A new research agenda into community-based protest in construction

Many countries face enormous development challenges in adapting to demographic change, urbanisation and emerging issues such as housing affordability and climate change. These challenges are best resolved in consultation with communities rather than in conflict with them. A rich tradition of research and intellectual frameworks exist in the fields of urban geography and planning to understand and manage community concerns during the pre-development approval stages of new projects. However current theoretical frameworks are inadequate in construction management and a new research agenda is needed to develop conceptual frameworks to guide thinking about the role of communities in the construction process. By discussing the components of such a model, it is concluded that this would require a fundamental shift in thinking which challenges traditional structuralist paradigms. A new constructivist paradigm is presented that conceives community consultation as a negotiation process which does not stop at the pre-development planning stages but which continues over the entire life of a project

Risk management for design and construction

Ovidiu Cretu, Robert B. Stewart and Terry Berends, John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2011, 288 pages, ISBN: 978-0-470-63538-

Innovate or Perish? Exploring some of the Myths of Construction Innovation

The construction innovation literature suggests that managers face a stark choice. They can innovate or perish in the face of growing global competition and an increasingly uncertain and dynamic world. Innovation is presented as a key area of reform needed to raise business performance, yet at the same time it is argued that Australia is falling behind in the global innovation stakes. Evidence suggests that the Australian Construction sector is a poor innovation performer when compared to all-industry averages and contributes relatively little to the national innovation effort. Drawing on international innovation research, this paper argues that these views are overly simplistic and explores some of the myths that surround the process in the construction industry. Through interviews with some of Australia’s leading innovators and policy-makers it suggests that many of the factors that are said to drive innovation are not as straight forward as they may seem. There are important qualifications to consider and it would seem that construction innovation is a highly interactive and amorphous process, involving many people with multiple interests dealing with day-to-day challenges.Keywords: Innovation, opportunism, strategy, risk

Managing network risks in health facilities

Health facilities play a crucial role in maintaining healthcare services to the community during an extreme weather event. Health facilities managers operate within a wider network of organisations which include emergency services, health resource suppliers, local authorities, external health agencies and governmental organisations. Their response to an extreme weather event depends significantly on their ability to manage the network risks which may arise between actors in this complex system. Yet existing research has tended to look at facilities managers in isolation. Through an in-depth case study of how health services in the State of New South Wales, Australia would respond to an extreme weather event, the interface risks between these various agencies are explored from a facilities management perspective. An analysis of 139 documentary sources which would dictate the inter-agency response shows that health facilities managers face numerous hidden risks arising from overlapping, complex and unresolved governance conflicts between the agencies on which they depend. It is concluded that these interface risks can be reduced if facilities managers employ a number of strategies. These include: mapping hospital dependency on other agencies; resolve overlapping operational boundaries with other agencies; undertaking proactive risk reduction for critical external support infrastructure; and better understanding potential conflicts with external agencies in responding to an extreme weather event

Editorial

Guest Editors: Imriyas Kamardeen, Sidney Newton, Benson Lim & Martin Loosemor

Demolishing gender structures

This report presents findings from Australian research investigating why policies and strategies to attract, retain and support the progression of women professionals in large construction companies have, for the most part, failed

Designing robust and revisable policies for gender equality: lessons from the Australian construction industry

The construction industry remains the most male dominated sector in Australia. Several decades of formal gender equality initiatives by government and business have failed to bring about any meaningful change to the hierarchical and numerical representation of women in the sector. Drawing on new institutionalism, particularly the concepts of ‘robustness’ and ‘revisability’, the nature and intent of formal policies and programs that impact on gender equality are analysed in two large Australian multinational construction firms. Through in-depth interviews with senior management and a document analysis of formal policies, it is concluded that gender equality initiatives and broader policies are primarily focused on increasing the numbers of women in construction rather than addressing gender practices and outcomes. These policies lack many of the qualities of robustness and revisability, which impacts on their capacity to genuinely challenge the gendered norms, practices and narratives of the sector

Association of Researchers in Construction Management

Construction projects have a potentially large economic, social, ecological and cultural impact on the communities in which they take place. As these communities become increasingly empowered, educated, connected and organised, there is increasing evidence that they are able and willing to mobilise action when they become concerned about the impact of construction projects on their lives. From a construction project management perspective, there has been virtually no research into the structure of these groups and how best to interact with them for mutually beneficial outcomes. Using a thematic story telling approach which draws on ethnographic method and social contagion theories, an in-depth analysis of community action against a construction project is presented. It is concluded that these groups are largely anarchic but are held together and sustained by a core group of activists which are often invisible to outsiders. This raises numerous challenges for project managers in addressing community concerns and in mitigating potential cost and time escalations associated with such action

Managing the health risks of extreme weather events by managing hospital infrastructure

PURPOSE. A predicted increase in climate change-related extreme weather events will present hospitals with new health-related and physical risks which were not originally anticipated in building and infrastructure designs. Markus et al.'s building systems model is used to analyse a range of adaptive strategies to cope with such events. The paper aims to discuss these issues. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH. Focus group interviews were conducted with a wide range of hospital stakeholders across three case study hospitals in Australia and New Zealand which have experienced extreme weather events. FINDINGS. It is concluded that effective adaptive strategies must balance responses across different organisational sub-systems. Contrary to previous research, the findings indicate that hospital managers do see hospital infrastructure as an important component of disaster response. However, it is the least adaptable of all response subsystems, making other options more attractive in the heat of a crisis. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS. A focus on three case studies allowed the researchers to explore in-depth the experiences of stakeholders who had experienced extreme weather events. While producing highly valid results, the inherent limitation of this approach is the lack of breath. So further case studies are needed to generalise from the results. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS. Recommendations are made to improve the adaptive capacity of healthcare facilities to cope with the future health challenges of climate change risk. ORIGINALITY/VALUE. By acknowledging that no one group holds all the knowledge to deal with extreme weather events, this paper capture the collective knowledge of all key stakeholders who have a stake in the process of responding effectively to such an event. It shows that hospital adaptation strategies cannot be considered in isolation from the surrounding emergency management systems in which a hospital is embedded

Modelling the impact of extreme weather events on hospital facilities management using a system dynamics approach

Heatwaves kill more Australians per year than any other type of natural disaster and are predicted to increase in intensity and frequency due to climate change. Effectively designed and managed hospitals are therefore a critical and central part of a community's response to such events. While our understanding of these impacts is increasing, the impacts of potential knock-on effects from other critical infrastructure are not well understood. Using a case study approach, system dynamics is used to investigate the impact of heatwaves on community infrastructure and healthcare facility management outcomes. This provides hospital facility managers with a new way to understand and maximise the resilience of hospitals to the effects of extreme weather events