Management Systems for Construction

Alan Griffith, Paul Stephenson, Paul Watson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317882466
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architektur
• Subtopic: Architektur Allgemein

The book provides a concise focussed guide to the main management areas that are essential to the success of modern construction projects. The concepts, principles and applications in the seven main management areas that are essential to the success of construction projects are presented. It links in with The CIOB's Education Framework is recommended reading for The CIOB.

1 Introduction

Preamble

The high levels of construction management skills that are assembled and structured into effective project teams and the demanding responsibilities that are assumed for any construction project are principally a function of the degree of specialisation that has evolved within the construction industry. Specialisation is intrinsic to construction. Large and complex projects are characterised by their teams of specialists. Traditionally, these specialists have included planners, estimators, surveyors and construction managers with the focus on planning, monitoring and controlling project tasks and their sequence, resourcing, duration and cost. In recent times, these specialists have been joined by an additional host of managers, with the most prominent responsibilities focusing on quality, health and safety, environmental impact, and information technology.

Today’s construction projects could not function without some degree of specialisation. Each specialist contributes to the project by following established professional working practices and by implementing particular systems, manifest in sets of procedures which translate each concept into management tasks. Specialists guide the various stages of the construction process, and the systems which they adopt assist them to maintain the many, varied and complex arrangements that need to be made. Furthermore, clients and the corporate management of those organisations involved with the construction process require an assurance that organisational and project procedures are being clearly determined and followed. This is absolutely essential in a construction environment, where there is increasingly stringent regulation, performance auditing and wide public accountability.

This book provides an introduction to six specialist and key management concepts and the management functions, systems and procedures that they give rise to. These are the management of time, cost, quality, health and safety, environmental impact, and information and communication. The organisational focus is the principal contracting organisation. All of these management support services underpin the success of both the construction project and the core business of the parent organisation. Within each chapter, the purpose is to provide an introduction to the management concept and the systems that may be considered in managing that aspect. The final chapter looks at the influence of those management concepts and systems on the organisation and on human resources.

As stated in the preface to this book, there is no intention to be prescriptive or to describe best practice. A contracting organisation must make up its own mind as to how to manage each key concept at both the corporate and construction project levels given its own particular circumstance.

Time planning and control

The management of time is a fundamental and predominant consideration for any construction project. Irrespective of the type of project, its size and resourcing there will an essential requirement to plan, monitor and control all activities against the project’s duration. Within construction, time planning and control is more involved than simply viewing the planning, measuring and control discipline as a routine cycle. The unique nature of the construction process presents complexities, uncertainties and changing circumstances which must be accommodated within the planning and control system used.

Planning will be carried out at the pre-tender, pre-contract and contract stages of most projects, and each stage represents an important activity for a contracting organisation. As almost all but the smallest projects comprise a large number of interdependent items of work and involve many participants, reliable plans and accurate progress-recording mechanisms become all the more essential to project success. The organisation requires a sound time-planning and control system which allows not only efficient and effective management of an individual project but also the likely need to manage multiple projects simultaneously. Again, time-planning and control systems are far from being a simple management tool in application.

Unlike quality, safety and environmental management systems, which are characterised by formal systems meeting the requirements of national and international standards and certification schemes, time-planning and control systems, and for that matter financial-planning and cost-control systems, are systematised within the particular management methods and tools utilised. The management methods applicable are well recognised in sophisticated Gantt charts and the variety of network-based approaches available. The tools used really give the orientation of the management system, since the system is formed around the computing software implemented. Most organisations will have their own preferences for particular software applications for time planning and control. Once familiar and satisfactory to the organisation, it is perhaps one specific application or a small number which forms the hub of time planning and control at both the corporate and project levels.

Chapter 2 presents a detailed introduction to the concept, principles and practices of time planning and control. The need for planning and control and the role of the planner are explained through reviewing the various stages of planning. Methods, tools and applications follow which look at the individual project and multi-project planning and progressing techniques. While specific software applications are not recommended, the use of generic computer software packages around which the organisation may form its time planning and control management systems is explored. It is advocated in this book that a successful approach to time management will be based around a well-understood and effective computer-based project system.

