Anthony Perrenoud

Measuring risk management performance within a capital program

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to describe how the University of Minnesotas capital program implemented risk management metrics on 266 construction projects and to present the results of the risk metrics. Design/methodology/approach – The implementation of Weekly Risk Reports (WRR) on the university construction projects captured information on the internal and external efforts related to minimizing project risks. The report implemented captured project risks, management plans, cost changes and schedule delays. Findings – Findings reveal that the university was able to effectively capture project risk metrics through the WRR. The risk metrics identified the risks categories that impacted the 266 project costs and schedules. Through these findings, the university has a better understanding of how their internal stakeholders create the greatest risk to impacting the project cost and schedule. This paper presents the risk impacts collected from the 266 projects. Research limitations/implications – A...

Project Risk Distribution during the Construction Phase of Small Building Projects

AbstractEarly identification and communication of risks throughout the construction phase allows project teams to manage and minimize cost increases and schedule delays while increasing customer satisfaction. A better understanding of the distribution of risks during a construction project can improve risk management. This research created a new term, risk encounter, which measures and defines when a risk is communicated on a project, relative to the project schedule. This paper examines risk-management data regarding 229 small building projects at a U.S. university. The project teams encountered 1,229 risk events. A risk encounter was calculated for each risk event and plotted against a project lifecycle timeline. Individual risks were found to have unique characteristics related to the impact on the project cost, the impact on the schedule, and the nature of the risk. This study attempted to identify whether the characteristics of risk affect the distribution of risks during construction. ANOVA results ...

Analysis of Executive Succession Planning in 12 Construction Companies

ABSTRACT The most vital resource in a construction company is the executive leadership. Therefore, executive succession can significantly affect a company, with the potential to cause both visible and invisible negative impacts. Changes in leadership can cause turmoil, both financially and operationally; unless minimized through careful succession planning. Research on succession planning shows that beginning to prepare for leadership transition before it occurs can minimize potential negative impacts. Despite the importance of succession planning, little research is available on how to improve leadership transitions in the construction industry. Thisarticler presents the findings from interviewing 12 former and current executives at construction companies that experienced leadership transitions. The findings include insight regarding the methods the companies used to plan and implement executive succession. This article also discusses the correlation between the number of succession practices a company applies and the executive’s level of satisfaction with the leadership transition. The results of Spearman’s rank-order correlation and linear regression analysis indicate a strong positive correlation exists between the number of practices implemented and the satisfaction level.

Implementing New Project Delivery Strategies: Development of a Web-Based Multimedia Tool to Support Owner Project Team Training

For large public organizations, implementing a new project delivery strategy for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) services requires significant organizational change. A key challenge is how to address the specific needs of multiple individual AEC projects while maintaining organization-wide consistency. Numerous barriers exist to hinder successful implementation, and the delivery of training content to various stakeholder interests must address role-specific modifications to work processes. The Delphi method is employed to develop the framework for delivering organizational training through the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) to create a centralized process training tool that can be accessed by multiple distributed AEC project teams. Key aspects of the tool are presented, as well as feedback from experts in the implementation of value-based project delivery regarding the tool’s effectiveness in distributing training content, minimizing key technical barriers to change, and optimizing the allocation of training resources between project- and organizational-level aspects of implementation. Application of the tool within a project delivery change effort was demonstrated to reduce the in-person training requirements needed for project teams to accomplish work tasks. The framework for an ICT-based process training tool is a key contribution of this research and may be considered by industry practitioners.

Implementing Project Delivery Process Improvements: Identification of Resistance Types and Frequencies

AbstractOwner organizations within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry are presented with a wide variety of potential process-related improvements aimed at increasing project efficiency and performance. Implementation of process improvements can prove to be extremely difficult; previous research cautions that perhaps more than half of all planned organizational change initiatives fail to accomplish their intended objectives, oftentimes due to resistance exhibited by the organization’s own personnel. This study utilizes an action research approach to document and catalogue employee resistance across multiple owner organizations that were engaged in the implementation of new process improvements within their project delivery practices. An analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc testing was performed to identify a prioritized ranking of the most frequently encountered resistive behavior types within owner project teams. This study contributes empirical documentation of change resi...

Attracting and Retaining Tradespeople, an Evaluation of Influencers on Construction Workers in Two Different Trades in Texas

ABSTRACT The shortage of workers across construction trades is a growing concern in the United States. This study collected the perceptions of 429 construction workers in two different trades to explore and contrast their perceptions and experiences in choosing and remaining in their trade. Worker perceptions were collected using open ended and Likert scale questions to explore the influencers on workers. While higher salaries were indicated as perhaps the single best means of attracting and retaining workers to these trades, the results suggest that money is not the only effective means to attract and retain workers, in both high and low skill construction trades. Resources for training as well as family and friends have a strong influence in career choice among construction workers. The results also indicate that while there is a level of consistency between different trades regarding what attracts and retains them, strategies should not simply be geared to construction in general, due to ethnic, skill-level, and unionization differences between trades, efforts need to be catered to the specific trades within the construction industry.

Identification and Prioritization of Critical Subject Matter within Mechanical Systems Curriculum in Construction Management Education

ABSTRACT In order for students graduating with construction-related undergraduate degrees to provide immediate and effective benefit to their employers, program curricula must accurately reflect the needs of the industry. One area of the typical construction management curriculum that receives a varying level of emphasis and consideration amongst accredited programs is Mechanical Systems. Similarly, the wide range of possible topics and concepts relevant to mechanical systems receive varying levels of attention. The purpose of this research was to identify what mechanical system topics and concepts were perceived by industry partners as being most important for graduating construction students to know. Construction industry professionals were surveyed to determine what topics they believed warranted prioritization in mechanical system courses. Results indicate that topics related to Contract Administration (e.g., plan and specification reading, MEP coordination, submittal review, etc.) and How HVAC Systems Work (e.g., differences between HVAC system types, HVAC equipment, etc.) were comparatively the most important topics for students to have a knowledge of. Instructors of mechanical systems classes should use these findings to determine what major subject areas to focus on, and allocate time to the various specific concepts appropriately within the constraints of their individual program.