Public engagement via value methodology for construction projects

Abstract

Due to the dynamic nature of construction projects, multiple stakeholders with various expectations are often involved. To achieve consensus among different stakeholders, the Hong Kong government increasingly encourages public engagement (PE) in order to actively exchange information and viewpoints between multiple stakeholders. Engaging multiple stakeholders is thought to be the most efficacious path to not only more acceptable project products, but also the empowerment of the public through the provision of more authority in the decision-making process. However, it is difficult to satisfy various stakeholder needs if PE is inappropriately conducted. The inadequate engagement with various stakeholders will easily induce conflict and distrust to the government, even the project failure. PE has been criticized for its illogical and unsystematic processes. The unsuccessful PE in turn leads to inadequacies of accountability, transparency, equitability and credibility of the project decisions and even the whole governance. Value Methodology (VM) is a logical team decision-making process involving systematic phases (information, analysis, creativity, evaluation, development and presentation) to satisfy the required functions of a project at the lowest cost without compromising quality or standards of performance. As a team decision making process, VM method is initially proposed to be applied in the complicated PE projects to facilitate the transparent and interactive team discussion. By incorporating a systematic and logic VM approach into PE, it is expected to integrate public opinions/suggestions, satisfy stakeholder expectations, reduce conflicts and disputes, develop social cohesion and so forth. Thus, this research study aims at improving performance of PE via a logical and systematic VM method. To achieve this aim, four sequential studies were conducted in accordance with the triangulation method. At first, extensive literature reviews on PE, VM, stakeholder management and team decision making were conducted in order to develop the conceptual PE Preparation - Team Process - Outcome model and propose six hypotheses. In order to explore the current PE implication in construction projects and refine conceptual PE model, four focus groups were conducted. 34 participants were asked about actual experiences and perceptions on PE projects. All qualitative data were collected and analyzed to refine the conceptual model which acted as the basis for the questionnaire survey design. The study also used a large-scale questionnaire survey targeting the stakeholders who had PE experiences. The quantitative data were analyzed by several statistical techniques to investigate the complicated relationships among PE factors. Following the questionnaire survey, three actual cases were studied for cross-validation purpose. The results of the case studies were compared with the quantitative analysis and used to develop the final PE Preparation - Team Process - Outcome model. Six hypotheses were finally supported by both qualitative and quantitative data. The results of this study revealed that (1) well preparation of PE (specific project issues and sufficient information) induce the better PE performance; (2) different stakeholders contribute to the PE process and final performance diversely (the higher level of reference power and affecting interest induce the better performance, while too many coercive and expert power might reduce the final performance); (3) PE decision making process follows logical sequences (i.e. information sharing→information analysis→alternative generation→alternative evaluation→alternative development→alternative presentation); (4) different stages of logical PE decision-making process, especially the information sharing, information analysis, alternative generation, development and presentation, influence the final performance; and (5) team behaviors (such as desirable value, commitment, trust, fairness, social learning and transparency) involved in the PE process affect the final PE performance. Based on the results of this study, several practical recommendations were proposed for stimulating active engagement and improving PE performance, including developing PE guidelines, establishing stakeholder identification methods, adopting the logical decision-making process and fostering the trusting relationships between local communities. The current study provides critical suggestions for designing and facilitating a logical and systematic decision making process to improve PE performance. The results of current study will be of academic and practical values to researchers, professionals and policy-makers. The expected results will also be significant for the long-term development of PE.

Date of Award	2 Oct 2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Mei-yung LEUNG (Supervisor)