Eddy M. Rojas

Social Network Analysis of Collaborative Ventures for Overseas Construction Projects

As the world construction market becomes more globalized, an increasing number of construction companies, including both large companies (LCs) and small and medium-sized companies (SMCs), have extended their business to the global market. During this process, the number of collaborative ventures to mitigate the burden of entry risks has greatly increased. This study aims to investigate the formation of construction firms’ collaborative networks for performing international projects from both the LC and SMC network perspectives. To this end, 389 real cases of overseas projects executed by Korean firms over the last two decades that involved collaboration were analyzed using social network analysis (SNA) approach. The result showed that LCs and SMCs have different perspectives when pursuing collaborative ventures for overseas construction projects; LCs have a tendency to form large and dense networks, whereas SMCs prefer to maintain long-term and targeted relationships. Moreover, this study showed a series ...

Estimating Optimal Labor Productivity: A Two-Pronged Strategy

In an attempt to evaluate the efficiency of labor-intensive construction operations, project managers compare actual with historical productivity for equivalent operations. However, this approach towards examining productivity only provides a relative benchmark for efficiency and may lead to the characterization of operations as authentically efficient when in reality such operations may be only comparably efficient. Optimal labor productivityuf0bethe highest sustainable productivity achievable in the field under good management and typical field conditionsuf0becan provide an absolute benchmark for gauging performance. This optimal productivity level is lower than the productivity frontieruf0bethe theoretical maximum achieved under perfect conditionsuf0bebecause of system inefficiencies, which emerge due to factors outside the control/influence of project managers. Conversely, optimal labor productivity tends to be higher than actual labor productivityuf0bethe productivity achieved in the fielduf0bebecause of operational inefficiencies, which are the result of suboptimal managerial strategies. Estimating the magnitude of these system and operational inefficiencies will help project managers determine optimal labor productivity. This paper develops a two-prong strategy for estimating optimal labor productivity. The first prong represents a top-down approach that estimates optimal productivity by introducing system inefficiencies into the productivity frontier. A Qualitative Factor Model is used to determine the impact of system inefficiencies. This top-down approach yields the upper level estimation of optimal labor productivity. The second prong is a bottom-up approach that determines optimal labor productivity by removing non-contributory work from actual productivity in a discrete event simulation. This bottom-up approach generates the lower level estimation of optimal labor productivity. An average of the upper and lower limits reveals the best estimate for optimal labor productivity. In conjunction with a relevant literature study and a discussion of the twoprong approach’s methodology, this paper ultimately analyzes data from a pilot study, presents results, and evaluates the feasibility of this two-prong strategy for estimating optimal labor productivity in construction operations.

Developing and Testing a 3D Video Game for Construction Safety Education

Construction safety education has mostly relied on one-way transference of knowledge from instructors to students through traditional lectures and media such as textbooks. However, we argue that safety knowledge could be more effectively acquired in experiential situations. The authors have developed a 3D video game where students learn by themselves about safety issues in a virtual construction site. Students, who assume the roles of safety inspectors in the game, explore a virtual site to identify potential hazards and learn from the feedback provided by the game as a result of their input. This paper reports on the game design and development process as well as a preliminary assessment of the games effectiveness. The preliminary assessment was conducted on five students and the results suggested a positive outlook as well as areas for improvement. Further work to improve the game includes incorporating additional violation scenarios, adding new game features to enrich the game experience, and providing enhanced pedagogical opportunities.

Defining High-Level Project Control Data for Visual Information Systems

Over the course of a typical construction project, project managers constantly monitor progress and resolve problems. However, it may be not easy to track and identify performance problems when a construction project generates a great volume and variety of ever-changing data during the construction phase. Traditionally, in order to identify performance problems, project managers walk job sites and meet or call several individuals. Since the advent of web-based tools, project managers have been able to obtain information by logging on to a projects web site. However, early efforts at using computers to manage construction projects came up short with technology that was awkward or costly. Today, thanks to advancements in information technology, web-based tools are capable of displaying information in easy-to-read graphics, assembled from data pulled from multiple sources in real time. This paper explores what data should be collected for web-based systems to provide project managers with threshold level information regarding actual project status so that they can focus on the “big picture.” This exploration is based on literature review and interviews with fifteen project managers from construction firms in the Puget Sound area. The information presented in this paper may serve as the foundation for the development of visual information systems to support the work of construction project managers.

EMBEDDEDNESS AND COLLABORATIVE VENTURE NETWORKS FOR OVERSEAS CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Finding competent collaborators while executing construction projects overseas is of paramount importance for project success. The partner choice and project performance cannot be understood only from an economic viewpoint since it is constrained by the firms embeddedness in social relations. Based on this premise, this paper provides not only a theoretical explanation of the impact of structural and relational embeddedness on firms economic behavior and outcomes, but also empirical evidence by analyzing collaborative cases jointly performed by Korean construction firms working overseas during the past 18 years. Three conclusions are drawn. First, the inter-firm network has scale-free network properties. Second, the network retained endogamic characteristics in that a great majority of smaller firms had worked with only one large firm, forming strong subgroups. Last, there is plausible evidence of the impact of structural embeddedness as well as relational embeddedness on the level of profit.

THE EVOLUTION OF COLLABORATION WITHIN INTER- ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS OF TEMPORARY PROJECT TEAMS

This paper introduces an agent-based simulation (ABS) of “the evolution of collaboration” within inter-organizational networks of construction project teams from a game theory and social network point of views. The authors simulation shows that as individuals are less familiar with others in the network and thereby less aware of networks they are involved in, it is more likely to take a longer time for networks to reach stable states. It was also found that the stronger tendency of cohesion arises, as the effort that individuals have to make for forming a relation with outside partner increases. Furthermore, the results indicate that the more efforts individuals need to make to form relations with those from other organizations, the less efficient networks are formed.