Financial planning and cost control

The planning and control of a construction organisation’s finances are crucial to its long-term well-being and survival. Therefore, it is vital that the senior management of an organisation fully appreciates that it must have a holistic perspective of its financial activities. The cumulative nature of cash flow is a vital aspect in the planning and control of the overall business and operational activities within an organisation.

Within the planning and control of operational processes, managers have to make decisions which have a strong bearing on financial issues at both the corporate and construction project levels. Various techniques are encapsulated within a financial-planning and cost-control system, and these can be set within a decision-making framework.

Though identified and explained in a linear fashion, these techniques are not mutually exclusive and should be viewed as a range of management control tools to be incorporated within a coherent financial control system. Only when this has been achieved will the holistic aspect of planning and control be fully achieved by the organisation.

Quality and performance

Quality has without doubt become a major competitive factor for construction organisations to consider. The proliferation of construction-related firms which are now certificated under the BS/EN/ISO 9000 series underpins this importance. Also, some construction organisations have already implemented or are considering total quality management (TQM) initiatives. Both strategies are being pursued as a means of gaining a competitive advantage. However, the critical issue is that for any organisation to succeed and prosper in the future any competitive advantage must have a high degree of sustainability. It is this issue of sustainability that provides the key to the implementational processes associated with quality systems.

Construction organisations should have a comprehensive understanding of what BS/EN/ISO 9000 quality systems or TQM is designed to achieve. For example, if the senior management of a construction organisation implements BS/EN/ISO 9001 expecting to obtain an immediate improvement in efficiency then it is unlikely to obtain it. This is due to the intrinsic nature of the quality system and what it seeks to achieve.

In Chapter 4, the advocated advantages of quality systems are tested and the main problematic issues of implementation are identified and examined. In addition, generic implementation models are suggested as outline information for any organisation embarking upon the implementation process. A quality system that is dynamic in nature will greatly assist in the attainment of a sustainable competitive edge, but a system should not be merely invoked but rather be founded upon an organisation’s distinctive competence.

Health and safety regulation and implementation

The management of health and safety is unequivocally one of the most important functions of construction management. Construction work is intrinsically hazardous. Injuries to persons on and around construction sites occur regularly. It is perhaps fortuitous that many injuries are minor, but others are serious and some are fatal. The construction industry has over the last 20 years suffered a poor health and safety record. While the number of fatalities has shown a welcome decline in the 1990s, this should not encourage complacency. Construction management has a perpetual and unswerving challenge to ensure a safe working environment.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 introduced welcome and much-needed legislation to construction health and safety. The CDM Regulations are concerned with the management of health and safety throughout the whole construction process. Responsibility is clearly and specifically placed upon clients, designers and contractors to be proactive in the planning, co-ordination and management of health and safety. The Regulations focus on identifying the potential hazards to health and dangers to safety through each stage of the construction process, together with the assessment of their risk.

The CDM Regulations require a two-stage approach to health and safety planning and management. The first stage focuses on the project evaluation and development processes with the object of producing a pre-tender health and safety plan. The second stage focuses on the production site processes with the object of producing a construction health and safety plan. It is the essential element of planning within each stage which forms the basis for a systems management approach, within which risk assessment is the central theme.

Effective health and safety management systems and working procedures are the goal of the main parties to the construction project. The lead consultant, representing the client and working with sub-consultants, is charged with delivering a pre-tender health and safety plan and implementing management procedures that make a full contribution to project health and safety. The principal contractor is charged with delivering a construction health and safety plan. Moreover, the contractor must establish management systems and working procedures which ensure the maintenance of safe working conditions.

Well-formulated health and safety management systems will identify, assess and control risk both within and across the professional boundaries of the parties. Feedback loops within the designer’s and the contractor’s approach will ensure that information is not only directed within the span of control of the individual party but also contributes to the management processes within other systems. Within the context of the CDM Regulations, a specific outcome from the management approach to health, and safety is the delivery of a health and safety file – a complete profile of health and safety planning and management throughout the construction project.

