Beyond the ‘iron triangle’: Stakeholder perception of key performance indicators (KPIs) for large-scale public sector development projects

Performance measurement criteria vary from project to project. Despite much work on the subject, there is no commonly agreed framework of performance measurement on mega projects. To bridge this gap, this research targets to investigate the perception of the key performance indicators (KPIs) in the context of a large construction project in Thailand. The study explores the significance of key performance indicators in perspective of various construction stakeholders (client, consultants, and contractors). Findings indicate that the traditional measures of the iron triangle (on-time, under-budget and according to specifications) are no more applicable to measuring performance on large public sector development projects. Other performance indicators such as safety, efficient use of resources, effectiveness, satisfaction of stakeholders, and reduced conflicts and disputes are increasingly becoming important. This implies that the Thai construction industry is slowly departing from the traditional quantitative performance measurement to a rather mix of both quantitative and qualitative performance measurement on large-scale public sector development projects.     

Dutch performance-based approach to building regulations and public procurement

Along with the publication of the first set of performance-based regulations in 1991, the Netherlands Governmental Building Agency (GBA) introduced innovative performance-based procurement and tendering. A structurally different performance-based regulation document was published in 2001. A continuous research effort paralleled these developments, leading recently to the Policy Document on Building Regulations 2002-06 and the approval of a new national programme called Process and System Innovation in Building (PSIB). Actual and future developments are strongly influenced by the turmoil following the recent disclosure of the wide use of outlawed settlement of calculation cost and project 'rights' by the Dutch contractors. In addition, some blatant cases of fraudulent contract administration were revealed. By the end of 2003, key stakeholders within both the government and industry were in agreement that there was a need for radical change of the economic and social performance of the building and construction sector. The PSIB programme, in combination with a strong deregulation initiative, will be the major driver for the application of the performance approach in the sector.     

Quantifying stakeholders’ influence on energy efficiency of housing: development and application of a four-step methodology

Identifying stakeholders’ influence on project outcomes, prioritizing their importance and managing their interests accordingly is an effective strategy for maximizing benefits for organizations. Quantifying the influence of stakeholders on energy efficiency of housing allows for the development of an engagement plan that takes into consideration stakeholders’ diverse goals, needs, levels of expertise, knowledge, authority, connectivity and closeness to decision-making processes throughout the different stages of the housing procurement. We present a theoretical approach for quantifying the influence of stakeholders on the thermal performance of housing. The quantification methodology builds on a number of stakeholder management approaches and is applied to Australian case studies for reflection and sense making. The quantification of the degree of influence is calculated by combining the rankings of stakeholders in six attributes that affect their influence on a building’s energy efficiency outcomes. Quantifying human influence on buildings’ energy efficiency can help future researchers and housing industry stakeholders in integrating the human aspect with technological, technical, economic and regulatory aspects to optimize the performance outcomes of energy efficient housing.     

Stakeholder perspectives on developing more adaptable buildings

Despite longstanding interest in the issue of adaptability, there has been very little research into the motives and obstacles to constructing more adaptable buildings, particularly from the perspective of the stakeholders involved in the building development process. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons why more buildings are not constructed to be more adaptable, first through a review of the literature and then through interviews with industry stakeholders in the UK, including architects, developers, engineers, property agents and local authority planners. The literature review and stakeholder interviews revealed a wide range of motives for constructing for adaptability, such as a desire to reduce life cycle costs, to produce ‘future-proof’ buildings, and to ensure that buildings are easier to sell and let. However, the literature and interviews also revealed many obstacles to creating more adaptable buildings, including an assumption that adaptability always costs more, a lack of life cycle costing, uncertainty about the benefits of adaptability, fragmentation between industry stakeholders and short-term development models. The research highlighted the need to develop a better understanding of the costs and benefits of developing more adaptable buildings so that industry stakeholders can make more informed decisions about their buildings under conditions of uncertainty.     

