Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://idr.nitk.ac.in/handle/123456789/19884

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Author: search.filters.author.Mahesh, G.

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    Review of concepts and trends in safety culture research of construction industry
    (Institute of Medico-Legal Publications, 2019) Deepak, M.D.; Mahesh, G.
    There is a growing concern among researchers and practitioners on improving occupational health and safety in construction industry. Organizations are encouraged to improve safety culture because it plays a significant role in preventing accidents occurring at workplace. However, a diversity in topics of safety culture studies related to construction industry makes it hard to have a clear and comprehensive overview in this field. In this regard, a comprehensive review of literature is undertaken to provide an overview of trends and issues in safety culture research of construction industry. Further, a systematic literature review of available academic literature on safety culture is conducted focusing on: Defining the concept of safety culture, identifying the factors influencing the level of safety culture and assessment tools to measure the level of safety culture in construction industry. Finally, a theoretical framework is proposed on the basis of conceptualizing the factors that affect safety culture in construction industry. This review helps in formulation and advancement of safety culture research in construction industry. © 2019, Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development. All rights reserved.
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    Building integrated project and asset management teams for sustainable built infrastructure development
    (Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. Howard House Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, 2014) Wong, K.K.W.; Kumaraswamy, M.; Mahesh, G.; Ling, F.Y.Y.
    Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relevance of the relationally integrated value networks (RIVANS) concept for integrating project management (PM) and asset management (AM) for total asset management (TAM). The specific objectives are to test the RIVANS for TAM concept postulated by Kumaraswamy (2011) and Kumaraswamy et al. (2012); discover ways to enable PM and AM teams to work in an integrated manner; and recommend strategies and operational measures to promote greater team integration in the industry. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based in Hong Kong with parallel studies in the UK, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Through a comprehensive questionnaire, a case study on an organization engaged in both design and construction and operations and maintenance (O&M) works, interviews and hosting a workshop (all conducted with experienced industry practitioners and experts), a set of recommendations are derived to guide the industry toward greater team integration. Findings – Early involvement of O&M staff is important for better anticipating obstacles and learning from past experiences, but PM and AM teams generally work independently with limited interaction. Priorities of the stakeholders are often different. Knowledge management is increasingly important, but knowledge sharing is not always a priority. The three focus areas in the set of recommendations developed from Hong Kong are: organizational/management structure, procurement strategies and operational mechanisms; fostering culture of team building and providing additional means of communication; and informal communication tools. Originality/value – There has been little research into the communication, interaction and integration between PM and AM priorities and teams. However, increasing industry emphasis on sustainable buildings, end-user satisfaction and designing for maintainability dictates that PM and AM teams must work closer together, hence the imperative for mapping useful directions to be pursued. © 2014, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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    Developing a clients’ charter and construction project KPIs to direct and drive industry improvements
    (Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. Howard House Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, 2017) Kumaraswamy, M.; Mahesh, G.; Mahalingam, A.; Loganathan, S.; Kalidindi, S.N.
    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a case, with live examples from a construction industry development initiative in India, for developing a proactive construction clients charter; and a core set of key performance indicators (KPIs), as basic tools for facilitating the expectations of this special issue in “securing clients’ organisational objectives and project aspirations throughout construction project lifecycles” apart from empowering construction industry improvements in general. Design/methodology/approach: Having identified 19 critical issues in the Indian construction industry at two construction clients-academia roundtables, two of the “action teams” formed to address specific issue sets, separately developed a relevant construction clients charter and useful KPIs, respectively, through a combination of literature reviews and brainstorming conference calls, along with iterative drafts of, and feedback on interim outputs. Validation of “working papers” presented at a “Consolidation Roundtable” of construction clients and their consultants, elicited further suggestions for fine tuning of final outputs. Findings: The charter was formulated in structured steps, including identifying “priorities” under four categories: overall, expectations from supply chains, by supply chains and by end users. The six sub-heads of the charter are on procurement, design, innovation and technology, project execution, human resource development and worker welfare, and quality, safety and sustainability. The “suggested KPIs” for building clients in India enable organisations to choose: from three different groups (i.e. design phase, construction phase, or business outcomes), and at three different levels (i.e. project/organisation level, benchmarking club level, or industry level). Originality/value: There is no known overarching Construction Clients’ Charter at present. Some project KPI sets are available elsewhere. However, those developed in India, while focusing on project performance, also connect to organisational performance and business outcomes. Furthermore, KPIs are provided to separately probe client, consultant and contractor performance. Significantly, the charter and KPIs are outcomes from an industry-led self-improvement initiative launched with building construction clients at the forefront, rather than a top-down imposition from government. Furthermore, while prioritising client aspirations, they also address common supply chain and end-user concerns, which may also be interpreted as a longer-term win-win-win client’s aspiration. © 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited.
