literature review for construction project

Strategizing and Project Management in Construction Projects: An Exploratory Literature Review

10th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization

eISBN : 978-1-83867-051-1

ISSN : 2516-2853

Publication date: 1 May 2019

The study aims to investigate the concept of strategy-as-practice in construction management literature has been investigated. The focus is on the link between strategizing practices and project management.

Design/Methodology/Approach

An exploratory literature review is carried out based on fifteen journal articles on strategizing practices in the construction industry.

The analysis shows how strategy-as-practice questions and contradicts project management practices as depicted in the dominant deterministic perspective. Strategy-as-practice has a focus on reacting and adapting to a chaotic and changing environment, while project management is concerned with creating and maintaining a stable working environment. The findings point to the necessity of considering the organizational and institutional context of project management practices, and hence the values the strategy-as-practice lens, when considering new avenues for improving the industry.

Research Limitations/Implications

As the study is based on an exploratory literature review of only 15 articles, generalizations should be made with caution. The identified literature is restricted by search words and choice of database.

Practical Implications

The differences between strategizing and project management practices are very clear, and a focus on both may offer insights into how the construction industry could improve its productivity by developing more robust management practices.

Originality/Value

The paper illustrates the benefit of applying a strategizing perspective, which hitherto has been under-investigated in construction management research.

  • Construction industry
  • Project management
  • Project-based organization
  • Strategizing
  • Strategy as Practice

Klitgaard, A. and Gottlieb, S.C. (2019), "Strategizing and Project Management in Construction Projects: An Exploratory Literature Review", Lill, I. and Witt, E. (Ed.) 10th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization ( Emerald Reach Proceedings Series, Vol. 2 ), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 253-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2516-285320190000002040

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Anne Klitgaard, Stefan Christoffer Gottlieb.

Published in the Emerald Reach Proceedings Series. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Project management (PM) has traditionally been dominated by a deterministic perspective, which implies the possibility of planning, managing and controlling the construction project phenomena ( Padalkar and Gopinath, 2016 ). Clear roles and responsibilities of the project actors are regarded as the way to ensure efficiency in collaboration ( Gustavsson and Gohary, 2012 ). This approach to PM overlooks how projects exist in an external environment ( Kreiner, 1996 ), which is constantly changing and influencing the original intentions and aims of the projects. While this is no longer a new or controversial insight, we see the deterministic approach as a so-called dominant logic ( Bettis and Prahalad, 1995 ) that still is the norm in the construction industry.

Recently, the focus has shifted toward trying to create a better understanding of the contextual factors that shape projects and project practices. This includes also non-deterministic and explanatory approaches focusing on, e.g. project uncertainty, governance and project portfolio management ( Padalkar and Gopinath, 2016 ).

One such theory or approach is that of strategy-as-practice (SAP). The traditional definition of strategy assumes that a strategy is something organizations own or have, argues Johnson et al. (2007) , and stresses that in the SAP perspective, strategy is something people do. In SAP, strategizing (or doing strategy as practice) “comprises those actions, interactions and negotiations of multiple actors and the situated practices that they draw upon in accomplishing that activity” ( Jarzabkowski and Spee., 2009 : 70). With this turn toward practice, research into strategy shifts from a focus on the firm and why strategy is needed, to a concern for people and how they achieve the wanted strategy ( Johnson et al., 2007 ).

Drawing on practice perspective, Söderholm) (2008 : 81) argues that PM can be seen as an on-going social accomplishment or “everyday struggle to keep projects on track and on schedule” within a given context and that this can shed new light on situations that are nrmally not include in PM models.

While SAP is a well-established perspective in business management research, it is less used in construction management. On this basis, we ask

(RQ1) How is SAP and the role of context treated in the construction management literature?

(RQ2) How can SAP contribute to project management in construction?

The paper is based on an exploratory literature review. The literature search was conducted in the EBSCO database Business Source Complete, which covers all disciplines of business. A two-block “free text” search was conducted with a limitation to peer-reviewed journals. The first block containing the phenomena of interest represented by the search words “strategizing” and “strategy-as-practice” (722 hits). Another context block was created using the search words ”construction industry” (12,521 hits). A combination of blocks one and two gave seven articles; this was reduced to five articles by removing copies.

