Farshid Rahmani

An overview of construction procurement methods in Australia

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the use of various construction procurement systems in the past and present, specifically within the Australian construction industry and to overview the historical development of procurement both globally and in the Australian context through the existing literature. Design/methodology/approach The paper is an in-depth literature review of various construction procurement systems used in the past and present, both in general and within the context of Australian construction industry. Findings The findings suggest that even though relationship-based procurement (RBP) systems offer significant benefits to all project participants, they are unproved by many decision makers because of lack of robust theoretical concept and inability in demonstrating value for money (VfM) for public projects, which would be one of the factors causing move away from RBP in the future. Originality/value This review is one of its kind. There is no such review done before within the context of Australian construction industry in such a detail. This review is a part of a recently completed PhD study.

Abductive Grounded Theory: a worked example of a study in construction management

Abstract Grounded Theory, now more than 50 years old, is a qualitative research approach widely employed in the social and human science studies to develop theories with a high degree of conceptuality. For construction management research, given the nature of this applied sub-discipline of management, a paradigmatic shift in Grounded Theory is needed, from classical positivism to pragmatism. Abductive Grounded Theory is posited as the way to achieve this shift in research methodology. The proposition is explored through a worked example, using Early Contractor Involvement research as a case study to demonstrate the research process. The data analysis process of open coding, axial coding and selective coding is described, together with the process of matching complementary prospect theory to explain the interdependencies between theoretical categories. The issues of validity and reliability are addressed. Of particular importance is the faithfulness to the original analytical coding process and then abduction of existing theories from salient literature to explain the relationships amongst emergent concepts. The findings show that, while the development of the research question is initially influenced by the review of literature, there is no deliberate effort to direct or force the collected information towards any set of pre-defined concepts. The study shows promising potential for using Abductive Grounded Theory to develop conceptual and instrumental theories in construction management research.

Viscoelastic Materials: Innovation and Development Countenance

While performance and durability are the key features of any Material behavior, the greater the elasticity and flexibility ability the better the functioning capabilities. These Material functioning capabilities not only include improved Load Bearing Capacity (LBC), but also enhanced stress and strain abilities. In addition, these functioning capabilities are dependent on composition of the material, Total Load (TL) and Design specification requirements. A key mechanical behavior of materials is their Viscoelastic ability. While Viscous materials are objects that become deformed via shear and tensile stresses, elastic materials are those that change their shape under stress and strain. Furthermore, Viscoelastic materials are those which portray both elastic characteristics as well as viscous behavior when enduring deformation. This Viscoelastic ability is a critical factor for materials to be effectively Total Load (TL) resistant. Accordingly, this paper will discuss some of the more important Material innovation, and development countenances such as functionality to further demonstrate the overall Viscoelastic behavior.

Analysing the drivers for early contractor involvement adoption by construction clients

The use of a relationship-based procurement method is promoted by many authors in the past few years. The construction industry is encouraged to adopt a relational contract in an effort to overcome its perceived problems prevailing in the industry. Despite a number of benefits proposed for the adoption of a relationship-based delivery method, the decision to select such a method should be made wisely, and clients should have adequate understanding about the strength and weakness of the method they intend to employ. There are several examples that incorrect selection of a procurement method resulted into value not delivered during the project and the outcomes were below of what it would have achieved by using a traditional type of delivery system. For this reason, this paper focuses on ECI procurement system as one of the relationship-based procurement methods. This paper aims at identifying and analysing the particular characteristics of ECI that attract clients to opt for using this method and analysing these drivers in more detail.