Assignment-EMCM (Contract Management) Q2

7/28/2019 Assignment-EMCM (Contract Management) Q2

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Name: Mohd. Norizam Bin Md. Salleh

Matriculation No.: CGS 00534317

Intake: September 2010

Assignment EMCM5103

Question 2 - Page 1 of 36

Question 2

You are working as the project manager of a large international contractor.

Your company has just been awarded a contract by the Japanese Government to de-

commission and demolish a 1,000 MVA nuclear power station in Hokkaido Island, Japan. The

nuclear power plant has been in use since late 1970s, and must be de-commissioned as soon

possible in view of the recent meltdown disaster in Fukushima nuclear power plant after the

earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The project will include shutting down the nuclear power plant, disposal of the unused nuclear

materials and nuclear waste, decontamination the entire plant of radioactive materials,

dismantling the entire structure, levelling the ground, disposal of rubbish, and replanting with

grass, shrubs and trees at on the site.

The project is expected to take a total of three years to complete.

Due to the urgency and time constraints of the project, the resources will be sourced from the

following:

Technical Expertise: French supplier of the nuclear plant

Skilled and Unskilled Labour: From Philippines and China

Managers and Supervisors: From Japan and Malaysia


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Assignment EMCM5103


Earth Moving Machineries: From Japan

The project has a tight deadline and the penalty for late completion is severe.

Describe how you would manage the contract to ensure that the project organisation and its

execution will lead to a win-win situation for both your company and your client (and the

owner). Use all the knowledge and techniques you have learnt from the Contract Management

module. Arrange your presentation in the following areas:

Ex-ante incentivisation and flexible, far-sighted ex-post governance

Standard forms of contracts and sources

Contract laws

Global management

Differences in culture, communication

(Approximately 4 marks for each of the 5 areas selected)

[TOTAL: 20 MARKS]


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Assignment EMCM5103


1. PROJECT TITLETo de-commission and demolish a 1,000 MVA Tomari Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), in

Hokkaido Island, Japan.

2. PROJECT BACKGROUNDThe nuclear power plant has been in use since late 1989, and must be de-commissioned as

soon possible in view of the recent meltdown disaster in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power

Plant after the earthquake and tsunami in 11th of March 2011, the Japanese government has

take a drastic step whereby any nuclear power plant reached the lifetime period of 30 to 40

years operations need to be shut down.

Photo 1: A View of Reactor 1, 2 and 3, Tomari Nuclear Power Plant,

Hokkaido Island, Japan (Wikipedia).


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Although Tomari Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), in Hokkaido Island, Japan has not reach it

lifetime period but its owner Hokkaido Electric Power Company had plan to decommission

and demolish the plant due to safety reason and protest from the people.

Photo 2: Arial View of Reactor 1, 2 and 3 of Tomari Nuclear

Power Plant, Hokkaido Island, Japan (Google Earth).

The Tomari Nuclear Power Plant is the only nuclear power plant in Hokkaido, Japan. It is

located in the town of Tomari in the Furuu District and managed by the Hokkaido Electric

Power Company. All of the reactors in this plant are Mitsubishi designs. The plant site totals

1,350,000 m2

(334 acres), with an additional 70,000 m2

of reclaimed land.


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Its geographical WGS84 coordinates are stated below;

43210N 1403045E, 43.03611N 140.5125E43210N 1403045E, 43.03611N 140.5125E

Tomari Nuclear Power Plant consists of three (3) reactors as tabulated below;

Unit Type Commission date Electric Power

Tomari - 1 Pressurized water

reactors June 22, 1989 579 MW

Tomari - 2Pressurized water

reactorsApril 12, 1991 579 MW

Tomari - 3 Pressurized waterreactors

December 22, 2009 912 MW

Figure 1: Tomari Nuclear Power Plant, Hokkaido Island, Japan Location Plan (Google Earth).


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3. PROJECT SCOPE

Since the Project brief only mentioned to de-commission and demolish a 1,000 MVA Tomari

Nuclear Power Plan, then I would assumed that we are only required to decommission Reactor

Tomari 3, other reactors will be done by other contractors. "Decommissioning" a nuclear

power plant can be defined as the cessation of operations and the withdrawal of the facility

from service, followed by its transformation into an out-of-service state and eventually, its

complete removal.

Decommissioning activities are intended to place the facility in a condition that provides for

the health and safety of the general public and the environment, while at the same time

protecting the health and safety of the decommissioning workers.

