Introduction

This assignment covers the major requirements as per to the demands of Mega
Construction, which is a high rated building contractor. In the content, it explains the
consultation given on behalf of the contractor

Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude towards the Human Resourse Management
Lecturer and Mr. Gamini Rajakaruna, for the guidance and the encouragement that has given us
to pursue our knowledge in the subject and beyond

Table of Content
Task 1.04

Task 2.....07

Task 3.09

Task 412

Task 514

References and Bibliography..17

Task 1

Planning process is the stepping stone of envisioning the path to achieve a set of realistic
goals. Each and every single elemental process which is properly planned will most likely end up
with a productive output consisting high successive rate.
When it comes to a large scale construction project, all parties evolved are carrying out
various types of activities in a massive capacity. This requires a proper and prosperous
progression ever since its inception. With a proper plan, it assists to reach the targeted goals
within a realistic time frame. Since a higher scale involves a higher quantity of resources, it is
thoroughly required properly utilize them accordingly. The program provides guidance on how
such resources should be taken into aid during the whole on-going process.
With a plan being taken into effect, it provides the ease of monitoring the whole project,
mainly in terms of target based programs and their achievements. This helps to keep track with
regards to the performance and output. With the pre-planned program in place, it gives the
project affiliates the luxury of easiness in decision making since the plan itself illustrates
properly on which areas to be taken care of, in the event of a performance or outcome drawback.
Planning also gives the opportunity to deal with various types of risks such as negative
times to be considered whilst the project is being carried out. By the time the project is being
implemented, possible risks can be taken care of, and precautions can be made accordingly to
avoid or minimize any unforeseen risks since planning provides the readiness for such instances.

In contractual projects, the planning process is carried out under three stages. The stages
are Pre-Tender Planning, Pre-Contract Planning and Post Contract Planning.

During the pre-tender planning stage, a program is prepared as the pre tender program
which is mainly primed by the contractor. This is made mainly targeting the preparation of the
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tender documents and the Bills of Quantities. Having a pre tender planning gives a proper
guidance with a statistical analysis on preparing the tender and the BOQs. Decisions to be on
the tender itself are being taken into serious consideration during this stage. All necessary pre
tender arrangement and site visit are carried out during this stage in order to aid the tender
submission by clarifying essential factoids. Method statements, sub-contractors and possible
risks are taken in to contemplation, and an analysis is being carried out on the tender
performance during this very stage.

Pre-contract planning starts after the contract has been awarded. The contractor develop
the planning which was done during the pre-tender stage into a descriptive and professional
manner. These planning will also be shared among the parties evolved in the entire project such
the client and the consultation personal. The so called developed plan becomes the master plan of
the project which shows how the entire project is being carried out against the time constrain.
Depending on the nature of work, sub-contractors will be called upon to take over various
work packages, and material and plant suppliers will be a primary concern to take into account.
The layout in which the site will function having its components, basically a site plan, will be
developed complying with the health and safety regulations which will provide a clear idea on
how the site will be operative.
Other activities which are being carried out during this stage are preparation of cost
schedules which will basically be the cost plan, preparation and approval of health and safety
plans, and making further amendments to the master program.

During the post contract planning stage, the master program becomes further developed.
Furthermore, stage programs which can be illustrated as milestone related achievement based
programs will also integrate into the action. This helps to keep a good track record on where the
project stands, and it also provides a platform to monitor the projects current progress. With the
progression of the project, in order to stand against unavoidable and unexpected circumstances
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as built programs are withdrawn to the scenario. In this case, programs are re-scheduled to cope
up with the time available and the amount of balance work remaining.
Generally post contract programs are fallen into the monitoring phase as the stage
programs gives the general aid of administrating the project from the birds eye view.

Task 2

Use of sub-contractors is a concept widely being used across the globe in the construction
industry. However, in the meantime it gives the luxury of having certain advantages, there are
some conspicuous disadvantages as well.
Having a sub-contractor is a rather flexibility of partaking them when in need, rather than
getting there aid throughout the entire project. Thus the contractor can hire the sub-contractor
during the exact time they are required. The hired party does possess the expertise in the very
field they have been hired to. In fact, the ones chosen are out of many bidders, which gives the
opportunity for the client to choose the best out of the best. The bidders for the cub-contractor
position also try to bash out to provide good productivity for a reasonable price, which gives the
contractor a plus point on cost benefits. Another major benefit of having a sub-contractor in
place is, that payments are made based upon the work done. If not the contractor will be bearing
the weight of paying the salaries for the permanent staff. The most important beneficiary factor
would be the time, which is being saved with the affiliation of sub-contractors whom are in
charge of given work packages.
However, despite of having such benefits, one of the countable disadvantages is the fact
that the main contractor itself does not develop as a company in the given sector, which will not
be integrated to the performance of the contractor in the industry. At times, the sub-contractor
may cost higher to the main contractor beyond the level of expectation, leaving the main
contractor with a sizable cost overrun. Main contractor does not have sufficient will power to
take exclusive control over the sub-contractors, in which the main contractor will not be able to
make doubt on behalf on the working culture of the sub-contractor. In return, the sub-contractors
may be reluctant to go by the working culture carried out by the main contractor. Any
progression lags of the sub-contractor could be costly to the main contractor as it could lead to
time overruns and link to a network of glitches.

