This book presents the fundamentals of project management as applied in the built environment and more specifically for the construction industry. It presents the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) using practical examples to show how various project management principles and concepts can be applied in practice. Providing study notes for students and aspiring project management professionals in the construction industry, each of the 13 chapters includes a set of comprehensive revision questions that allow readers to reflect on what they have learned. The book offers an introduction to what project management is all about as well as the project life cycles, stakeholders and organizations involved. It explains the project management processes and how these processes are applied in integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communications, risk and procurement management. It concludes with ethics and professional conduct in the project management profession.
This book examines the Facilities Management (FM) of hospitals and healthcare facilities, which are among the most complex, costly and challenging kind of buildings to manage. It presents and evaluates the FM service quality standards in Singapore’s hospitals from the patient’s perspective, and provides recommendations on how to successfully improve FM service quality and achieve higher patient satisfaction. The book also features valuable supplementary materials, including a checklist of 32 key factors for successful facilities management and another checklist of 24 service attributes for hospitals to achieve desirable service quality in connection with facilities management. The book adopts a unique approach of combining service quality and quality theory to provide a more holistic view of how FM service quality can be achieved in hospitals. It also integrates three instruments, namely the SERVQUAL model, the Kano model and the QFD model to yield empirical results from surveys for implementation in hospitals. Although the book was written from the perspective of FM service quality for hospitals, the findings and recommendations are also relevant for other non-healthcare sectors where appropriate lessons may also be drawn for FM and service quality in general. It will particularly benefit Quality Managers, Facilities Managers and Hospital Administrators.
This book focuses on current subcontracting practices in the construction industry and their effects on Singapore’s construction productivity. It offers readers a better understanding of how the fragmentation of large and small firms in Singapore impacts construction productivity when operating under the commonly adopted multilayer subcontracting system (MLSS), which extends globally to the construction industries in other countries that have adopted the MLSS. The book also assesses the effectiveness of subcontracting practices in helping local contractors improve their construction productivity (and thereby improve the industry’s overall productivity). In closing, it provides recommendations on how the problems associated with the MLSS can best be addressed, and how its benefits can be capitalized on through organizational learning.
The book presents the latest studies on the work–life balance of millennial (also known as Generation Y) building professionals in Singapore and South Korea. Its main goal is to compare and contrast the workplace attitudes of millennials, and to provide guidelines that help supervisors in the construction industry manage their employees’ expectations regarding work–life balance. Accordingly, it explains and links various principles regarding work–life conflicts, work–life enrichments and the work–life interface. Furthermore, the book introduces readers to coping strategies, a dimension that has not yet been explored substantially and has the potential to contribute significantly to the study and understanding of work–life balance. The book makes recommendations for the top management on assigning a capable leader to drive the changes in the organization, and on empowering the leader to implement effective strategies for promoting work–life balance, especially for the millennials who are now playing an increasing central role in the global construction sector.
This book discusses the relationship between construction quality and the state of the Singapore national economy, and describes how construction quality is affected as contracting firms strategically manage issues relating to profitability and survivability during economic boom and bust cycles. Adopting a three-pronged approach to explain the key issues, the book first explains the effect of the state of the Singapore national economy (boom or bust) on the construction quality delivered by contracting firms. Secondly, it explains how contracting firms respond to the performance of the national economy through their dynamic bidding strategies, leading to significant quality trade-offs in some instances, especially when there is imprecise market information. Thirdly, it recommends various strategic measures that key stakeholders and government policy-makers can take to circumvent the quality trade-off in the construction industry when faced with dynamic fluctuations in the performance of the national economy. Although the book focuses on Singapore, it appeals to a global audience since countries worldwide (and their respective building-related stakeholders) face the same issues in terms of the time–cost–quality trade-off decision-making process involving the entire supply chain.
First published in 1997, this volume joined the debate assessing the potential of the Just-In-Time management philosophy from the manufacturing industry for Singapore’s construction industry by examining the "off-site" prefabrication of precast concrete components in Singapore, in comparison with traditional management systems. In the wake of the 1991 Strategic Economic Plan of Singapore, which forecasted alarmingly low productivity in the local construction sector, the authors noted that construction in Japan was 35% more productive, whilst Finland was 75% better. Highlighting immense potential for the JIT approach, they explore the JIT philosophy, traditional systems, construction wastes and comparisons between construction and manufacturing.
