Integrated management of on-site, coordination and off-site uncertainty: Theorizing risk analysis within a hybrid project setting

The Cost Burden of Safety Risk Incidents on Construction: A Probabilistic Quantification Method

The construction sector is vulnerable to safety risk incidents due to its dynamic nature. Although numerous research efforts and technological advancements have focused on addressing workplace injuries, most of the studies perform empirical and deterministic postimpact evaluations on construction project performance. The effective modeling of the safety risk impacts on project performance provides decisionmakers with a valuable tool toward incidents prevention and proper safety risk management. Therefore, this study collected Australian incident records from the construction industry from 2016 onwards and conducted discrete event simulation to quantitatively measure the impact of safety risk incidents on project cost performance. Moreover, this study investigated the correlation between safety risk incidents and the age of injured workers. The findings show a strong correlation between the middle-aged workforce and the severity of incidents on project cost overruns. The ex-ante, nondeterministic analysis of safety risk impacts on project performance provides insightful results that will advance safety management theory in the direction of achieving zero harm workplace environments.

An analysis of the effects of stakeholders management on IT project risks using Delphi and design of experiments methods

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate how stakeholders affect project risks by analyzing the connection between stakeholder management and risk management in the information technology (IT) project context.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the Delphi method, interviews with IT project experts were conducted to examine four factors concerning stakeholder management and define probabilities for three risk variables. The design of experiments (DoE) method was applied for the design of the research instrument and data analysis.

Findings

Stakeholder engagement and communication with stakeholders have significant influence on the occurrence of negative risks, opportunities and the development of contingency strategies. These results provide project leaders with relevant data that better guide actions toward stakeholders and enhance project success probability.

Originality/value

This study clarifies important aspects of two main project management areas – stakeholder and risk management – in the IT projects context. This research also presented an unusual application for the DoE method which allows the subjective variables analysis by statistical tools and enables to explore factor influences on real project situations.

Improving the Efficiency of Highway Construction Project Management Using Lean Management

The construction industry is often ranked top in producing the largest amount of waste during a project, be it the waste of material resources or the waste of manpower. This has elevated the need for an improved and more structured management technique. This study will look into the principles and practices of lean management pertinent to highway construction projects to analyze whether lean management practices can improve the management efficiency for complex projects. This study adopted a quantitative approach, and a linear regression model has been used to investigate correlations between the lean test factors and the efficiency-dependent variables. It was found that lean management tools that are used repeatedly and the ones that require a high level of detailing are positively associated with efficiency improvement in highway construction projects. In particular, LPS, JIT, and VM were found to be more commonly used in highway construction projects. The research results will aid in the initial decision-making process of the project managers, as they will be able to map different lean tools with their benefits and limitations and then select the one that best suits the project needs and deliverables. Future studies can adopt the interpretivism paradigm to explore new theories and concepts related to highway construction management.

Small-Scale Public Rental Housing Development Using Modular Construction—Lessons learned from Case Studies in Seoul, Korea

Modular construction, which involves factory-based modular unit manufacturing followed by installation at a construction site, has been recognized as one of the sustainable construction methods. Its advantages are known to be implemented through (1) standardized design, (2) standardized production method, and (3) large-scale development (mass production system). These three conditions are basic requirements for modular construction market expansion, but it is difficult to define that these conditions are a prerequisite for judging whether modular construction applied or not. Nevertheless, public development companies in regions or countries where modular construction has just begun thought that modular construction should meet all three conditions that are suitable for applying public construction projects. This is because it is difficult to compare conventional construction projects with similar conditions to modular construction projects. This paper analyzes the cost and duration data of three small-scale public construction rental housing (PCRH) projects involving modular construction in Korea. These cases presented herein include a public college student dormitory, public low-rise rental housing, and public mid-rise rental housing in small-scale development projects. Those were applied not standardized design (common design and regulation), but were reflected in each project’s demands (different design and regulation). To compare it, this paper analyzed 91 public housing provision projects’ construction data from 2011 to 2017 from one of the public rental housing provision companies in Korea. Among them, 19 small-scale public rental housing data were extracted for comparing with modular construction project data. The results show that, even if not standardized, the design and production process, and modular construction durations, were more effective—but costs were similar or expensive. Based on the conclusion drawn from three cases, this paper presents important considerations for the application of modular construction in other small-scale public construction rental housing projects from the perspective of public development companies.

Evaluating Supplier Management Maturity in Prefabricated Construction Project-Survey Analysis in China

Prefabrication is considered as a modern method of construction, transferring part of on-site work into factories and generating a new decoupling point in supply chain. Management of prefabricated component (PC) suppliers plays a key role in the performance of prefabricated construction project (PCP). Evaluating and improving supplier management maturity (SMM) become critical issues for large contractors. Previous research on PCP supply chain mainly focused on technology, process and performance aspects, while paying little attention to supplier relationship management. This study proposes an assessment criteria system of supplier management from five dimensions, including procurement process, operation efficiency, relationship coordination and strategy alignment and corporate social responsibility. A maturity grid with five levels is designed to present continuous improvement of supplier management. 34 large PCP construction firms listed in contractor directory were investigated in China through semi-structured interview and questionnaire survey. Independent two-samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance were adopted to explore SMM of different groups according to business scope, procurement method and construction experience. The results indicate that the overall maturity level of supplier management is relatively low, implying that supply activity cannot achieve inter-organization integration. Management on relationship coordination and strategy alignment lag behind procurement management and operation efficiency. Single business contractors have higher SMM than diversified ones. Contractors integrated in engineering, procurement and construction are superior to design-bid-build contractors in supplier management, especially in relationship coordination and strategic alignment. Construction experience is conductive to supplier operation efficiency. Noticeably, there are no statistically significant differences in the performance of corporate social responsibility among different groups. These results will contribute to developing a benchmark framework for contractors to evaluate SMM and achieve continuous improvements in PCP.