Construction Site Management Team Working: A Serendipitous Event

Despite the pervasive appeal of team working in the construction industry, the empirical relationship between team effectiveness and task performance continues to be generally overlooked. Recognized team performance appraisal remains one of the last frontiers of performance management. This paper sets out to challenge the conventional discourse of team working and test the hypothesis that construction site management team working and project performance is unrelated. The explanatory case-study research method utilizes a variety of data-gathering techniques. An attitude statement questionnaire evaluates team efficacy. A customized suite of key performance indicators sympathetic to project performance is used to measure project success. Statistical examination of the data demonstrates a marked correlation between the two variables. Although the results authenticate the universally acclaimed wisdom; teams and performance are inextricably linked, secondary analysis expose widespread contradictions between the rhetoric of team working and the action of practice. Obstacles to team working include management indifference towards substantive team building, organizational barriers to communication, and the absence of team rewards. A paradigm of individualism predominates, abetted by organizational structures and cultural subsystems that uphold individual answerability at the expense of collective responsibility.     

Project Network Interdependency Alignment: New Approach to Assessing Project Effectiveness

The engineering and construction industry has evolved to a task-centric approach to evaluating the effectiveness of projects. However, a narrow task-based view of project network logic neglects the coordination of communication and knowledge exchanges across the project organizational network. This paper departs from traditional approaches to introduce a new approach to assessing project effectiveness that focuses on alignment of actual knowledge exchanges with knowledge exchange requirements across task-organization network dyads. A new modeling approach is introduced, called Project Network Interdependency Alignment. Project Network Interdependency Alignment identifies potentially excessive or insufficient communication and knowledge exchanges that can make projects ineffective. The modeling approach is introduced and retrospectively validated by using a building renovation construction project. The case study demonstrates that the approach can provide project managers with the capacity to analyze task and organizational network interdependence on projects and the critical capability to identify misalignments that impede project effectiveness.     

Authority Structures for Construction Project Management

Many practitioners believe that how one organizes to support a major construction project will have a significant impact on the successful completion of the project. This paper provides a primer on authority structures. The basic corporate organizational forms are described and construction examples are given. The basic authority structures for project management are also described. These forms are the functional, pure project, and matrix. For each form, the advantages and disadvantages as they relate to the project manager's ability to support the project are cited. Nine factors that influence the choice of authority structure are discussed. The role of the project manager is described. His effectiveness as a manager is related to the organizational form, hierarchy within the organization, authority gap, management style, and the ability to resolve conflict. Six principles for developing a project organization and selecting a project manager are given.     

Organizational Divisions in BIM-Enabled Commercial Construction

Proponents claim that the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) will lead to greater efficiencies through increased collaboration. In this paper, we present research that examines the use of BIM technologies for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire life safety systems (often referred to as MEP) coordination and how the introduction of BIM influences collaboration and communication. Using data from over 12 months of ethnographic observations of the MEP coordination process for two commercial construction projects and interviews with 65 industry leaders across the United States, we find that BIM-enabled projects are often tightly coupled technologically, but divided organizationally. This means that while BIM makes visible the connections among project members, it is not fostering closer collaboration across different companies. We outline the competing obligations to scope, project, and company as one cause for this division. Obligations to an individual scope of work or to a particular company can conflict with project goals. Individual leadership, especially that of the MEP coordinator in the teams we studied, often substitutes for stronger project cohesion and organization. Organizational forces and structures must be accounted for in order for BIM to be implemented successfully.     

Organizational Alternatives for Large Projects

Organizing large construction projects can be as confusing and challenging as managing them. Many organizational variations are possible. This paper describes five major organizational alternatives and reviews the advantages and disadvantages of each. The alternatives include: (1) Strong functional organization; (2) functional organization with area coordination; (3) functional organization wth area management; (4) area management with craft discipline staff; and (5) autonomous area organization. This paper also proposes a method for selecting a project organization that involves developing organizational criteria and using these criteria in an evaluation matrix. Such a process could aid managers in meeting the challenge of effective project organization.     