The first block was combined with another block containing the search query “project management” (14,662 hits), which gave ten combined hits. Eight of these were concerned with the construction industry, bringing the total of articles up to thirteen articles. In a final quality control of the search, two additional articles were found that were added to the sample, bringing it up to a total of 15 articles.

This search will at a later stage be extended with a snowballing search back and forth Löwstedt et al. (2018) “Doing strategy in project-based organizations: Actors and patterns of action”, which puts emphasis on the relation between strategizing and project management.

3. Analysis and Findings

3.1. strategy as practice and the project-based construction industry (rq1).

The final result of 15 articles in the search indicates a relatively low interest from the construction industry in the SAP concept. With one exception, all the empirical articles were written within the last six years, indicating a growing interest in the concept.

We divided the articles into two groups comprising empirical articles (11) and theoretical articles (4). The empirical articles were then further divided into three categories depending on the context in which strategizing took place (see Table 1 ).

The empirical articles, the terms in the brackets are the authors’ interpretation

The literature illustrates an interest in the difference between the practice of project managing and strategizing as the two practices are difficult to combine owing to their different focus.

In the theoretical articles, Clegg et al. (2018) set out to provide an agenda for further practice-based research in project portfolio management. Biesenthal et al . (2018) suggest a value in studying the institutional differences in megaproject and doing this by “taking a cue” from the strategy-as-practice approach. Flood and Issa (2010) suggest that the research practitioner should use strategizing as a step in developing an empirical model. Finally, the use of sensemaking, to create scenarios and narratives as a mean of strategizing, is addressed by ( Wright, 2005 ). He stresses that practitioners working at the periphery of the firm (project manager) tend to construct their strategy by induction rather than the rational strategists at the center of the firm.

This is an indication of how the project can shape the strategizing process of project managers. Several of the empirical articles also discuss the role of the firm. Sage et al. (2012) note in their study (on lean construction strategizing) that concepts are continuously translated and transformed during their journey through different contextual settings – and so are people. A group of practitioners working mainly in the firm will thus be working under the influence of the organizational context of the firm, while the practitioners working in projects will be working under the institutional influence of both the firm and the project.

Also, Löwsted et al. (2018) and Koch et al. (2015) discuss how “project actualities” and “nature of the situated practices which surround” operational strategizing afford project actors’ legitimacy and shape practices. Their findings suggest that the traditional PM focusses on principles of project fulfillment, and a narrow focus on how the project performs according to these, is insufficient and can benefit from a more nuanced perspective of the contextual factors that influence project practices. This is also noted by Vit (2011 ) who suggests that technical rationality is overridden in certain contexts. Davies et al. (2016) illustrate how specific dynamic capabilities, including strategic behaviors and collaborative processes, that are required to deliver complex projects, are based on the ability to balance routine and innovative action in changing and uncertain project environments.

3.2. SAP and a new understanding of project management (RQ2)

The SAP perspective may thus also offer some insights into the opportunities for building construction project teams. In SAP, practitioners are those involved in doing strategy. The strategy practitioner may refer to an individual or a group of individuals ( Jarzabkowski and Spee, 2009 ). This group of practitioners will often be joined in communities of actors or project teams. As Baiden et al. (2006) argue, a failure to collaborate effectively in the project teams has been seen as a major cause behind the productivity issue, stressing the need for effective PM.

In the construction industry, a belief in clearly planned and defined project roles and responsibilities as a basis for PM exists. This is, however, contrary to Whittington et al. ’s (2006) claim that strategizing and organizing run together as a smooth simultaneous activity.

The industry needs to ask itself if the deterministic PM approach focusing on stability could cause a loss of opportunity to develop practices toward better productivity. One way to address this issue may be with the introduction of new organization forms in guise of, e.g. integrated project delivery or strategic partnerships ( Gottlieb et al. , 2018 ).