With the involvement of sub-contractors, since they are playing a significant role in the
entire project, they should be given a portion of respect when it comes to planning the project.
With the given advantages and disadvantages comes a quota of risk, which should be given
provision for. The critical factor is that the sub-contractors should be well synchronized with
whatever program that has been created along with the main contractor. The capabilities,
performances and current status should be taken into contemplation during the planning stages. If
the plans are made willingly to the desire of the main contractor party, then a proper control
should be there to keep the sub-contractors well within the range of the project scope.
In order to have a proper control above the sub-contractors, the ideal technique would be
to have a strict set of guidelines. The sub-contractor parties can be made well aware about
liquidated damages and keep them well phrased along with the project schedule. However, in the
event where the main contractor cannot gain proper control above them, thing could get much
worse. In the event where a sub-contractor fails to keep up along with the time schedule, the
main contractor will be bearing the responsibility for the time overruns or for any other issues
led. Additionally, there should be a thorough inspection on the work done by the sub-contractor
in order to prevent any quality or other disputes. Having a sub-contractor gives the necessity of
concerning more about keeping the under control and get the project running along despite any
issues to occur.

Task 3

Construction industry is a highly vulnerable and susceptible stream when it comes to the
consideration of the various risks to be dealt with.

a.

Risk assessment is where all possible risks are being statistically analysed to give an
indication, up to which degree that the risk can be treacherous. During the risk assessing stage,
all probable consequences are being noted down with the linkage of how it could affect to the
on-going project. Such risks are categorized to get an idea on what phases that the risk can be
quite critically venomous. What basically carried out is an assessment of all risks that is likely or
ledss likely to occur during the contract period.
Risk management is where the known and the measured risks are being taken in to
account to deal with it. It is one of the main management tools adopted when it comes to
contractual and other type of project management. During risk management stage, risk response
methods are being decided. The way to deal with the risk depends on the indications are other
results that have been obtained during the risk assessment stage. All identified risks are being
classified and dealt effectively according to the scale and to the potential level of risk.

b.

Since the client is quite keen on getting this project done well within the time, quality and
cost, the same three parameter could be the potential risk factors. It could well occur as time
overruns, cost overruns and project having considerably less quality below expectation.

Main reason to occur cost overrun is the fact that there could be many disputes. Such
disputes are the end result of monetary funding being improperly managed and being misused in
a high scale. Any other unexpected ways of cash leaks such as theft could be a main reason.
Having improperly done Bill of Quantities will leave both the client and the contractor in heap of
trouble. Improper time management is the utter reason behind any time overruns that could
cause. Whilst the agreement finalization, the planning personal should be well aware about
negative times that are to be taken place. Both this two factors automatically link to the other risk
of having a substandard end product having less quality.
The other two main types of risks that can be involved are safety related and
environmental risks. It is important to stay well within the safety regulations to minimize
unwanted issues and to keep the consistency that Mega Construction has been maintaining in
health and safety.
The construction process should be carried out with a properly administrated
environmental policy, that encourages to minimize the environmental related risks. Mainly
construction waste could be a source of pollution if it is being indecorously handled.

c.

The expected risk management system is to generally minimize all risks and deal with
the unavoidable ones.
Initially, a thorough risk assessment is to be carried out to identify all risks that are with a
significant likelihood. All risks that are probable should be avoided as much as possible.
However avoidance will only filter all risks up to a certain extent. Depending the type of risks
the next focus is to transfer remaining risks as a diversion strategy, which would ominously
minimize the risks affected to the contractor. What cannot be transferred should be minimized to
the maximum possibility. However, risks that may not be catastrophically caustic but yet could
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not be given away should be dealt by living with it. That is by conceiving the and distribute the
unavoidable risks in a manner which could minimize the impact per unit.

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Task 4

With the development in the technology as well as the information technology, there is a
collaboration of various software being used as management tools in order to cater the demanded
level of planning and control.

Microsoft Excel
This software is one of the famous software used across the entire globe, for various
types of tasks. To create many systems, flow charts, diagrams, illustrations, this software was the
famous for many decades. When presenting data to anyone relevantly involved, reports such as
progress reports can be demonstrated evidently and graphically well enough to every to
understand properly.

Microsoft PowerPoint
Powerpoint is quite a very famous software which is used for creating presentations.
Creation of such presentations is vital, when it comes to explaining certain components and
conceptions, mainly to the client.

