The Role of the UK Government Procurement Guidance in Achieving Excellence in Construction - Research Paper Example

The role of the UK government procurement guidance in achieving excellence in construction Problems faced during pre-design phase of construction Introduction The construction industry has become a pivotal sector of any economy in modern times. Much of the growth of the industry is attributed to the voluminous cash that is involved in the business. This is one of those industries which have seen lot of bloodbath. Of late, experts feel that the main aim of the construction industry should be to focus on the societal values. It should not just focus itself as a construction agent but also as a creator of places. There are few questions that construction companies need to answer in order to be a successful one. How far the construction company can take its design to? How much importance is being given to the stakeholder’s opinion and values? While developing its design solution what does it aim at achieving? The pre-design phase of a construction project is the most critical phase of all as it is the first and foremost step taken and crucial to the success of the project. The pre-design phase needs the consensus of all the members, including the client, stakeholder and the design team before it moves on to the next phase. The pre-design phase is thus a very vital step taken forward as it determines which way the project is heading. A majority of the companies faces a lot of hurdles in successfully overcoming this phase. It often leads to contractual claims, changing of orders and at times redoing the whole thing. The clients often complain of improper briefing and that not enough importance is given to the stakeholder’s views, which gives rise to discontent. The role of the stakeholders helps in determining the value of the project which finally helps to determine the expectations of the designers in meeting the product quality. This in turn helps in determining the product quality and clients satisfaction, and as all knows how important customer satisfaction is in today’s world for any business to thrive. The fact that quality and value remain an important part of satisfying the customer makes it all the more important to have correct interpretation of the design management. Thus the communication between the stake holders and the design management is vital and it should remain as clear as possible to achieve the end result of satisfying the clients. Recommendations and Conclusions According to Lipton “Design represents a minute proportion of the life time cost of a building – less than 1percent – but done well it has a disproportionate impact on how well the building, and how well the surroundings perform” (Thomson, et.al., 2003). The interpretation of the quote means that depending on the formulation of the pre-design phase the success of the project can be estimated. Thus proper dialogue between the stake holders and the design management is necessary so that client satisfaction is achieved and the project is a successful one for the construction company. Thus in the last decade pre design phase has gained a lot of importance in research of design management. Keeping all this in mind a lot of research has gone into the client briefing. Authors have studied these methods and suggested various ways of briefing clients during the pre design phase. A software aided program known as the Systematic Needs Analysis (SNA) is one of the recommendations. The underlying technique of such a method is to review clients’ objectives and suggest alternatives. SNA can improve a projects decision making process by enabling the clients to identify their strategic needs and improving their briefing process effectiveness. Systematic Need Approach or SNA Systematic Need Analysis (SNA) has a vital contribution in the pre-design phase. The process is based on the fact that it involves the participation of the as many representatives as possible, be it direct or indirect. The direct representatives may include the clients, the stakeholders or anybody from the upper or lower levels of the organization who has a vested interest in the service or facility. The main principle behind the SNA approach is that it believes that a greater number of members increase the probability of a better solution. The three way approach to SNA method are as follows: The first and foremost step is to provide the staff of the organization with a brief which would provide information to the clients and make them aware of the pre phase design and its outcomes. It is followed by two consecutive workshops which focus on developing the strategic approaches of the clients and the stakeholders that had been briefed in the earlier stage. Lastly a performance report is made to guide the design stage developments. This method can also be mixed with an evaluation based software program known as the “Strateziger”. It acts as guidance for the stakeholders to make choices. Therefore any project that has come through this process will be able to withstand scrutiny. The strategy that has been developed through this rigorous process will be able to sustain. The success of the SNA process depends on whether the organization’s climate is able to deliver better method of providing their core and related activities. The outcome of the SNA process is that a mutually agreed strategic need is recognised which will satisfy one and all. Also a performance brief which previously use to lack can now be utilized to guide the design team. Thus the design team has its own freedom to go ahead and develop the project well within its specified guidelines (Smith, et.al., n.d.). Design Quality Indicator or DQI The quality of the project is greatly influenced by the stakeholders’ role. Since the quality and the product is guided by the product characteristics which in turn determine client satisfaction. So incorporating the design quality indicator would assess and help to deliver the values of the stakeholder during the design phase. To understand what the stakeholders need from their product it is important