Enhancing value creation of construction projects through early stakeholder involvement and integration

Abstract Nowadays, construction projects are implemented in highly demanding and complex built environments that require multisectoral and multidisciplinary efforts and collaboration between the project stakeholders with divergent interests, objectives, and backgrounds. Successful collaboration is one of the most efficient ways to enhance project value creation and gain better results, especially when it integrates stakeholders with different kinds of expertise and contributions. However, stakeholder management, involvement, and integration have been seen as a difficult issue, particularly in the early project phases, and have frequently resulted in conflicts and partial failures due to the lack of practical tools for managing the stakeholders and understanding their roles. The purpose of this dissertation is to enhance the understanding of how value creation can be enhanced through early stakeholder involvement and integration in the context of construction. The research applies a qualitative research approach and utilizes the case study methodology. The data for this research was collected through a survey and semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that project value creation can be increased by early stakeholder involvement and integration. However, it demands systematic stakeholder management practices in order to identify the different project-specific stakeholders and their requirements for the project. The results also show that the salience of the stakeholders varies within a project and from project to project, and some of the stakeholders are always more important than others. Nevertheless, all the stakeholders usually have the change to impact on and contribute to the project, positively or negatively. To exploit the expertise of a project stakeholder or to avoid the problems caused by the stakeholders, the framework for stakeholder identification and classification was created in this dissertation.Tiivistelmä Rakennusteollisuuden projektien sekä rakennetun ympäristön muuttuminen yhä dynaamisemmaksi ja monimutkaisemmaksi edellyttää projektin sidosryhmien yhä aktiivisempaa ja syvällisempää osallistamista, yhteistyötä sekä vaatimusten huomioimista projektien määrittelyvaiheesta alkaen. Muilla teollisuuden aloilla sidosryhmien aikaisella osallistamisella projektin alusta alkaen on huomattu olevan positiivinen vaikutus projektien parempaan arvontuottoon ja tavoitteiden saavuttamiseen. Osoitetuista hyödyistä ja joistain hyvistä kokemuksista huolimatta, sidosryhmien osallistaminen ja integroiminen on osoittautunut yleisesti ottaen erittäin vaikeaksi ja haasteelliseksi, erityisesti vaativien ja kompleksisien projektien osalta. Pääsääntöisesti ongelmat johtuvat puutteellisesta toimintavavoista sekä tottumattomuudesta sidosryhmien kokonaisvaltaiseen osallistamiseen ja johtamiseen, mikä on usein johtanut sidosryhmien välisiin ristiriitoihin ja hankkeiden, ainakin osittaiseen, epäonnistumiseen. Tämän väitöstutkimuksen tavoite on tutkia, että miten rakennusprojektien arvontuottoa voidaan parantaa sidosryhmien aikaisella osallistamisella ja integroinnilla. Tutkimus on laadullinen tapaustutkimus, jonka empiirinen aineisto on hankittu kyselyllä sekä haastatteluilla eri rakennusteollisuuden projekteista. Tulokset vahvistavat käsityksen, että sidosryhmien aikainen osallistaminen ja integroinnilla projektin arvontuottoa kaikille sidosryhmille voidaan tehostaa. Tämä kuitenkin vaati systemaattisia toimintatapoja ja prosesseja, jotta projektin kannalta keskeisimmät sidosryhmät ja heidän vaateensa kyetään tunnistamaan sekä osaaminen voidaan hyödyntää. Tulokset myös osoittavat, että projektin sidosryhmät eivät ole tasavertaisia keskenään ja heidän keskeisyytensä vaihtelee sekä projektin aikana että projektikohtaisesti. Tästä huolimatta, yleensä kaikki sidosryhmät voivat vaikuttaa, tavalla tai toisella, projektiin joko positiivisesti tai negatiivisesti. Jotta sidosryhmät voitaisiin osallistaa mahdollisimman tehokkaasti, ja näin ollen hyödyntää heidän osaaminen ja välttää ongelmat, luotiin tässä tutkimuksessa viitekehys sidosryhmien tunnistamiseksi, arvioimiseksi ja luokittelemiseksi

Local Innovation System in Northern Finland – Case Renewable Energy Solutions Pilots in Oulu