Model for Construction Budget Performance—Neural Network Approach

A neural network approach is used to identify the key management factors that affect budget performance in a project. Field data of project performance has been used to build the budget performance model. This approach allows the model to be built even if the functional interrelationships between input factors and output performance cannot be clearly defined. Altogether eight key determining factors were identified covering areas related to the project manager, project team, and planning and control efforts, namely: number of organizational levels between project manager and craftsmen, project manager experience on similar technical scope, detailed design complete at start of construction, constructability program, project team turnover rate, frequency of control meetings during construction, frequency of budget updates, and control system budget. The model is able to give good predictions even with previously unseen data and incomplete information on the key factors. The model can be used to evaluate various management strategies and thus resources can be effectively deployed to strengthen these aspects of project management.     

Implementation of Project Management in Public Engineering Organization

The Bureau of Engineering is a part of the City of Los Angeles' Department of Public Works and is responsible for the planning, design, and construction management of capital improvement projects for the city. In February 1997, the Bureau of Engineering executive staff and the Board of Public Works mandated a dramatic shift to improve project delivery. All of the non-wastewater elements of the Bureau were organized into a program-based matrix organization with a Project Manager as the focus for project delivery with project conception-to-conclusion responsibility. This paper describes the project management method of project delivery being implemented at the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering and explains the implementation elements and their status. The paper reviews the new project management organizational structure and the organizational options considered by the Bureau. The work details the roles and responsibilities for the project delivery team members. The new tools used to manage projects are described, and the problems and solutions encountered are documented for use on future engineering management efforts.     

Global Dimension of Robust Project Network Design

Managing the increased complexity, emerging uncertainties, and diversity of cultures on global projects is creating significant challenges for architecture, engineering, and construction firms. In global projects, differences in “institutions”—including language, beliefs, values, group norms, work practices, professional roles, industry organizations, and legal frameworks—among team members from different national backgrounds can lead to misunderstanding and conflicts that cause delays, increase costs, and reduce quality. Previous research has examined risk factors associated with international project execution. However, little research to date has explored whether reconfiguring project networks might mitigate such risks. Project organizational simulation tools have been combined with “robust design” experimental techniques to design robust project networks that can perform reliably in uncertain conditions. This paper extends project network design research to examine whether robust designs for given project networks differ between “domestic” and “global” projects, given differing organizational uncertainties. The results demonstrate that robust project network designs may differ for global project networks. This finding has significant implications for the design of project networks in an industry where firm participation in global project networks is increasing, both domestically and abroad.     

Case Study of Organizational Changes

This paper documents a case study of the organizational evolution, over a ten‐year period, of a U.S. electric utility company in support of the construction of a two‐unit nuclear generation facility. A number of principles for designing an organization are summarized, and it is suggested that these be used in the organizational planning process. Seven major reorganizations are described, and these changes are compared to the organizational planning principles. The project was half complete before all key engineering and planning functions were consolidated under a single manager. It was approximately 80% complete before the authority of the project director was commensurate with his responsibilities. It is shown how the project authority structure emerged as functional but was later changed to a projectized one. After several realinements, a matrix organization was tried. A strong project structure replaced the matrix structure when the resources of the entire organization were committed to completing the project.     

Improving Design Coordination for Building Projects. I: Information Model

Detailed design of building projects is a complex multidisciplinary process highly dependent upon effective aggregation of individual designs to produce a coherent set of final design documents. Throughout the detailed design process, changes are frequently introduced and need to be properly managed among the various members of the design team. This paper presents an information model for storing design information, recording design rationale, and managing design changes. The proposed model is built around a central library of generalized building components that can be used to describe a complete building project hierarchy. Each component allows the designer to store desired performance criteria and related design rationale. Each component is also sensitive to its own changes and automatically communicates such changes to affected parties through preset communication paths. The model, as such, provides improved design coordination and control over changes, thus helping to increase the consistency and productivity of the overall design process. Conceptual details of the model are described in this paper, and model implementation into a collaborative design system is presented in a companion paper.     

Industrial Project Constructability Improvement

Constructability is defined as the ability of project conditions to enable the optimal utilization of construction resources. Constructability improvements may heighten the construction‐sensitivity of designs, render the communication of engineering information as more effective, optimize construction‐originated construction techniques, increase the effectiveness of construction management policies, improve vendor∕subcontractor services, or identify needs for designer‐constructor communication during the project. Constructability improvement ideas collected on a large refinery expansion project are analyzed for content, and classification frequencies are observed. Analysis of engineering rework exposes the causes and costs of rework that occurs as a result of constructability problems.     