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    Assigning weights for modified project Quarter Back Rating based construction project performance model
    (International Journal of Mathematical, Engineering and Management Sciences, 2019) Ingle, P.V.; Mahesh, G.
    The Indian construction industry is facing challenges due to performance shortfalls. The construction projects are highly complex, distinctive, fragmented and do not have of well-established performance assessment models to evaluate their project success. Assessing overall project success is not possible to measure by single factor. To address this limitation, the Modified Project Quarter Back Rating (PQR) model was developed for the Indian construction industry. Modified PQR model's output is a project score based on performance areas affecting project success and outcome. The model integrates ten performance areas that have identified through literature review. Performance areas included in the model are; (i) Cost (ii) Schedule (iii) Stakeholder satisfaction (iv) Safety (v) Quality (vi) Finance (vii) Environment (viii) Communication and collaboration (ix) Customer relation and (x) Productivity. These performance areas are measured through different performance metrics; i.e. performance metrics scores are aggregated to compute performance area scores. The model gives a single score that will help in comparing overall performance for different projects. This paper attempted to highlight the importance of performance metrics in modified Project Quarter Back Rating (PQR) based construction project performance assessment model for the Indian construction industry. The validity of the model needs assigning appropriate weights to the performance metrics as the weightage determines the relevance. Appropriate weights were determined using two round Delphi survey with 12 experts. Findings reveal that two performance metrics; return business from customer relation and OSHA recordable from safety have high weights. This modified PQR model will help key participants of the industry to compare the performance of various projects and to monitor performance areas that impact project performance rating. © International Journal of Mathematical, Engineering and Management Sciences.
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    Spatial Temporal Analysis of Freight Flow through Indian Major Seaport System
    (Korean Association of Shipping and Logistics, Inc. master@shipping.or.kr, 2019) Sahu, P.K.; Padhi, A.; Patil, G.R.; Mahesh, G.; Sarkar, A.K.
    This paper analyzed the space time interactions among the freight flows through major Indian ports. Freight flow data at regular intervals in the form of spatial time series were collected for the twelve major ports located along the east and west coast of India. The system of freight flows was modeled through interactions both in time and space dimensions as a multivariate stochastic process. Effect of the neighbor port freight on a subject port was analyzed to understand the degree of dependency among the competing/non-competing ports. Demand elasticity analysis suggested that ports are more sensitive to changes in their own demand over time than the corresponding spatial changes indicating bulk of the demand dependency on hinterland economic activity. Interestingly, only two ports are found to be competing with each other as they share common hinterland. In general, it can be inferred that the inter-port relationship within Indian major port system is complimentary or co-operative. Proposed models can be used for assessing the impact of freight flow changes from one port to the nearest neighboring port. Study findings will help port authorities and policy makers for holistic development of port system by making right investments in required locations to promote balanced development. It has also implications towards formulating policies on port development considering Government of India's preferred mode of choice for infrastructure development is PPP, and policy formulation for this mode of development is required to address competition concerns considering the high sunk cost associated with ports development. © 2019 The Authors
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    Construction education in Ethiopia: Knowledge and skills level attained and effectiveness of internship program
    (Emerald Group Holdings Ltd., 2019) Mengistu, D.G.; Mahesh, G.
    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate knowledge and skills level of final-year students of undergraduate construction programs in Ethiopia and assess the effectiveness of internship and its coordination under these programs. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach is used in this study. Data were collected through two separate questionnaires, completed by students and company supervisors (professionals having experience in supervising internship students). Interviews were held with university instructors to supplement findings of the questionnaire. Findings: The findings show the students have performance shortfalls in most of the required knowledge areas. A significant correlation was found between students’ self-evaluation and supervisors’ evaluation rankings. It was also found that both students and industry perceive the internship to have benefited them. However, the coordination of internship program was found unsatisfactory. These findings indicate there is a room for improvement in the curricula and coordination of internship program. Originality/value: As performance of the construction industry (CI) is associated with the competence of professionals, it is important to assess the knowledge and skills level of students, and internship coordination for the effective development of CI. Hence, the findings of this paper will help academic institutes to review their curricula and improve their internship coordination mechanism. It has implication for industry organizations in indicating knowledge and skills gap of entry-level professionals which could be filled through training. It may also invite other researchers in the country to focus on construction education for betterment of the CI. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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    Knowledge management influence on safety management practices evidence from construction industry
    (IGI Global cust@igi-global.com, 2019) Deepak, M.D.; Mahesh, G.; Medi, N.K.
