservation and conservation of heritage sites while managers of those companies are the ones who initiate and implement socially responsible policies and practices, it is important to understand the factors that may influence those managers’ CSR attitudes and behaviors.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 31 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2021

Masoud Zavari and Mohammad Reza Afshar

In the construction industry, site managers are responsible for the day-to-day on-site running of a project. Site managers are required not only to ensure that work is done…

Abstract

Purpose

In the construction industry, site managers are responsible for the day-to-day on-site running of a project. Site managers are required not only to ensure that work is done safely, on time, within budget and to the right quality standards, but also to manage any delays or problems encountered on-site during a construction project. Thus, a site manager has a significant position in the success of a construction project. However, there is a lack of studies considering the role of the leadership style of a site manager in construction project success. In this study, not only the effect of the transformational leadership (TL) style of site managers on the success of construction projects is assessed, but also the mediating role of team-building (TB) and team innovation between TL and project success is studied.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed hypotheses are tested by comparing the performance criteria of construction projects with the TL style of site managers. The success criteria of the projects are examined using project documents and client opinions, and the TL of site managers, TB aspects and team innovation in projects are assessed by asking from their subordinates. The Pearson correlation coefficient is employed to investigate the relation between every two variables.

Findings

The results illustrate that the TL of a site manager is directly related to project success; thus, the findings would confirm the importance of selecting appropriate site managers for construction projects. Moreover, while there is a mediating role of TB between TL and construction project success, team innovation does not have a mediating impact in design-bid-build (DBB) construction projects.

Originality/value

As there is a lack of studies assessing the TL effects on the success of construction projects and the significant role of site managers, this study is one of the first researches that tested these impacts and evaluated the mediating role of TB and team innovation between TL and project performance.

Details

International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-4708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2016

Joaquín Fuentes-Del-Burgo and Elena Navarro-Astor

Aristotle’s concepts of “episteme”, “techne” and “phronesis” are used to understand the relevance of the education that Spanish building engineers receive to their subsequent work…

1958

Abstract

Purpose

Aristotle’s concepts of “episteme”, “techne” and “phronesis” are used to understand the relevance of the education that Spanish building engineers receive to their subsequent work as construction site managers. This paper aims to clarify the role of educational factors as they influence any disparities that building engineers who are working as site managers may feel. More specifically, the objectives are to explore the satisfactions and dissatisfactions they experience in doing their job; to describe the ways they find to cope with educational deficiencies; and to gather their suggestions for improving building engineering education.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an interpretive approach within the qualitative paradigm, this study draws on data obtained from semi-structured interviews with a sample of 34 building engineers working as site managers in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain).

Findings

According to the site managers themselves, Spanish universities mainly teach Aristotle’s episteme (abstract knowledge and general principles) and some techne (applied, technical knowledge and skills), which fall short of the expectations placed upon them by their employers.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the chosen research approach, the sample size is relatively small and results may lack generalisability.

Practical implications

The results have practical implication for building engineering curriculum design related to the enhancement of building engineers employability and job satisfaction.

Originality/value

The existing literature offers insight into job-educational mismatches of different occupations in different countries, drawing on survey questionnaires. There is, however, a gap in respect of Spain and the job of the construction site manager. This paper goes some way towards filling that gap, reporting on the experiences of some higher education “customers”: Spanish building engineers working as site managers.

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