Question

Q1

The growth of economic sectors within a country depends on the significant contribution of the construction industry. This industry is responsible for physical and infrastructure development that includes the building of roads, bridges, towers, as well as residential houses. Every sector, somehow, needs the construction industry to provide an area for different operations. For instance, the construction industry operates the building of company offices, premises, and factories. It also escalates the GDP of a country where the global construction projects in 2017 reached a figure of $17140 billion, and forecast an expected increase to $15.5 trillion by 2030. The overall construction project is expected to increase at an average percentage of 4.3%. These figures increase stresses on the integration of value management practices, which reinforces innovation, novelty as well as advancement into the existing construction practices. Though the concept has existed for over a century, its application has remained confined. Luvara, & Mwemezi stated its successful application among US public construction projects. The application of the value management function has proven to be useful to attain the construction objectives, i.e., to enhance the project design, construction, along with cost-effectiveness. Value management is a structured analytical process, which tends to develop innovative holistic solutions for intricate issues. It aims for the best value through a wide range of design and construction processes to fulfill the perceived needs of its clients. The functions of value management ensure that projects achieved by construction companies attain the value for their products without ignoring their clients’ needs. It also resolves the associated constraints on expenditure as well as a restriction for mitigating the additional cost while sustaining the project quality as well as reliability. Recent work by Noor et al. demonstrated the effectiveness of value management in the decision making of construction industry agents. Application of value management is not satisfactory in most of the regions, even though value management in terms of planning, cost management, conflict management, and dispute resolution has been in the construction industry for a long time. Moreover, a lack of awareness regarding value management is a significant reason for the failure of applying value management within the construction industry. The main aim of implementing value management is to provide all necessary functions to the industry at the lowest cost, which is consistent with the required levels of product quality and performance of the industry. Ong stated that developed countries like UK, USA, Australia widely practice value management; whereas, countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia lacked the practice of value management due to lack of awareness of its existence and various applications. The level of awareness among employees of the construction industry remains unidentified, and the implementation of value management by the construction companies was still at an elementary stage. Moreover, the stakeholders need to analyze the level of acceptance and impact of value management as they are exposed to buildability and fast technology changes. Value management mainly focuses on the functioning and value of money; rather than a reduction in the overall cost. It proceeds in an innovative way to collaborate and achieve the needs of clients and stakeholders. Therefore, the present study reviewed and analyzed the level of awareness of value management practices in the construction industry globally. (Abdullah A, 2020) Based on that statement: a.         Discuss the readiness of Malaysia on value management in the construction industry. b.         Elaborate on how value management mainly focuses on the functioning and value of             money; rather than a reduction in the overall cost.

Answer 1

b. The value management mainly focuses on the functioning and value of money rather than a reduction in the overall cost in following ways-

The value management (VM) act as a cost reduction tool i.e. cost savings.

The most visible benefits arising out of the application of value management is the elimination of unnecessary cost that may arise during the design and execution of the project.

VM provides a way of measuring value, taking into account nonmonetary benefits and demonstrating that value for money has been achieved.

VM identifies items of unnecessary costs in a project and develops alternate ways of achieving the same functions at the lowest possible cost without impairing on the quality, aesthetic, image, safety and functional performances of the building and at the same time improves the project schedules.

By conducting workshops , seminars can help enrich the knowledge of the practitioners, improving awareness and foster a positive impact on the construction industry projects.

The effective value management practices are suggested to improve the cost and time effectiveness based on the timely decisions made.

The introduction of value management undergraduate programs with the universities which offers engineering and construction-related courses.

The research also recommends the integration of the clause within the construction projects which promote the value-based practices.

The inclusion of the clause helps the contractors to bring positive changes in their practices, which not only save cost but also improves collaborative actions.

This will reinforce the idea in all project members to play a substantial role in the achievement of its objective and emphasizing the need to share their ideas for escalating the overall project output.

a.The readiness of Malaysia on value management (VM) in the construction industry are as follows-

VM is a process whereby the project is evaluated and scrutinised to obtain maximum value for money by following a prescribed methodology.

It mainly focuses on the value rather than cost in relation to the function of the element of the project.

The key benefit of VM is the financial benefits to the client and the other benefits include a clearer brief, improved communication, use of local materials etc.

However, there are barriers to its application in Malaysia such as inadequate training and education, the unwillingness to entertain new ideas, lack of regulatory framework etc.

The findings on readiness of Malaysia suggested that the inclusion of effective value management programs will assist in improving the construction of professional knowledge.

From an academic perspective, it has provided substantial insights into its impeding factors and general practices, which affect its application in Malaysia.

It was found that unadequate knowledge is recognized as a major factor.

The level of awareness in the construction industries was average however, they face specific barriers for its implementation.

By implementing education program for the engineering and construction projects needs to integrate with value management aspects for improving the project managers and stakeholder management in construction.

Future studies needs to be conducted on the evaluation of barriers and several facilitating factors to implement and practice value management within the construction industry in country.

Future studies may also includes more variables and concentrate on a particular region for understanding its practices and overcoming any hindering factors for construction project value management.

The different research approaches can be implemented, such as quantitative, which can provide more valuable results.

However in Malaysia the perspective of the construction industry personnel can also be evaluated, which can provide more meaningful insights on the application difficulties faced on-site and expanding the knowledge horizon of the construction industry value management.