Wesam Salah Alaloul

The characteristics of coordination process in construction projects

Modern construction projects are no longer confined to a single discipline but are generally multidisciplinary. An independency relationship between a large number of stakeholders required to be managed in construction projects procurement and execution that need continuous coordination. Coordination function is to harmonize the different activities, so that the determined objectives can be reached effectively. However, the study of coordination characteristics are the way to assess the status of coordination in construction projects. Through the literatures, the most important characteristics of coordination process were identified. Quantitative approach was used to investigate them through questionnaire. The data were analyzed by means of statistical analysis and Chi-square test. The analysis showed that, 45.5 % of the respondents mentioned to a moderate level of knowledge about coordination, however 44.6 % were commonly applied coordination culture. Nevertheless, about 60% believed that, ability and willingness are the main obstacle of coordination application. At the same time, 75% considered coordination effect as significantly improve the project performance. In the future, 70 % of the respondents will always apply coordination consideration from their personal motivation. The results of Chi-square show a significant dependent relationship between the position and organization function variables and the eight coordination characteristics.

Communication, coordination and cooperation in construction projects: business environment and human behaviours

The accomplishment of construction projects is extremely dependent on the integration of several stakeholders; therefore none of them has the control or the ability to accomplish the project alone. Each of them may influence and be influenced by the project management approach. There is no comprehensive theoretical platform for defining Communication, Coordination and Cooperation (3Cs) in the management of construction project. This paper deliberates the function of the 3Cs different theoretical perceptions. Through an analysis of selected articles from reputable academic journals in construction management, the business environment and human behaviour were identified as two main parts. A little has been done so far about the 3Cs, and how they are correlated with construction projects performance. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to explain the definitions and the association between the 3Cs. There is a significant link between communication and coordination. Coordination alternatively, is trust-based a logic of mutual and exchange. Consequently, cooperation is much more sophisticated, which needing more time and attempts.

Delphi Technique Procedures: A New Perspective in Construction Management Research

The Delphi technique is a methodology seeks to achieve a consensus among panel of experts. The consensus is gained through a sequence of rounds. The feedback information passed to panelists by questionnaires. The technique applications being progressively involved in construction management (CM) researches and it has been applied widely in many disciplines. This popularity meant that reasonable and accurate results have been gained using Delphi technique. The aim of this study is to analysis monetary Delphi technique as a robust and systematic data collection tool in CM. Discussion and review focused on the procedures of application, cons and pros and the technique key aspects. These key aspects included experts’ selection, anonymity, rounds and feedback; have been investigated through ten published articles in CM. Delphi technique has significant opportunity to be used widely in gaining consensus within CM research. This article provides rigorous guidelines for the technique application in CM to ensure bias elimination and the outcomes validity and reliability.

An Artificial neural networks (ANN) model for evaluating construction project performance based on coordination factors

Abstract Construction projects are delivered in a multidisciplinary environment, which need continues coordination. The aim of this paper is to develop an ANN model to evaluate the influence of coordination factors on construction projects performance. For this purpose, the most effective 16 coordination factors impacting the construction projects performance have been identified. After that, through a questionnaire survey, the extent of coordination factors application and the corresponding project’s performance were collected. Three multilayer feed-forward networks with Back-Propagation and Elman-Propagation algorithms were adopted to train, validate, and test the cost, time and quality, as performance evaluation indicators. Consequently, the training process continues unit it reaches the pre-defined error or up to 1000 epochs. The results of Mean Square Error (MSE) confirmed the accuracy of the networks with an average value of 0.0231. Furthermore, the determination coefficient (R2) for the three networks of cost, time, and quality were obtained to be 0.77, 0.76 and 0.75, respectively.