浅析研发项目组织模式

目前应用的研发项目组织模式主要有线形模式、交叉并行模式、工作组制模式、矩阵模式和虚拟模式等,这几种模式各有优缺点,分别适合不同的研发项目。契约式的组织模式最有利于研发项目管理,具有适应研发项目环境频繁变化的特点,其组织结构的开放性和互动性可提高研发项目的效率,自由性的空间更能发挥研发项目成员的作用。     

Catastrophic Transitions of Construction Contracting Behavior

The ways to manage a construction project very much depend on the attitude of the people involved. Collectively this is identified as construction contracting behavior (CCB). The CCB of the construction industry is adversarial as pinpointed in many industry-wide reviews. A more cooperative project delivery approach has therefore been advocated. In fact, drive for efficiency provides the incentive for cooperation. Nevertheless, members of a project team, in representing their respective organizations, are often in conflict. The dichotomous pair of cooperation and aggression forces therefore coexist. It is not uncommon to note that CCB turns aggressive as the construction activities of a project intensify. This change is often sudden and thus matches well with the phenomenon of hysteresis described by the catastrophe theory (CT). It is hypothesized that the dynamics of CCB can be modeled by CT. The three-variable CT models include CCB (as dependent variable), cooperation forces (as normal factor) and aggression forces (as splitting factor). With data collected from a survey fitted by the Cuspfit program, it was found that trust intensity is an effective normal factor. Contract incompleteness and competitive inertia are splitting factors that trigger aggression.     

Improving intensive care: observations based on organizational case studies in nine intensive care units: a prospective, multicenter study

OBJECTIVE: To examine organizational practices associated with higher and lower intensive care unit (ICU) outcome performance. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter study. Onsite organizational analysis; prospective inception cohort. SETTING: Nine ICUs (one medical, two surgical, six medical-surgical) at five teaching and four nonteaching hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 3,672 ICU admissions; 316 nurses and 202 physicians. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Interviews and direct observations by a team of clinical and organizational researchers. Demographic, physiologic, and outcome data for an average of 408 admissions per ICU; and questionnaires on ICU structure and organization. The ratio of actual/predicted hospital death rate was used to measure ICU effectiveness; the ratio of actual/predicted length of ICU stay was used to assess efficiency. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: ICUs with superior risk-adjusted survival could not be distinguished by structural and organizational questionnaires or by global judgment following on-site analysis. Superior organizational practices among these ICUs were related to a patient-centered culture, strong medical and nursing leadership, effective communication and coordination, and open, collaborative approaches to solving problems and managing conflict. CONCLUSIONS: The best and worst organizational practices found in this study can be used by ICU leaders as a checklist for improving ICU management.     

Replication of clinical innovations in multiple medical practices

BACKGROUND: Many clinical innovations had been successfully developed and piloted in individual medical practice units of Kaiser Permanente in North Carolina during 1995 and 1996. Difficulty in replicating these clinical innovations consistently throughout all 21 medical practice units led to development of the interdisciplinary Clinical Innovation Implementation Team, which was formed by using existing resources from various departments across the region. REPLICATION MODEL: Based on a model of transfer of best practices, the implementation team developed a process and tools (master schedule and activity matrix) to quickly replicate successful pilot projects throughout all medical practice units. The process involved the following steps: identifying a practice and delineating its characteristics and measures (source identification); identifying a team to receive the (new) practice; piloting the practice; and standardizing, including the incorporation of learnings. The model includes the following components for each innovation: sending and receiving teams, an innovation coordinator role, an innovation expert role, a location expert role, a master schedule, and a project activity matrix. Communication depended on a partnership among the location experts (local knowledge and credibility), the innovation coordinator (process expertise), and the innovation experts (content expertise). RESULTS: Results after 12 months of working with the 21 medical practice units include integration of diabetes care team services into the practices, training of more than 120 providers in the use of personal computers and an icon-based clinical information system, and integration of a planwide self-care program into the medical practices--all with measurable improved outcomes. CONCLUSION: The model for sequential replication and the implementation team structure and function should be successful in other organizational settings.     

Personal Construct-Based Factors Affecting Interpersonal Trust in a Project Design Team

Interpersonal trust is an important factor affecting the performance of the design team in a construction project. To improve the team’s performance, factors affecting interpersonal trust need to be identified thereby increasing trust between team members. A questionnaire survey of architects in project design teams is conducted in Beijing, Shanghai, and Qingdao, People’s Republic of China. Based on the personal construct theory, the survey collects personal construct-based factors which may affect interpersonal trust. Then the factors are tested using structural equation modeling method. Two significant factors i.e., “social interaction” and “attitude on work” are identified. The results suggest that team managers should enhance the social interactions between team members and provide guidance to team members about the correct attitude on work such that the level of interpersonal trust can be improved.     

