Modifications to standard forms of contract: the impact on readability

Lack of clarity in contract documents can lead to disputes between contracting parties. Standard form contracts have evolved due to construction business becoming increasingly complex and the difficulty in drafting bespoke conditions of contract for each project. Numerous advantages have been identified in using standard forms of contract. However, clients often modify some clauses in order to include specific requirements for a project. While the consequences of ill-modifications to standard forms have been researched, no study has been done on the impact of these modifications on the clarity and readability of the document. Using 281 modified clauses from large infrastructure projects implemented in Sri Lanka, this study found that on balance modifications generally make the document more difficult to read; 60% of the sample clauses were more difficult to read compared to 40% becoming easier. More than 50% of the original and modified clauses were still at the ‘very difficult’ level of readability, which requires the equivalent of post-graduate level to understand. The study contends that modifications have not resulted in improved readability. The study highlights the necessity of clear and plain language when modifying contract documents

Mapping the e-business profile and trends in cost management in the UK construction industry

The advancement of e-business applications and IT infrastructure has had massive impact on construction business processes over the last decade. The added effects of globalisation coupled with global economic recession have forced businesses to implement e-business applications within their organisations. It is clear in all industries, that e-business technologies have become a key strategic vehicle in improving performance. In Construction, e-business applications complement most of the business functions and have removed geographical boundaries resulting in a global construction market with increased competition, increased collaboration and have helped reducing the fragmentation of the industry. However, even though the successes are inevitable, it is scrutinized that the advancement is still constrained within the industry. Thus there is a need to undertake an analysis of current construction e-business usage and attitude of construction professionals towards e-business trends to ensure a productive and beneficial implementation of construction e-business tools within organisations. This study acknowledged the niche for research into current e-business usage in UK construction organisations and aimed to determine and map the use of ICT in construction cost management activities, and explore the attitudes of professionals towards e-business approaches. Initially a comprehensive literature review was carried out together with an online web search to identify what ICT and software packages are being used for construction cost management activities. Results from this review aided in developing the research questionnaire and a detailed an online structured survey was carried out using the chartered quantity surveying organisations within the UK. This paper presents the findings of the survey and discusses the ICT usage within construction organisations for cost management activities and the attitude of construction professionals towards BIM and construction e-business trends

Construction process categorisation towards developing an E-business maturity model

The rapid pace of change in technology coupled with global economic and environmental changes has had considerable impact on all business sectors. Consequently, organisations are forced to drive towards efficiency savings, productivity improvements and increased collaboration to cope with current demands. This has resulted in execution of electronic ways of conducting business activities increasingly becoming a key strategic approach for many organizations. Electronic business (e-business) processes have taken businesses to new dimensions and organisations are moving away from traditional processes to modern ways of working through the use of electronic media. These new approaches create new pathways to gain competitive advantage and they guarantee valuable rewards for organizations. Even though the possibilities afforded are evident, compared to other industries the level of e-business implementation within the construction industry is not widespread and robust as anticipated. This indicates that there is a need for advancement of construction e-business practices. Hence, for construction organisations currently using e-business tools and for those who have yet to utilize and seek to adopt e-business tools, there is a need to undertake an analysis of their business processes and working methods to ensure a productive and beneficial implementation of these tools. This necessitates undertaking an analysis of current construction e-business processes to ensure productive implementation in order to develop their e-business capabilities and levels of maturity. This paper acknowledges the niche for research into e-business capability and maturity of e-business processes and presents a protocol for categorizing the construction processes for the development of a construction e-business capability maturity model. Process classification methodology comprised of two stages; initially an archival analysis to identify and categorise construction processes followed by expert interviews to review and refine the categorisation. Results of this classification aided in developing a construction e-business capability maturity model which can use to identify the status of their current e-business process implementation

Textual complexity of standard conditions used in the construction industry

Clearly written communication aids the understanding of construction contracts, resulting in less disputation. Past research, using opinion surveys rather than objective criteria, shows that construction contracts lack clarity and standard forms have become complex over time. The study outlined in this paper uses three objective measures of clarity developed by linguists to establish the readability of construction contracts. In addition, thirty industry professionals participated in a Cloze Test which measured the level of comprehension of clauses concerning disputes. The study verifies that contract conditions are very difficult to read, with college level reading skills needed to comprehend half of the clauses. However, the hypothesis that standard forms have become complex over time was not supported by the study. The study establishes a linear relationship between readability and comprehension, proving the hypothesis that improved readability increases the comprehension of a contract clause

Capability maturity modelling of construction e-business processes

The Construction sector is a major part of the UK economy which contributes some 7% of GDP which is worth about ￡110 billion per annum, comprising of three main sub sectors: commercial and social, residential and infrastructure (GCS, 2011). However, it has long been seen as an inefficient and underachieving industry (Latham, 1994; Egan, 1998; Fairclough, 2002; GCS, 2011). There has been stream of reports published which identify the need of performance improvement in the construction industry (Latham, 1994; Egan, 1998; 2002; Fairclough, 2002). Many authors recommend that the industry should pay greater attention to processes and organisations should move towards a focus of ‘process thinking’ in order to achieve desired improvements (Latham, 1994; Egan, 1998; 2002; Atkin et al., 2003; Harris and McCaffer, 2013). Electronic business (e-business) is defined as a means of developing new ways of carrying out business activities with the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (Li, 2007). It has become a significant source of innovation for modern businesses in every industry including Construction. e-Business is an innovative approach for traditional construction organisations to gain competitive advantages and product, process and performance improvements. It has substantial benefits for every type of organisation.e-Business processes can play important roles in each stage of a construction project and they have been proven to have the potential to improve many industry processes through time and cost savings (Anumba and Ruikar, 2008; Schneider, 2010; Chaffey, 2011). Construction organisations have strategically redesigned their business processes by complementing ICTs in such a way that the processes are more efficient and effective (Love et al., 2004). Keraminiyage et al. (2008) confirm a relationship between the IT and some of the existing process improvement initiatives. Improved productivity and efficiency in the construction industry would have significant impact on the national economy

Towards a stepwise improvement tool for construction e-Business: conceptual approach

The higher pace of development of technology has had momentous effects on all aspects of the business sector. Electronic ways of conducting business activities have taken the industry to a new era and construction organizations are moving away from traditional processes to modern ways of working through the use of electronic media. The impact of the current economic crisis has also made the use of e-business activities vital and essential to achieve better performance, productivity improvements and efficiency savings for construction businesses. Even though the possibilities afforded by e-business are evident, the level of implementation is not elevated as expected within the construction industry compared to other industries. While traditionally being backward in adopting new technologies, construction organisations have considerable e-business usage gaps from large scale to small, medium and micro level businesses. This difference reveals that there is a plausible opportunity for advancement and it needs to be captured and managed. Hence for construction organisations currently using e-business tools and for those who have yet to use and seek to adopt e-business tools, there is a need to undertake an analysis of their business processes and working methods to ensure efficient and effective use of these tools. This doctoral study will bridge this gap and need of the industry by aiming to develop an “e-business Capability Maturity Model (CMM)” as a tool for step-wise improvement of capability to carry out construction e-business activities. The benefit of such tool is to help construction organisations to know how to move from one level to the other by improving their e-business capabilities and thereby improving organisational processes. This paper presents the concept of CMM for construction e-business and the indicative research methodology