to have a proper dialogue between them and the design team so the later is able to deliver the expectations. The reason why a lot of emphasis is given dialogue is because; firstly it is the way for a common understanding of what quality and value is. It also helps to design activities and deliver values that can be monitored. Lastly it helps the industry to have a better idea about customer values. The primary objective of construction companies should to deliver customer value. In order to do this they should be ready to deliver solutions instantaneously. This is where Design Quality Indicator is useful. The purpose of DQI is solely to monitor the quality of the project and to asses and comprehend the stakeholders’ quality of the design. Over time the assessments can be used to compare the objectives of one project with another. A structured questionnaire is used to evaluate the stakeholders design quality. The stakeholder’s responses are converted into a categorical data through a Likert scale. The data is then used to draw chart to represent and summarise it. About 100 companies have incorporated this method to comprehend the stakeholders’ version of quality and values. Instead of making assumptions about stakeholder’s requirements they should be made a part of the design process. On the other hand fatigue of the stakeholders should also be kept in mind as it can serve as a major setback in the DQI process. Thus while designing a questionnaire for the stakeholder this point should be kept in mind. The DQI on its own is not sufficient in evaluating the quality and the values. There should be a feedback link between the quality of the product and the project values. Mere incorporation of the stakeholders is not enough. Building an internal mechanism of evaluating value will serve as the missing link between the project values and the product quality. The fact remains that value and quality are the two main factors in determining the effectiveness of construction companies. As a result the involvement of the clients is very important for construction companies to achieve its goal. The DQI plays a very important role in value delivery. At the same time designing the DQI should be given importance as because it will vary with the type of participants. Thus the recommendations that have been suggested in the above discussion that is the Systematic Need Approach and the Design Quality Indicator are the two most widely used methods by the construction company to resolve the problems that is faced in the pre design phase of construction. Since clients being not properly briefed and the stakeholders views not taken very seriously are the two major hurdles facing the construction industry, two models take care of these issues. The SNA approaches deals with the fact that the clients are properly briefed, whereas the DQI involves the participation of the stakeholders and direct and indirect people related with the project as it believes that consultation and brainstorming among a group of people is the best way to reach to a viable solution. In this way the flow of information between the clients, stakeholders and the design team is effective and clear. A smooth passage of communication between the three is very important for the organisation to attain client satisfaction. Difficulties and risks for a UK based retail supermarket company when it expands its outlets to include wider Europe and Central Asia Introduction Globalisation is the word that is making the buzz around and all global businesses are looking at the whole world as one potential market. A company can be headquartered anywhere in the world but for it to survive in this vicious competitive world, it has to look beyond and focus on doing business outside their home turf. Actually the main aim of companies going global is survival. Talking of business it just doesn’t mean doing business but also mean survival outside its homeland. Then only can an organisation keep itself afloat in this harsh environment. But having said this it also implies that the organisations have to be aware of the unseen dangers that they might encounter in foreign land, otherwise it would be a disaster for them to venture out into somebody else’s territory. Risks & Difficulties To focus on the risks and difficulties that a U.K based retail company can face when it expand is Europe and Central Asia would be the resistance that the existing super market giants will impose to keep away a foreign super market company. The existing players will go to any extent to prevent the entry of a foreigner, like giving heavy discounts and providing additional facilities to their customers so that they remain loyal to them. The major problem facing a foreign retail supermarket would be to capture a target consumer base out of nowhere. Unlike its base in U.K it would have no customer base to start with. Having a customer base is very vital for a business to start its proceeding from the beginning. The customer bases provide a starting platform for the company to build its reputation. But in a foreign land the local players will do their best to hold on to their market share. Another very distinct risk facing the outside supermarket giants is that churning out revenues. As finance is the most vital tool of survival of an organisation, it is also the life blood that keeps an organisation alive. The local players can play a spoil sports in this domain also, by slashing their prices in order to hold on to their customers. This is where foreign players suffer the most. During their initial phase of operations in foreign land they cannot lower their prices in pace with the local players. The local players can afford to compromise on their profit margins temporarily to dislodge their foreign compatriots. On the other hand for the foreign participants it is a messy affair to get involved in the price war. It is very difficult for them to keep up with the price cuts that the existing players will impose. Another difficulty that the company might face is that of linking with the culture of the people. Demographics play a vital role