Rethinking dichotomization: A critical perspective on the use of “hard” and “soft” in project management research

This paper elaborates on the categorization – dichotomization – between “hard” and “soft” in project management research. This categorization is becoming more increasingly used in project management research for example by stating that some projects are “hard”, while other projects are “soft”, that some project skills are “hard”, while other project skills are “soft” etc. The aim is to discuss this dichotomization as an example of hierarchization – a power struggle between opposites – within project management research and literature and acknowledge the effects for project management research and practice of unreflective upholding of this dichotomy. We provide a critical review and discussion of stage-gate models as an example of “hard” project management approaches, and agile methods as an example of “soft” approaches to project management and acknowledge that in project management practice, it seems as if “hard” and “soft” approaches are most often combined. Hence, this dichotomy seems to be upheld by the research community while practitioners show a more holistic perspective to project management.     

Risk management in small construction projects in Singapore: Status,barriers and impact

Risk management (RM) should be implemented in construction projects to assure the achievement of project objectives, regardless of project size. This study aims to investigate RM in small projects in Singapore in terms of status, barriers and impact of RM on project performance. To achieve the objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted and data were collected from 668 projects submitted by 34 companies. The analysis results indicated a relatively low level of RM implementation in small projects, and that “lack of time”, “lack of budget”, “low profit margin”, and “not economical” were prominent barriers. Also, the results reported the positive correlation between RM implementation and improvement in quality, cost and schedule performance of small projects, respectively. The findings of this study can provide an in-depth understanding of RM in small projects in Singapore and make benefits of RM convincing to the participants of small projects.     

Subcontractor perspectives on supply chain alliances

Since the publication of the Egan report in 1998, there has been a strong and consistent emphasis on the need to integrate the project delivery process via partnering and strategic alliancing agreements throughout the UK construction industry. However, given the continued reliance on subcontracting within the sector, future performance improvement also requires an acceptance of the benefits of supply chain partnering and integration from the small-to-medium size businesses who carry out the majority of construction work. This paper presents the findings of a research project that examined subcontractor perspectives on supply chain alliances. The study has uncovered serious concerns among subcontractors that point towards a fundamental mistrust and scepticism within existing supply chain relationships. These have the potential to inhibit further improvements in the efficacy of the project delivery process. A range of attitudinal change requirements for integrating smaller companies into the drive for continuous improvement are identified. It is suggested that leading clients should take responsibility for engendering the necessary attitudinal change throughout their supplier networks if further performance improvement is to be realized within the sector.     

Identification and evaluation of the key social competencies for Chinese construction project managers

It is well understood that an individual's competency has a significant effect on his/her performance. While the more traditional “hard” technical skills of project managers have drawn much attention, little light has been shed on the “soft” skills, especially social competencies in the construction context. This study has adopted a well-established competency model from human resource management theories as a basis for the theoretical framework to examine the social competencies of construction project managers. This led to the development of a model via the use of a structural equation modelling approach. Four dimensions of social competencies for construction project managers were identified, i.e. working with others, stakeholder management, leading others, and social awareness. Attention to these attributes will help construction project managers to develop their social competencies, and could contribute towards a better performance in their workplace which will in turn improve the performance of the whole organisation. Implications of adopting this approach were also discussed.     

An investigation of the existing situation and trends in building energy efficiency management in China

According to the Chinese State Council's “Building Energy Efficiency Management Ordinance”, a large-scale investigation of energy efficiency (EE) in buildings in contemporary China has been carried out in 22 provincial capitals and major cities in China. The aim of this project is to provide reliable information for drawing up the “Decision on reinforcing building energy efficiency” by the Ministry of Construction of China. The surveyed organizations include government departments, research institutions, property developers, design institutions, construction companies, construction consultancy services companies, facility management departments, financial institutions and those which relate to the business of building energy efficiency. In addition, representatives of the media and residents were also involved. A detailed analysis of the results of the investigation concerning aspects of the current situation and trends in building energy consumption, energy efficiency strategy and the implementation of energy efficiency measures has been conducted. The investigation supplies essential information to formulate the market entrance policy for new buildings and the refurbishment policy for existing buildings to encourage the development of energy efficient technology.     