Decommissioning involves thus all the admisnistrative and technical operations allowing

withdrawing a facility from the list of licensed facilities.

The administrative operations concern particularly the elaboration of decommissioning plans

and the obtainment of authorisations and free release certificates for the facilities and the site.

The decommissioning process shall cover the following works;

Shutting down the nuclear power plant shall require necessary permit.

Disposal of the unused nuclear materials shall require necessary permit.


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Disposal of nuclear waste entire and place those high radioactive waste to safe

store yard.

Decontamination the entire plant of radioactive materials except for high

contaminated sections e.g. reactor building and vessel.

Dismantling the entire structure and place those high radioactive component to safe

store yard. Those cannot dismantle will be entomb.

Figure 2: Removal of other structures and to be kept at safe store yard

(Modified from Tomari I).

Entombment.

The fastest method to decommission a nuclear power plant. This option involves

encasing radioactive structures, systems and components in a long-lived substance,


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Assignment EMCM5103


with Lead/Concrete. The encased plant would be appropriately maintained, and

surveillance would continue until the radioactivity decays to a level that permits

termination of the plants license, with little or no additional decontamination.

Figure 3: Entomb the Reactor Vessel (Modified from Tomari I).

.

Levelling the ground.

Disposal of rubbish.

Replanting with grass, shrubs and trees at on the site.

Project duration to be stated in the contract is three (3) years to complete. Man power

resources were identified;

i. Technical expert: French supplier of the nuclear plant.

ii. Skilled and unskilled labor: from Philippines and China.


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iii. Managers and Supervisors: from Japan and Malaysia.

iv. Earth moving machineries: from Japan.

4. EX-ANTE INCENTIVISATION AND FLEXIBLE, FAR-SIGHTED EX-POSTGOVERNANCE.

Ex ante incentivization

The ability of a contract to provide ex-ante incentivization is illustrate in Figure 4, and were

described by three parameters and they are the reward provides the motivation the contractor

to share the owners objectives and perform, the associated risk and the safeguard provided by

the owner to shield the contractor from the risk

Figure 4: A simple contractual schema for ex-ante incentivization

In ex-ante incentivization project management, if there is no risk, no need for any safeguard,

and the reward surely low. If there is risk, there may or may not be a safeguard. If there is no

safeguard, the contractor buys the risk from the owner, and a high reward may required. In the

RiskPresent High Incentive Medium Incentive

Absent Low IncentiveNO safeguard or

Incentive necessary

Absent Present

Safeguard


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Assignment EMCM5103


other hand shall there is a safeguard but the owner underwrites the contractors risk, the

incentive can be lower.

In some cases the safeguard is only provided against extreme risk and for lower levels of

uncertainty, the contractor takes the risk, for extreme events, the client underwrites the risk.

This is the case for target price contracts, or where the contractor only claims for variations

over a certain size.

However, in these cases the reward is less shall there is no safeguard. Ex-ante incentivization

only can be adopted where the project conditions were entirely predictable throughout its life.

With that Im afraid this project contract management is not applicable in the

decommissioning of a nuclear power plant project as the risks are high and also unpredictable.

Flexible, Farsighted, Ex-post governance

If in the ex-ante incentivization the safeguard can only be given for all foreseen risks, ex-post

governance in the other hand if properly motivated, the projects participants should together

try to achieve clients common goal to complete the project within time, at estimated budget

and acceptable performance with safety and sustainability.

InFlexible, farsighted, ex post governance project contract management, it is opened to deal

with unforeseen circumstances. Williamson (1995) suggested this kind of project contract

management to provide four parameters which are the incentive intensity, the ease of making


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Assignment EMCM5103


uncontested, bi-lateral adaptations, the reliance on monitoring and related administrative

controls, (transaction costs) and the reliance on court ordering.

In this contract incentive intensity where greater incentive intensity will elicit greater

performance and sustained effort from the contractor to achieve the projectr's objectives, and

greater flexibility in accepting changes to adapt the unforeseen circumstances. Bi-lateral

adaptation where the ability of the parties mutually to accept changes should be imposed with

collaboration, cooperation and cordial approach. Any Reliance on monitoring and

administrative controls will only incur additional cost on the client.Thus, incentive intensity

has a stronger impact on project costs than reducing control. If appropriate incentives are

chosen, there may be no need for monitoring and control procedures, with the contractor

working on their own.

