Download Factors Affecting Communication Effectiveness in Construction Projects: A Review and more Study notes Communication in PDF only on Docsity!
“Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate”
IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN PARTICIPANTS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Yan LIU, Rew N. Baldwin, L.Y. SHEN Building and Real Estate Dept. of, the Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Abstract: Effective communication among construction participants is important. The diversity in the composition of construction teams increases the communication complexity. Thirty-four factors affecting communication effectiveness between construction participants were identified from literature review. The major factors were identified and validated by conducting a questionnaire survey in Hong Kong. It was found that the top ranked factors affecting communication between construction participants include: the complexity of the project, the communication schedule and construction timescale, the number of participating companies, contribution of project manager, good spirit and trust between the parties etc. Through factor analysis, these factors were clustered into eight groups which build up a conceptual model for improved communication between construction participants. Keywords: Communication; Construction; Factor; Factor analysis 1 Introduction Construction projects have become technically complex with more design and construction activities. The multidisciplinary nature of construction projects requires management and execution by highly skilled, task organized project teams, usually by multiple organisations (Thomas et al., 1998). These teams are made up of many different companies and people with competing needs and interests (Blyth, 2001). Typically they include architects, engineers, consultants, contractors, sub-contractors, manufacturers, and government agencies. The multi-organisational construction process depends heavily on the exchange of large amounts of complex data and information (Dawood et al., 2002). This information must be identified and disseminated among team members (Thomas et al., 1998). Project participants both want and need full, proper and timely information about all project related aspects so that they can make proper decisions for contributing to the successful implementation of construction projects. To ensure information to smoothly flow and a construction project to function, it has to have a communication system that links the project participants. If there is effective communication between project participants, accurate technical information will be quickly communicated, as well as consensus decision will be easily achieved. It will improve team work, reduce conflicts and reworks, and then contribute to the project success. 2 Construction Communication Proper and effective communication among project participants is known to have a critical influence on the performance of construction projects. Numerous studies have highlighted the importance of effective communications to project success. However, the communication is complicated by a number of factors. Construction projects involve multiple project team members. Typically project team members are temporary; their knowledge and skills are specialized and fragmented; they have different organisational cultures; the organisations and the people are often involved in the project at different times (Blyth, 2001). The professions have also developed their own conventions and working habits independently (Watkinson, 1992 ). These diverse backgrounds and dynamic composition of these teams hinder the development of critical communications for these technically complex projects (Thomas et al., 1999). Usually there is lack of trust and relationships become adversarial. Construction projects have the bad reputation of fragmented, separation of design and construction activities, lack of coordination and the construction industry has become more
“Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate” litigious (Emmitt & Gorse, 2003). Except for the increasing number of specialist professionals, widely applied Information Technologies (IT) in today’s construction projects contribute to the great challenge to the communication between participants in construction projects as well. Today, IT is developing along four main lines including standardisation, visualisation, communication, and integration (Mead, 1999). New and emerging Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have changed and deepened the complexity of communication activities in construction industry, such as internet, multimedia, virtual reality, and broadband communication networks, etc. (Anumba and Evbuomwan 1999; Shen, 1992). ICT uses provide opportunities to solve coordination problems associated with construction fragmentation (Latham 1994, in Walker and Peansupap, 2004 ). These technologies may result in more efficient information transfer. However, it also brings some new problems such as information overload etc. How effective communication is under these technologies environment also need examining. Therefore, these factors make project communication between project participants in construction project further complex which should be explored in both academic and practical areas. 