Another approach is that of knotworking, a new form of collaboration which shows promising results ( Buhl et al . 2017 ). Results, which offer a more fluid, approach to the matter. Finally, a developing practice, which may link PM and strategizing, is the use of facilitation for changing existing routines to develop practices ( Klitgaard et al ., 2017 )

4. Conclusions

In this paper, we investigated the link between strategizing practices and project management practices. This literature study shows that the role of SAP in the construction industry is an area of increasing interest and that the literature is sensitive to the practioners’ double obligation; toward their firm and toward the project in which they are involved.

The dominant logic concept suggests that awareness of the primary perspective on practice is necessary. It seems that as long as the determinisitic approach toward PM is so dominant in the industry, it may hinder strategizing practices. Strategizing and project management practice are clearly distinct practices although there is a clear co-dependency between them. We argue that a focus on both may offer insights into how the construction industry could improve its productivity by developing more robust management practices.

This literature study is based on a limited number of articles so further studies are necessary.

Baiden, Price, and Dainty, 2006 Baiden , B. K. , Price , A. D. F. and Dainty , A. R. J. ( 2006 ), “ The extent of team integration within construction projects ”, International Journal of Project Management , Vol. 24 , No. 1 , pp. 13 – 23 .

Bettis, and Prahalad, 1995 Bettis , R. A. and Prahalad , C. K. ( 1995 ), “ The Dominant Logic: Retrospective and Extension ”, Strategic Management Journal , Vol. 16 , No. 1 , pp. 5 – 14 .

Bhattacharya, Momaya, and Iyer, 2012 Bhattacharya , S. , Momaya , K. S. and Iyer , K. C. ( 2012 ), “ Strategic Change for Growth: A Case of Construction Company in India ”, Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management . Vol. 13 , No 4 , pp. 195 – 205 .

Biesenthal, Clegg, Mahalingam, Sankaran, 2018 Biesenthal , C. , Clegg , S. , Mahalingam , A. , Sankaran , S. , ( 2018 ), “ Applying institutional theories to managing megaprojects ”, International Journal of Project Management , Vol. 36 , No. 1 , pp. 43 – 54 .

Buhl, Andersen, and Kerosuo, 2017 Buhl , H. , Andersen , M. , and Kerosuo , H. ( 2017 ), “A Knot – breaking the inertia in construction?”, In Buser , M. , Lindahl , G. and Räisänen , C. (Ed), “9th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization, 13-14 June, Chalmers University of Technology.

Clegg, Killen, Biesenthal, and Sankaran, 2018 Clegg , S. , Killen , C. P. , Biesenthal , C. and Sankaran , S. , ( 2018 ), “ Practices, projects and portfolios: Current research trends and new directions ”, International Journal of Project Management , Vol. 36 , No. 5 , pp. 762 – 772 .

Comi, and Whyte, 2018 Comi , A. and Whyte , J. ( 2018 ) “ Future Making and Visual Artefacts: An Ethnographic Study of a Design Project ”, Organization Studies , Vol. 39 , No. 8 , pp. 1,055 – 1,083 .

Davies, Dogdson, and Gann, 2016 Davies , A. , Dogdson , M. and Gann , D. ( 2016 ) “ Dynamic capabilities in complex projects: The case of London Heathrow Terminal 5 ”, Project Management Journal , Vol. 47 , No. 2 , pp. 26 – 47 .

Flood, and Issa, 2010 Flood , I. and Issa , R. R. A. ( 2010 ), “ Empirical Modeling Methodologies for Construction ”, Journal of Construction Engineering & Management , Vol. 136 , No. 1 , pp. 36 – 48 .

Floricel, and Miller, 2001 Floricel , S. and Miller , R. ( 2001 ), “ Strategizing for anticipated risks and turbulence in large-scale engineering projects ”, International Journal of Project Management , Vol. 19 , No. 8 , pp. 445 – 455 .

Gottlieb, Frederiksen, Koch, and Thuesen, 2018 Gottlieb , S. C. , Frederiksen , N. , Koch , C. and Thuesen , C. ( 2018 ), Institutional Logics and Hybrid Organizing in Public-Private Partnerships . In: Gorse , C. and Neilson , C. J. (Eds.), Proceedings 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2018, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, pp. 383 – 392 .