Reliance on court ordering should be reduced as much as possible and the contract should

encourage client and contractor to settle their differences in ways other than settling them in

court. Shall involve with arbitration or litigation the project will become a conflict and all

parties will be in lose- lose situation. This adversarial approach should be replaced with trust.

Surely in decommissioning of a nuclear power plant shall involve and face a lot of uncertainty

and the risk are high e.g. possibility of explosion, high radioactive reading, fatality and many

more. Thus, farsighted post governance project contracts management are more likely to be

chosen in this project as it is able to face any new risks or uncertainty that may arise

throughout the project duration. It is able to deal with unforeseen events, whether adverse or

advantage. As the complexity and risk of this project is very high all parties should play their


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Assignment EMCM5103


roles to achieve the project objectives. In order to encourage the contractor to do that client

should offer the contractor with incentive and to provide flexible, farsighted governance to

deal with incompleteness, but at minimum transaction costs

In a high risk, large, complex, multi-stage, expensive and a fast track project like this the risk

should be shared among the client and the contractor although it may not equally distributed.

This is important as the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant will involves in securing a

lot of works permit and authorities issues. The client should play their role to assist the

contractor in securing all these necessary work permits.

In my opinion the cost plus management contract where cost plus the incentives and the

contractor fees (c+if) should be applied for this project. The contractor is paid for their cost,

management fees with incentive for their contribution in solving the problems and completing

the given task. Basically in this type of project the risk to the contractor is in the product and

as well the work process.

5. STANDARD FORM OF CONTRACT AND SOURCES

Standard form of contract generally produced within a range of industries typically by

professional bodies serving those industries or by committee specifically set up for the

purpose. Therefore it is wisely to use the common standard form of contract shall they are in

the same industry as you are for one reason they have been tested compared to bespoke


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Assignment EMCM5103


contract where while designing it you might left out some certain important conditions. It is

not easy to produce a standard form of contract as it requires a lot of effort and cannot

undertake lightly.

For example in 1998 the UKs Association for Project Manager published standard terms for

the appointment for a project manager took some two years to draft. The intention of standard

forms of contract is to provide a representative viewpoint of the industry which they serve. In

a modern contract strategy the standard form of contract should not be one sided. It should

share the risk equitably (in our case) between the client and the contractor.

In Malaysia we also have a few of our own version standard form of contract issued by

Pertubuhan Arkitek Malaysia (PAM) issuance of the PAM2006 (coming fast at the heels of

PAM1998), Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysias various forms

(CIDB2000, model terms for domestic sub-contracts, etc) IEM (The Institution of Engineers,

Malaysia) Conditions of Contract and Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) Malaysia issuance of

JKR203A edition 2007 where they indicate the perceived agreement that the source of

conflicts and disputes might be traced to the contract. Other well known international standard

forms of contract are also practiced in Malaysia especially by the international companies and

when a contract involved international contractors. Some of the common international

standard form of contract can be used in this contract and namely below;

FIDIC standard form of contract is very widely using in the construction industries. FIDIC

stands for Fdration Internationale Des Ingnieurs-Conseils in French or it mean The


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Assignment EMCM5103


International Federation of Consulting Engineers, Its foundation started in 1913 by three

countries namely Belgium, France and Switzerland each wholly or partly francophone.

JCT standard forms of contract are also widely used in the construction and engineering

industries. JCT means Joint Contracts Tribunal, who produces standard forms of contract,

guidance notes and other standard documentation for use in the construction industry.

Established in 1931,

ICE the Institution of Civil Engineers founded on 2 January 1818, is an independent

professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. The majority

of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150

countries around the world. NEC Engineering and Construction Contract is one of its

products.

In my opinion any type of international standard forms of contracts can be used in this

contract. The most important thing it should not be one sided and shares the risk equitably

between the client and the contractor. The usage of standard forms of contract would be highly

recommended especially in the field of construction in order to avoid ambiguity among

different standards adopted by each country. After all these international common standard

form of contract have been tested and used for quite many years and therefore their successful

are almost definite.


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The main issue of using the standard forms of contract is, clients are demonstrating that they

wish to abide by industry standards and not impose unfair terms that shift the balance of

power too much in their favor.

6. CONTRACT LAW

Normally the contract law to be used is the law of the country that the works is going to be

carried out. If a choice is given I would like to propose to use the international law or the

British Law as they are very established and tested in the past few centuries.

