The Relationship between Building Agents in the Context of Integrated Project Management: A Prospective Analysis

Abstract

The increasing complexity of building projects, with high quality standards, integrated technologies and strong management restrictions, demands the intervention of numerous and diverse specialists. This requires an intense leadership, organization and coordination effort. However, building regulations, such as the Spanish Law on Building Management (LOE) 38/1999, only formally consider developers, project designers, project and work supervisors, quality control entities, construction companies, owners and final users as building agents. However, these categories are insufficient to represent the interests of all the stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to carry out an analysis of the agents that are currently part of the entire building process. If their relationship of influence and dependence, as well as their alignment with the overall objectives of the project are studied, potential convergences, divergences, agreements and disagreements can be established. To do this, the authors conducted a prospective analysis through the MACTOR (Matrix of Alliances and Conflicts: Tactics, Objectives and Recommendations) strategic planning simulation tool, for which the rules of the Delphi technique were applied and a consultation with technical experts, both professionals and academics, was held. The research provides insight to assess the power relationships between the building agents, as well as to measure the alignment of objectives with their interests. Results show that, in the context of integrated project management (IPM), the influence of technical agents is reduced by limiting their functions to those marked by their regulatory framework, allowing them to focus on their legal powers, and the room for manoeuvre of the professional agents, who are subject to systematized monitoring and control, is also reduced. The prospective analysis also highlights the importance of defining the scope from its early stages, as well as the need to reach multilateral agreements based on the other two main constraints: time and cost.

Integration of BIM in Steel Building Projects (BIM-DFE): A Delphi Survey

“…This methodology provides an accurate approach for the search of new information regarding complex topics [63]. The Delphi technique is a structured method used to obtain a consensus from a panel of experts [64,65]; moreover, it presents the advantage of conducting reviews with geographically dispersed experts from various industrial sectors [51,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71]. This method was used for identifying the integration of BIM in steel-building projects, which was careful not to guide any response through the questions that were presented to the panel of experts; a consensus of the opinions was then calibrated based on the responses from the experts in the rounds of questions [66].…”

“…In this manner, a valid consensus on the hypothesis or questions posed can be ensured. At least seven members of a panel of experts are recommended to answer the questions for this method to be successful [65][66][67].…”

BIM for Steel Buillding Projects BIM-DFE

“…The Delphi technique is a structured method used to obtain a consensus from a panel of experts (Ginigaddara et al, 2022;Olawumi & Chan, 2019); moreover, it presents the advantage of conducting reviews with geographically dispersed experts from various industrial sectors (Biggs et al, 2013;Cerezo-Narváez et al, 2021;LeBreton & Senter, 2008;Olatunji et al, 2017;Olawumi & Chan, 2019;Saka & Chan, 2020;Soh et al, 2020;Tummalapudi et al, 2021). This method was used for identifying the integration of BIM in steel-building projects, which was careful not to guide any response through the questions that were presented to the panel of experts; a consensus of the opinions was then calibrated based on the responses from the experts in the rounds of questions (Cerezo-Narváez et al, 2021). At least two rounds of questions and answers are imperative for correctly using the Delphi method.…”

“…In this manner, a valid consensus on the hypothesis or questions posed can be ensured. At least seven members of a panel of experts are recommended to answer the questions for this method to be successful (Cerezo-Narváez et al, 2021;Olawumi & Chan, 2019;Saka & Chan, 2020).…”

“…Finally, the questionnaire collected personal information from the experts. The authors guaranteed anonymity of the participants (Cerezo-Narváez et al, 2021;Ginigaddara et al, 2022;Hyarat et al, 2022;Olawumi & Chan, 2019;Vera-Puerto et al, 2020). 3).…”