This book explores the differences in cultural attributes and management factors to enable managers working for Japanese contractors to reduce misunderstandings and misinterpretations when communicating with project team members from different cultural backgrounds. It focuses on Japanese contractors operating in Singapore, since the Singapore construction industry has, for many years, been one of the largest overseas construction markets for the top-5 Japanese contractors. Using Hofstede’s national cultural framework for the cultural studies in construction project management, it reveals various real-world management practices and discusses national cultural differences relating to managers working for Japanese contractors in Singapore as well as the communication weaknesses of current management practices and styles. The results presented provide useful lessons for Japanese contractors operating in Singapore, as well as other parts of the world, to bridge cultural and communication gaps.
The book presents the development of the Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS), Singapore’s de facto quality performance measurement system, explains the application of the Quality Management System (QMS) to manage CONQUAS and identifies 33 critical success factors (CSFs) for achieving high CONQUAS scores. Through CONQUAS, the reader benefits from understanding how the Singapore government developed and implemented the first objective system for measuring what many building professionals have perceived to be elusive quality standards in the construction industry. The book presents both the theoretical concepts as well as the practical aspects to achieving strategic Project Quality Management that is anchored on the CSFs to building best practices. To realistically reflect the practical aspects and challenging issues faced by stakeholders in the construction industry, questionnaire surveys were conducted with building professionals to distinguish the importance level and extent of adoption of the 33 CSFs (identified from a comprehensive review of the extant literature) in influencing and affecting the achievement of high CONQUAS scores. These were further anchored by in-depth interviews with quality experts in the Singapore construction industry to provide a better understanding of issues relating to strategic Project Quality Management. Collectively, the empirical findings collated from the building professionals suggest that while the CSFs identified are known tenets of quality, these were still not being followed in their totality. A further case study was conducted through a formal set of in-depth interviews with the quality assurance team of a construction company who has direct involvement before, during and after their tremendous improvements in the CONQUAS scores attained. The strength of this book therefore represents a true account and reflections of real-life practices and experiences in the construction industry for contractors, quality managers and policy-makers to learn from. Although the context of this book relates to the Singapore experience, the lessons and recommendations are equally relevant and applicable to the global construction industry in both the developing and developed countries whose stakeholders (in both the public and private sectors) wish to understand how CONQUAS works, and how the CSFs identified can likewise be implemented for strategic Project Quality Management to building best practices. The book is therefore of interests to researchers, academia and practitioners in the construction industry as well as in other sectors of the economy (in Singapore and other countries) where learning points may be used for enhancing project quality management for buildings.
The book presents a mixed research method adopted to assess and present the Toyota Way practices within construction firms in general and for firms in China specifically. The results of an extensive structured questionnaire survey based on the Toyota Way-styled attributes identified were developed and data collected from building professionals working in construction firms is presented. The quantitative data presented in the book explains the status quo of the Toyota Way-styled practices implemented in the construction industry, as well as the extent to which these attributes were perceived for lean construction management. The book highlights all the actionable attributes derived from the Toyota Way model appreciated by the building professionals, but alerts the readers that some attributes felled short of implementation. Further findings from in-depth interviews and case studies are also presented in the book to provide to readers an understanding how these Toyota Way practices can be implemented in real-life projects. Collectively, all the empirical findings presented in this book can serve to enhance understanding of Toyota Way practices in the lean construction management context. The readers are then guided through to understand the gaps between actual practice and Toyota Way-styled practices, and the measures that they may undertake to circumvent the challenges for implementation. The book also presents to readers the SWOT analysis that addresses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats towards the implementation of the Toyota Way in the construction industry. The book prescribes the Toyota Way model for use in construction firms to strategically implement lean construction management. The checklist presented in the book enables readers to draw lessons that may be used additionally as a holistic assessment tool for measuring the maturity of firms with respect to their Toyota Way implementation. Consequent to this, management would then be in a better position to develop plans for Toyota Way implementation by focusing on weak areas, strengthening them, and thus increasing the likelihood of success in the implementation of the Toyota Way. In a nutshell, this book provides a comprehensive and valuable resource for firms not only in the construction industry but also businesses outside of the construction sector to better understand the Toyota Way and how this understanding can translate to implementation of lean construction/business management to enhance profitability and survivability in an increasingly competitive global market place.