In standard contract there are four fundamental elements for a binding contract to be formed

between two companies and there are:

Offer Acceptance The intention to be legally bound Consideration

For this case study, it is assumed that the our company was awarded by the Hokkaido Electric

Power Company the owner of Tomari Nuke Plant a USD 1 billion worth of contract. This

constitutes an offer by the client and acceptance by the company by virtue of law. A tender

was called among short listed contractors.


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Assignment EMCM5103


The contractor was quoted a USD 1 billion during the tender exercise. When the contractor

had successfully won the tender, the client will award the contract to the contractor (an offer).

When this offer being accepted it means an acceptance have been made. The contract

specifically stated that the contractor need to decommissioning the nuclear power plant by

carry out the shutting down the nuclear power plant, disposal of the unused nuclear materials,

disposal of nuclear waste, decontamination the entire plant of radioactive materials,

dismantling the entire structure and place those high radioactive component to safe store

yard, entombment, levelling the ground, disposal of rubbish and replanting with grass, shrubs

and trees at on the site. In this huge international contract the offer surely come with a letter of

award and followed by everybody signing the contract document, this means the project is

legally bound. The amount of contract worth USD 1 billion stated in the Letter of award is a

considered a consideration therefore the contract are legally bounded.

It is a norm when we carry out a project in foreign country we shall bounded to their law.

Therefore in this case the work in Japan shall be subject to Japan Contract Law. Japanese

contract law allows greater ambiguity than American contract law. A Japanese contract, for

instance, does not require clear statements of offer, acceptance, or consideration: most simply

begin with a declaration, e.g. "Company X and Company Y hereby enters into this following

agreement." Their contracts also tend to contain very little detail, with the parties working out

complications as they arise.


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Although normally Japanese contract is less detailed, Japan's tort system sees considerably

less activity than tort systems in Western Europe and North America. The reason for this is

that attorney's fees are based on the amount of damages sought in the suit, not the actual

damages won. Because Japan does not use juries, judges decide the outcome of cases, and are

usually not easy to sway emotionally. As a result, many individuals choose not to sue when

their odds of winning seem low, and when they do sue, they tend to sue for small amounts of

damages.

As we shall buy a lot of other materials from varies country e.g. lead metal panel from China,

concrete cement truck with from Germany, steel from Australia and many more we will also

requires to use their law especially shall any legal matter arises. This also goes on how the

payment term will be, and normally the suppliers will ask for the money before the do the

shipment. We also need to know whether the insurances for the shipment covered by the

supplier are door to door or until it reach the first port. This shall give a big impact to project

and not only on the cost but also the risk that we need to take.

7. GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

To manage a contract of this magnitude (about USD 1 Billion contract worth) with its myriad

of complexities pertaining to huge materials, different parties involved, high risk and lethal

activities, requires a lot of resources, various regulations and permit, personnel from different


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Assignment EMCM5103


countries and continents and name all other difficulties, an contract management approach that

is aimed in achieving a cooperative organization is paramount for it success.

Companies that operate across the international borders need executives and managers who

understand cross-cultural customs and business practices and how to promote efficiency and

optimize profitability in that part of global environment. Many corporations purchase supplies

or sell products in other countries. A construction project in Japan might require buying the

materials from all over the worlds. The design works were to be carried out by the technical

expertise from head office in France while the contractor hailed from Malaysia, skilled and

unskilled workers from China and Philippines, managers and supervisors from Japan and

Malaysia and the earth moving machines are from Japan.

Global Management techniques are requires in order operating under these kinds of

conditions. The following are the issues that the contractor might face while carrying out this

project;

Obtaining permits to run a business or construction licence in Japan.

Complying with the rules for foreigners working in Japan.

Understanding the employment laws of Japan.


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Assignment EMCM5103


Figure 5: Map of Hokkaido Showing Airport Locations, Roads/Highway and

Railway track Networking.

Understand the regulations for import and export construction of materials in and out

of Japan. For example the import tax for importing lead metal for radioactive

protection for China the biggest lead exporter in the world.

Logistics wise e.g. the distances of the job site to all the focal points, terrain of the

project site and the vicinity, transportation services by air, sea, land or train. This is


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important for delivery of materials for construction works e.g. sand, concrete,

reinforcement, lead panel and etc. Also required to export of radioactive waste and

radioactive structures for safe store. Import big truck carrying cement pump for

entombment construction.

