It is often overlooked that this desired construction industry norm is impossible without a way to align the objectives of the role players in the construction industry. The primary purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of the core aspects that cause mismatches between the objectives of the role players in the construction industry.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
LIMITATIONS/ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
LAYOUT OF THE STUDY Chapter 1
Chapter 2
The information from Chapter 3 is used to develop a generic construction project strategy model for target alignment in a typical South African construction project. The study concludes by clarifying the factors that cause the objectives of the role players in the construction project to be misaligned.
LITERATURE STUDY
INTRODUCTION
ALIGNMENT ILLUSTRATED
THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
CORE ASPECTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MISALIGNMENT OF OBJECTIVES
- Micro (Internal) Factors Impacting On Alignment
- Macro (External) Factors Impacting On Alignment
- Diversity Challenges
- Supply Chain Management
- Outsourcing and Sub-Contracting
External to the construction industry, as with any industry, is the state of the global economy. Construction supply chain methodology contrasts strongly with the traditional methods of planning and controlling the construction industry.
THE SHIFT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY PARADIGM
- Change in the Construction Industry
- Organisational Behaviour
- Critical Success Factors For Relationship Alignment
- A Strategic Conversation
The importance lies in planning, managing and continuously improving the production process to eliminate waste. The importance of critical partnership success factors was listed by Black et al.; Cheng and Li (cited by Tang et al. according to the results of questionnaire surveys.
THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT LIFE CYCLE
- Role Player Involvement during the Project Life Cycle
- The Importance of the Early Phase
- Variables Affecting Organisational Processes
Cook (2005:18) says that the first task of the project manager after his appointment is to identify the actors of the project role. In cooperation with the above-mentioned aspect are the project quality management activities, which are an integral part of the project life cycle. Challenges of the early stage of the project - the high level of uncertainty is mainly due to the development of the technical concept at an early stage.
KEY OBJECTIVES OF ROLE PLAYERS
- Total Quality Management and Construction
- Project Cost Control
- Project Timeline/Scheduling
- Project Safety Performance
For the purpose of this study, attention will be paid to aligning the total quality management objectives of the players in a typical construction project, from a collaborative perspective. Egan added that alliance relationships are essential to improving efficiency and quality in the construction industry. To proceed from total quality management in the construction industry, literature studies also provide evidence that alliance partnership has contributed to significant cost and schedule reductions.
IMPACT OF ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS
- Benefits and Risks Associated with Alignment
- Prerequisites for the Alignment of Objectives
- Show the Risks
According to Kreitner, the first step in effective planning is understanding the goals of the project. Bresnen and Marshall succeed in establishing the link between alliances, partnerships and culture by saying that a cultural change within and between the players of the construction industry simply draws attention to what is in fact a wide range of difficult issues, problems and dilemmas . The parties agree that in the event of the risk occurring, its impact is financed from the costs assigned to the contingencies.
THEORETICAL MODEL FOR INTER-FIRM COLLABORATION
Risk sharing between the role players in the construction industry should be seen as another function of aligned commitment. Bresnen and Marshall stated that the findings do provide general support that there are benefits for construction industry players in developing collaborative approaches, not only to project processes (design and construction integration), but also in relation to time, cost and quality. It is also reported that collaborative approaches do not necessarily remove conflict or guarantee project success.
CONCLUSION
EMPIRICAL STUDY
- INTRODUCTION
- PURPOSE AND FOCUS OF THE EMPIRICAL STUDY
- INFORMATION GATHERING METHOD
- RESULTS OF THE EMPIRICAL STUDY .1 Outcome of Interviews Concluded
- Outcome of Questionnaire Concluded
To this extent, all interviewees (100%) agreed that the role players should be involved during the early stages of the project life cycle. Again, 80% of the interviewees indicate that sufficient effort is not made in the initial phase. The commitment of senior management is an essential ingredient in achieving alignment with the objectives of key players in the construction industry.
The significance of 62% of respondents agreeing and strongly agreeing with this statement is that the majority of respondents who participated are employed by main contractor organisations, suggesting that change is needed. 72% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, implying that the construction industry culture is deeply embedded, and that change is not organic. Even though trust is an essential critical success factor, 90% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, confirming that the other critical success factors discussed in section 2.5.3 are just as important to achieve the alignment of goals , such as trust.
