The problem of communication in construction

Communication is an important topic in the construction industry, as also reported in the literature. Often problems in construction are referred to as communication problems [Emmerson 1962]; [Higgin and Jessop 1965]; [Latham 1994]; [DETR 1998]. Due to its specific characteristics, the industry forms a complex communication environment. Construction is a fragmented and dynamic sector with a projectbased nature. This makes that many stakeholders operate in frequently changing sets of relationships which are contractually driven. The culture shows a reality of conflicts and lack of mutual respect and trust [Dainty et al 2006].\ud The goal of this research project is to improve communication in construction. To define the problem in more detail and to define a more specific research goal, the project started with two studies. Literature on communication in construction was studied, and interviews were held with experts in the\ud Netherlands. This provided a first impression of the situation in the practice and literature of construction. This paper reports the first findings (in Section 4), including a more focused problem definition, the main research goal and a possible research set-up to tackle the problem. The literature study is reported in the next section; the empirical data from the expert interviews are discussed in Section 3. The paper ends with some conclusions

Towards guidelines for building a business case and gathering evidence of software reference architectures in industry

Background: Software reference architectures are becoming widely adopted by organizations that need to support the design and maintenance of software applications of a shared domain. For organizations that plan to adopt this architecture-centric approach, it becomes fundamental to know the return on investment and to understand how software reference architectures are designed, maintained, and used. Unfortunately, there is little evidence-based support to help organizations with these challenges. Methods: We have conducted action research in an industry-academia collaboration between the GESSI research group and everis, a multinational IT consulting firm based in Spain. Results: The results from such collaboration are being packaged in order to create guidelines that could be used in similar contexts as the one of everis. The main result of this paper is the construction of empirically-grounded guidelines that support organizations to decide on the adoption of software reference architectures and to gather evidence to improve RA-related practices. Conclusions: The created guidelines could be used by other organizations outside of our industry-academia collaboration. With this goal in mind, we describe the guidelines in detail for their use.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Engaging as Partners in Energy Efficiency: A Primer for Utilities on the Energy Efficiency Needs of Multifamily Buildings and Their Owners

The multifamily building sector presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for utilities seeking to implement effective energy efficiency programs. To deliver successful programs, utilities must understand what motivates building owners to take part in these programs, as well as barriers that may prevent participation.This paper outlines the opportunities to meet energy efficiency goals with multifamily programs. It then describes the benefits that multifamily building owners gain from these programs, and the barriers they face to participation. The paper focuses on rental housing, because these buildings are owned by a single entity and form the largest sector of the multifamily housing market. The paper provides a framework to help utilities develop successful programs that maximize energy savings and create benefits for building owners, tenants, and communities. And lastly, the paper recommends nine program design considerations that can help attract multifamily building owners to utility energy efficiency programs

How do software architects consider non-functional requirements: an exploratory study

© 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Dealing with non-functional requirements (NFRs) has posed a challenge onto software engineers for many years. Over the years, many methods and techniques have been proposed to improve their elicitation, documentation, and validation. Knowing more about the state of the practice on these topics may benefit both practitioners' and researchers' daily work. A few empirical studies have been conducted in the past, but none under the perspective of software architects, in spite of the great influence that NFRs have on daily architects' practices. This paper presents some of the findings of an empirical study based on 13 interviews with software architects. It addresses questions such as: who decides the NFRs, what types of NFRs matter to architects, how are NFRs documented, and how are NFRs validated. The results are contextualized with existing previous work.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Perceived Effects of Prevalent Errors in Contract Documents on Construction Projects

