Team Relationship and Knowledge Management in Construction Projects in Thailand Part 1: Network Relationship Analysis Using UCINET Software

Problematic relationship within fragmented team structures and inefficient multi-stage project development processes are the two major issues that affect project development performance in the construction industry. The problems are particularly apparent In Thailand’s developing economy. This paper focuses on the study of relationship among construction project team members at the pre-design appraisal development stage as the first step to improve the competitiveness of project development in Thailand’s construction industry. Recently completed large commercial residential projects in Bangkok’s central business district were used as case studies. For the field research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a selection of client organisations and key project members using a standardised questionnaire to collect relevant quantitative and qualitative data. UCINET, the social network analysis software, was implemented to analyse quantitative data to reveal the relationship characteristics. The transformed aggregate scores of strength and satisfaction of relationship, as well as some of the project network characteristics like low network density (0.2045 out of 1.000) in selected case study projects, did not appear to be very accommodating to the creation of good relationship. Other network characteristics, including high reciprocity (68.75%), above average reachability (8 out of 11), relatively short (1.405) average geodesic distance and small degree centralisation (27% out degree and 37% in degree) suggested a close relationship among key project members. Moreover, supportive personal and subgroup characteristics such as low to average (1 to 6 out of 11) out and in degree centrality and a high clustering coefficients (0.725 out of 1.000) were considered as the key factors to achieving effective knowledge creation and transfer. This will be explored further in part 2 of this research

Concept and Application of UCINET Software to Study Network Relationship in Construction Projects

As extensively recognised in the reviewed literature, the fragmentation of the project development team and the multi-stage project development process are two underlying factors that significantly affect the construction industry’s unsatisfactory performance and competitiveness. The addressed problems are potentially solved by strong network relationship and effective knowledge management at the pre-design appraisal development stage. This paper focuses on the concept and application of UCINET social network software to study quantitative network relationships among appraisal development team members in selected OTL commercial residential projects in Bangkok, Thailand. Key network characteristics like network density, reciprocity, reachability, geodesic distance as well as personal and subgroup characteristics such as degree centrality, network centralisation, clustering coefficients, cliques, ego network and brokerage can be used to improve project development performance and the industry’s competitiveness based on more effective knowledge creation and transfer

Team Relationship and Knowledge Management in Construction Projects in Thailand Part 2: Network Relationship Analysis Using UCINET Software

The study of network relationship using UCINET program in part 1 was inspired by the problematic fragmented structure of a construction project development team. In this paper, the multi-stage project development process as another key factor that underlies the construction industry’s poor performance is addressed. Knowledge management is then proposed as another key solution to achieve the more effective project development in Thailand context. Based on Nonaka and Takeuchi’s 1995 knowledge conversion model, representatives from key project members’ organisations that developed recently complete large commercial residential projects in Bangkok central business area were asked in semi-structured interviews about organisational knowledge management process using a set of standardised questions. The outcomes show the moderate efficiency due to key project members’ unawareness of knowledge potentials. A three-stage framework is also proposed to identify key project members, strengthen network relationship and improve organisational knowledge management capability to achieve the better project development performance

Relationship and knowledge management among construction development project members in Thailand: the clients' perspective

The unsatisfactory performance of the construction industry in Thailand is influenced by the fragmented structure and the inefficient multi-stage project development process. Good relationships, the creation of new knowledge and effective knowledge management is crucial particularly at the development appraisal to achieve improved and sustainable performance in the construction industry. This study is an investigation of the relationships among team members and knowledge management practice in Thailand's construction industry. Semi-structured interviews conducted in the field research with a selection of large client organisations revealed that significant close or network relationship exists between clients and key project team members. However, knowledge management practices were heavily influenced by team members' self-centred nature. There is therefore a need to adopt knowledge management practices to improve project performance at the development appraisal stage as this could have significant knock on effects on subsequent stages. Failure to address relationship and knowledge issues could affect the uptake and sale of development projects