    Many studies have been conducted in relation with knowledge management (KM), indicating the benefit associated with KM; among which safety management (SM) improvement is one of them. So, the aim of this article is to assess the influence of KM on SM practices in construction industry. In this regard, various factors that affect KM and SM are identified through literature review. Then, a questionnaire survey was facilitated to collect data based on the identified factors. These factors are ranked using a relative importance index (RII) to ascertain the level of importance among its group. Further, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis are carried out to test and measure the strength of the relationship between KM and SM factors. Results indicate that there exists a definite and significant relationship between the factors of KM and SM in construction industry. Overall, the results obtained from the study will assist practitioners and professionals to develop and upgrade KM and SM practices in construction industry. © 2019, IGI Global.
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    Developing a knowledge-based safety culture instrument for construction industry: Reliability and validity assessment in Indian context
    (Emerald Group Holdings Ltd., 2019) Deepak, M.D.; Mahesh, G.
    Purpose: Harnessing the power of knowledge management is important for minimizing accidents occurring at construction projects. Yet, knowledge management is a neglected dimension when developing safety culture in the construction industry. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop a knowledge-based safety culture questionnaire and examine its validity and reliability in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was formulated after identifying 69 influencing factors from a thorough literature review. In total, 210 valid responses were obtained from key stakeholders operating in Indian construction industry. Reliability and validity of the measurement scale were examined by factor analysis and inter-item correlation test. Comparison of knowledge-based safety culture scores across several demographic profiles of the respondents was utilized for testing discriminant validity. Findings: Results suggest that the new instrument appears to be a reliable, valid and sensitive instrument that will contribute in examining the effect of key factors that influence the importance of the knowledge dimension toward developing safety culture in the construction industry. Originality/value: The measurement tool developed in this study focuses on considering the importance of knowledge management in enhancing safety culture of the construction industry. This instrument can be utilized to compare the level of safety culture among key stakeholders of construction projects. This paper can contribute to the promotion of safety theory in Indian construction industry and provide practical implications for construction enterprises when they engage in improving safety conditions in their organizations. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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    Dimensions for improvement of construction management practice in Ethiopian construction industry
    (Emerald Group Holdings Ltd., 2020) Mengistu, D.G.; Mahesh, G.
    Purpose: The state of the different practices in construction industry determines its performance level. Hence, improving performance of construction industry needs assessing state of the practices in the industry and devising improvement intervention. The purpose of this paper is to measure improvement requirement level of different construction management practice areas and to identify the underlying improvement dimensions in Ethiopian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaire survey was developed for data collection based on a thorough literature review which yielded 28 construction management practice areas. Purposive sampling method was used to select respondents for the survey. Mean score was used to identify the required improvement level, and one sample T-test was carried out to identify significance of improvement requirement. Factor analysis was conducted to identify the underlying dimensions of the construction management practice areas. Findings: Findings indicate 27 areas need significant improvement. This shows the low level of adoption of good construction management practices in Ethiopian construction industry. Factor analysis resulted in the areas being grouped to four broad improvement dimensions, namely, project management, organization management, knowledge and risk management and project development and contract management. Originality/value: The findings provide information for appropriate action by the stakeholders to raise standards of adopted construction management practices. It also show areas of construction management which require more focused research in the context of Ethiopian construction industry. Considering the similarity of nature of construction industry problems in developing countries, the findings can be extended to similar countries. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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    Concurrent Delay Analysis: Methods, Case Law, and Expert Perception
    (American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) onlinejls@asce.org 1801 Alexander Bell DriveGEO Reston VA 20191 Alabama, 2020) Munvar, C.; Mengistu, D.G.; Mahesh, G.
    Concurrent delays in a project schedule are due to two or more independent delay events occurring during the same time period. There arise difficulties in attributing responsibility for these delays and in deciding the manner in which they are to be dealt with, as they are typically complex and intertwined. While various approaches and professional guidelines are followed internationally, a thorough study in the Indian context is lacking. Hence, it is essential to recognize the nature and effects of concurrent delays that the Indian industry is facing. In this regard, cases in India were analyzed to understand the nature of concurrent delays, strategies adopted, and legal issues. Also, a survey of arbitrators and professionals with experience in delay disputes was conducted to (1) identify current approaches to concurrent delays in India and (2) determine the appropriateness of and challenges in applying approaches from the literature. In India, shortfalls exist in project management processes and protocols. Also, documentation and information management systems are poor. These failings act as barriers to adopting advanced global practices. In this regard, the findings of this work are expected to help in standardizing approaches to concurrent delay analysis and in streamlining necessary process protocols in the Indian construction industry. © 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.