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The research problem in this study is how a client (as a project owner) should organise early stakeholder involvement and integration in the front-end phase of a project. This study aims to create normative managerial statements as propositions from the client's perspective and to combine them into a set of activities enabling efficient organisation in the front-end phase of a hospital construction project.

Action design research (ADR) was carried out in a large hospital construction project where the first author acted as an “involved researcher” and the other authors acted as “outside researchers”.

The authors created seven normative managerial propositions that were verified by the case project stakeholders and developed a managerial framework describing the client's essential stakeholder involvement and integration activities in the front-end phase of a hospital construction project based on these propositions. The authors have also depicted the subphases of the front-end phase: value definition phase in the client permanent organisation, value proposition phase in the client Programme Management Office (PMO) and finally development phase in the alliance organisation ending on the final investment decision.

The collaborative contract delivery model enables the early involvement and integration of stakeholders. It has been somewhat surprising to note the extent to which collaborative contracts change the client role in the project front-end. The results offer practical activities for how clients can manage front-end activities in collaborative contracts.

The case project offered a platform to analyse how the collaborative contract delivery model changes the emphasis of activities in the front-end of a project. One of the key benefits of collaborative contracts is that development, design and delivery occur partially in parallel, thereby enabling contributions from production to be included in the design and development. The benefit of having a real-life case under study provides the possibility to triangulate and analyse rich data, however limited by the qualitative case method.

The more contemporary views on managing projects recommend stakeholder engagement as an important part of the process. Challenges have been reported when attempting to involve project stakeholders in a construction project due to the complexity of the processes. In projects such as refurbishment projects, the efforts to incorporate end users' needs and preferences into spatial environmental functions increase the complexity of stakeholder engagement during the journey of the project. This paper presents a unique technique used to integrate different tools within the system enquiry methodology in modelling the project stakeholder engagement process for refurbishment projects.

Aiming to address the problem, system dynamics (SD) has been selected as the most suitable method for modelling the dynamic behaviour of this complex system over time. A tool known as a rich picture diagram (RPD) is proposed as the precursor of the development of a causal loop diagram (CLD) to facilitate a more holistic abstraction for applicable solutions. An example of a single case study involving the refurbishment of a higher education building project is presented to explain the analysis undertaken in the process of developing the CLD that models the dynamic behaviour within end-user stakeholder engagement.

This paper demonstrates the complementarity capabilities of the soft and hard systems of enquiry in modelling stakeholder's dynamics within the refurbishment construction contexts. The RPD soft system tool was found useful to congregate diverse stakeholder expressions and experiences of a complex system in a holistic manner. Subsequently, the development of the CLD was fully guided by the information and relationship captured and presented in the RPD to yield a representative system model. Furthermore, this paper also reports the dynamics of the actors, situations, events and their inter-relationship found in the presented refurbishment project.

This paper enriches the techniques within the system enquiry methodology by integrating hard and soft system tools for dynamic process modelling purposes. This is particularly achieved by utilizing the RPD as the precursor of SD that provides a useful way for researchers and stakeholders to fully understand the dynamics and develop robust systemic interventions to optimize end-user stakeholder engagement during the journey of refurbishment projects, particularly of higher education buildings.

This study aims to investigate two public private partnership (PPP) road projects in Nigeria for exploring factors that can motivate end-user stakeholders for contributing towards sustaining a PPP project in the long-term.

Using a case study methodology approach, this study adopts two-way data collection strategies via in-depth interviews with PPP experts and end-user stakeholders in Nigeria host communities and a questionnaire survey to relevant stakeholders.

The study identifies an eight-factor structure indicating critical success factors for ensuring end-user stakeholders support PPP projects on a long-term basis in their host communities.

Results of the study have huge implications for policymakers and project companies by encouraging the early integration of far-sighted measures that will promote long-term support and sustainability for PPP projects amongst the end-user stakeholders.

Co-creation of knowledge offers significant opportunities for innovation. This chapter seeks to gain understanding of the process of co-creation of knowledge for innovation and public relations in multi-stakeholder projects by exploring current insights in academic literature. The research questions look at how co-creation of knowledge for innovation has been investigated in the scholarly literature; the roles of end-users; and the modes and challenges of end-user participation and in collaboration relating to communication.

