Critical success factors for improving team integration in Industrialised Building System (IBS) construction projects: The Malaysian case

Industrialised Building System (IBS) is defined as a construction technique in which components are manufactured in a controlled environment (on or off site), transported, positioned and assembled into a structure with minimal additional site work. The Malaysian construction industry has been urged to change from using a conventional method to IBS to attain better construction quality and productivity, reduce risks related to occupational safety and health, alleviate issues for skilled workers and dependency on manual foreign labour, and achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the overall cost of construction.The use of IBS has been made compulsory in the construction of public buildings and the adoption was supported by the government through programmes, incentives and encouragement policies stipulated under the IBS Roadmap 2003-2010. Despite acknowledging its benefits, the construction industry is still not rapidly embracing IBS. This is mainly due to its traditional and conservative nature where anything new or different, faces implementation barriers. Investigation by some researchers identified that one of the main barriers of IBS implementation in the Malaysian construction industry is related to poor integration among stakeholders involved during the design stage.A number of reports challenged the construction industry to create a fully integrated process capable of delivering predictable results to clients through processes and team integration.Responding to the challenge, this research hopes to counter this problem and help towards the betterment of the IBS Malaysian construction industry using an integrated design team delivery approach.Therefore, this paper discusses the critical success factors (CSFs) that are pertinent to improving the integration of design and construction activities and summaries the recommendations from industry workshops on the critical success factors towards effective integrated design team delivery.

[1]  Douglas J. Ayers,et al.  An Exploratory Investigation of Organizational Antecedents to New Product Success , 1997 .

[2]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Motivating Creativity in Organizations: On Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do , 1997 .

[3]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Concurrent engineering: a multi‐disciplinary approach for construction , 1998 .

[4]  D. Lambert,et al.  SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT -- MORE THAN A NEW NAME FOR LOGISTICS , 1997 .

[5]  Ian Smith.  Continuing professional development and workplace learning - 14 : Communicating in times of change , 2006 .

[6]  Avan R. Jassawalla,et al.  An Examination of Collaboration in High‐Technology New Product Development Processes , 1998 .

[7]  Jorge F. S. Gomes,et al.  Critical success factors for cross‐functional teamwork in new product development , 2000 .

[8]  M. Hoegl,et al.  Teamwork Quality and the Success of Innovative Projects , 2001 .

[9]  John Bowron.  Re-engineering the project procurement process through concurrent engineering , 2002 .

[10]  Mohamad I. Mohamad.  The application of concurrent engineering philosophy to the construction industry , 1999 .

[11]  Akintola Akintoye,et al.  An analysis of success factors and benefits of partnering in construction , 2000 .

[12]  Richard Haigh,et al.  Achieving excellence in construction , 2005 .

[13]  Mohammed Abukhzam Faraj.  The development of a framework to aid the identification of factors inhibiting bank staff's attitude towards e-banking adoption in Libya , 2011 .

[14]  E. McDonough.  Investigation of Factors Contributing to the Success of Cross-Functional Teams , 2000 .

[15]  Bernard Kofi Baiden.  Framework for the integration of the project delivery team , 2006 .

[16]  A. Dainty,et al.  Integrated project teams’ performance in managing unexpected change events , 1999 .

[17]  Chimay J. Anumba,et al.  Construction in the UK Petrochemical Industry - Aspects of Concurrent Engineering Practice , 1997 .

[18]  A. Donnellon.  Crossfunctional Teams in Product Development: Accommodating the Structure to the Process , 1993 .

[19]  Robert J. Hershock,et al.  From experience: Action teams that work , 1994 .

[20]  Walid Belassi,et al.  A new framework for determining critical success/failure factors in projects , 1996 .

[21]  A. Dainty,et al.  New perspectives on construction supply chain integration , 2001 .

[22]  Quentin W. Fleming,et al.  Integrated project development teams: another fad … or a permanent change , 1996 .

[23]  D. Denison,et al.  From Chimneys to Cross-Functional Teams: Developing and Validating a Diagnostic Model , 1996 .

[24]  Keith R. Molenaar,et al.  Sensitivity of Construction Activities under Design Uncertainty , 2009 .

[25]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  The extent of team integration within construction projects , 2006 .

[26]  A. Akintoye.  Design and build: a survey of construction contractors’ views , 1994 .

[27]  Andrew R.J. Dainty,et al.  Looking beyond process: human factors in team integration , 2003 .

[28]  Jeffrey K. Pinto,et al.  Critical factors in successful project implementation , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[29]  G. Ofori.  Greening the construction supply chain in Singapore , 2000 .

[30]  A. Edmondson.  Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams , 1999 .