3 Studies On Communication Factors It is clear that good communications are fundamental to the construction process; however as Emmitt and Gorse (2003) said research on communication in the construction industry is scarce. They point out that “clearly construction communication research is in its infancy and we must seek to learn from those social scientists and industrialists from other sectors, who have recognised the importance of communication for some time”. But, this area attracts more interests in academic area recently. There are some research studies exploring the communication issues, examining communication variables, observing communication and interaction process etc. In looking at factors influencing construction projects communication, the writer has examined the work of other researchers on exploring factors influencing communication effectiveness. Guevara & Boyer (1981) examined communication problems within a construction company and their influencing factors which are some interpersonal communication characteristics. They only identified the factors of the individual and the communication process characteristics. Lack of information about organisational and project characteristics restricted this study’s conclusion. Xie (2002) examined communication problems in construction design in UK. She also identified the factors that caused these communication problems, and suggested consequent management strategies by conducting interviews in some case studies. However the communication factors were only identified through a limited number of interviews. Little progress has been achieved in improving project team communications, especially during the construction phase (Thomas et al., 1999; Wong, et al., 200 0 ). There is a lack of research that observes interaction of the construction manager and other key professionals at the construction stage. Research into the communication during the construction process tends to be focused on one particular event or one aspect of communication. Some of the variables relating to communication in construction have been studied at one point in time or another (Guevara, 1979; Emmitt and Gorse, 2003). Guevara's (1979) comprehensive study of communication in construction organisations found that all of the communication factors are related to each other. There has been few study on the relationship of these variables, therefore there is a need to review these variables and to find out how they are related. Effective communication between construction project participants is essential to the successful implementing of construction projects. However only Thomas et al. (1998, 1999) and Xie (2002)’s studies focus on the inter-organisational communication on projects. Therefore, this study pays special attention to inter-organisational communication at the construction stage in construction projects. Communication among client, design team, main-contractor, and key sub-contractors at the construction stage in the building projects will be studied. Efforts have been put to explore all potential factors influencing project team communication including project and organization characteristics etc. Aiming to improve the communication effectiveness, the postal questionnaire survey is carried out to identify the major communication factors and to explore the relationship among the complex communication factors. The survey will provide important insights into the communication between the construction project
“Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate” 97 questionnaires were returned. The response rate is around 15%. 4 questionnaires were returned but not fill in and 3 of questionnaire weren’t complete. That is totally 90 questionnaires which could be used in statistical analysis. Among the respondents, 33% need the report of outcome of questionnaire, which show their interests in the communication topic in construction industry. We incorporated all respondents into four groups: Clients, Contractors, Consultants and Sub-contractors. Among the respondents, 50.0% of respondents were contractors, 27.8% were consultants, 15.6% were clients, and 6% were sub-contractors. Contractors and consultants predominate in the respondent firms. Table 1 Mean percentage of the firms’ workload Workload Building Work Civil Engineering Work Others Total Percent % 64.18 24.32 11 .50 100 Table 1 depicts the workload of the firms involved in the survey. The major workload of the firms is building work. The implication is that the communication practice as presented in this postal survey could be regarded as relevant to building work. Table 2 Designation of the respondents Position Overall percent % Cumulative Percent% Overall Not indicate Director 24.4 24.4 22 1 Senior manager 16.7 41.1 15 1 Project manager 28.9 70.0 26 1 Manager 21.1 91.1 19 3 Others 8.9 100.0 8 1 Total 100.0 90 7 Table 2 and 3 show the designation and the construction experience of the respondents, respectively. The respondents are mainly over the project manager level, with the more than 10 years construction experience. Therefore, the results of this survey can be believed. Table 3 Construction experience of the respondents Years Percent % Cumulative Percent Overall Not indicate Over 30 y 5.6 5.6 22 0 21 - 30y 25.6 31.2 40 1 11 - 20y 44.4 75.6 23 4 1 - 10y 24.4 100 5 2 Total 100.0 90 7 5 Data Analysis and Results Two separate statistical analyses were undertaken using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The first analysis ranked the factors based on mean value of response, compared the mean for the groups and provide an analysis of variance (ANOVA), which tests the null hypothesis that the mean of the dependent variable (individual factor) is equal in all the groups. The second analysis was intended to explore and detect underlying relationships among the communication effective factors using factor analysis. Factor analysis is a statistical technique used to identify a relatively small number of factors that can be used to represent relationships among sets of many interrelated variables (Norusis, 1992). The principle component analysis for factor extraction is used in the analysis, the distinctive characteristic being its data-reducing capacity.
“Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate” 5.1 Analysis and ranking of communication factors As part of the analysis, the Cronbach alpha reliability (the scale of coefficient) is produced, which measures the internal consistency among the factors. Cronbach alpha reliability measure or tests the reliability of the five-point Likert-type scale used for the study ( Norusis, 1992). The Cronbach's coefficient alpha is 0. 933 (F statistic = 8.6 02 , p = 0.000), which was greater than 0.5, indicating that the 5-point Likert scale used for measuring factors influencing communication in construction is reliable at the 5% significant level. The first analysis ranking the factors based on mean value and standard deviation of all the sample results, shown in Table 4 , indicated that the main factors (value of mean > 3.60) influencing communication in construction Table 4 Factors influencing communication in construction ranking by mean value Factors Min. Max. C•V % S. D. Mean Rank F3 The complexity of the project 1 5 21.39 .894 4.18 1 F27 The timing of the communication i.e. when the information is distributed relating to the construct process 1 5 23.01 .918 3.99 2 F6 The timescale for completion of the project 1 5 27.47 1.096 3.99 3 F10 The number of companies involved in the project 1 5 25.43 .974 3.83 4 F33 The contribution of the project manager 1 5 24.54 .930 3.79 5 F32 The good spirit and trust between the parties 1 5 25.63 .969 3.78 6 F21 A formal and visible communication system 1 5 24.19 .900 3.72 7 F2 The size of the construction project 1 5 27.04 1.006 3.72 8 F24 The quality of the information content 1 5 24.78 .917 3.70 9 F20 The medium used to convey t post, by telephone, by meeting, by bulletin, by email or by intranet etc.he information, i.e. written documents by 1 5 29.05 1.069 3.68 10 F25 Clear classification of the information 1 5 24.60 .893 3.63 11 F5 Specific constraints on the project 1 5 26.3 8 .955 3.62 12 F8 The Project organisational structure 1 5 22.24 .803 3.61 13 F30 The information needs of the participants related to the different project activities and different project stages. 1 5 24.82 .896 3.61 14 F31 The project group culture 1 5 27.56 .992 3.60 15 Valid N 90 “The complexity of the project (ranking 1st)”, “the size of the construction project (ranking 8th)”, “the number of companies involved in the project (ranking 4th)”, were identified as the important project communication factor. Today, increasing technological complexity is shifting project control toward specialised subcontractors (Kubal, 1995). As noted by Baldwin et al (1998): more complex buildings have necessitated design input from an increasing range of specialist sub-contractors. This increasing number of specialist sub-contractors requires effective management of the interfaces between these organisations (Potter, 1995). It presents the project communication a great challenge. The other important factors identified for project communication are “the timing of the communication, i.e. when the information is distributed relating to the construct process (ranking 2nd)” and “the timescale for completion of the project (ranking 3rd)”. They are all related to the communication time. Project Management Institute (2000) claims there should be a communication schedule which show when each type of communication will be produced. Other communication should be scheduled to meet the demands of the project participants. “A formal and visible communication system (ranking 7th)” and “the project organisational structure (ranking 13th)” relating to communication channels were also identified. Guevara and Boyer ( 1981 ) argued the importance of a visible communication system through which project information would flow. This ability to process information depends largely on the structural characteristics of an organization (Mead 1999). Eisenberg (1985 in Mead 1999 ) noted that communication problems are often the result of unstructured organisational systems. Same as the previous studies, “the contribution of the project manager (ranking 5th)” was identified the important communication factor by the survey. Project manager play an important role in the
“Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate” communication channels and system and human perspective of communication. Comparatively, consultants and client more focus on the communication system and message; and contractors and subcontractors more focus on the human perspective. 5.3 Factor Analysis of Communication Factors To explore and capture any multivariate relationship existing between the communication factors, the factor analysis technique was used to investigate the cluster of the relationship. This technique is appropriate (Hair et al., 1995) because of little a priori knowledge about the number of different cluster relationships to expect, and as the members of these different tendencies were unknown. The 34 factors were subjected to factor analysis, with principal component analysis and varimax rotation. Based on the correlation matrix various tests are required for the appropriateness of the factor analysis for the factor extraction, including the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling accuracy, anti-image correlation, measure of sampling activities (MSA). The value of the MSA must be reasonably high for a good factor analysis. In this case, the value of the MSA was 0.6 48 - 0. 905 , suggesting no need to eliminate any variable from the analysis. Practically, the most important is the value of KMO, if the value of KMO > 0.6, the factor analysis is suitable, otherwise can compound or deleted some factors. The value of the KMO statistic is 0. 