The method of this chapter is a structured literature review, following a series of rigorous steps: a search of databases, analysis of 33 articles found, summarising relevant content using a data extraction table and a data extraction continuum as analysis tools to show the range of projects discussed in the literature to create a comprehensive overview.

The findings indicate that multi-stakeholder networks can be structured for different aims. In the articles found different types of projects were investigated. Four categories of projects were found: (1) co-creation projects benefiting one company; (2) co-creation projects benefiting business-to-business value chain networks; (3) co-creation projects benefiting public entities; and (4) co-creation projects benefiting innovation network stakeholders.

Complexity is highest for multiple stakeholder co-creation projects benefiting innovation network stakeholders, where the roles between stakeholders are fluid and changing constantly. Solving common issues motivates the stakeholders to collaborate and build trust. Open innovation environments may facilitate communication and interaction.

Co-creation of knowledge requires intensive collaboration. Knowing the main challenges to address will help the functioning of co-creation collaboration networks and their public relations.

The purpose of this article is to investigate how public and state libraries are responding to research recommendations that the usability of a web site for children is improved by involving a wide range of stakeholders and particularly the end‐users, in its creation.

The study employs a self‐administered, structured e‐mail questionnaire.

The development of children's web pages is usually the responsibility of teams of internal stakeholders, with the librarians responsible overall for the library web site being involved most, followed by children's librarians. Other library staff, information technology staff from the parent organisation and external experts made smaller contributions. The target group of children were less involved and took informal, indirect roles, rather than the direct, formal roles recommended by research.

The sample size is small and includes only children's web pages in Australia and New Zealand.

The paper presents a valuable analysis of stakeholder involvement in the development and maintenance of web sites for children among state and public libraries in Australia and New Zealand.

The development of sustainable facilities management (FM) practices requires active and integrated engagement of the FM organization. Building on a three-year research project (2015-2018) within Nordic Built that aims to strengthen FM competencies in the Scandinavian countries, this paper aims to list and document the challenges and barriers of implementing sustainability as identified by the Scandinavian FM practitioners who took part in this research.

The paper builds on the understanding gained from using an interpretive sociological approach and uses qualitative mixed methods to collect data from four workshops, group sessions and expert group discussions with a mix of representatives including owners, property managers, facilities managers, consultants, teachers and academics. Four case studies were completed of refurbishment projects implementing sustainable solutions; these encompassed in-depth interviews with the stakeholders, site visits, observations of meetings and gathering project documentation. The data were complemented by a systematic literature review on a selection of topics focusing on articles referring directly to FM, the sustainability of FM, ends-user and stakeholder involvement, energy performance and sustainability. The challenges and barriers identified in practice were compared to those found in the literature.

The concept of sustainability, and its different dimensions and implications, seems to be well understood now by the practitioners who participated in this study, who claimed they were able to provide the required solutions. What seems to be lacking, though, is the possibility of convincing the end-users, who are expected to operate and maintain the facilities, to act according to the standards that these solutions require. It appears to be easier to focus on the technical aspects than on the end-users’ behaviors. The practitioners reported a shortage of social competencies and tools to deal with the situation, and despite an increasing awareness of smart technology, they lacked solutions to engage the end-users in optimizing the facilities. Besides, not all FM companies were well equipped to face the challenges imposed by the sustainable agenda; the small and medium enterprises in particular seemed to be struggling to implement the different dimensions of sustainability.

The limitation of this research rests in the chosen research approach as it focuses on the FM practitioners. The contribution of the end-users’ perspective is not strongly represented or systematically explored, but is identified as a new topic that needs to be investigated further to provide further insight. This study focuses on refurbishment and/or retrofit of existing buildings and the operation of facilities. The authors do not embrace the design phase or the construction phase of new buildings.

