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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)
Volume 10, Issue 03, March 2019, pp. 1773-1780. Article ID: IJMET_10_03_179
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=3
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed
THE IMPACT OF COMMUNICATION
THROUGH COLLABORATION ON BUILDING
PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN INDONESIA
Vahid Aghania, Sara Ramzani and Valliapan Raju
Post Graduate Centre, Limkokwing University,
Cyberjaya. Malaysia.
ABSTRACT
This paper study the impact of communication through collaboration on
construction projects performance in Indonesia. The current descriptive study, applied
quantitative method in data gathering, represented the construction companies in
Indonesia. The analysis shows a positive and significant relationship between formal
and willingness to communicate with project collaboration. It also supports that project
collaboration has an impact on project performance.
Key words: Communication, collaboration, construction project performance,
building project
Cite this Article Vahid Aghania, Sara Ramzani and Valliapan Raju, the Impact of
Communication through Collaboration on Building Project Performance in Indonesia,
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 10(3), 2019, pp.
1773-1780.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=3
1. INTRODUCTION
As the evolution of the global construction industry continues to accelerate, Indonesia is
experiencing a rapid increase in the sheer volume of construction projects being undertaken.
This is resulting in a corresponding intensification of competition in this geographical market,
and when considered within the context of the increasingly complex project environment,
collaboration in construction projects is emerging as a crucial feature to be incorporated into
stakeholder strategic planning.
While contributing to construction of infrastructure has played a primary role in the
economic growth of nations around the world. Construction projects around the world are now
growing at an unprecedented rate with regard to build capacity and corresponding market
demand. These profound increases are now posing a serious challenge to the industry but are
also providing significant opportunities. As the pace of this development continues, there
remain a multitude of major construction networks that are barely managing to function at the
edges of their capacity and operations capabilities. Building constructions continue to develop
The Impact of Communication through Collaboration on Building Project Performance in
Indonesia
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at an equally prodigious rate which is abundantly clear that a robust construction network is
absolutely necessary.
The aim of this study is to investigate the relative effects of communication and
collaboration on overall project performance, when observed within the context of construction
projects undertaken in Indonesia. Up until recently, a major proportion of studies conducted on
the subject of collaboration within project teams were viewed through the lens of management
strategy, commonly framed by Hemple [1] as being either cooperative, competitive, or
compromising. However, this study contests that the crucial aspects of communication affecting
team collaboration and performance are generally under-appreciated and few of the existing
studies adopted an appropriate, multi-dimensional approach for analysing the outputs of
communication and the impacts of project complexity, nor the mediating role of project
collaboration required to bring those aspects together.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
As organisations come to terms with the criticality of project complexity, communication and
collaboration when it comes to project performance and due to a lack of existing consensus on
this topic throughout the industry, a greater onus has been placed on project teams to research
how they prefer to define project team performance and which factors contribute most strongly
to it. As it stands, there are some fundamental knowledge deficits that need to be overcome in
order to enable better management of construction projects.
Construction projects by nature require significant and constant transfer of information
between project team members [2]. Expedient communication of such information is a
fundamental requirement for project success, especially considering the complex
interdependencies of disparate project activities [3], and is critical for efficient and conclusive
resolution of conflict between project stakeholders [4].
When project team members collaborate sincerely and in alignment with project goals, the
resulting work environment opens itself up to the sharing of information and knowledge,
facilitating a more complete and equitable understanding of the project context. This leads to a
unified project team, possessing an intimate understanding of the status of the project, and
greater capacity for tackling ambiguity and uncertainty. It allows for the application of joint
understanding to important decision-making processes and coordinated actions resulting in
significantly more effective management of ambiguous and uncertain situations.
2.1. Communication
Axley [5] posited that the act of communication is analogous to a pipeline through which data
flows from source to destination. Cheung [1] similarly defined communication as a two-way
process between a sender and receiver through pre-defined media. DeSanctis and Monge [6]
framed communication as being a transaction between two or more people of ideas, opinions,
facts and feelings. Loosemore and Muslmani [7] expanded on this to say that communication
is more of a cyclical process through which actors continue to share information over time.
