A Conceptual Framework for Effective Communication in Construction Management: Information Processing and Visual Communication

Various stakeholders are involved in a construction project in which communication plays a critical role in building a successful team. Effective communication not only improves management of the project team, but also builds confidence and strengthens the teams by creating constructive feedback loops. Hence, effective communication helps to deliver construction projects on time, under budget, and with exceptional safety records. Communication in construction is a dynamic process of exchanging and sharing project-specific information between the sender and the receiver. The main purpose of communication is to inform or share facts, ideas, and opinions for desired actions between the sender and the receiver. The construction industry is well-known as a fragmented and dynamic sector due to the subcontracting system. The contractually-driven relationships in construction sometimes bring a lack of mutual respect and trust as the result of ineffective communication. In the process of communication, information must be transmitted to the receiver without misunderstanding or confusion. Otherwise, the message which is understood by the receiver can be different from what the sender intended to send. The distorted and misunderstood information may lead to costly problems during construction. The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual framework for effective communication in the construction management domain. Therefore, this paper reviews several purposes of communication in construction as well as the typical communication cycle drawing upon Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication. This paper further reviews related concepts on information processing and visual communication. The results of this study will establish a baseline to determine whether future research on information visualization and visual communication is warranted in the construction management domain.