Reassessing productivity in the construction sector to reflect hidden innovation and the knowledge economy

With the development of a knowledge economy, it is reasonable to assume that the level of innovation should be particularly high and that it should have a major effect on investment and productivity across all sectors, including the construction industry. For a valid assessment of the economic performance of the construction sector in terms of its productivity, it is important that the economic benefits for the sector from technological change are properly recognized but the impact of such benefits may be ‘hidden’ due to measurement issues, as innovative activity and investment in intangible assets have both gone unrecognized in official statistics. Much of the innovation in the construction sector is hidden from conventional measures and, for the UK economy, there is evidence that investment in intangibles may be even greater than tangible investment, if a definition of intangible assets incorporating spending on a broad range of knowledge‐based assets including organizational capital, human capital, etc. is taken. While accurate data are difficult to determine, an appraisal of the potential for utilizing existing data sources and for improved measurement is presented.     

Linking corporate social responsibility and organizational performance in the construction industry

In the construction industry, the subject of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important as communities, employees and socially conscious clients expect firms to demonstrate they are good corporate citizens. However, while CSR research in construction has accelerated in recent years, it remains fragmented and unconceptualized and there is little understanding of the relationship between CSR and organizational performance, the types of CSR strategies employed and the strategic motivations behind them. To address this deficiency in current CSR knowledge and drawing upon contemporary CSR theory, a survey of 104 professionals from across the construction supply chain in Australia and New Zealand was undertaken. The results show that CSR initiatives in the construction sector are integrative, isolated, narrowly focussed (mainly on environmental activities), immature, compliance-based and operational rather than strategic. The link between CSR and economic performance increasingly espoused (and assumed) in much of the CSR literature does not appear to be accepted in practice with the main benefits being seen as relational in building corporate loyalty, brand and engagement with both internal and external stakeholders. By empirically showing that CSR in construction takes place within an integrative conceptual framework, our findings highlight the potential value of theoretical concepts such as stakeholder salience in moving this field of research forward. These approaches recognize the power that stakeholders (both internal and external) have over a business and the need to manage those relationships carefully in order to secure a licence to operate.     

Conservation of historical landscapes: What signifies ‘successful’ management?

This paper focuses on the management of an industrial heritage site in Sweden, which local stakeholders and heritage planners have claimed to be successful. This status of excellence is investigated in relation to the general, county-wide applied heritage planning. The results show that key factors for successful management of the industrial heritage site are not related only to conservation work, but also to personal engagement, sense of responsibility, and well-being among participants. However, heritage planners generally lack methods to address immaterial values and socio-economic benefits of engaging in heritage activities, resulting in a separation between physical and communal aspects of heritage planning. The results highlight the issue of professional legitimacy and the challenges for heritage planners to address regional policy objectives, such as finding ways to utilise historic landscapes in destination-driven strategies and to simultaneously support civil engagement in heritage-related issues.     

高性能混凝土的结构工程应用与设计方法概述(续)

作者就高性能混凝土的概念进行了阐述，在工程应用和设计方法方面进行了讨论。对21世纪结构高性能的发展成势，提出了迫切发展高性能混凝土技术的客观要求。指出了综合高强度、耐久性、工作性能、环境影响等多因素高性能混凝土技术的发展问题以及进行高性能混凝土设计方法研究的必要性，确立了发展高性能混凝土技术的主导方向，探索了高性能混凝土技术研究与发展的基本途径。     

Representation in building

An industry report in Hong Kong calls for an agreed framework for appraising subcontractor performance. A set of performance appraisal criteria is developed that is agreeable to all key stakeholders in subcontracting. By examining the criteria being applied around the world and reviewing the available literature, a set of 31 subcontractor performance appraisal criteria was compiled. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Hong Kong to reveal the perception of relevant stakeholders on the most critical criteria for subcontractor appraisal. The independent samples t‐test confirmed that the main contractor and subcontractor groups had a significant agreement on the importance levels of most subcontractor performance appraisal criteria. Through factor analysis, the 15 most important subcontractor performance appraisal criteria and their underlying relationships are identified. The results indicate that the three overarching factors for subcontractor performance appraisal are ‘team interaction’, ‘accomplishment of project goals’ and ‘track record’. The identified appraisal criteria lay a solid foundation for the development of a centralized subcontractor performance appraisal system to facilitate performance reporting, data sharing and benchmarking.     