2.2. Collaboration
One of the key drivers of performance on a construction project is effective collaboration
between project stakeholders, their contributions and their interdependent tasks. Both the
general social sciences literature [8], and the literature specifically focused on construction
project management [9], explore multiple avenues to achieving effective collaboration and
integration amongst interdependent actors. These include formal, industry-developed tools,
techniques and practices, as well as informal ones, such as trust [10].
Vahid Aghania, Sara Ramzani and Valliapan Raju
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The efficacy of collaboration mechanisms established between stakeholders can depend on
the nature and intensity of the interdependencies that lie therein. For example, where these
dependencies are transactional and sequential in nature, it is possible to control them with a
rules-based framework and supervisory hierarchical roles, particularly when outcomes are well
understood and more predictable [11].
For the alternate types of interdependencies requiring stakeholders to integrate their
resources in a more incremental manner, which Thompson [12] refers to as reciprocal
interdependencies, it requires a more adaptive approach with more extensive negotiation [11].
2.3. Performance
The sacred triumvirate of time, cost, and quality have been long held as the key metrics of
project success [13]. However, only a cursory meta-analysis is required to acknowledge that
there exists a wide range of project outcome metrics, consisting of combinations and
permutations of various technical performance and social system measures.
Of the distinct technical performance measures, those most frequently referred to are
efficiency, innovation, and effectiveness [14], and it must be noted that while these concepts
do overlap with the three primary metrics mentioned above, they are still to be recognised in
their own right. To this end, this study asserts that efficiency, innovation, and effectiveness are
the primary technical system outcomes that should be assessed for measuring project
performance.
Arguably the more involved of the three, effectiveness refers to the degree to which key
project stakeholders’ expectations have been met, in terms of project outcomes [15]. Different
projects invariably elicit different expectations from stakeholders, who in turn have unique and
ever-changing requirements.
It is no surprise that numerous measures have been identified and used for the measurement
of effectiveness in previous studies. The most commonly used measures of effectiveness were
based on compliance with technical requirements such as functionality and reliability [16],
fulfilling end-user requirements [17], achieving pre-defined quality goals [18], and addressing
market needs [19].
3. METHODOLOGY
Using quantitative data analysis methods, this study analysed 292 surveys, representing a
significant proportion of Indonesian construction companies in building and infrastructure
sector. The study uses primary data and the collection was done via a description-based
questionnaire set. This method of data collection enables the reliable identification and labelling
of variabilities with the occurrence of different phenomena.
4. FINDING AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 and 2 below show the standardized parameter estimates of the proposed model, AVE,
Cronbach and R square values.
The Impact of Communication through Collaboration on Building Project Performance in
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Table 1 AVE, Cronbach and R-square
AVE
Composite
Reliability
R
Square
Cronbachs
Alpha
Communality
Redundanc
y
Formal
Communicatio
n
0.6851
0.9156
0
0.8975
0.6851
0
Informal
Communicatio
n
0.638
0.8979
0
0.8597
0.638
0
Willingness to
communicate
0.6168
0.9051
0
0.8864
0.6168
0
Collaboration
0.9314
0.976
0.7928
0.9629
0.9314
0.2898
Performance
0.6589
0.8852
0.7977
0.8268
0.6589
0.5221
Table 2 Standardized Parameter Estimates of Hypothesized Relationships
Sample
Mean
(M)
Standard
Deviation
(STDEV)
Standard
Error
(STERR)
T Statistics
(|O/STERR|)
Formal Com ->
Collaboration
0.2282
0.0689
0.0689
3.442
Informal Com ->
Collaboration
-0.0245
0.0718
0.0718
0.288
Willingness to communicate
-> Collaboration
0.6916
0.0781
0.0781
8.6986
Collaboration ->
Performance
0.8974
0.0372
0.0372
23.9957
Hypothesis 1. There is a significant relationship between formal communication and
collaboration in construction projects in Indonesia.
