Nirmal Kumar Acharya

Critical Construction Conflicting Factors Identification Using Analytical Hierarchy Process

The construction industry is dynamic in nature due to increase in uncertainties in technology, budgets, and development processes. Claims and litigation are on a dramatic rise throughout the construction industry. If disputes are not resolved promptly, they tend to drag on and escalate and can cause project delays, lead to claims, require litigation proceedings for resolution, and ultimately destroy business relationships. The purpose of this study is to find out the magnitude of the identified six major construction conflicting factors and responsible parties for those problems. Out of six identified conflicting factors, this study has detected four major factors contributing construction conflict using AHP tool. These four major contributors are: ‘change of site condition’, ‘people interruptions’, ‘change order evaluation’, and ‘defective design’. The survey has also revealed the owner as a more responsible party for these conflicting factors and then followed by the consultant. The paper has suggested taking lead role by the owner to man age the conflicts in the construction sites and driving the project toward accomplishment by best planning. A construction conflict prevention model (CCPM) is suggested.

DESIGN ERRORS: TRAGIC FOR THE CLIENTS

This paper discusses a design error case in a building project in Nepal, where the designer made the wrong assumptions in roof treatment work for waterproofing as well as for heat insulation purposes. Due to the design error, the project had faced profound roof leakage problems over 6000 sq. meters building area. The worst case was that the instructors and the students had to conduct training programs under the leaking roofs. Water proofing polymer not applied directly over concrete slab top and use of heavy concrete block as a heat insulation material were found to be the technical causes of roof leakage. However, carelessness from designer and supervisors also was profound for the leakage. The paper concludes with the lessons to be learned from the problem.

Key attitude indicators (KAI) for measuring attitude of contractors in construction projects

Timely completion and a satisfied owner are the prime objectives of a construction project. The success to achieve these projec t objectives is fully depends on the working approaches (attitude) of a contractor company. Attitude is abstract, which is very difficult to measure directly; therefore it must be inferred from the assumed relationship with observable indicators. Commonly, behavior shown by a person or organization represents its attitude about things or persons or issues. The aim of this paper is to develo pa framework for measuring attitude of a Contractor Company in an ongoing construction project. In this paper a set of key attitud e indicators (KAIs) measured both objectively and subjectively have been developed through a field survey. The validity of the proposed KAIs is also tested by four case studies. The results of the study show that the KAIs stated in the paper can reasonab ly measure the attitude of Contractor Company and can be helpful for the owners and project managers to control their projects effectively. This study also provides few significant insights into developing a general and comprehensive base for further study.

Teamwork and Job Satisfaction in Construction Projects

Conflict may occur when a team is formed. It is more common in a wide varied activities involved construction field. Goals and values involve positive or negative features and are therefore common sources of conflict in construction field. However, excessive conflict is a major hindrance to the effective operation of a team, thus necessary to augment working together culture. This paper aims to identify project team working factors and to uncover underlying relationships between these factors. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from professionals. Factor analysis was employed to categorize twenty-one point teamwork factors evaluated by 169 professionals working in three major construction parties namely, owners, consultants and contractors. Factor analysis uncover that these team work factors can be grouped under three categories titled as: working culture (integration) building, relationship building and trust building. Results of this study can be used as a tool to strengthening relationship between project participants in the construction industry