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Impacts of internal communication on dynamic schedules in mega highway projects

University of British Columbia

Traditionally, construction project management has consisted of three main areas of focus: 1- cost, 2- schedule, and 3- quality. This style of project management primarily developed for new projects has changed during the development and maintenance of transportation infrastructure projects in past years. During this time, these management practices were used for projects that would replace, repair, or expand existent transportation infrastructure. This change in direction has ultimately remodeled current management practices, that focused on the mitigation of risks associated with quality, time and costs. Thus, it is crucial for today’s project management teams to understand and effectively convey the relationships between communication, resources, and organizational hierarchy with scheduling conflicts. The main focus of this study was to observe the relationships between communication, resources, and organizational hierarchy, and how they affect construction schedules. This study is presented as a case study on the Port Mann Highway 1 extension project (PMH1) in British Columbia, Canada. At the time of commission, the PMH1 project was the largest infrastructure project in North America, and was based on a design-build contract. The estimated cost for this project was initially set at 2.46 billion dollars, but with the changes initiated to date, the cost may total more than 3 billion dollars by the time of completion. The two main variables that can affect the construction schedule have been identified as communication and resources. The managers of the general contractors through extensive interview processes have indicated that 77% and 62% of the factors that cause delay to the construction schedule are respectively communication and inexperienced labor force. It was also found that, by moving and replacing medium level managers in the organizational hierarchy, the delays to the construction schedule can be minimized. Based on these findings, a recommended solution has been proposed and validated by a second set of interviews with a second group of senior project managers. It is recommended that a strategized use of computer software be utilized in similar infrastructure projects, which will help management staff minimize costly delays and conflicts caused by miscommunication.

Text

2014-07-03

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/47098

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/