Mediation Model for Improving Cost Factors That Affect Performance of Small-Scale Building Construction Contract Business in Nigeria: A PLS-SEM Approach

Performance of small-scale building construction contract business poses a challenge to the sustainable development of the construction industry, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. Small-scale construction contract business plays an important role in the economic development of any nation. In Nigeria, small-scale construction contract business has a tremendous role in the development of rural areas. This study assesses the mediation effects of client support with advance payment on cost factors that affect performance of small-scale contract businesses in Nigeria. The study identified three factors that affect cost performance of construction projects in developing countries: cash flow problems, effects of fraudulent practices, and effects of the nature of construction environments. In total, 550 survey questionnaires were administered to stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry. Stratified proportionate random sampling method was used for the selection of respondents and 387 questionnaires were returned, with 357 used in the analysis.     

基于生态系统的适应在气候变化适应性城市多尺度合作雨洪管理中的实践——以哥本哈根为例

气候变化已成为城市可持续发展的关键挑战。面对该问题,越来越多的学者和从业者关注了基于生态系统的适应（EbA）概念,将其作为管理区域生态系统服务、提高生态系统服务适应能力的高效并且可持续的手段予以推广。然而,目前鲜有研究关注EbA措施在气候变化适应性城市建设中在多尺度上与各利益相关者的合作规划实践。通过定性方法弥补EbA在城市多尺度气候适应计划实践这一领域应用研究的缺失,以欧洲著名的气候变化适应性城市以及欧洲绿色首都哥本哈根市为研究对象,分析了EbA如何纳入当地气候变化适应计划并在多个尺度上予以实施。回顾了EbA发展与其在欧洲的应用现状,分析了哥本哈根市气候变化适应政策以及EbA在市域、社区、单体建筑3个尺度的合作应用,并且通过分析哥本哈根市第一个气候弹性社区的案例,阐释哥本哈根市如何通过政府、企业、公民等多方利益相关者的合作规划将EbA措施应用于当地气候变化适应性城市建设。最后,总结了哥本哈根市多尺度气候变化适应合作规划中的EbA实践经验：1）项目前的深入数据准备和分析;2）EbA措施与城市空间景观设计的紧密结合;3）多个利益相关方协调,促进公众参与。加深了对EbA提升城市生态系统服务建设适应气候变化的城市的理解,并在面对气候变化挑战问题上,为包括中国城市在内的其他城市提供了启示与借鉴。     

Comprehensive evaluation for construction performance in concurrent engineering environment

As a reformation of work pattern, concurrent engineering (CE) is commonly regarded as a systematic approach to integrated, concurrent design of products and its related processes, including manufacture and support processes. In the past several decades, the application of CE in many industries including construction industry has brought about a great enhancement of productivity. On the other hand, the application of CE has also resulted in a series of problems due to the simultaneous execution of different work phases. Among these problems, performance evaluation in a CE environment is a serious one for decision-makers to determine whether CE should be adopted in their blueprint of innovation. In this paper, a new evaluation method for construction performance in a CE environment based on evidence theory is presented. Compared with existing evaluation methods, it can perfectly deal with some negative influences of CE, such as the diversification of evaluation objectives, incomplete information of evaluation objectives, variance of evaluation indexes. In order to illustrate the viability and adaptability of this method, an example of application is given by this paper.     

