Module 5: Theory of Construction Management

Code: CMGCOY2
Lecturer: Ms Z Matsane
23 April 2020
 Types of relationship
Efficient construction Competent between
process construction teams construction team
members

Quality of
In this relationships
between
Barriers to effective
Construction
management
presentation…. construction team
members
relationships
strategies

Indicators of difficult Construction

Construction teams
construction projects companies
 Explain the need for the theory of construction
management

Discuss efficiency in the construction process

At the end Discuss competent team and the types of

relationships that exists between teams
of this
Quality relationships between teams and the
lecture: barriers to such relationships

Discuss construction management strategies and

why they are essential

Discuss straightforward and difficult construction

projects
 Construction management is needed
to ensure the specialist actions
needed to produce modern buildings
and all parts of the incredibly physical
infrastructure can be undertaken
efficiently and effectively
Introduction
Construction management is the
responsibility of everyone involved in
construction companies and projects
Introduction

• A central assumption of the construction

management theory is that projects need to be
well managed and companies need to be equally
well managed
 Construction management is needed to
ensure the specialist actions needed to
Why a produce modern buildings and all the parts
of our incredibly complex physical
Theory of infrastructure can be undertaken efficiently

Construction
Management
Construction projects require a bewildering
is needed range of resources, knowledge and skills
 This combination of challenges is not
comprehended by general management
theories – which focus more on human
Why a management and production theories,
which are rather straight forward,
Theory of repetitive, predictable and uncomplicated

Construction
Management Secondly, a focus only on project
is needed management has limited construction’s
performance
 Theory of construction management
begins with the theory that construction
management aims to enable
construction to be undertaken

Efficient efficiently and effectively within agreed

objectives

Construction
Process Agreed objectives are the outcomes,
which motivate those in construction
Competent • The first and most obvious
Construction requirement in achieving the
Teams objective of construction
management is to select
competent teams to undertake
all the essential construction
actions
 • Boundary relationships:
wherein behavior is
Types of There are guided by the teams’
Relationship two types of
relationship
perception that they are
parts of different
Between shown in organizations
Construction Figure 7, • Internal relationships:
between wherein behavior is
Team construction guided by the teams’
teams: perception that thy are
Members parts of a joint
organization
 Figure 8 shows the quality of the
Quality of relationship between the
Relationships construction team members.

between
Construction
It proposes that there is an inverse
Team relationship between the time
devoted to construction actions
Members and the time devoted to interaction
with other teams
Quality of Relationships between
Construction Team Members
 The task of establishing effective
relationships in a manner, which ensures
construction is undertaken efficiently, is
challenging because construction can
create barriers, which restrict the most
competent teams

Barriers to Construction management therefore

needs to devise strategies, which
Effective remove them or at least reduce their
impact on efficiency
Relationships
There are three factors in construction
projects, which can lead to inherent
difficulties in construction projects , which
ultimately affects efficient construction
processes
 • A measure of the complexity and
external interference experienced by
Inherent a construction project organization
using traditional/ local construction
Difficulty practice before any construction
management strategy is applied
 A measure of the complexity and external
interference experienced by a construction
project organization using traditional/ local
construction practice before any
construction management strategy is
Construction applied

Management
Strategies Construction management strategy is a
coordinated set of decisions, which guide
a construction project organization
 Straightforward
construction project
 A single organization exists which
comprise all necessary construction
teams to achieve the agreed
objectives

In a
straightforward Only a very small proportion of
specialist works would be outsourced
construction – posing very little contractual risks
project

There is a single contractual

relationship between the organization
and the customer and very few other
contractual relationships
 Clear and complete brief

Single organization responsible for project

Indicators of Clear and complete design and plan

straightforward
Competent teams with established internal
projects relationships

Standard and readily available materials and

components

Efficient production and commissioning

Difficult construction
projects
 All actions rely solely on contractual
determined boundary relationships within
an ill-defined and constantly changing
project organization
In a difficult
construction
project Figure 11 (p.42) illustrates construction
companies comprising divisions, teams
and internal relationships, which contribute
to a construction project organization and
in doing so , form a complex network
comprising teams and relationships
 Vague and incomplete brief

Complex and incomplete designs

Indicators of Technologies outside the competence of local

difficult companies

construction Complex, contradictory and incomplete plans

projects
Selection of numerous teams, which lack the
required skills, knowledge and equipment

Boundary relationships used to defend individual

interests
 Construction teams are forced into
accepting tough unenforceable contracts
which give rise to delays

Manufacturing requires components and

Indicators of materials outside the competence of
available manufacturing companies
difficult
construction Production uses inappropriate skills,
projects knowledge and equipment and faces
constant changes to the design

Commissioning delivers an incomplete

facility which fall far short of the brief
 Construction managers select
from a range of strategies to
enable them manage individual
construction projects

The need for

construction In general terms, the choice is
between doing nothing or being
management more proactive

strategies
Directly managing
the inherent
The more proactive difficulty or
strategies involve: Altering the factors
which cause the
inherent difficulty
 Accepting the inherent difficulty, which means
doing nothing, is the traditional approach

The need for Managing the inherent difficulty can be achieved

by use of different procurement methods

construction
management Altering the factors which cause inherent difficulty
strategies can be achieved by using relational procurement
systems

Ultimately, construction managers apply proactive

strategies by selecting actions, which mitigate the
level of inherent difficulty, and then matching the
actions of everyone involved to the resulting tasks
 The choice of an appropriate
construction management strategy is
shaped by the fact that actions to
The need for mitigate inherent difficulty involve
costs and benefits
construction
management These need to be balanced to
strategies determine an optimum set of
management actions, which means
the actions, which achieve the highest
achievable level of efficiency
 Construction companies influence
the efficiency of the teams they
provide to undertake construction

Construction
companies
The construction management
theory proffered by Radosavljevic
and Bennett (2012) provides
propositions to guide this influence
 Given competent construction teams,
construction management is centrally concerned
with ensuring the teams which need to interact
establish effective relationships so as to reduce
a project’s inherent difficulty and making the
project more straightforward

Construction
teams
Look at the selected construction management
propositions posited by Radosavljevic and
Bennett (2012), towards ensuring the teams
which is needed to interact and establish
effective relationships
Thank You