Assessing risk management capability of contractors in subway projects in mainland China

Contractor's risk management capability (RMC) reflects the sophistication of contractor's understanding of risk portfolio and how to manage those risks. This paper aims to develop a RMC assessment model for subway project contractors and to assess the current overall RMC of subway project contractors in mainland China. To achieve the objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted and data were collected from 58 respondents. The empirical research findings showed that the overall RMC of subway project contractors can be regarded as between “low” and “medium”. In addition, currently in subway projects' area, contactor's risk analysis capability is relatively more mature than other capabilities. However, contractors' risk management attitude is relatively less mature than other capabilities. Assessing the current RMC of subway project contractors can be used to identify the priority or weakest areas needed for improvement.     

Factors affecting contractors’ risk attitudes in construction projects: Case study from China

Risk-based decision making (RBDM) is critical in successful construction project management, in which decision makers’ attitudes towards risks play an important role. Most previous studies in construction project risk management have been focusing on the factors contributing to the success of risk management, but little attention was given to factors significantly affecting decision makers’ risk attitudes in construction projects. To improve RBDM, we investigate the critical factors affecting contractors’ risk attitudes in construction projects in China in this research. Literatures reviews, interviews and questionnaires are used for the identification of factors affecting contractors’ risk attitudes. Statistical methods of ranking analysis and factor analysis are also implemented for verification and further analysis. The results show that the most important three factors are: “consequences of decision making”, “engineering experience”, and “completeness of project information”. Results from factor analysis on the identified critical factors reveal that they can be grouped into four categories, namely: (1) knowledge and experience; (2) contractors’ character; (3) personal perception; and (4) economic environment. The significance of this research is that the findings do not only provide decision making support for contractors by deepening their understandings of the factors that affect their risk attitudes, but also serve as a useful reference for further studies under this topic.     

Projektallianzen für Großbauvorhaben — lediglich “noch ein Partnerschaftsmodell” oder Paradigmenwechsel der Vertragsgestaltung?

Großbauvorhaben bringen im Regelfall beträchtliche wirtschaftliche Risiken mit sich. Bedingt ist dies nicht zuletzt durch Schwächen der Projektorganisation. Traditionelle Formen der Vertragsgestaltung dominieren bis heute die Praxis, obgleich ihre Regelungsmechanismen für ein effizientes Risikomanagement komplexer Bauprojekte strukturell unzureichend sind. Als Konsequenz drohen den Baubeteiligten erhebliche Konflikte bei der Vertragsabwicklung und beträchtliche wirtschaftliche Einbußen aus mangelhafter Risikobewältigung. Einen Weg hin zu einer effizienteren Abwicklung anspruchsvoller Großbauvorhaben zeigt das Konzept der Projektallianzen, die sich im angloamerikanischen Raum und besonders in der Bauwirtschaft Australiens seit geraumer Zeit mit großem Erfolg für die Realisierung komplexer Hochbau‐, Ingenieurbau‐ und Infrastrukturmaßnahmen etabliert haben. Gegenüber traditionellen Vertragstypen bedeutet das Allianzkonzept einen Paradigmenwechsel, weil es den Erfolg aller Parteien einzig an das wirtschaftliche Ergebnis des Gesamtprojekts koppelt und damit für eine Interessengleichrichtung der Projektbeteiligten sorgt. Alliancing in large‐scale construction projects — only another partnering approach or even a paradigm shift in contracting? Large‐scale construction projects involve regularly considerable economic risks, not least generated by defects in project organisation. Although regulation mechanisms for an efficient risk management of complex construction projects are structurally insufficient traditional contracts are still dominating in practice. As a consequence of poor risk management disputes and significant financial losses are imminent throughout the construction process. An answer to this problem is shown by the concept of alliancing, which offers an opportunity for a more efficient delivery of largescale construction projects and particularly has been established in the construction industry of Australia. In contrast to traditional methods of construction contracting alliancing means a paradigm shift because it aligns the interests of all parties by linking the financial success of all parties to the performance of the entire project.     