Infrastructure matters e.g. road, ports, railway and airport for import and export

materials for construction works. Is going to be used for construction activities and

also for the workers and machineries to come to the jobsite.

Facilities such as equipment, telecommunication, electricity, internet and others.

Despite basic need for workers, telecommunication and internet are also very vital as

the resources are coming from various parts of the world therefore a lot of

coordination works need to be done. The telecommunication also important for

reporting and communicating as the design head office for the French technical

expertise are based in France. Surely they need to communicate often as complex

construction will face problem long the process.

Time zone and physical distance might contribute negative factors. Problem in

communication to HQ, suppliers and others. Workers might spent night time

contacting family and love one and might affect their sleep time.


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Photo 3: Good road and railway network are requires for transferring the radioactive

fuel assemblies and sections of the reactor vessel internals to thedry cask storage yard Safe Store area (Connecticut Yankee).

Government stability, whether the area are safe from riots, war and etc. Any issues on

the stability might incur the project cost and risk.

To understand the laws difference as we do not want to offence Japanese laws.

Sometime the law might differ and therefore we do not want to get trap.

Finances issues for example the currency stability in order for us to cost the currency

exchange rate, finance cost and the risk to the project.


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Resources consistency This is important as the company might need to mobilise some

resources e.g. machineries from other countries shall the back up here is in sufficient

of not consistent. Additional cost might incur as contractor might need to have these

machineries or equipment in house

Health and hygiene matters This is important in order for the company to take any

extra precaution to ensure the workers health and safeties are conserved.

Security Extra precaution must be considered shall the workplace or the safe store

yard is unsafe e.g. got pirate or gangs in the vicinity.

Supervision of workers that come from various places also requires good interpersonal

skills.

Project risk. The far the project location from the company head office will normally

add to higher the risk. This is due to logistic, communication and management of

resources and reporting.


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Photo 4: A truck carrying a cement pump that can extend nearly 200 feet is loaded onto an

Antonov 124 plane in Stuttgart, Germany. A few of them flown to Japan to help atstricken the Fukushima nuclear power plant.


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Assignment EMCM5103


8. DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE, COMMUNICATION.

Differences in culture and communications are another two aspects that may ruin the

successful of global contract shall they have not been address properly.

Differences in culture

When talked about culture we cannot denied about the customs, the religion and the mind sets

as in a way they are somehow rather are interrelated.

Culture and attitude In order not to create culture confliction with the locals, their

way of life (Japanese people) should be understood. The things that we all accepted

well might not be accepted here. It also goes to the staff as the workers are coming

from various countries, background and races in order keep the harmony and cordial

working environment, optimise their productivity and interact well with locals, extra

effort are requires in order to avoid any complications.

Relevant festive season as the off days also need to be identified and considered in our

work schedule to avoid unnecessary lost of day work or productivity as some workers

they will not turn to work on this event with or without the company approval.

Behaviour. For some workers from different country they might not get along or surely

will have a conflict if they are requires to work side by side or work along each other.

A good management should anticipate this matter and split these workers to ensure

work can goes well and conflicts can be avoided.


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Religion is another sensitive issue. Some religion may have some restriction and

therefore all sensitive issues should be stopped from taking in into the jobsite and may

need to consider some festive season as off day.

Understanding the business culture of Japan might help us to manage the project in a

better manner. Japanese people not easy to trust somebody that they have just met. It is

a challenge that we need to take.

Understanding social customs of Japanese people will be an advantage to the project

other then we need to interact outside the workplace but quite a big number of

personnel and the suppliers are also Japanese people.

Communication

Project communication is a link which connects the major goals of a project: time schedule

quality expected cost estimated and safety requirement. Communication is important

because depending on the thoroughness, comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the

communication; the goals of the project would be perfect and as expected or not.

From this viewpoint, the objective of this report is to study on various factors impact to

communication in construction projects and how to improve the communication in

construction so that it can help and support the construction management team to get the

planned targets effectively and conveniently.


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One of the traits and probably the most important factor in all successful construction projects

is communication both internal and external. So, how the communication would be helpful for

construction targets? What effective measures and medium should be used in modern

construction now? What is the adverse way/manner in construction communication that

should be avoided and eliminated for ensuring smooth and as good as practice

performance/activities in construction?

