Construction Management
The construction industry is one of the largest industries globally and has a central position in the economy of many countries. Large projects commonly have a long time span and involve great expenses (Sears et al., 2015). Further, numerous people from several disciplines are involved, which adds even more complexity to the construction management. The construction industry itself comprises all structures from housing and non-residential buildings to industrial buildings.
Construction Project Management
Project management in construction involves the whole life-cycle of a project. It deals with planning, design, and construction of entire projects. These projects might last from shorter periods to several years, and construction management includes monitoring several project aspects, such as time, scope, cost, and quality. It also coordinates human and material resources (Santos, 2017). The goal is to satisfy the predetermined objectives.
Construction projects are highly complex and involve many different operations and tasks (Howell, 1999). Commonly a construction team includes architects, engineers, craft workers, and different contractors, among others (Sears et al., 2015). Some projects have a challenge in formulating a common goal for the project output. Sometimes each part has its own interests and intentions, resulting in the parties working towards different goals.
The construction industry only consists of some large contractors that take on big projects, most of the industry consists of small businesses that are subcontracted (Sears et al., 2015). Contractors are in charge of accomplishing construction work as outlined in a contract. General contractors are often in charge of entire projects. They commonly subcontract smaller specialty contractors that concentrate on more specific tasks.
Construction projects commonly have a hierarchical structure, with managers are in the top levels. At the bottom levels, blue-collar workers are found. A project might have several project managers, but there is commonly one manager administering them all. The project managers are responsible for specific parts of a project, like the design process or piping work. Managers are responsible for completing a project within the required time and cost limitations (Sears et al., 2015). They have a higher authority and does not necessarily have a direct link to the workers at lower levels in the hierarchy.
Most structures have a unique design, which means only smaller components or operations are replicable from existing projects. Despite the considerable variation in construction projects, the project process tends to be somehow similar. Most construction projects follow a standard sequence of stages. The three main subsequent stages are; planning and definition, design, and procurement and construction (Sears et al., 2015).
Planning and definition
This phase is initiating and defining a project. Requirements are established, and constraints are set. Contracts are formulated and signed by different contractors. Conceptual planning is done, and sometimes even preliminary architectural and engineering design is started.
Design
This phase comprises a detailed architectural and engineering design of the whole project. Commonly a project designs digital models containing project information such as geometries and component details.
Procurement and construction
In this phase preparation for construction and the construction work itself takes place. It might, to some extent, overlap with design. Overlapping happens when the construction of a component starts before the design is finished.
The sequence of subsequent phases provides an overview of a construction project. Each phase further contains more detailed tasks and scopes. Completion of a project is often considered as the point where all contracts are fulfilled, and the structure is handed over to the owner (Sears et al., 2015). A fourth phase might be recognised after the structure has been handed over. This phase involves the operation and maintenance of the building throughout its lifespan. The four phases can be distinguished in regard to their granularity and appearance as seen in figure 4 (Dale, 1991).
GRANULARITY
Coarse
Fine
Plan
Reality
Conceptual Design
Detailed Design and Analysis
Operation and Maintenance
Construction
APPEARANCE
Figure 4 The four-sector model of the structural life-cycle (Dale, 1991).
Figure 4 shows the life-cycle of a construction project in regard to granularity and appearance of each phase. The first two phases belong to planning. This mostly happens in an office, before the structure is built in the physical reality. The subsequent parts of the project include the execution of these plans. This includes building the structure on the physical site and later maintaining the structure. In terms of granularity, the project phases can be classified as either coarse or fine. The two phases on the left side of the model require little detail. Conceptual design and later operating the structure only requires brief design details giving an overview. The two phases presented on the right side in the figure, have a granularity of high detail. These phases include a detailed design where those details are later constructed on-site. A high level of details is important in order to achieve the requested result.
Coordinative Interactions
There are several ways of coordinating work and collaborate on a project. From sociology, two types of human interplay have been recognised (Schiefloe, 2003):
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Associative interaction is a friendly and useful interaction between the different parties. Collaboration and sharing are central, and the parties are cooperating by choice.
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Dissociative interaction creates animosity and distance between the parties. These interactions often lead to conflicts and competition
The construction industry, however, is dominated by many self-imposed regulations and laws. At the outset of a project, detailed contracts are formulated by stakeholders. It becomes clear that a third way of interacting is dominating the construction industry:
Documentative interaction is more or less enforced cooperation through formal documents, contracts and regulations. The disagreements that occur tend to end in court.
Such way of cooperative work leaves little room for initiative, innovation or local improvements. These are some of the conditions that stimulate stigmergy. The lack of them is probably some of the reason why stigmergy is uncommon in cooperative work of construction.
3.
Lean Construction
Lean construction originates from lean production in manufacturing. Toyota developed lean production, their goal was to reduce waste. The goal of lean construction is based on the same principles of lean manufacturing. They strive to use less of everything, and at the same time meet customer needs in a satisfying way (Howell, 1999). The focus is to use less; less time, cost and work effort. The project is broken into pieces, and activities are optimised on a project level to achieve this (Forbes & Ahmed, 2010). Activities are then put in a logical order for execution. Metrics are monitored to keep track of performance, and workers' capacity is optimised to avoid deadtime. Controlling dependencies is critical for saving time (Howell, 1999). All those actions combined contribute to reducing project duration and required resources.
Lean construction has successfully introduced contracts that reward cooperation and collaboration (Forbes & Ahmed, 2010). This is mostly regarding the contracts between the parties involved in design and construction. Some of the challenges of traditional construction management are removed, but it does not solve the entire issue. There will still be a gap between the designers/constructors and other parties.