This book aims to provide knowledge on how infrastructure is planned and built in a typical developing country, and what key variables are there in the system limiting the efficient use of public investments in infrastructure. The book begins with a comprehensive literature review on construction and economic development, and trade and economic development. The focus of the book is on the case of Vietnam, with lessons drawn for other developing economies. The book employs the mixed use of data to provide a stronger basis for analysis and interpretation of related government policies. Based on the research findings, the book recommends significant capacity building work for Vietnam to develop capacities that would remove constraints on the efficient use of public investments in infrastructure. The general principles of significant capacity building work which are useful for policy implications are introduced in the book. Analysts, academics, public and private communities in developing countries can adopt the research findings as guiding principles to bring about changes in their current use of public investments in infrastructure, thus supporting their trade and economic growth in the long term.
This book presents the adaptation of lean principles to the precast construction industry to eliminate or minimize construction wastes, by modeling the precast construction process influencing manpower requirements. This is done using the shared mental models theory to understand how the lean principles enable people to work together to complete the tasks and work together effectively as a team throughout the entire precast construction process from the design, production and logistics to installation stages. Besides the theoretical concepts, this proposed book also presents the practical aspects faced by contractors through the conduct of questionnaire surveys to understand how the implementation of lean principles and shared mental models will affect the occurrence of construction wastes and hence the changes in the total man days used during the precast construction process. This book also presents a neural network model for developing leading indicators that classify precast construction projects in accordance with the manpower changes achieved through the construct of lean principles and shared mental models. This is to help the construction industry to predict the risk of low construction productivity and enable effective lean implementation to optimize the manpower effort required.
This book provides an understanding of Business Continuity Management (BCM) implementation for local/international construction operations, with a primary focus on Indonesian construction firms as an illustrative example. It reviews the whole spectrum of work relating to organizational culture (OC) and the institutional framework (IF) as one of the key ways for companies to evaluate and implement BCM in construction operations. Once readers have acquired a sound understanding of BCM, OC and IF linkages in construction firms, the lessons learned can be extended to other companies. This is facilitated through a systematic assessment framework presented in the book using a Knowledge Based Decision Support System (BCM-KBDSS), which allows these companies to evaluate their current status quo with respect to BCM, OC and IF, and then make informed decisions on how and to what extent BCM should be implemented in their operations. As such, the book offers a unique blend of theory and practice, ensuring readers gain a far better understanding of BCM implementation in the construction industry.
This book focuses on the implementation of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in the construction industry as a tool to help building designers arrive at optimal decisions for external envelope systems with sustainable and buildable design goals. In particular, the book integrates special features into the conventional QFD tool to enhance its performance. These features include a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy consensus scheme, and Knowledge Management System (KMS). This integration results in a more robust decision support tool, known as the Knowledge-based Decision Support System QFD (KBDSS-QFD) tool. As an example, the KBDSS-QFD tool is used for the assessment of building envelope materials and designs for high-rise residential buildings in Singapore in the early design stage. The book provides the reader with a conceptual framework for understanding the development of the KBDSS-QFD tool. The framework is presented in a generalized form in order to benefit building professionals, decision makers, analysts, academics and researchers, who can use the findings as guiding principles to achieve optimal solutions and boost efficiency.
This book explores China’s global competitiveness in the building of infrastructures with a particular interest in the resource-rich African countries. The book begins with a comprehensive literature review on total quality management (TQM) and national culture, followed by reviews of the construction industries in China and Nigeria. This provides better understanding of the linkages between TQM, based on the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 9000 quality management systems (QMS), and national culture, based on Emeritus Professor Geert Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions. Premised on the culture-specificity and bi-directionality relationships between TQM and national culture, this book investigates the construction industries in China and Nigeria including their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) as well as an appraisal of their historical and emerging relationships. In its conceptual approach, this book presents different models in the lead up to its primary theoretical contribution of a quality management assessment model (QMAM) that was adopted during the study’s field work. The book also presents relevant lessons relating to cross cultural management and quality performance not only to the Nigerians but also other foreign players in Nigeria’s construction industry.