812 , which according to Kaiser (1974) is satisfactory for factor analysis. In essence, these tests show that factor analysis is appropriate for the factor extraction. Since the purpose of factor analysis is to group variables into factors determined by factor loading, meaningful interpretation of the factors generated is important. Rotation techniques, such as the varimax method, transform the factor matrix produced from an unrotated principal component matrix into one that is easier to interpret. Then varimax orthogonal rotation of principal component analysis was used to easily interpret these factors. Factor loading gives the correlation between variables and factors. Whilst factor loading of 0.30 is often used as a cut-off for significance, Nunnally (1978) suggests that it is doubtful that loadings smaller than 0. should be taken seriously. In this study, the criterion of the factor loading of 0.40 was used as a cut-off for significance. The factors and associated variables which are shown in Appendix are readily interpretable according to the associated initial variables. The concept model for improved communication was therefore put forward as Figure 1. 6 Conclusion Some persons in the high position in the company have filled the questionnaire. Some respondents filled the questionnaire in earnest that could be seen from the open-ended section of the questionnaire. It shows that the construction industry have some interests in this topic. Improved communication in construction projects Human aspects of communication Information sender’s capacity and preparation Information receivers’ attention Characteristics of projects Organisation structure Contract and business requirement Technical aspects of information management Information quality Figure 1 A concept model for communication improvement on construction projects
“Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate” Project complexity, the number of involved companies; communication time schedule; project managers’ capacity and the organization relationship; and communication process elements such as information quality and media choice are the important factors influencing project team communication effectiveness. From the ranking of the factors influencing communication in construction, it shows that the focus of the issue related to communication is the business and management aspect not the IT aspect as well. It can’t be drawn a conclusion. But it could be seen from the questionnaire that communication issues are related to the exchange of the information and the mutual interaction of communication but the communication problems mainly come from the conflicts of profits, distrust between the participants and no transparent communication line, not mainly come from the technical aspects. Basically, there is no statistically significant difference in the opinion of different groups classified by the respondent experience in construction industry, organisation type. Construction companies focus more attention on communication time, communication channels and human perspective of communication. Comparatively, consultants and client more focus on the communication system and message; and contractors and subcontractors more focus on the human perspective. The factors are further grouped into eight factors by factor analysis: technical aspect of information management; characteristics of projects; human aspects of communication; information receivers’ attention; information sender’s capacity; organisation structure; contract and business requirement; information quality. Then the further improved strategies could be explored based on these eight aspects of communication factors. Reference: Anumba, C.J. and Evbuomwan, N.F.O., 1999. A Taxonomy for Communication Facets in Concurrent Life Cycle Design and Construction. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 14(1), pp. 37-44. Blyth A. ( 2001 ), Managing the brief for better design, Spon Press, London. Dawood N., Akinsola A. & Hobbs B. (2002), Development of automated communication of system for managing site information using internet technology, Automation in Construction 11 (2002) p 557 - 572, UK Emmitt S. & Gorse A. C. (2003), Construction communication, Blackwell Publishing, UK. Fellows R.& Liu A. ( 2003 ), Research methods for construction, Blackwell Science, Oxford. Guevara, J. M. 1979, Communication in Construction Companies, PhD thesis, University of Illinois, at Urbana. Guevara, Jose M. and Boyer, Leroy T., 1981. Communication problems within construction. the Journal of the Construction Division (ASCE), 107, pp. 552-557. Kaiser H.F. (1958) The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis, Psychometrika, 23, 187-200. Mead, S.T., 1999. Communication effectiveness in intranet based construction projects, Loughborough University. Norusis M.J. (1992), SPSS for Windows, Profession Statistics, Release 5, SPSS Inc., Chicago. Potter K. (1995), planning to design? (A practical introduction to the construction design process) a special publication report Number 113 published by The Construction Industry Research and Information Association CIRIA London, UK. Project Management Institute, 2000. A guide to the project management body of knowledge, PMBPK Guide 2000 Edition. Project Management Institute. Shen, L.Y., 1992. Information management in Construction Companies. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Building and Surveying. Thomas R. S., Tucker L. R. & Kelly R. W. (1998), Critical Communications Variables, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, v124 p58- 66 , 1998. Thomas, S.R. and Tucker, Richard L. And Kelly, William R., 1999. Compass: An Assessment Tool for Improving Project Team Communications. Project Management Journal, 30(4), pp. 15-24. Walker, H.T.D. and And Peansupap, V., 2004. Factors affecting ICT diffusion in Australian construction organisations. The Building Economist, , pp. 13-17. Wong, F., Chan, A., Fox, P., Tse, K. and Ly, E., 2004. Identification of critical factors affecting the communication of safety-related information between main contractors and sub-contractors in Hong Kong. Xie, X., 2002. Communication in construction design, Loughborough University.