锰渣的基本特性及在混凝土中的研究进展

锰渣是锰合金工业最大的工业废渣,随着锰工业的发展,锰渣的有效利用问题显得尤为迫切。介绍了锰渣的来源,我国锰渣的生产、排放现状。重点论述了锰渣的基本特性,锰渣粉对混凝土性能的影响,分析了锰渣在混凝土中应用存在的问题,提出了进一步研究的建议。     

Partnering in construction: a critical review of issues,problems and dilemmas

Partnering in construction has been presented as a potentially important way of improving construction project performance through the direct benefits it can bring to both clients and contractors. However, there is still considerable debate about the nature and merits of a partnering approach. This paper attempts to contribute towards this debate by exploring the presumed link between partnering and cultural change within the industry, at both organizational and interorganizational levels of analysis. To do so, it draws upon theory and research from the social sciences (especially organizational theory) to explore some of the issues, problems and dilemmas which emerge when full and proper account is taken of the complexities of organizations, as well as some of the subtleties and intricacies of the concept of organizational culture. The paper concludes that it is only by fully appreciating the effects of such complexity that a more realistic and practical approach to the development and implementation of partnering will emerge.     

The state of play regarding the social sustainability of the construction industry: a systematic review

The social dimensions of sustainability’s three bottom lines are often overlooked in the construction industry. This is despite attempts to find optimal trade-offs between economic growth, environmental impacts, human health and well-being, as well as social considerations. This study reviews the literature on social sustainability (SS) within the construction arena, identifies research gaps and proposes a forward-looking research agenda. This critical review employes the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses’ (PRISMA) technique to retrieve secondary data on SS from available academic, government and industry documents. The literature analysis focuses on seven themes: (1) definition of SS, (2) the theoretical dimensions of SS, (3) primary stakeholders, (4) policy and guidelines, (5) major SS performance indicators, (6) barriers to SS uptake in the construction industry, and (7) SS drivers in the construction industry. The review identifies primary stakeholders and proposes a list of assessment criteria that can be used by the construction industry in measuring progress towards SS. The study proposes a conceptual model that maps out key stakeholders, the major barriers, and enablers of SS in construction projects. The findings will support the development of SS guidelines specific to the construction industry in Australia as well as overseas.

     

Towards developing competency-based measures for construction project managers: Should contextual behaviours be distinguished from task behaviours?

Competency-based measures are increasingly being recognised as the most viable option for engendering the continuing professional development (CPD) of construction project managers (CPMs). Presently, an emerging view from the HRM genre is that, a somewhat robust approach for developing a more rigorous understanding of these measures is to distinguish contextual performance behaviours from task performance behaviours. The contention is that, the contextual–task framework allows for a more fine-grained analysis of managerial behaviour, its effects and measurement. Stimulated by the need to develop performance measures for CPMs in the context of a developing country, the framework has recently been replicated in identifying and developing competency profiles for project managers (PMs) in mass house building projects (MHBPs) in Ghana. Drawing from a positivist-based research approach, structured questionnaires were used to elicit the relevant data from property developers (homebuilders) who belong to the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA). The findings presented potentially reasonable evidence that the contextual–task model has empirical relevance for application in project-based sectors of the construction industry. Subsequently, here, we proposed that the contextual–task framework could be adopted across geographical and project-based sectors by construction management researchers who are in need of an alternative methodology that can further an in-depth understanding of the competency profile of CPMs.     

浅谈泰柏板墙在工程中的应用

研究了泰柏板的性能，对比分析了泰柏板墙代替加气混凝土墙的利润空间，并对泰柏板的发展前景作了展望，泰柏板的应用实例表明，使用泰柏板作为墙体材料的综合效益显著，并能提高建筑物的安全可靠性和抗震性能。     

Performance-based building and innovation: balancing client and industry needs

One reason for the interest in performance-based building is that it is commonly advocated as a powerful way of enhancing innovation performance by articulating building performance outcomes, and by offering relevant procurement actors the discretion to innovate to meet these performance requirements more effectively and/or efficiently. The paper argues that the current approach to performance-based building assumes that relevant actors have the capacity, ability and motivation to innovate from a business perspective. It is proposed that the prevailing conceptualization of PBB is too restrictive and should be broadened explicitly to accommodate the required business logic that must be in place before actors will innovate. The relevant performance-based building and innovation literature is synthesized to support the assertion. The paper concludes with an innovation-focused definition of performance-based building.