Chinese culture and successful implementation of partnering in Singapore's construction industry

Partnering is based on the principles of trust, mutual respect and cooperation towards the achievement of a common goal. Although partnering can help to resolve the problems of Singapore's construction industry, its usage is relatively low. This paper examines whether Chinese culture can facilitate partnering implementation in Singapore's construction industry. This is because Chinese culture contains some values that are important determinants of success of partnering. A postal survey on Chinese-owned large contractors in Singapore was undertaken to ascertain how Chinese culture influences their way of conducting business and the implementation of partnering. The study showed that Chinese contractors understand their culture as comprising certain core values that influence the operations of their businesses and their relationships with others, and that Chinese culture aids the implementation of partnering. It is suggested that Chinese construction entrepreneurs should apply the elements of their culture to formulate appropriate business practices, and to implement partnering.     

Environmental performance measurement indicators in construction

Environmental management system (EMS) has been suggested for promoting effective environmental protection. Environmental performance assessment (EPA) is a critical tool of the EMS in checking, reviewing, monitoring and evaluating environmental performance of organizations. In order to implement EPA, performance measurement indicators (PMIs) that show the environmental performance outcome are required, which, however, are lacking in the construction industry. By conducting a structured survey, in the form of a questionnaire and interviews, this paper attempts to identify three key output indicators, namely “regulatory compliance”, “auditing activities” and “resources consumption”, and nine sub-indicators. On the basis of their relative importance, the top five sub-indicators are “fines and penalties”, “complaints/warnings”, “non-compliance records of inspection”, “non-conformance reports”, and “reports of marginal cases put under observations”. The first three sub-indicators fall into the “regulatory compliance” category and the latter two into the category of “auditing activities”.     

Curing congenital construction industry disorders through relationally integrated supply chains

Despite several strident calls for industry-wide reforms, construction industries remain ‘disabled’ by apparently congenital defects and inherent weaknesses. A barrage of remedial reforms and revisions of procurement regulations, practices, and contracting styles have been recently targeting enhanced value, superior performance, overall satisfaction and harmony. Many of these initiatives focus on integration of construction supply chains through significant upheavals in contractual arrangements, operational styles and contractor selection approaches, often using relational contracting approaches such as partnering, alliancing and even deeper collaborative/relation-building bonding initiatives. This paper is based on a synergistic integration of relevant results from a series of related research studies, as reinforced by knowledge distilled from other studies and experiences, and as reported in the recent literature. A relationally reinforced supply chain integration model is developed in this paper, to supplement the basic transactional contractual links and to release the latent energies that are needed to elevate construction industries in many countries.     

A new approach for project control under uncertainty. Going back to the basics

In this paper we propose a new methodology for project control under uncertainty. In particular, we integrate Earned Value Methodology (EVM) with project risk analysis. The methodology helps project managers to know whether the project deviations from planned values are within the “expected” deviations derived from activity planned variability. Although the methodology is new and innovative, we only go back to the fundamentals of project simulation to generate the “universe” of possible projects, according to the assumed variability of project activities. Then we organize and gather the information in order to make the data coherent with EVM. We explain the steps to implement the methodology and we show three case studies. The methodology makes explicit that the schedule and budget resulting from traditional methods like PERT are statistically very optimistic.     

“Drop your boat!”: The discursive co-construction of project renewal. The case of the Darwin mountaineering expedition in Patagonia

When a project faces an unexpected, ambiguous and risky environment, “drop your tools” often comes up against the reluctance of the actors to accept and implement its renewal. Our contribution aims to explore how team members discursively co-construct the sense of their situation and accept to “drop their tools”. Drawing upon a real-time, in situ ethnographic study of a mountaineering expedition in Patagonia, we conducted a discursive analysis of a project renewal episode. Our paper first contributes to shed light on an unexplored phenomenon: the construction and acceptance of “dropping the tools”. Second, we add to the literature on project renewal. Third, we show how team members make sense in real-time of their environment by drawing on four discursive practices (re-wording, reframing, focusing attention, and reaffirming team cohesiveness) in order to construct and accept project renewal.     

On the dual nature of intra-urban borders: The case of a Romani neighborhood in Istanbul

This essay questions the nature of intra-urban borders from a politico-ethical point of view. Namely: to what extent are intra-urban borders acceptable at a time of proliferating discourses about a borderless world, and open cities? We discuss this through a case study of Sulukule – a historic neighborhood home to a millennium old Roma community located within the historic city center of Istanbul – in the context of the urban renewal project launched by the local municipality. The often cited “humanitarian” pretext for the renewal project is “incorporating” the Sulukule’s poor Roma community into the city and tearing down the borders demarcating their ghetto. Eventually, this discourse of incorporation served to instigate a rapid episode of gentrification in the area. Offering a critical perspective on the municipality’s renewal project, and through a discussion of the often conflicting premises of the discourses of the “right to the city” and the “group right to difference,” this essay argues that intra-urban borders are “undecided” separators and calls for policy tools that are responsive to the enabling aspects of bordering processes.     