The Project Life Cycle aspect seems to be very important, as 90% of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement. Levels of uncertainty and the risk of failure are highest at the beginning of the project. 86% of respondents agree to strongly agree with this statement, suggesting that ignoring relevant variables during the Project Life Cycle can cause misalignment.
85% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, reiterating the potential impact these approaches can have in aligning players' goals. The majority (67%) of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, which is related to the normative status as discussed in section 2.5.1, as well as the results obtained from question a) 4 and question b) 6, suggesting that more development of supply chain management is needed. 62% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement suggesting that if project safety is not properly managed, a paradox effect may develop, contradicting the results of the interviews discussed in section 3.4.1.5, question 5 d) .
Risk allocation between construction industry players can be improved by more openness about potential risk at the start of the project. 71% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, indicating that there is a strong drive for standardization. 81% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed with this statement, suggesting that more attention should be paid by the role player when establishing risk allocations.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results assessed during the interviews and the analysis of the questionnaires with regard to the above aspects, a general conclusion will be formulated in the next chapter. This is for the role players in the construction industry to use as an approach to align the objectives of the role players in a typical construction project. Recommendations, action plans and a generic project strategic model will be presented that can be applied to align the objectives of the role players in a typical construction project and can be extended to industry.
CORE ASPECTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MISALIGNMENT OF OBJECTIVES
The information from the literature study has been tested and compared with the actual practical experience gained during the implementation of the project. Supply chain management in construction and the cultural aspect of the construction industry are of particular importance. However, the results of the questionnaire clearly showed that there is a difference of opinion among the respondents regarding the support of the building culture for such changes.
THE SHIFT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY PARADIGM
Supply chain management in the construction industry has been identified as an area that has traditionally not received the attention it should (Latham, 1993 and Egan, 1998). This appears to be true, particularly in relation to the bulk materials handling industry, as it was specifically stated during the interviews that supply chain management in the civil construction industry has evolved even more compared to the bulk materials handling industry. In this regard, it is worth noting that the aspect of cultural change required to support the change to manage the downstream supply chain in a more coordinated and collaborative way did not emerge in the discussions with the interviewees.
THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT LIFE CYCLE
Another observation that was made during the interviews that were conducted is that most of the critical success factors discussed in section 2.5.3 of the literature review are considered to be often missing when role players interact with each other during the Project Life Cycle. Attention should be given to the behavior of the role players, as it was mentioned that the critical success factors are limited to the "talk in the conversation" but do not appear in the behavior between the role players. This observation is strongly supported by the results of the empirical study which complement the view that a change in the paradigm of the construction industry is needed.
KEY OBJECTIVES OF ROLE PLAYERS
IMPACT OF ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS
In other words, do they believe they will be treated fairly under a profit-and-loss-sharing arrangement (alliance), regardless of the amount of work or share of responsibility and risk involved?
GENERAL COMMENTS MADE BY THE INTERVIEWEES
In addition, measures should be included in contracts along with measurement tools to periodically assess alignment. At the beginning of a project, a risk register must be developed in conjunction with statistical probabilities of the risk occurrence.
THEORETICAL GENERIC PROJECT STRATEGIC MODEL
After evaluating and determining the current state in the first step, strategic discussion with key players and senior management will follow as the next step towards aligning goals. During this step, elements such as the commitment of senior management, management processes, transformation of organizational culture and the establishment of collaborative values in support of the transformational change will have to be determined. These success factors (elements) as previously mentioned are mainly concerned with maintaining momentum, in terms of the change process.
CONCLUSION
The report of the Construction Task Force to the Deputy Minister, John Prescott, on the opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of British construction. Building the team – final report of the government/industry review of procurement and contractual arrangements in the UK construction industry. Antecedent to relationship commitment in the management of relationships in business-to-business (B2B) financial services.
Alignment Illustrated – Alignment versus Partnering defined
Core aspects responsible for the misaligned of and advers objectives
A need for change – “Shift in the Construction Industry Paradigm”
The Project Life Cycle
Quality, Cost, Time and Safety
Benefits and risks associated with Alignment
Front-end Scheduling / Loading (The early phase) a) How would you define the early phase of a project?
Your feedback is important for linking construction industry practice to the theory of role player alignment in the construction industry. Do you agree that incentive mechanisms can be used to bridge the gap between role players in the construction industry. Incentives can encourage construction industry players to find ways to align short-term goals.