This book provides readers an understanding of the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for international construction operations. In an extended case study, it primarily focuses on Chinese construction firms (CCFs) based in Singapore. In this regard, the book explains the differences and similarities between Risk Management (RM), Project Risk Management (PRM) and ERM in the construction industry, and examines their linkages for international construction operations in a broader context. The explanation elaborates on how companies may adopt and implement RM, PRM and ERM as appropriate in their various operations, both in their home market as well as in overseas host markets. The book also reviews the whole spectrum of work relating to organizational behavior (OB) as one of the key underpinnings for companies to evaluate and implement ERM. It will benefit practitioners from the industry as well as academics interested in the implementation of ERM practices in international construction operations.
This book focuses on current subcontracting practices in the construction industry and their effects on Singapore’s construction productivity. It offers readers a better understanding of how the fragmentation of large and small firms in Singapore impacts construction productivity when operating under the commonly adopted multilayer subcontracting system (MLSS), which extends globally to the construction industries in other countries that have adopted the MLSS. The book also assesses the effectiveness of subcontracting practices in helping local contractors improve their construction productivity (and thereby improve the industry’s overall productivity). In closing, it provides recommendations on how the problems associated with the MLSS can best be addressed, and how its benefits can be capitalized on through organizational learning.
This book explains how in moving towards Cleaner Production, the Lean Production Philosophy can be applied to reduce carbon emissions in prefabrication - one major source of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions which contribute to global climate change. This book examines theories and principles in the Lean Production Philosophy to develop situation-based carbon reduction strategies for precast concrete manufacturers and contractors in terms of Site layout, Supply Chain, Production, Stocks and Installation Management. It presents the empirical findings of surveys and case studies with managers and professionals working for precasters and contractors in Singapore, findings which provide good practical guidance for precast concrete manufacturers and contractors to achieve low carbon emissions and to perform better in many sustainability-based rating systems, such as the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Scheme.
This book presents the adaptation of lean principles to the precast construction industry to eliminate or minimize construction wastes, by modeling the precast construction process influencing manpower requirements. This is done using the shared mental models theory to understand how the lean principles enable people to work together to complete the tasks and work together effectively as a team throughout the entire precast construction process from the design, production and logistics to installation stages. Besides the theoretical concepts, this proposed book also presents the practical aspects faced by contractors through the conduct of questionnaire surveys to understand how the implementation of lean principles and shared mental models will affect the occurrence of construction wastes and hence the changes in the total man days used during the precast construction process. This book also presents a neural network model for developing leading indicators that classify precast construction projects in accordance with the manpower changes achieved through the construct of lean principles and shared mental models. This is to help the construction industry to predict the risk of low construction productivity and enable effective lean implementation to optimize the manpower effort required.
This book discusses the relationship between construction quality and the state of the Singapore national economy, and describes how construction quality is affected as contracting firms strategically manage issues relating to profitability and survivability during economic boom and bust cycles. Adopting a three-pronged approach to explain the key issues, the book first explains the effect of the state of the Singapore national economy (boom or bust) on the construction quality delivered by contracting firms. Secondly, it explains how contracting firms respond to the performance of the national economy through their dynamic bidding strategies, leading to significant quality trade-offs in some instances, especially when there is imprecise market information. Thirdly, it recommends various strategic measures that key stakeholders and government policy-makers can take to circumvent the quality trade-off in the construction industry when faced with dynamic fluctuations in the performance of the national economy. Although the book focuses on Singapore, it appeals to a global audience since countries worldwide (and their respective building-related stakeholders) face the same issues in terms of the time–cost–quality trade-off decision-making process involving the entire supply chain.
