Griffith, A and Bhutto, K (2008) Contractors' experiences of integrated management systems. Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, 161(3), pp. 93-98. ISSN 17514312
Abstract
Integrated management systems (IMS) are an innovative method of handling the multitude of management functions and procedures that are applied throughout major construction projects. Quality, safety and environment are at the forefront of management systems evolution where the integration of these traditionally independent and dedicated organisational systems is expected to deliver a range of benefits through efficiency gains and operational effectiveness at both the company and project level. Building and civil engineering contracting organisations are implementing management integration in different ways and this makes the potential benefits of successful systems application difficult to identify and share widely throughout the industry. This paper reports on a government-funded PhD project that examined IMS developments in the construction industry. The research involved data obtained from a survey of 30 UK-based building and civil engineering companies together with interviews and case studies provided by five principal contractors at the leading-edge of management systems integration. The research found that IMS has the potential to deliver greater organisational effectiveness and efficiency and can improve project performance. It also identified that difficulties in system configuration and implementation are commonplace. The challenge is to establish a generic framework for IMS development which contractors can apply to their activities within the context of their core business.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | environment; health and safety; quality control |
| Index terms: | contracting organization, configuration, integration, evolution, construction project, survey, principal contractor, health and safety, management system, interview, implementation, quality control, construction industry, effectiveness, project performance, organizational effectiveness, case study, efficiency, core busines |
| Subjects: | health safety and environment, production management, practitioner, environmental science, contractual arrangements, management, performance management, project management theory and practice, organizational analysis, industry analysis, systems engineering, data collection methods, business, project delivery |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Procurement, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Quality Management, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here