One of the highly rated causes of poor performance is errors in contract documents. The objectives of this study are to investigate the prevalent errors in contract documents and their effects on construction projects. Questionnaire survey and 51 case study projects (mixed method) were adopted for the study. The study also involved the use of Delphi technique to extract the possible errors that may be contained in contract documents; it did not however constitute the empirical data for the study. The sample of the study consists of 985 consulting and 275 contracting firms that engaged in the construction of building projects that were completed between 2013 and 2016 and were above the ground floor. The two-stage stratified random sampling technique was adopted for the study. The data for the study were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics (based on Shapiro-Wilk’s test). The results of the study indicate that errors in contract documents were moderately prevalent. However, overmeasurement in bill of quantities was prevalent in private, institutional and management procured projects. Traditionally procured projects contain 68% of the errors in contract documents among the procurement methods. Drawings contain the highest number of errors, followed by bill of quantities and specifications. The severe effects of errors in contract documents were structural collapse, deterioration of buildings and contractors’ claims among others. The result of the study implies that, management procurement method is the route to error minimization in developing countries, but it may need to be backed by law and guarded against overmeasurement

Managing Collaborative Arrangements : Challenges associated with managing secondary structures

With respect to copyright, Paper I and Paper II was excluded from the dissertation.There is a widespread consensus that collaborative arrangements do not replace but instead add one or more layers of structural complexity to traditional organizations. In response to the challenges confronting contemporary societies, different network forms such as intermunicipal cooperation, joint ventures, clusters, partnerships, and many similar collective entities become necessary to improve organizational performance and to tackle many challenges in the public sector. For example, networks are essential for the implementation of larger programs, the reduction of unemployment, designing solutions for demographic ageing, responding to ongoing issues like climate change or new issues such as COVID-19. Innovation is widely argued as a key strategy to adequately respond to increased levels of complexity and ongoing crises. Networked arrangements, and especially governance networks that cross sectors and organizations are being turned to a primary means to bring together the necessary resources (people, ideas, and technology) to generate innovation. These governance networks operate alongside traditional government operating structures and, as such, become a secondary place of interaction and work. Indeed, networks are structures of interdependence involving often multiple interdependent organizations. Such structures display more distinctive features compared to traditional hierarchical structures because they have a self-governing ethos and limited authority. Moreover, member organizations must deliberately leverage their relationships to ‘reinvent’ themselves and build a new collective whole. Additionally, managers of collaborative arrangements must not only facilitate complex interaction settings, but also establish strategies to tackle different interests across governmental lines. Together, these factors make it more challenging for the social resources held within collaborations to be actively and deliberately managed. It also makes them more unstable and prone to failure. This thesis addresses the challenges of these dual structures that lead to complexity and the need for different design and management approaches. In doing so, it spotlights two types of collaborative arrangements with attributes that correspond with the features of governance networks. Then, the thesis concentrates on two research topics largely overlooked in inter-organizational relations literature. First, it unpacks several structural and process-based features that might influence the breakdown of networked arrangements - a growing concern, particularly for public sector networks required to produce public value. An enhanced understanding of the factors that might undermine collaboration will improve efficiency and effectiveness of such networks. Second, the thesis will provide nuanced insights into the active management of networks. Two papers here focus on managerial networking across network arrangements. Of these, one paper addresses the antecedents of managerial networking, while the second concentrates on the outcomes of managerial networking, more specifically innovation. Given that responsibilities and expectations of all public managers constantly grow, this thesis aims to shed new light on what factors contribute to network success.publishedVersio

Where to go in the near future: diverging perspectives on online public service delivery

Although the electronic government is under heavy development, a clear vision doesn’t seem to exist. In this study 20 interviews among leaders in the field of e-government in the Netherlands resulted in different perspectives on the future of electronic public service delivery. The interviews revealed different objectives and interpretations of the presuppositions regarding citizens’ desires. Opinions about channel approaches and ‘trigger services’ appeared to vary. Furthermore, the respondents didn’t agree on the number of contact moments between citizen and government, had different opinions about digital skills, pled for various designs of the electronic government and placed the responsibility for electronic service delivery in different hands. Conclusion is that there is a lack of concepts on how to do things. Everybody talks about eGovernment, but all have different interpretations. \u

Sustainable construction in Hong Kong

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004.published_or_final_versio