National culture influence on management practices in the construction industry of United Arab Emirates. In: Egbu,

Environmental and cultural differences have been recognized by management researchers as an important element in differentiating management systems. They have acknowledged that managerial approaches, values, behaviours and efficiency differ across national cultures. National cultures and unique societal and institutional structures will continue to support different models of organizational culture and management practices. However, in the majority of existing studies, researchers have either focused almost exclusively on the American and European context and developed explicit theories of management practices, or suggested that most management theories need modification for different national contexts. Limited research has focused on cultures and behaviour of management in the modern Arab world, although a number of previous studies attempted to elucidate and characterize the behaviour and attitude of managers in the Arab Middle East countries. Whilst these studies are valuable to the extent that they call attention to this central part of the world, none have developed a definitive model/style of management practice and organizational culture specifically for this region of the world. As part of extensive research to establish the management practices model and organizational culture adopted in the construction industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and empirically examine its impact on performance, a model is developed. This model seeks to determine the relationship between Management Practices and National Culture. Analysis of data collected through a questionnaire survey revealed that construction companies in UAE are generally adopting a mixed approach that combines Western and Eastern management practices. Results of an analysis based on three groups of management dimensions yielded a detailed profile of the type of management applications used

Renormalization-Group Approach to Spin-Wave Theory of Quantum Heisenberg Ferromagnet

The renormalization-group method is used to analyze the low-temperature behaviour of a two-dimentional, spin-$s$ quantum Heisenberg ferromagnet. A set of recursion equations is derived in an one-loop approximation. The low-temperature asymptotics of the correlation length and the uniform susceptibility are obtained. For small spins ($s= 1/2,1$) the results are essentially different from those in the spin-wave theory.Comment: 9 pages, RevTex 3.0 fil

Magnon Exchange Mechanism of Ferromagnetic Superconductivity

The magnon exchange mechanism of ferromagnetic superconductivity (FM-superconductivity) was developed to explain in a natural way the fact that the superconductivity in $UGe_2$, $ZrZn_2$ and $URhGe$ is confined to the ferromagnetic phase.The order parameter is a spin anti-parallel component of a spin-1 triplet with zero spin projection. The transverse spin fluctuations are pair forming and the longitudinal ones are pair breaking. In the present paper, a superconducting solution, based on the magnon exchange mechanism, is obtained which closely matches the experiments with $ZrZn_2$ and $URhGe$. The onset of superconductivity leads to the appearance of complicated Fermi surfaces in the spin up and spin down momentum distribution functions. Each of them consist of two pieces, but they are simple-connected and can be made very small by varying the microscopic parameters. As a result, it is obtained that the specific heat depends on the temperature linearly, at low temperature, and the coefficient $\gamma=\frac {C}{T}$ is smaller in the superconducting phase than in the ferromagnetic one. The absence of a quantum transition from ferromagnetism to ferromagnetic superconductivity in a weak ferromagnets $ZrZn_2$ and $URhGe$ is explained accounting for the contribution of magnon self-interaction to the spin fluctuations' parameters. It is shown that in the presence of an external magnetic field the system undergoes a first order quantum phase transition.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Magnon-Paramagnon Effective Theory of Itinerant Ferromagnets

The present work is devoted to the derivation of an effective magnon-paramagnon theory starting from a microscopic lattice model of ferromagnetic metals. For some values of the microscopic parameters it reproduces the Heisenberg theory of localized spins. For small magnetization the effective model describes the physics of weak ferromagnets in accordance with the experimental results. It is written in a way which keeps O(3) symmetry manifest,and describes both the order and disordered phases of the system. Analytical expression for the Curie temperature,which takes the magnon fluctuations into account exactly, is obtained. For weak ferromagnets $T_c$ is well below the Stoner's critical temperature and the critical temperature obtained within Moriya's theory.Comment: 14 pages, changed content,new result