Communication is the process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a

common system of symbols, signs, or behaviour. Communication is a two-way process: between the

sender and the receiver(s). Hence, it is important to consider the receiver not just as a passive recipient.

Proper communication is vital to the success of a project.

Most failures in communication can be traced to misunderstandings of the symbols that play an

important part in the process of human communication. This is mainly due to inadequacies in creating,

transmitting, and receiving these symbols, both written and spoken. In most companies, executives are

bombarded with information communicated to them through frequent meetings and dozens of weekly

status reports provided by every functional area of the business.

It is an undisputed fact that the quality and frequency of information moving down the organisational

chart is less consistent. Lack of quality assurance and control in engineering documentation creates the

opportunity for errors by those who use the documentation in their work. However, in the engineering

disciplines a great amount of communication within project teams involves symbols that are more

precise in their meaning compared to the management disciplines.


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Basically a project is linked together by its system of communications. The role of the project manager

(PM) is similar to that of the central server in the local area network of a computer system. The PM is

responsible for the continuous and comprehensive flow of information to and from team members,

whilst focusing on communicating information and decisions that may influence the project team

work.

The project manager needs to maintain communication links with all project stakeholders. However,

certain stakeholders require direct and ongoing communication, they are:

Customers (owners, users).

Project team members.

General managers.

Functional managers.

Regulatory agencies.

Subcontractors.

Suppliers

Effective project communications ensure that the right information gets to the right person at the right

time in a cost-effective manner. Communication that is effective consists of:

An exchange of information.

A verbal or written message.

An act or instance of transmitting information.

A technique for expressing ideas effectively.


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A process by which meanings are exchanged between individuals through a common system of

symbols.

Most project managers communicate laterally, whereas line managers communicate vertically

downward to subordinates. Much of the day-to-day work on a project is accomplished by informal

exchanges of information among team members. Most project managers prefer to communicate

verbally and informally, one reason also being that formal communication can be costly.

Project communications includes distributing and channelling information on decisions made, work

authorisations, negotiations, and project reports. Project managers in excellent companies believe that

they spend as much as 90 percent of their time on internal interpersonal communication with members

of their team. Figure 4.3 illustrates the communication channels used by a typical project manager.

Figure 6: Communication channels used by Project Manager (OUM notes)


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Assignment EMCM5103


Project team members need to be proactive in initiating timely communication with other team

members and the project manager. Communications management is the formal or informal

process of conducting or supervising the exchange of information either upward, downward,

laterally or diagonally.

Communications management is vital for effective project performance. Project members

need to know and understand the action that is to be carried out on a project. It is important to

consider the following basic concepts of communication theory and practice:

Only one common language (English) to be used in the project.

Be as specific, simple, precise and clear as possible about the information to be

conveyed.

Know who the receiver is and what are the receivers expectations.

Design and develop the message with the receiver in mind, keeping in mind the

receivers role in the project.

Prompt & instant

Internal & external

Suitable & proper for any circumstance

Effective and productive

Timely and synchronous

Friendly and appropriate


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Communication is always an indispensable necessity and demand of individual, collectivity,

community, and organization. In construction and for construction projects, especially for big

project or trans-countries project, such regard becomes more and more important. It plays a

vital role for the link of all resources to create a collective and common force for the well-

performance of the project, hence bring benefits to every involved individual and team/group,

company, community and society.

Building an effective and powerful communication system for a construction project is not a

simple/easy work at all. It demands good background, expertise platform, life experienced and

a brain-storming as well as an open soul and inspiration; and of course subject to the

specificity, particularity and size of the desired construction project.

All manners and measures are settled for the ultimate goal: the success of the project - meant

benefits brought to the clients, contractors, supplier, all parties involved, community and

society.

The success of construction project also mean success in every phase of the project. Therefore

the communication plan or method applied to the project should be deployed and mobilized

effectively and productively through every stage of the construction project such as:


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Planning stage:

Quite understand the intention of the client; the purposes and functions of the project.

Deeply discuss and consult with the client for common understanding.

Collect experience from expert on each specific and particular disciplines of the

constructed project, to learn the best estimation on technique, technology, cost and

schedule.

Anticipate and evaluate the pros and cons for the project; and then exchange, dialogue

with the client and project team.

Create a harmonious team which will result in perfect teamwork consists of project

management, conceptual architects, quantity surveyors and the authorized

representatives of the client.