To respond to the dynamics of urban surroundings, enhancing innovativeness in the urban environment has become increasingly important. The major challenge with innovations in urban environment is that many of them do not diffuse easily. The paper identifies the challenges related to urban innovation processes and their scaling-up, using the renewable energy solution pilot project as an example case. This is done by discussing the position and maturity of Renewable Energy Solutions in City Areas (RESCA) in an innovation typology context, and by assessing performed actions aimed at boosting the innovativeness in the case project. Results emphasized the essential role of the local building administration as a proactive stakeholder who started open-mindedly to address old-fashioned, inefficient and dominant practices of the construction industry. Another innovation hot-spot was that market actors needed to collaborate, take steps and present their ideas in order to find, implement and pilot the emerging solutions and innovations

Resilienssin käsite ja operationalisointi – case liikennejärjestelmä [Resilience and its operationalization – case transport system]

This paper introduces a generic resilience framework that is applied to transport systems. The framework is based on prior research and literature on resilience. The paper first reviews the relevant literature and builds a resilience model that distinguishes the attributes and sub-attributes of resilience. The resilience model and transport system components are then merged into a single-system resilience matrix. The complexity of resilience of a meta-system – a system comprising several sub-systems – is discussed in brief and a simplified example of how to apply meta-level resilience analysis on transport systems is shown. Finally, the implications for other systems, particularly those governed by cities and municipalities, are discussed. In fact, cities and municipalities face even more complex resilience analysis tasks than those faced by State authorities, who mostly govern sector systems (e.g. transport) within their mandate. It is argued that municipal decision-makers encounter serious challenges and questions when they consider the enhancement of their communities’ resilience

Resilience of transport infrastructure systems

This paper proposes a generic resilience framework that is applied to transport infrastructure systems. The framework is based on prior research and literature material on resilience. The paper first reviews some of the relevant literature and builds a resilience model that distinguishes the attributes and sub-attributes of resilience. Then the resilience model and transport system components are merged into single system resilience matrix. The complexity of resilience of a meta-system – a system comprising several sub-systems – is underlined. Finally, the implications on other meta-systems, for example those governed by cities and municipalities, are briefly discussed. In fact, cities and municipalities face even a more complex resilience analysis tasks than do the state authorities who mostly govern sector systems (e.g. transport) within their mandate

Integroivan projektitoimituksen hankintamalli

Abstract Integrative project delivery methods and approaches have been widely offered as a solution to increase value creation not only to the customer but for the other project stakeholders as well. In addition, it has been noted that by creating integrated project teams it has had a positive impact on the projects outcomes. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in applying relational multi-party contracting to construction projects in Finland. Especially firms in the industrial wood construction sector have expressed their interest strongly. However, relational multi-party contracting has mainly been used in big projects where the budgets have often been tens, even hundreds, of millions of dollars while the budgets in typical industrial wood construction projects are only a couple of millions. Due to that it has been noticed the procedures of forming relational multi-party contracts are mostly too cumbersome, time- and resource-consuming processes if it is wanted to apply in small-scale projects. In addition, there is lack of administrative and concrete frameworks for managing, organizing and integrating stakeholders in small projects. This paper introduces a structured procurement model that is designed to integrate stakeholders into a harmonious solid team to facilitate optimal value creation and project outcome by identifying and consolidating different roles, responsibilities and objectives of stakeholders. The framework involves all stakeholders of the project, especially the major ones, such as customers, consultants, public authority designers and contractors.Tiivistelmä Integroitu projektitoimitus (IPD) on hankkeiden toteutustapa, jossa riskit jaetaan hankkeen osapuolten välillä, ja heitä kannustetaan toimimaan yhdenmukaisena, integroituna ryhmänä yhteisten tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi. IPD:n eri osapuolille tarjoamat hyödyt perustuvat hyvin pitkälle siihen, että koko projektin elinkaaren eri vaiheet ja niiden sisältämät sidosryhmät ja heidän osaamisensa saadaan mukaan heti projektin alusta alkaen. Tällä voidaan taata parempi lopputulos, koska tilaajan tarpeita, vaatimuksia ja rajoitteita voidaan peilata eri toteutusratkaisuihin sekä niiden asettamiin rajoituksiin. IPD on alun perin kehitetty suurin ja kompleksisiin infra- ja uudisrakentamisen projekteihin, ja sen soveltamisesta pienempiin ja tavanomaisempiin projekteihin ei ole juurikaan kokemusta, minkä takia ei ole myöskään kehittynyt yhteisiä käytäntöjä. Kuitenkin integroiduilla projektitoimituksilla on kysyntää uusilla liiketoiminta-alueilla, jotka eivät perinteisillä toimintatavoilla toimittaessa olisi kilpailukykyisiä hallitseviin ratkaisuihin ja toimitustapoihin nähden. Lisäksi integroitua projektitoimitusta hyödyntämällä, saadaan kerättyä eri osapuolten ja sidosryhmien tärkeimmät vaatimukset toteutusta koskien ja näin ollen voidaan optimoida suunnittelua ja koko kokonaisuutta. Kokemukset IPD:n soveltamisesta monimutkaisiin rakennusteollisuuden projekteihin ovat tähän mennessä olleet erittäin rohkaisevia ja vaikuttavia. Ongelmaksi on kuitenkin muodostunut se, että IPD:n toimintamallia ja -tapoja ei vielä täysin ymmärretä, eikä niitä aina osata soveltaa suurten ja monimutkaisten hankkeiden ulkopuolella. Esimerkiksi teollisesta puurakentamisesta puuttuu laaja, kilpailukykyisten teollisten ratkaisujen tarjonta ammattirakentamiseen, erityisesti kerrostalorakentamiseen. Teollisella puurakentamisella on paljon mahdollisuuksia Suomessa, mutta menestyminen vaatii myös sopivien projektitoimitus- ja liiketoimintamallien luomista. Tässä raportissa on esitelty integroidun projektitoimituksen hankintamalli, joka on ohjaa tilaajaa integroidun projektitoimituksen hankintaan ja luomiseen paremman suunnittelun ja toteutuksen saavuttamiseksi