MS Project
MS Project is the very software that is quite ideal for creating a program for any sort of
given project. It gives a clear illustration on how the work should be carried out against time.
The benefit of this software is that it covers almost every region that the project managers and
engineers should be well aware throughout the entire project duration. The preliminary benefit is
that the master program can be illustrated through the software itself. It can clearly give
instruction on behalf of each and every single task on how the project sequence should be
floating along. Another major benefit is that it gives the opportunity to create material requisition
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program with parallel to the major program that has been created. The data stored in the software
itself will be most likely displayed on the project office as a printed matter.

Apart from these popular softwares, packages such as 2-plan, Planisware, 24sevenoffice
are also being used among the construction industry.

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Task 5

a.
In order to gather the most valuable resource, proper people to work within the project,
there should be a proper filtering system to get the recruitment process appropriately paid off.
Thus the process of gathering the human resource should be given sufficient respect, and has to
be carried out properly.
First of all, an analysis should be carried on the required amount of workforce for the
entire project. This could well be implemented whilst the pre-tender planning stage. After the
analysis and confirmation of the exact requirement, it is down to the selection process.
Candidates called upon will be going through a selection process with a multiple rounds
depending on the number applicants.
The preliminary concern would be the qualification that the applicants possess.
Depending on the designation, the minimum required qualification can be determined as the first
step of filtration. Past work experiences is to be the second criteria that should be fulfilled.
Mostly an experience of five to eight years will be a greater preference. It is also recommended
to shortlist a few candidates for the relevant position and give them an on the job performance
assessment as the final step of selection. Thereafter, the ideal candidate can be recruited.

b.

Development in human resource is the process where the employees are sent through the
a procedure of upgrading their skill levels. Expected end result is to enhance the performance of
the employees.
Main method of developing the human resources is to train them accordingly. The
training should be provided where the employees are detected to be below par productivity level,
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and can be lifted up in their performances. In such cases the training content should be
determined, and the training methodology is to be decided by relevant chairpersons.
Another process would be on-the-job training, where the employees are being trained
while work. In this way they directly contribute their efforts to the benefit of the organization
even though their initial level of efficiency and productivity could be low. With the conflictions
occur whilst working, the employer learns on how to withstand against such circumstances with
the guidance of supervisors.
Off-the-job training is another method where the trainee is being released from the
pressure filled work environment and its stresses, and given opportunity to meet with other
people in other departments of the company. Under this method, the trainee can obtain literal
knowledge through various methods such as in house programs which could be conducted under
the guidance of institutions and universities.

c.

It is quite essential to keep the human resources well protected and well-tuned
accordingly to make the most of them, towards the betterment of the positive outcome and
efficient productivity of the project. The employees should be up to date with the latest
knowledge and techniques in the current market and the construction industry.
There can be special training programs conducted to give knowledge to the employees
with regards to the latest methodologies and techniques as well modern technology. In fact,
current technological skills which the employees possess can be improved as a part of
optimization.
While the human resources are being augmented technically, it is vital to set the tone for
them ethically. Employees should be taught on improved and innovative thinking. Setting up
such a mentality will bring an improvement and a higher motivation on the employees
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The end result of the optimization of the human resource should be giving a high
effectiveness, efficiency and productivity as an employee to give the best results for the
company.

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References and Bibliography

ASCE (2012), Pre-Contract Planning for Construction , Quality in the Constructed Project:
Third Edition, pp. 111-118.

Askew, W.H., Al-jibouri,S.H. , Mawdeslet, M.J. , Patterson, D.E. 2002. Planning linear
construction projects: automated method for the generation of earthwork activities. Automation
in Construction, Volume 36, Issue 6, 643-653.

Balnchard, K, (1984). The One Minute Manager. 5th ed. London: HarperCollins Publishers.

Kimber, D.L., (1997). TQM-based project planning. 1st ed. London: Chapman and Hall.

Krahmer, D, (2011). Optimal Procurement Contracts with Pre-Project Planning. The Review of
economic studies, 78, 1015-1041.

Patrick, C, (2004). Construction project planning and scheduling. 1st ed. New Jersey: Upper
Saddle River.

Pre-contract and post-contract stages(2010) [online], last accessed 17 January 2014, at

http://design-of-building.blogspot.com/2010/01/pre-contract-and-post-contract-stages.html

Said, H & El-Rayes,K , (2013). Performance of global optimization models for dynamic site
layout planning of construction projects. Automation in Construction, Volume 36, 71-78.

Stoner, J. A. F., Freeman, R. E., (1986). Management. 6th ed. London: PRENTICE-HALL
INTERNATIONAL.
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Use Subcontractors to Build Your Business (2009) [online], last accessed 20 January 2014 at
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/81358

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