Project Organizations as Social Networks

High-performance teams achieve outcomes that exceed the expectations of the project and often demonstrate unique or innovative approaches within a final solution. The foundation of this high performance is the ability to focus on the success of the team over individual objectives. However, the recognition of this emphasis is based on the establishment of professional trust and strong communications between the team members. The social network model of construction introduced a dual-focused approach to enhancing these elements and creating high-performance project teams. The approach emphasizes balancing both a traditional project management emphasis on efficiency of communications with a focus on the social factors that move the project team from efficient to effective. In this paper, the model is extended to present the results of four studies of organizations that are full-service engineering companies that also provide construction oversight services. The paper presents the results of these studies in terms of the social network model and the achievement of high performance in the project teams. Analytical and graphical results are presented based on social network analysis techniques to provide a multiperspective analysis of the project teams.     

Transactive memory system links work team characteristics and performance.

Teamwork and coordination of expertise among team members with different backgrounds are increasingly recognized as important for team effectiveness. Recently, researchers have examined how team members rely on transactive memory system (TMS; D. M. Wegner, 1987) to share their distributed knowledge and expertise. To establish the ecological validity and generality of TMS research findings, this study sampled 104 work teams from a variety of organizational settings in China and examined the relationships between team characteristics, TMS, and team performance. The results suggest that task interdependence, cooperative goal interdependence, and support for innovation are positively related to work teams' TMS and that TMS is related to team performance; moreover, structural equation analysis indicates that TMS mediates the team characteristics-performance links. Findings have implications both for team leaders to manage their work teams effectively and for team members to improve their team performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Organizational Supports on the Stress of Construction Estimation Participants

Forecasting the likely cost of construction work before tendering is known as to be a hazardous task. Both underestimates and overestimates may present problems to clients and contractors. Not surprisingly, cost-engineering activities can be stressful for those responsible. Coping with the stresses requires action on the part of the individuals affected and the organizations to which they belong. This paper examines the effect of organizational supports in the process of project estimation through a survey of construction estimation participants in Hong Kong. Using correlation analysis and regression analysis, it is found that: (1) the stressors of autonomy and feedback are directly related to the stress experienced by cost engineers; (2) informal organizational supports (particularly concerning relationship conflict, Type A behavior, work underload, lack of autonomy, and unfair rewards and treatment) are far more effective than formal supports in reducing stress; and (3) lack of autonomy and lack of feedback are predictable variables affecting stress. Cost-engineering managers and supervisors need to carefully distinguish between those who prefer hands-on support and those who prefer hands-off support. A good communication and team decision-making process and a fair reward and treatment system may help establish close relationships among cost engineers in a company and ensure sufficient autonomy to cost engineers and the participants in the estimation process.     

Leadership and Organizational Vision in Managing a Multiethnic and Multicultural Project Team

To meet the demands of managing complex projects, project leaders face challenges of daily leadership behavior and organizational vision to manage a project team. The challenges are compounded when the task of creating a project culture is also influenced by cultural, ethnic and corporate differences. A program management team involves many disciplines: project management, planning and engineering, cost estimating, scheduling, material procurement, program controls, management information systems, administration, construction inspection, and others. Different personality types often gravitate to predictable areas of function during the course of their careers. Managing these differing personality types is one challenge of program leadership. Another equal challenge is managing people of widely differing cultural and ethnic backgrounds. What is regarded as a routine order by one culture can be considered as an extreme insult by another. Good natured American jokes about one group can deeply offend members of that group even though the intentions may not be malicious. In addition to these ethnic and cultural sensitivities, the personalities attracted to the individual disciplines can be even more magnified. The greatest challenge of leadership lies in identifying strengths and similarities while valuing the differences to accomplish the common program management goals. The program management team used as an example in this paper consists of native born Caucasian Americans, African-Americans, African-Caribbeans, Middle-Easterners, Asian-Indians, Mexicans, Cuban-Americans and other Latin-Americans. The paper discusses the experiences of adopting different leadership styles, behavior and communication links to improve the performance of individual leaders and management team.