Gustavsson, and Gohary, 2012 Gustavsson , T. K. and Gohary , H. ( 2012 ), “ Boundary action in construction projects: new collaborative project practices ”, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business , Vol. 5 , No. 3 , pp. 364 – 376 .

Jarzabkowski, and Spee, 2009 Jarzabkowski , P. and Spee , A. P. ( 2009 ) “ Strategy-as-practice: A review and future directions for the field ”, International Journal of Management Reviews , Vol. 11 , No. 1 , pp. 69 – 95 .

Johnson, Langley, Melin, and Whittington, 2007 Johnson , G. , Langley , A. , Melin , L. and Whittington , R. ( 2007 ), Strategy as Practice – Research Directions and Resources , Cambridge University Press .

Ju, and Rowlinson, 2014 Ju , C. and Rowlinson , S. ( 2014 ) “ Institutional determinants of construction safety management strategies of contractors in Hong Kong ”, Construction Management & Economics . Vol. 32 ( 7/8 ), pp. 725 – 736 .

Klitgaard, Beck, Andersen, Jeppesen, Nissen, and Buhl, 2017 Klitgaard , A. , Beck , F. , Andersen , M. , Jeppesen , R. D. , Nissen , S. B. , and Buhl , H. ( 2017 ). “Towards the use of knotworking for increasing innovation in construction projects In: Chan , P. W. (Ed.) and Neilson , C. J. (Ed.), Proceedings 33rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2017, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, UK. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 420 – 429 .

Koch, Sage, Dainty, and Simonsen, 2015 Koch , C. , Sage , D. , Dainty , A. , and Simonsen , R. ( 2015 ). Understanding operations strategizing in project-based organisations: middle managers’ interaction and strategy praxis . Engineering Project Organization Journal , Vol. 5 ( 2-3 ), 106 – 117 .

Kreiner, 1996 Kreiner , K. ( 1996 ) “ In search of relevance: Project management in drifting environments ”, Scandinavian Journal of Mangement , Vol. 11 , No. 4 , pp. 335 – 346 .

Ling, and Lee, 2012 Ling , F. Y. Y. and Lee , S. Y. ( 2012 ) “ Careers development in construction firms: application of Sun Tzu’s Art of War principles ”, Engineering Construction & Architectural Management , Vol. 19 , No. 2 , pp. 173 – 191 .

Löwstedt, Räisänen, and Leiringer, 2018 Löwstedt , M. , Räisänen , C. and Leiringer , R. ( 2018 ). “ Doing strategy in project-based organizations: Actors and patterns of action ”, International Journal of Project Management , Vol. 36 , No. 6 , pp. 889 – 898 .

Padalkar, and Gopinath, 2016 Padalkar , M. and Gopinath , S. ( 2016 ), “ Six decades of project management research: Thematic trends and future opportunities ”, International Journal of Project Management . Vol. 34 , No. 7 , pp. 1,305 – 1,321 .

Sage, Dainty, and Brookes, 2012 Sage , D. , Dainty , A. and Brookes , N. ( 2012 ) “ A ‘Strategy-as-Practice’” exploration of lean construction strategizing. ”, Building Research & Information . Vol. No. 2 , pp. 221 – 230 .

Söderholm, 2008 Söderholm , A. ( 2008 ). “ Project management of unexpected events ”. International Journal of Project Management , Vol. 26 , No 1 , pp. 80 – 86 .

Vit, 2011 Vit , G. B. ( 2011 ), “ Competing logics: Project failure in Gaspesia ”, European Management Journal . Vol. 29 , No. 3 , pp. 234 – 244 .

Whittington, Molloy, Mayer, and Smith, 2006 Whittington , R. , Molloy , E. , Mayer , M. and Smith , A. ( 2006 ), “ Practices of Strategising/Organising-broadening Strategy Work and Skills ”, Long Range Planning , Vol. 39 , No. 6 , pp. 615 – 629 .

