Very few construction companies and consulting firms in Australia measure their costs of quality. Consequently, it is difficult for them to prove that systems for preventing quality failures are cost-effective. Although the direct costs of a quality system can be quantified with some accuracy (salaries, costs of documentation, audits, etc.), the corresponding benefits are far more difficult to assess. Indeed quality failures have become an endemic feature of the procurement process in construction and invariably lead to time and cost overruns in projects. Thus, in order to improve the performance of projects it is necessary to identify the causes and costs rework. The research presented in this paper quantifies the causes, magnitude and costs of rework experienced in two construction projects that were procured using different contractual arrangements. The causes and costs of rework projects are analysed and discussed. The findings reveal that the cost of rework for the case study projects was 3.15% and 2.40% of their project contract value. Changes initiated by the client and end-user together with errors and omissions in contract documentation were found to be the primary causes of rework. It is recommended that construction companies and consultant firms (particularly design consultants) implement quality management practices as well as place emphasis on coordinating project documentation during the design development process so that the amount of rework in projects can be reduced or even eliminated.Australia Quality Costs Prevention Rework,

Building procurement has become a fashionable term with industry practitioners and researchers. It determines the overall framework and structure of responsibilities and authorities for participants within the building process. It is a key factor contributing to overall client satisfaction and project success. The selection of the most suitable procurement method consequently is critical for both clients and project participants, and is becoming an important and contemporary issue within the building industry. The problem, nevertheless, lies in the fact that there has been limited empirical research in this field of study. Postal questionnaire surveys of 41 clients and 35 consultants were carried out, and were used to obtain experience of and attitudes to a variety of procurement methods and the criteria used for selection. The findings indicate that a simple set of the criteria generally is adequate and sufficient for procurement path selection, and that there is a reasonable consensus on the appropriate weighting for each path. Moreover, it is shown that, contrary to expectations, similar clients generally do not have similar procurement needs.Procurement Selection, Criteria Weighting, Client Needs, Utility Rating,

One of the most perplexing issues facing organizations in the construction industry is their inability to become quality focused. As a result sub-standard products and services often emanate, which inadvertently result in rework. Typically, rework is caused by errors made during the design process. These errors appear downstream in the procurement process and therefore have a negative impact on a project's performance. The lack of attention to quality, especially during the design process, has meant that rework has become an inevitable feature of the procurement process, and the costs have been found to be as high as 12.4% of total project costs. Such costs could be even higher because they do not represent schedule delays, litigation costs and other intangible costs of poor quality. To reduce the cost and effect of rework, an understanding of its causal structure is needed so that effective prevention strategies can be identified and the effects of rework reduced or eliminated. A case study approach based upon deductive and inductive reasoning is used to identify the major factors that influence rework in projects. From the findings and with reference to recent literature, the concept of system dynamics is used to develop a series of influence diagrams, which are then integrated to develop a conceptual causal loop model that is used to determine the overall causal structure of rework. Once an understanding of the causal structure of rework events has been acquired, effective strategies for rework prevention can be designed and implemented in order to improve project performance. This paper contributes to study of quality in construction by capturing the complexity and dynamism of those factors that influence rework and project performance in a holistic manner.Quality Management, Rework, System Dynamics, Causal Loop Diagramming,

Information technology (IT) projects are renowned for their high failure rate. Risk management is an essential process for the successful delivery of IT projects. In-depth interviews with IT professionals from leading firms in Western Australia were undertaken to determine how IT risks were managed in their projects. The respondents ranked 27 IT risks in terms of likelihood and consequences to identify the most important risks. The top five risks, in order, were: personnel shortfalls; unreasonable project schedule and budget; unrealistic expectations; incomplete requirements; and diminished window of opportunity due to late delivery of software. The respondents overwhelmingly applied the treatment strategy of risk reduction to manage these risks. Furthermore, these strategies were primarily project management processes, rather than technical processes. This demonstrates that project management is a risk management strategy. Scope, quality management, and human resource management were solutions applied to several risks. In particular, managing stakeholders' expectations is a specific risk treatment that helps to manage several key IT risks.

Many construction organizations have misunderstood the reality that total quality management (TQM) based on continuous improvement requires a commitment to learning and that essentially it is the means to a learning organization. The paper argues that if the construction industry is to improve its performance and competitiveness, then there needs to be a cultural and behavioural shift in the mind-set of practitioners, academics and the professional institutions. Their focus should be on re-thinking their approaches to TQM so that learning becomes the norm. It is demonstrated that a relationship exists between the constructs of TQM, organizational learning, and the learning organization. Based on a review of existing literature, a conceptual model for a learning organization in construction is presented and discussed. The paper proposes some refinements to the concept of the learning organization, directed at clearly positioning the critical focus of learning at the organizational level in construction.Total Quality Management Organizational Learning Learning Organization Change,