This book provides an understanding of Business Continuity Management (BCM) implementation for local/international construction operations, with a primary focus on Indonesian construction firms as an illustrative example. It reviews the whole spectrum of work relating to organizational culture (OC) and the institutional framework (IF) as one of the key ways for companies to evaluate and implement BCM in construction operations. Once readers have acquired a sound understanding of BCM, OC and IF linkages in construction firms, the lessons learned can be extended to other companies. This is facilitated through a systematic assessment framework presented in the book using a Knowledge Based Decision Support System (BCM-KBDSS), which allows these companies to evaluate their current status quo with respect to BCM, OC and IF, and then make informed decisions on how and to what extent BCM should be implemented in their operations. As such, the book offers a unique blend of theory and practice, ensuring readers gain a far better understanding of BCM implementation in the construction industry.
This book explores the differences in cultural attributes and management factors to enable managers working for Japanese contractors to reduce misunderstandings and misinterpretations when communicating with project team members from different cultural backgrounds. It focuses on Japanese contractors operating in Singapore, since the Singapore construction industry has, for many years, been one of the largest overseas construction markets for the top-5 Japanese contractors. Using Hofstede’s national cultural framework for the cultural studies in construction project management, it reveals various real-world management practices and discusses national cultural differences relating to managers working for Japanese contractors in Singapore as well as the communication weaknesses of current management practices and styles. The results presented provide useful lessons for Japanese contractors operating in Singapore, as well as other parts of the world, to bridge cultural and communication gaps.
This unique book that deals with project communication management in complex environments, taking a leaf from China’s experience with a major earthquake in Sichuan, would be a timely contribution to fill this lacuna. Readers would be able to understand how companies and organizations that are unprepared for crisis management would react to their detriment. The lessons provided in this book are the only one of its kind to highlight the lessons for companies and organizations to prepare themselves for successful project communication management through the complexity-informed framework. Although the book is written by two building professionals, the concepts and lessons presented are generic and equally applicable for businesses outside of the construction industry; for example, for airports, resorts, hotels, shipyards, etc.
This book aims to provide knowledge on how infrastructure is planned and built in a typical developing country, and what key variables are there in the system limiting the efficient use of public investments in infrastructure. The book begins with a comprehensive literature review on construction and economic development, and trade and economic development. The focus of the book is on the case of Vietnam, with lessons drawn for other developing economies. The book employs the mixed use of data to provide a stronger basis for analysis and interpretation of related government policies. Based on the research findings, the book recommends significant capacity building work for Vietnam to develop capacities that would remove constraints on the efficient use of public investments in infrastructure. The general principles of significant capacity building work which are useful for policy implications are introduced in the book. Analysts, academics, public and private communities in developing countries can adopt the research findings as guiding principles to bring about changes in their current use of public investments in infrastructure, thus supporting their trade and economic growth in the long term.
This book examines the Facilities Management (FM) of hospitals and healthcare facilities, which are among the most complex, costly and challenging kind of buildings to manage. It presents and evaluates the FM service quality standards in Singapore’s hospitals from the patient’s perspective, and provides recommendations on how to successfully improve FM service quality and achieve higher patient satisfaction. The book also features valuable supplementary materials, including a checklist of 32 key factors for successful facilities management and another checklist of 24 service attributes for hospitals to achieve desirable service quality in connection with facilities management. The book adopts a unique approach of combining service quality and quality theory to provide a more holistic view of how FM service quality can be achieved in hospitals. It also integrates three instruments, namely the SERVQUAL model, the Kano model and the QFD model to yield empirical results from surveys for implementation in hospitals. Although the book was written from the perspective of FM service quality for hospitals, the findings and recommendations are also relevant for other non-healthcare sectors where appropriate lessons may also be drawn for FM and service quality in general. It will particularly benefit Quality Managers, Facilities Managers and Hospital Administrators.
This book presents the fundamentals of project management as applied in the built environment and more specifically for the construction industry. It presents the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) using practical examples to show how various project management principles and concepts can be applied in practice. Providing study notes for students and aspiring project management professionals in the construction industry, each of the 13 chapters includes a set of comprehensive revision questions that allow readers to reflect on what they have learned. The book offers an introduction to what project management is all about as well as the project life cycles, stakeholders and organizations involved. It explains the project management processes and how these processes are applied in integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communications, risk and procurement management. It concludes with ethics and professional conduct in the project management profession.