论Partnering模式在节能住宅科技示范项目建设中的应用

研究了Partnering模式在节能住宅建设领域的应用。探讨了在节能住宅科技示范项目建设中引入该模式的重要性,提出了科技示范项目Partnering运行平台的构成要素和沟通机制,结合具体案例讨论了Partnering的三类主要实施形式,最后提出应用Partnering模式促进节能建筑科技示范项目有序展开的对策建议。     

Improving the energy performance of the built environment: The potential of virtual collaborative life cycle tools

Advances in information and communication technologies [ICTs] offer the opportunity to improve the way energy profiling tools and techniques are used to measure and inform the energy performance of buildings throughout their life cycle. The exploitation of this potential is one of the goals of a current EU FP7 funded project, entitled “IntUBE — Intelligent Use of Buildings' Energy Information”. The overall aim of the project is to improve the energy performance of new and existing buildings via the intelligent use of buildings' energy information. The main aim the energy profiling research being conducted as part of the IntUBE project is to contribute to the development of virtual collaborative ‘life cycle’ building tools to support energy efficient building design, operation and retrofit. In order to illustrate how this may be achieved this paper defines the functions of energy simulations within the IntUBE system, outlines the systems architecture necessary to those functions and presents a case study illustrating some of the functionality under development.     

Project leaders as boundary spanners: Relational antecedents and performance outcomes

Research has shown that NPD project leaders should engage in boundary-spanning activities. The present study tested the impact of four boundary-spanning activities on NPD project performance and analyzed the antecedents of these activities. We hypothesized that NPD project leaders' abilities to perform these activities depend on the characteristics of their personal networks — structural holes, strength of ties, vertical and horizontal bridging ties. A Partial Least Squares test on 73 NPD projects showed that (a) “obtaining political support” and “scanning for ideas” are the boundary activities with the greatest impact on performance, (b) project leaders with strong ties in their network are more effective at these activities, (c) project leaders with structural holes in their networks are more effective in another boundary activity, “protecting the team”, although this activity does not affect NPD outcomes. These results represent an important contribution to understanding how team leaders contribute to project performance.     

Motivation,commitment and the use of incentives in partnerships and alliances

The use of incentives in partnering and alliancing has been seen as an important way of reinforcing collaboration in the short term and helping to build trust between clients and contractors in the long term. Yet only rarely has the impact of incentives on such relationships been discussed, let alone subjected to systematic investigation. This is despite a wealth of theory and research which brings into question the use of incentives and reinforcers as ways of generating motivation and commitment. Drawing upon this theoretical knowledge base and using evidence from a number of case studies of partnerships and alliances, this paper demonstrates how a number of important cognitive and social dimensions affect the use and impact of incentives, sometimes in ways contrary to those intended. The conclusion drawn is that there are important limitations to the use of incentives as means of reinforcing collaboration and developing commitment and trust, and that this raises questions more generally about the assumptions that underlie many of the practical ‘tools and techniques’ commonly associated with partnering and alliancing.     

Investigating the client-related rework in building projects: The case of Singapore

Rework has become one of the most common concerns in construction projects. This study aims to investigate the client-related rework (CRR) in Singapore-based building projects. To achieve the objectives, a literature review and questionnaire survey was conducted and data were collected from 381 projects performed by 51 companies. The results confirmed that the client contributed most to rework. 41 of the 51 companies (80.4%) experienced CRR, and 226 of the 381 projects (59.3%) experienced CRR, which increased project cost by 7.1% and caused 3.3 weeks' delay on the average. Additionally, “replacement of materials by the client” was the cause with the highest frequency of occurrence, while “change of plans or scope by the client” contributed most to CRR and exerted most impact on project cost, schedule and quality performance. This study expands the literature and provides an in-depth understanding of the CRR in Singapore for both practitioners and researchers.