David Langford

Construction Reports 1944-1998

It is often said that in order to know where we are going, we need to know where we have been. For some years the construction industry has been challenged to deliver better performance in terms of value for money, timelier construction and defect free building. Behind this remodelling of an industry is Government. The interest by Government is not new, and report after report in the post war period has exhorted the industry to perform better. This book documents how Government, through influential reports, has sought to shape the performance and attitudes of parties to the construction industry. It provides a critical review of 12 of the most significant, setting these against their political, social and economic background, and offers a ready reference and critique for researchers of construction management, government and economics.

Strategies for managing environmental issues in construction organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to study the strategies used by construction organizations in dealing with environmental issues. It identifies the factors which govern a firms performance in respect of environmental management and explores the management strategies which are used to generate good environmental performance. The paper also seeks to consider the techniques adopted in pursuit of these strategies and to compare their effectiveness.Design/methodology/approach – The research reviews the strategic management and environmental management and then proceeds to a case study investigation of six construction organizations. The case studies seek to uncover the variables that influence strategies for managing environmental issues. A cross‐case analysis provides an indication of the characteristics of those companies that demonstrate a higher environmental concern.Findings – As environmental strategies are developed, the competencies in managing environmental issues will grow and lead to impro...

Understanding construction employment: the need for a fresh research agenda

Purpose – As a backdrop to the empirical contributions contained within this special section, this Guest Editorial aims to review the context of construction employment. It summarises the challenges inherent in construction work which have impeded the development of human resource management within the sector and discusses the mutually supporting contributions of the papers in furthering our understanding of how to improve the performance of the industry.Design/methodology/approach – The operational context of the sector is reviewed briefly, before the efficacy of the industrys employment practices are examined through a review of the contributions contained within the special section.Findings – The papers reveal the interplay of structural and cultural factors which have led to the skills shortages currently impeding the industrys development. There is a need for the sector to modernise and formalise its working and employment practices if performance and productivity improvements are to be achieved.Or...

Construction site management team working: a serendipitous event

Despite the pervasive appeal of team working in the construction industry, the empirical relationship between team effectiveness and task performance continues to be generally overlooked. Recognized team performance appraisal remains one of the last frontiers of performance management. This paper sets out to challenge the conventional discourse of team working and test the hypothesis that construction site management team working and project performance is unrelated. The explanatory case-study research method utilizes a variety of data-gathering techniques. An attitude statement questionnaire evaluates team efficacy. A customized suite of key performance indicators sympathetic to project performance is used to measure project success. Statistical examination of the data demonstrates a marked correlation between the two variables. Although the results authenticate the universally acclaimed wisdom; teams and performance are inextricably linked, secondary analysis expose widespread contradictions between the rhetoric of team working and the action of practice. Obstacles to team working include management indifference towards substantive team building, organizational barriers to communication, and the absence of team rewards. A paradigm of individualism predominates, abetted by organizational structures and cultural subsystems that uphold individual answerability at the expense of collective responsibility.

Construction procurement : redefining the contours of organizational structures in procurement

Today there are a number of different types of procurement routes available for clients to choose from. Each different type of procurement (traditional, design and build, management, etc.) has its own proponents and inherent strengths and weaknesses. Selection of optimal procurement systems is difficult, because even experienced clients cannot know all the potential benefits or risks for each system. Procurement is, therefore, a succession of ‘calculated risks’. Industry and academia have focussed research on reducing procurement risk through better procurement-system selection methods. Current research considers procurement as a set of rationalistic decisions within a closed environment, aiming to produce generic, prescriptive rules for clients and advisers to use to select the ‘best’ procurement route for their project. This paper seeks to identify whether prescriptive procurement guidance was adhered to on a set of case study projects. It was found that clients usually selected appropriate procurement systems, and where an inappropriate system was selected, alterations were made in contract form to incorporate aspects of the ‘best’ procurement route.

The impact of eastward enlargement on construction labour markets in European Union member states

This chapter concerns the impact of labour migration on the construction industry in the enlarged European Union (EU). It reviews the varying patterns of employment for construction labour in Europe and considers how these different employment conditions influence the labour process. The movement of construction labour within Europe is considered and the chapter argues that diverse economic and geographical conditions will influence the quantity of migrant labour in different European countries. Labour migration was small in the pre- 2004 EU and is likely to remain small in terms of the numbers currently involved in the EU construction industries; nevertheless, it is expected to grow in the near future. Finally, the benefits and risks of labour migration are considered from the perspective of the migrant worker and indigenous construction employees in respect of wage levels and productivity.

The representation of the professions in the cinema: the case of construction engineers and lawyers

This paper considers how popular culture, especially the cinema, depicts two professions; namely, engineering and the law. It argues that despite the large number of engineers working in the developed economies their lives and their work are seldom portrayed in cinema. In contrast, the legal profession is ubiquitous in its presence in film. The paper seeks to use different forms of analysis, such as culturalism, Marxism, structuralism, feminism and post‐modernism when applied to film theory in settings where engineers and lawyers are depicted. The paper makes a distinction between the presentation of the work of engineers and lawyers in ‘real life’ and cinematic form. The process of engineering in real life is visible yet in cinematic terms it is ignored. In contrast, the legal process is invisible in real life but has high dramatic content in the cinema. When considering the products of the two professions, engineering produces tangible products whilst law produces intangible yet highly cerebral discourses. Yet, in the cinema, the engineering product is a backcloth for other messages where in law the legal product provides a backcloth for a central and dominant message about the legal process. The conclusion is that engineers have to re‐engineer themselves to be more visible in society if they are to be regarded as cinematic heroes.