Design stage:

Clearly classify and discriminate sets of drawings: architectural, structural, mechanical,

electrical, plumbing, faade, curtain wall, interior, setting-out, schematics, plan and

section layout.

Collect and then select a qualified list of designers with the approval from the client.

Timely and validly update for revised set of drawings or bulletin so that any update of

drawings is always recorded, documented and controlled.


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Construction stage:

All contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, installer, and others must conform to and

comply with a very clear, strong and powerful project procedure.

A very effective and valid method and means of communication is media. This will not

be interrupted and limited as much as expected on the variant, deformation or

distortion of the information transmitted to the destination.

Have an effective mechanism of sending, receiving and feed-back of information.

A very clear, transparent, friendly and open-minded mechanism for inter-

communicating between the client, project management and contractors, suppliers.

Instruction or notices should be prompt, timely, and accurate.

Close-out stage:

Clear instruction and schedule for contractors to hand-over.

Close coordination with the client for taking-over

Thorough checking for the compliance of local and international codes.

Documentation of all paper works for hand-over and take-over process.

External relations and communication:

To court, to win the popularity, especially for the supports from local authorities and

press, public opinion.

To strictly keep the security of adjacent community and environment.

Keep informing and communicating positively with press and media.


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To create opportunity and influence for any possible chance.

Always consider the very important role of external communication, public and media, and

especially the support from local authorities and community.

Important role of ICT and advanced technology:

Role of ICT information & communication technology plays important and efficient factors

in project communication. Telecom and Communication equipment/devices in a construction

project should be sufficient, redundant, back-up and standby and as advanced as possible.

Computers, servers and routers used in construction site, document control as well as project

management should be powerful and durable; sufficient to handle a lot of information coming

at the same time. And also be ready for a satellite leased lines for contingency.

For a very big project or trans-country/trans-border construction project, an intermediate

server and/or share-point; share-archive is recommended for convenience and help for inter-

communication.

Communication in construction project is the art of control, monitoring, verification, recording

and documentation. Obviously, a lot of factors affect to the process; positively and negatively

as well. This requires the project management to be smart to filter and identify what are the


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helpful and active things that bring the advantages and conveniences to the project

implementation.

Some common problems that may suffering due to many problems in communication

management. Are as follows;

1. Usually skipping communication management or just approaching it shallowly due to lack

of knowledge in this area.

2. Problems related to interpersonal communication (such as face-to-face meetings), intra-

group communication (such as interactions between team members) or inter-group

communication (such as interactions between main contractors and sub-contractors) occur

very frequently at many projects. Consequently, projects communication often breaks down

and projects are likely to be failed.

3. Unable to determine project stakeholders needs for information, unable to determine

communication channels in projects, insufficient interaction between project management and

team members or between main contractor and sub-contractors or within team members,

inappropriate communication media, etc.

4. Timing of distributing information, correct information to correct stake holders, wasting a

large amount of time and resources for unnecessary meetings, etc.


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5. Unable to combine verbal communication and non-verbal communication in order to

achieve targets.

6. Abusive using of bad emotional methods during interaction between project management

and team members such as fear and threats, aversive stimulation, etc.

It is important to understand the nature of the problems and to find ways to solve them in

order to be able to develop an effective communication management system in construction

projects. Mr. Nguyen Canh Toan made a study which objectives were to: (1) investigate the

communication interactions within construction project team so that communication problems

causing project interruption can be identified; and (2) propose recommendations on how to

improve communication management within construction project team.

In order to avoid similar communication problems, recommendations are given below:

1. Project Manager shall prepare project management plan including communication plan in

the beginning of the project.

2. Strictly following the communication plan. Incentives shall be provided to encourage

everybody to carry it out properly, and also treatments or even punishments for bad

behaviours.


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3. Document controller position must be stable as much as possible in order to ensure that the

information distribution process is in order.

4. In case of ISO certified company, Project Manager should give feedback to the companys

Quality Manager to add in personality test forms together with Job Application Assessment

Procedures forms. That will save Project Managers time whenever there is new job applicant

coming to job site for interviewing.

5. Using new information-conveying methods such as: web-based data distribution, e-meeting,

etc. in order for easy document control and timing of document distribution.

6. Organizing trainings for the team members in order for them to know how to use both

verbal and non-verbal communication effectively.

7. Outside activities such as playing football, parties, etc. are recommended to improve

relationships among team members and between the main contractor and subcontractors.

Documents

Assignment-EMCM (Contract Management) Q2