in understanding the consumer behaviour of a particular area. Understanding what the consumer needs is important for the organisation’s success. Europe and Central Asia being home for diverse culture of population it is very important for the company to have an in-depth knowledge about the region. Otherwise the organisation will not be able to cater to their needs and wants. This is an added advantage of the existing players who has knowledge about their consumer. Only after having proper information about the population can the organisation select their target market and focus on catering towards them. The cost of production is another such point that companies should be aware of. Keeping the cost of the products as low as possible will help them to survive in the market. On the contrary if the cost is not kept low then revenue of the company will take a beating due to low sales. In a new environment the company should feel itself safe to do business. Before entering into a market the company should be well versed with the political and government policies. The economic stability of a place where an organisation wishes to do business is very important so that there is no interruption in their day to day activities. Caught in an unstable place the company can face major losses which may financially cripple the organisation which will then desperately need funds to survive the phase. Integration into the new environment is a must for the organisation. Operations of a company keep it on the move and for operations to carry on smoothly the organisation needs to integrate with its environment. Thus a proper system needs to be in place which would ensure smooth integration. Lack of which would again be difficult for the organisation. Apart from all this the organisation should do its number crunching accurately. Meaning that although going global is the current trend of surviving organisations should not fall into the trap of making a bad investment in the form of launching itself somewhere where the gestation period is too long or the return on its investments is not quite attractive. Doing so will choke the company of its funds which is necessary for its survival. Recommendations and Conclusions These are the difficulties which needs to be overcome by the organisation if the need to survive in the new environment. For market penetration the company should focus on producing in bulk and also at a cheaper rate. This would ensure that the company attracts a lot of customers. Producing bulk and lowering the costs again is a double edged sword. As because the quality of the products should be kept in par with that which is been offered by the existing players. An acceptable quality along with a competitive price would ensure adequate market penetration. It will also attract the consumers’ attention resulting in providing a base thereby giving a platform for the company to build upon. Increase in the sales would result in generating revenues which would help the company to survive in its new environment. The company that has planned its expansion in foreign soil should have a sound financial history back home. This would provide the organisation a firm support in its new place as they might have to cope up with lower profit margins initially. Overcoming the next hurdle of understanding the demographics of the environment is crucial. The organisation should have enough resources to carry out their own market research about the region that they are going to explore. As discussed above that Europe and Central Asia has a diverse culture, a proper understanding is required before planning any sought of venture. Knowing the needs of the consumer is important for them to be fulfilled. This can only be assessed through marker survey. Since different section of the population will have their own needs and wants the organisation must identify the segment of the population that they can most effectively serve, and select that particular segment. Integrating with the environment is an area where the organisation needs to focus its attention on. The way daily operations that are carried out in the new environment should match that of the company’s. With enterprise resource planning gaining significant grounds in the global market, organisations should have in place a proper ERP to integrate itself with its new business. The fact that new businesses must integrate with the existing ones is because the flow of information must be maintained. Sharing of information within an organisation is crucial for it helps the analyst to evaluate the condition of the surroundings and also help managers formulate strategies that should be implemented in order to achieve the goal of the organisation. This is why ERP has gained so much of an importance in the last few years. Once the organisation has taken care of the following they can now focus their attention on promotion of their brand. Promotion is an important tool of a marketing executive. Unless consumers are aware of the name they will prefer to be associated with it. Thus perhaps promotion and advertising should be given importance to when a company is launching itself in the foreign territory, so that people are aware of their arrival. There is a huge list of difficulties and risk that a company is vulnerable to but as the saying goes prevention is better than cure, these risks can be mitigated or cut short by taking adequate steps which would make the organisation immune to these kind of risk factors. References Smith J, et.al., No Date. The Client Briefing Problem: A Method for Assessing the Strategic Needs of Project Stakeholders. The University of Melbourne. [pdf] Available at http://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/Publications/CEUR-WS/Vol-72/092%20Smith%20Briefing.pdf [Accessed 1 July 2009]. Thomson D.S, et.al., 2003. Managing value and quality in design. Loughborough University [pdf] Available at http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~tommelein/leanmeetings/Thomson&%20Austin&Devine-Wright&Mills%20-%20BRI%202003%20-%20Design%20Value.pdf [Accessed 1 July 2009]. Read More