The paper underlines the need for frameworks and concrete tools to help FM practitioners to integrate the social and cultural aspects of sustainability. It identifies end-users, both in housing and in offices, as creating a bottleneck to the implementation of sustainable FM. To gain insight into this bottleneck, the authors suggest implementing a sociologically inspired method using an integrative approach. Highlighting such issues will mean that future research will be able to define further solutions for managing and maintaining existing and future built assets and fulfilling sustainability requirements by engaging end-users. This study also emphasizes the need to introduce these topics as part of the curriculum for FM education.

This paper provides an update on the level of the development of sustainable FM in the three Scandinavian countries. This is highly relevant for Scandinavian practitioners, but the authors consider this relevant for international practitioners, researchers, academics and teachers and developers as well. Practitioners and researchers are invited to join in these efforts to explore how to find practical frameworks, tools, policies and instruments and new services that will improve sustainable FM practices.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights about the approaches and techniques of professionals that nowadays are designing Digital Products and Services (DPS) in the European agriculture. The emphasis is paid on the integration of end-users and participatory approaches such as agile, considering its current influence.

A survey was conducted to professionals of businesses and entities from 14 European countries. A balanced sample of replies was achieved between private–public background, size of the business or experience of experts. Afterwards, the collection of answers and the opinions of professionals were compared with the state of the art referred in the literature. It allowed checking its soundness and critically discusses the results.

From the raw analysis of responses, professionals show awareness about the importance of end-user involvement and they are eager to incorporate innovative farmers and early adopters to collect the best requirements for products and services. They also declare knowledge and uptake in their companies of new approaches, such as agile. Confronting results with literature, the discussion highlights some inconsistencies and possibilities for leveraging. Types of end-users considered should be enlarged. Their superficial participation must also be avoided.

There is a lack of research on procedures for projects in agro-food sector. Due to the momentum in the digital transformation of agriculture, there are many project teams working in developing DPS and are relevant to discuss about proper methodologies for improving success.

In this paper we discuss some of the particular features of user involvement in information systems (IS) development projects with reference to the idea of the trajectory of development being a political/cultural process. The main aim is to attempt to supply more depth to an understanding of the pragmatics of user involvement in IS development projects. We illustrate how in one particular project, differences in organisational sub‐cultures, and in particular the way in which the technology was ‘framed’, led to differences in the way in which an information system was conceived. These differences, in turn, contributed to elements of organisational conflict between stakeholder groups over the future trajectory of the IS development. We conclude with a critique of some generally held assumptions concerning user involvement.

Client satisfaction is a key element of repeat business and for securing future work in the construction industry. There are areas still in need of improvement for contractors; these areas include the handover process to clients and the subsequent aftercare and organisational learning. Post‐occupancy evaluation (POE) offers an opportunity for a holistic perspective towards continual improvement in construction. While the challenges of POE have been well documented in the design phase, the role of the principal contractor in this area has been under‐researched. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the contractor in the POE process and to identify good practice in improving the building environment for the end users.

The research comprised a comprehensive review of current literature with a focus on existing practices. The review highlighted a need for further research into contractor involvement in POE in the UK construction industry. An electronic questionnaire survey was produced and distributed to the United Kingdom Contractors Group. Subsequent semi‐structured interviews were conducted with willing participants from the survey, to further investigate the responses to the survey.

The key findings from the research highlighted the lack of contractor involvement in POE and insufficient knowledge on how or when to conduct POE on a project. Many of the barriers to POE identified by previous research are not applicable to contractor involvement in POE. The majority of construction professionals believe that POE is time intensive and that there is difficulty in interpreting the information collected from POE. Dissemination of information internally and externally has the potential to offer significant value to organisational and individual development of all stakeholders involved in the process.

The findings are likely to be of interest to designer's facilities management professionals and those involved in construction. Contractors should view POE as a business opportunity to improve the end output for the client and end‐users and not as another expensive problem.

This paper addresses the perceptions of POE within the major UK contractor group. It identifies relevant barriers to POE in the construction process and highlights the lack of POE penetration into the wider construction industry. The research has highlighted that POE has the potential to improve contractor performance and add value to end users of new projects. It has identified that previous research has focused on consultant‐led research as opposed to contractor‐led.