Leentje Volker

Measuring employee satisfaction in new offices – the WODI toolkit

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a toolkit to measure employee satisfaction and perceived labour productivity as affected by different workplace strategies. The toolkit is being illustrated by a case study of the Dutch Revenue Service.Design/methodology/approach – The toolkit has been developed by a review of literature and tools for data‐collection. The toolkit has been tested and explored further in a number of case studies.Findings – The toolkit includes a working environment diagnostic tool for an indicative or diagnostic evaluation, a list of key performance indicators that can be used for benchmarking purposes, and a space utilization monitor to measure the occupancy of workplaces. Data collected with the tool provides organizations with a clear picture of user experience of the working environment on its own, in comparison to other organizations and in comparison to the goals of the organization. Employees are also asked to rank the issues in order of importance to overall satisfac...

BIM in the operations stage: bottlenecks and implications for owners

Purpose – The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Netherlands is increasing. Studies show that BIM is mainly used in the lifecycle stages of initiation, development and realisation. Owners and operators are presumably yet to discover the added value of BIM for maintenance and information management within their organisations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate information management during the operations stage from the viewpoint of owners and determines the added value of BIM within this growing field of construction. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on a literature review, explorative interviews and process modelling. In total, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted among public real estate and infrastructure owners and operators, software companies, service providers and contractors. Findings – This paper provides empirical insights into the sources of inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the activities of Dutch semi-public and public clients. It finds th...

Procuring architectural services: sensemaking in a legal context

Decision makers involved in selecting an architect for a building project in the public domain have to comply with European procurement regulations. The blend of the legal requirements and the subjective elements of architectural design creates a situation in which the legal rationale often clashes with the organizational sensemaking process that decision makers experience. Hence, being aware of the origin of these conflicts could have important managerial implications for the design of a tender process. A competition and a tender case were selected to collect data by observation, interviewing and document analysis. The incremental and iterative character of making sense of supply and demand and the implicit ways of aggregating value judgements in order to make a final procurement decision were found to be the main underlying decision processes in procuring architectural services. Being aware of these characteristics in the design of a tender process would significantly reduce the chance of conflictive situations.

A PARTICIPAÇÃO DO ARQUITETO NO MODELO DE PROJETO INTEGRADO (IPD): A PRINCIPAL TENDÊNCIA DE MUDANÇA PARA AS EMPRESAS DE PROJETO DE ARQUITETURA?

Proposal: The construction industry is changing more and more towards integrated project delivery. Most of the research about integrated project delivery focuses on contractors. Architects could however also improve their competitive position and project portfolio by taking on an active role in innovative integrated projects. Based on a survey among 110 Dutch architectural design firms the types of offices are described that show interest in integrated practices as part of their competition strategy. The results of this research reveal critical factors that are drivers for change in current marketing and organisational strategies of architectural design firms. Especially more control over construction processes and product quality makes firms think about changing their strategies. Very small and very large firms seemed particularly interested in competing in integrated project delivery. The office profiles that were found in the survey appear to contrast to the expectations from literature about the organisation of these kinds of firms. This could be a result of their need for flexibility and adaptability in order to deliver creative designs. However, the results indicate that the chances are high that in the future a significant part of the architectural design firms will enact in integrated project delivery.

Flexibility in PPP contracts – Dealing with potential change in the pre-contract phase of a construction project

Abstract Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) cover a range of possible relationships between public and private parties. PPP contracts are typically used in contexts of great uncertainty, such as large construction and infrastructure projects that are realized over a longer period of time. Hence, a major challenge in PPPs is to keep construction progress cost-efficient and on schedule, under continuously changing circumstances. One way to achieve this is through clever contracting, by proactively anticipating potential change in the planning phase and providing flexible contract mechanisms that enable an effective response. The purpose of this article is to discuss potential changes and the subsequent requirement of flexibility in PPP contracts. By flexibility, we mean the ability of the contract to deal with changing circumstances. We set out to do so by studying the available literature on the subject and by analysing the case study of the Blankenburgverbinding in the Netherlands, a Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) project that is currently in its planning phase based on 32 interviews. Our main findings are that the timely and accurate recognition of potential changes, combined with the availability of flexible coping mechanisms, provide the stakeholders with a better understanding of the challenges they face in realizing their aims in the pre-contract phase of projects. This understanding helps to better prepare a PPP contract for potential changes.

Trade-offs in the value capture of architectural firms: the significance of professional value

Architectural firms often have difficulty generating profit from their services as they pursue not only commercial but also professional goals. These goals frequently conflict and have to be balanced during the process of value creation and value capture. So far, literature has focused on the interaction between the perceived use value for the customer and the fee that is paid to the firm. To better understand how professional service firms realize their organizational targets, professional value needs to be included. In this study, in-depth interviews with the architects and clients of nine housing projects provide insight into the content and process of value capture by architectural firms. The data reveal strategies by which architects tried to maximize the capture of professional value at the expense of profit or sometimes even their clients’ perceived use value. These trade-offs in value capture confirm the importance of professional value when studying value creation and capture in a professional service context. This paper provides an understanding of how architectural firms struggle to balance competing goals and highlights the importance of well-managed value capture.

Asset management maturity in public infrastructure: the case of Rijkswaterstaat

In times of restructuring governmental policies and resources, the need for strategic asset management is growing. Maturity models offer organisations a structure to assist them in improving their asset management performance. We present the results of a repeated maturity measurement based on the infrastructure management maturity matrix (IM3) in Rijkswaterstaat, a Dutch public infrastructure organisation. The IM3 distinguishes five maturity levels from ad hoc to optimised, and seven asset management dimensions: information management, internal coordination, external coordination, market approach, risk management, processes and roles, and culture and leadership. The results show significant progress on all dimensions, and continued learning and widespread awareness of asset management in the organisation. In the discussion, we reflect on the findings and possible future developments for the organisation. We also discuss the potential impact of infrastructure maturity models for the professionalisation of other asset intensive organisations

Looking out to look in : inspiration from social sciences for construction management research

Abstract In reaction to the recent call for critical debate in the field of construction management research, I argue that we should embrace the richness of adjacent fields of study in order to dynamically develop our own and face the plethora of contemporary societal challenges that exist in our industry. I introduce the concepts of other-than-rational thinking in decision-making and multiplicity in management responses as examples of inspirational sources from social sciences that would contribute to truly understanding the driving forces of construction management processes. I connect these concepts to contemporary studies in construction management and share my experiences with several positive collaborative approaches in conducting construction management research.

Taking on a wider view: public value interests of construction clients in a changing construction industry

Abstract For financial and strategic reasons, public and semi-public construction clients increasingly depend on private parties to carry out public service delivery. They subcontract operational responsibilities to private parties while remaining socio-politically responsible for ensuring public values. Public administration literature mainly addresses the importance of procedural and performance values in safeguarding public values. However, safeguarding the quality of the built environment also requires a focus on product values. In this study, we aim to increase the understanding of the meaning and significance of public values in the daily practice of public construction clients and identify the challenges they face in commissioning these seemingly opposing values. A set of semi-structured interviews with the public administrators of a variety of public and semi-public construction client organizations in the Netherlands shows that both internal and external factors influence the collaborative practices between clients and contractors. This causes a value shift from an emphasis on procedural values to managing performance and product values, indicating that clients need to take on a wider view on public values. Six main public value dilemmas were found that complicate the task of developing an open, transparent and sustainable long-term client–contractor relationship. The current contractual system, however, lacks the flexibility to facilitate this product-based value view in construction.