Whyte, Ewenstein, Hales, and Tidd Whyte , J. , Ewenstein , B. , Hales , M. and Tidd , J. , “ Visualizing Knowledge in Project-Based Work ”, Long Range Planning , Vol. 41 , No. 1 , pp. 74 – 92 .

Wright, 2005 Wright , A. ( 2005 ), “ The role of scenarios as prospective sensemaking devices ”, Management Decision , Vol. 43 , No. 1 , pp. 86 – 101 .

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Claims in Construction Projects: A Comprehensive Literature Review

H H Shaikh 1 , N Y Zainun 1 and S H Khahro 2

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science , Volume 498 , The 5th International Conference on Civil and Environmental Engineering for Sustainability 19-20 December 2019, Johor, Malaysia Citation H H Shaikh et al 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 498 012095 DOI 10.1088/1755-1315/498/1/012095

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1 Jamilus Research Center, Faculty of Civil Engineering & Built Environment, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor

2 Department of Engineering Management, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, KSA

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Construction industry plays main part in the financial development of a country and occupies an essential position in the state's growth policies. Construction industry generates thousands of jobs into different sectors to accommodate people according to its capabilities. On the contrary, it faces huge number of claims, as a result it gives birth to various problems including additional cost and time to complete the project. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the common types and causes of claims generally occur in construction industry and specifically in large scale projects. A detailed literature review has been carried out for this research and covers past research papers of the last two decades. The results showed delay in claims and extra work claim submitted by the parties, they are the main types of claims followed by contract ambiguity claims, extension of time claim and suspension of work claims. Delay of payment is the most important cause of claim followed by incomplete design, variation order, change order by owner, lack of communication and in last poor project management. It is concluded that proper contract documentation should be done and early error identification in contract documents, drawings and specifications should be highlighted. Finally, it is recommended to adopt proper claim management policy and procedures to address the queries by all parties. This paper will be used to design future guidelines in managing claims in large scale construction projects to improve the performance of construction industry.

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Construction Project Manager Skills: A Systematic Literature Review

Profile image of Paulo Vaz-Serra

2018, Engaging Architectural Science: Meeting the Challenges of Higher Density: 52nd International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2018, pp.185–192.

The construction industry is one of the most important economic activities in the world, and research in this field has identified a positive relationship between project management skills and the success of construction projects. This research project systematically reviewed more than 380 documents in 14 academic journals from the construction and project management fields, searching for construction managers' skills and competencies, and identifying key skills in educative terms for graduates. The final selection of articles was reviewed in detail and categorised into three themes: education, project manager competencies, and employment. Additionally, a database with 306 competencies, gathered from the reviewed studies, was quantitatively analysed, grouping them into overarching categories. One of the main findings from this systematic literature review is the importance (in quantitative terms) of a project manager's personal attributes and leadership skills. This systematic literature review explores the current dichotomy the exists within the literature between research about key managerial competencies, and the lack of them within the industry and formal education institutions. Future research will explore how to bridge the gap between academic programs and industry needs.

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This article introduces a novel approach to optimize costs and time in the construction of mass concrete projects by implementing the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm. To achieve this, it is crucial to identify key factors influencing the construction process of mass concrete projects, such as the type of concrete, material cooling temperature, poured concrete layer height, and the frequency between concrete pumping intervals. Furthermore, the selection of these factors should be done with care to ensure appropriate precautions are taken, as heat accumulation from cement hydration and the associated volume changes can lead to concrete cracking. Numerous prior studies have made advancements in addressing these challenges. One particularly effective algorithm that has been developed and applied is the ACO algorithm. The integration of the ant colony algorithm with the evaluation method for concrete cracking indices will be demonstrated through a practical example. The ensuing results will demonstrate the applicability of these approaches to real-world mass concrete projects.

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Acknowledgements

We express our gratitude to Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), VNU-HCM for their support in facilitating this study.

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Son, P.V.H., Vi, N.T. Applying ant colony optimization algorithm to optimize construction time and costs for mass concrete projects. Asian J Civ Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-024-00990-5

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