The contemporaneous use of building information modeling and relational project delivery arrangements

Abstract The initiatives of building information modelling (BIM) and relational project delivery arrangements (RPDA) have traditionally been quite different, although both aim to enhance customer value. BIM was developed to serve as an information center and collaboration and simulation model, whereas RPDAs were developed to foster a search for a mutual and single project objective through early stakeholder involvement and integration. However, recent experiences have indicated some reasons for suspecting that BIM and RPDA, surprisingly, have a lot in common. This paper studies the contemporaneous use of BIM and RPDA and aims at finding out the main benefits when utilized simultaneously

Public-private-people partnership networks and stakeholder roles within MaaS ecosystems

Abstract Mobility as a service (MaaS) is an emerging concept offering integrated mobility services. Combining different transport modes and services, as well as collaboration of stakeholders, are prerequisites for viable and attractive MaaS services. MaaS is expected to increase the sustainability and efficiency of transport. Public-private-people partnership (PPPP) networks are seen as a potential solution to meet these expectations, especially in rural areas. The purpose here is to present a PPPP network for MaaS, which integrates market-based mobility services and subsidized transportation. The chapter also describes the roles and responsibilities of primary and secondary MaaS stakeholders at different levels, including authority, service provider, MaaS operator, and user levels

Integrated winter road maintenance management - New directions for cold regions research

The purpose of winter road maintenance is to reduce the negative effect of snow and ice on traffic. The current literature on winter maintenance practices is split into two segments: means of forecasting weather in order to plan proper winter maintenance, and optimization of maintenance operations. There is relatively little literature on the opportunities that real-time information, e.g., from maintenance vehicles, would offer for combining these two segments and taking the applied research and practice one step further. It seems, however, that the lack of operational solutions has so far limited empirical research in favour of analysing prospects that the ubiquitous technologies could offer for winter maintenance. Recent field tests show that the technical obstacles to obtaining real-time information from maintenance vehicles can be overcome. Thus it is possible to enhance the benefits of winter road maintenance operations considerably through new designs and architectures. Improving the efficiency of vehicle fleets by using real-time information is one of the first realizable steps. Based on the analysis of current winter road maintenance ecosystems in several countries, this paper suggests how to make effective use of the transparency that real-time information exchange between different actors can offer. Transparent real-time information enables re-engineering of the entire winter maintenance ecosystem and assists road authorities in setting more precise, and at the same time more diverse, objectives for winter maintenance. This also involves real-time monitoring of service providers' performance and realization of these objectives