First published in 1997, this volume joined the debate assessing the potential of the Just-In-Time management philosophy from the manufacturing industry for Singapore’s construction industry by examining the "off-site" prefabrication of precast concrete components in Singapore, in comparison with traditional management systems. In the wake of the 1991 Strategic Economic Plan of Singapore, which forecasted alarmingly low productivity in the local construction sector, the authors noted that construction in Japan was 35% more productive, whilst Finland was 75% better. Highlighting immense potential for the JIT approach, they explore the JIT philosophy, traditional systems, construction wastes and comparisons between construction and manufacturing.
The book presents the latest studies on the work–life balance of millennial (also known as Generation Y) building professionals in Singapore and South Korea. Its main goal is to compare and contrast the workplace attitudes of millennials, and to provide guidelines that help supervisors in the construction industry manage their employees’ expectations regarding work–life balance. Accordingly, it explains and links various principles regarding work–life conflicts, work–life enrichments and the work–life interface. Furthermore, the book introduces readers to coping strategies, a dimension that has not yet been explored substantially and has the potential to contribute significantly to the study and understanding of work–life balance. The book makes recommendations for the top management on assigning a capable leader to drive the changes in the organization, and on empowering the leader to implement effective strategies for promoting work–life balance, especially for the millennials who are now playing an increasing central role in the global construction sector.
The book presents the development of the Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS), Singapore’s de facto quality performance measurement system, explains the application of the Quality Management System (QMS) to manage CONQUAS and identifies 33 critical success factors (CSFs) for achieving high CONQUAS scores. Through CONQUAS, the reader benefits from understanding how the Singapore government developed and implemented the first objective system for measuring what many building professionals have perceived to be elusive quality standards in the construction industry. The book presents both the theoretical concepts as well as the practical aspects to achieving strategic Project Quality Management that is anchored on the CSFs to building best practices. To realistically reflect the practical aspects and challenging issues faced by stakeholders in the construction industry, questionnaire surveys were conducted with building professionals to distinguish the importance level and extent of adoption of the 33 CSFs (identified from a comprehensive review of the extant literature) in influencing and affecting the achievement of high CONQUAS scores. These were further anchored by in-depth interviews with quality experts in the Singapore construction industry to provide a better understanding of issues relating to strategic Project Quality Management. Collectively, the empirical findings collated from the building professionals suggest that while the CSFs identified are known tenets of quality, these were still not being followed in their totality. A further case study was conducted through a formal set of in-depth interviews with the quality assurance team of a construction company who has direct involvement before, during and after their tremendous improvements in the CONQUAS scores attained. The strength of this book therefore represents a true account and reflections of real-life practices and experiences in the construction industry for contractors, quality managers and policy-makers to learn from. Although the context of this book relates to the Singapore experience, the lessons and recommendations are equally relevant and applicable to the global construction industry in both the developing and developed countries whose stakeholders (in both the public and private sectors) wish to understand how CONQUAS works, and how the CSFs identified can likewise be implemented for strategic Project Quality Management to building best practices. The book is therefore of interests to researchers, academia and practitioners in the construction industry as well as in other sectors of the economy (in Singapore and other countries) where learning points may be used for enhancing project quality management for buildings.
This book provides readers an understanding of the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for international construction operations. In an extended case study, it primarily focuses on Chinese construction firms (CCFs) based in Singapore. In this regard, the book explains the differences and similarities between Risk Management (RM), Project Risk Management (PRM) and ERM in the construction industry, and examines their linkages for international construction operations in a broader context. The explanation elaborates on how companies may adopt and implement RM, PRM and ERM as appropriate in their various operations, both in their home market as well as in overseas host markets. The book also reviews the whole spectrum of work relating to organizational behavior (OB) as one of the key underpinnings for companies to evaluate and implement ERM. It will benefit practitioners from the industry as well as academics interested in the implementation of ERM practices in international construction operations.
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