Analysis of hypothesis 1 states that formal communication positively affects collaboration.
The results prove the relationship in the predicted direction with β = 0.237 (p < .05).
Hypothesis 2. There is a significant relationship between informal communication and
collaboration in construction projects in Indonesia.
Analysis of hypothesis 2 does not support the relationship between informal communication
and project collaboration.
Hypothesis 3. There is a significant relationship between willingness to communicate and
collaboration in construction projects in Indonesia.
Analysis of hypothesis 3 states that willingness to communicate positively affects
collaboration. The results prove the relationship in the predicted direction with β = 0.679 (p <
.05).
The result of study reveals that willingness to communicate has the most impact on project
collaboration and in sequence formal communication has the highest impact.
Fluid project communication networks, in which the transfer of ideas and instructions can
flow through the entire project team [20], are essential for construction projects’ need for
improved coordination if they are to achieve the necessary levels of efficiency and effectiveness
within the Indonesia context [21].
Open channels connecting the client, consultant and contractor can only be achieved when
the consultant can demand clear instruction from the client, and subsequently translates that
Vahid Aghania, Sara Ramzani and Valliapan Raju
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appropriately to the contractor. In this way, these three major stakeholders are brought into
alignment and allowing them to meet common requirements and aim for the common project
objectives, all of which facilitates a working environment more conducive to collaboration [22].
An effective way to promote higher levels of teamwork on a project is to schedule a
comprehensive kick-off meeting during which the lines of communications can be negotiated
between the stakeholders and formalised with protocols and contact lists to be kept by each
project member [23].
Communication planning is highlighted as an important initial stage for communication
management within the corresponding knowledge area of PMBOK [24]. It asserts the need for
full support to conduct regular key meetings such as the client-consultant meeting, engineering
meeting, and site progress meeting all of which are essential for collaborative problem-solving
and consistent project coordination.
It is suggested that project team members should meet on a weekly basis, consisting of
fortnightly client-consultant meetings and site meetings conducted every other week.
Additional brainstorming sessions should also be conducted for ongoing design reviews to
allow the more technically proficient contractor to offer solutions in a more collaborative setting
[25].
Hypothesis 4. There is a significant relationship between collaboration and project
performance in construction projects in Indonesia.
Analysis of hypothesis 4 states that collaboration positively affects project performance.
The results prove the relationship in the predicted direction with β = 0.893 (p < .05).
It is becoming increasingly apparent to researchers of the topic that there is a strong
correlation between collaboration and performance [26]. It can be concluded also that a
collective decision-making process can help expedite problem solving, enabling these
construction projects to be launched before their competitors' solutions have been devised.
It serves that better performance can therefore be facilitated through better collaboration
There are numerous reasons that interfirm collaboration has further positive impact on levels
of innovation [27], enabling more eclectic idea generation which would not be available through
intrafirm collaboration, as without such external networks, it is especially difficult to even be
cognisant of fundamentally different schools of thought that opens up brand new opportunities
for the acquisition of new technology and learning [28].
This kind of ‘cross-fertilization’ of diverse disciplinary or experience bases ultimately leads
to augmented levels of innovation and collaboration [29], and facilitates greater knowledge
integration throughout the project team, increasing the team’s ability to grasp and process
diverse ideas from their cohort’s different domains of expertise [30].
These different layers of collaboration are clearly beneficial for integrating and re-
conceptualising different knowledge sets for the eventual creation of unique and novel solutions
to modern project problems.
5. CONCLUSIONS
As a project-oriented industry, the construction sector [31] possesses heterogeneous and
fragmented organisations that come together to form joint but temporary project ventures [21].
Communication is therefore critical for success and must involve high volumes of information
being exchanged between stakeholders from all project disciplines in a mutually dependent
manner [2]. Even though these situations present a more complex set of communication
requirements, a strong focus remains essential for the successful delivery of these types of
construction projects [32].