This paper investigates the pursuit of quality in public housing projects through the implementation of ISO 9000 in the last decade in Hong Kong. A behaviour-to-performance-to-outcome paradigm is adopted to examine the process of this quality pursuit. The research was carried out in three stages...

This study investigates the relationship between the characteristics of construction personnel and their degree of recognition of safety signs and symbols. The safety signs and symbols are split into categories of mandatory action signs, prohibition signs and warning symbols. Thirty safety signs...

The contribution made by economic theory when studying construction-related subjects has a muddled history. This theme was carefully reviewed in Ofori (1994) where he bluntly concluded that: 'Construction economics cannot be regarded as a bona-fide subject' (p. 304). This short note takes a...

The Asian financial crisis has adversely affected many of the domestic construction organizations in Malaysia, bringing some organizations to the brink of insolvency. It demonstrates that a construction organization's performance is sensitive to the prevailing economic conditions. This paper...

The total cycle time (TCT) compression paradigm has already come of age in many market sectors, and is widely seen as the route whereby companies attain international competitiveness. However, it is essential that the relevant business processes are skilfully re-engineered to compress total...

This paper presents an analysis of a familiar aspect of construction industry culture that we have dubbed 'the claims culture'. This is a culture of contract administration that lays a strong emphasis on the planning and management of claims. The principal elements of the analysis are two sets...

This paper considers how popular culture, especially the cinema, depicts two professions; namely, engineering and the law. It argues that despite the large number of engineers working in the developed economies their lives and their work are seldom portrayed in cinema. In contrast, the legal...

This paper explores the experiences of engineering, design and construction organizations (EDOs) in developing innovative approaches to performance measurement in their design activities. It contrasts experiences of these firms with those of manufacturing organizations. It finds that performance...

Innovation-led performance improvement in the construction industry is significantly influenced by the innovation performance of small firms. There is a dearth of research investigating innovation from the perspective of the small construction firm. This paper contributes to this underdeveloped...

Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) is a common solution for the maintenance of large complex facilities under tight economic conditions. Effective implementation of CBM requires the development of performance indicators for building components and systems. The objectives of the proposed...