That a systematic approach to health and safety management in construction is essential is not in question. Government has recognised and the industry accepted that the undesirable accident record of construction must be improved. The CDM Regulations place clear and unambiguous responsibilities upon the main contracting parties to deliver health and safety management. It is suggested in this book that the implementation of a clearly conceived, formally structured and well-organised health and safety management system is the most appropriate way for participants to ensure that they make a full contribution to providing a safe construction process. Health and safety management systems (H&SMS) development is following in much the same way as quality management and environmental management. Moving towards accredited certification schemes, an H&SMS should meet the requirements of BS 8800, the UK’s specification for health and safety management system development.

Environmental evaluation and control

The construction industry has a significant effect upon the environment whenever, wherever and in whatever form construction works are carried out. Almost all organisations within the construction industry face increasing pressures to broaden their understanding of environmental matters. Moreover, they must respond to commercial and public expectations for improved environmental business performance and commitment to environmental safeguards.

Awareness of environmental management within the industry is increasing. Influenced by the introduction of BS 7750 – ‘Specification for Environmental Management Systems’ – in 1992 and its international counterpart ISO 14001 in 1994, environmental management systems, or EMS, are considered by many construction clients, consultants and contractors as a positive way forward in response to increasing environmental demands.

Environmental management standards recommend that an organisation should develop, implement and maintain a structured management system commensurate with the environmental policy, strategy, aims and objectives that it sets in the course of running its business. It must have in place formalised mechanisms for the evaluation and control of its environmental effects. Furthermore, it must ensure that the system meets all the current environmental legislation which regulates its business products and activities.

The contribution made to an organisation through the implementation of an environmental management system can be considerable. Benefits may extend well beyond satisfying particular environmental legislation. Benefits may be conceived both within the intra-organisational framework and operations and within the external business environment.

An environmental management system may take the form of a standard system which meets the specification of a recognised national or international system, or it can be a bespoke system to meet the individual needs of the organisation and its business. Systems do not need to be established in one fell swoop. They can be built up gradually as various sets of procedures are introduced and embedded within the culture and management practices of the organisation. Certainly, where environmental management systems have been established within construction organisations experiences have been positive, and such vision and commitment is seen as the most proactive way of meeting the environmental business challenges of the future.

Within the construction process, environmental management has made some strong inroads. In construction procurement, some clients are pre-qualifying prospective consultants and contractors based on their level of environmental proactivity. It is overwhelmingly likely that there will be increasing pressure upon consultants and contractors to support environmental management from public sector and major private sector clients. This will be particularly prominent for projects with significant environmental sensitivity. In time, it is possible that for an organisation to be placed on a tendering list it must validate its experience in the use of a formalised environmental management system.

The principal focus of environmental management system implementation is at the production site by the main contractor. Certainly, this is the most obvious and appropriate application of environmental management, since the production stage is where the greatest environmental effects are invariably manifest. Contracting organisations have a key responsibility within construction management to safeguard the environment in the course of carrying out their works. The systems and procedures that they adopt and the level of commitment that they demonstrate will be enhanced where support and commitment come from corporate management. For this reason, environmental management works most effectively where the parent company establishes a corporate environmental management system which is translated into a system of procedures implemented at the project site level. Such an approach is suggested in this book. Emphasis is placed on developing, implementing and monitoring this appropriate environmental management system.

In addition, the understanding and application of environmental management principles is important at the project evaluation stage. Here the process of environmental impact assessment is vital in identifying and evaluating the potential environmental effects of the project. Also essential to a successful project outcome is environmental evaluation in the briefing and design stages. These stages are crucial as they provide invaluable information to the client and designer throughout the project evaluation and development process. In this book, these aspects are also addressed and again it is suggested that a systematic approach to their undertaking is essential if the project is to reach a successful outcome.

Spiralling demands for more environmentally empathetic evaluation, design and construction, and in parti...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Time planning and control systems
• 3. Financial planning and cost-control systems
• 4. Quality systems and performance
• 5. Health and safety regulation and implementation systems
• 6. Environmental evaluation and control systems
• 7. Information technology and communications systems
• 8. The influence of management systems on organisation and human resources
• Index