Construction Management Practices Are Slowly Changing

Many design and construction companies are looking to add long-term strategic planning concepts to their traditional arsenal of short-term project planning tools. A study developed by the author at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech in conjunction with AECStrategies, LLC, a management consulting firm, showed that the industry is struggling with the need to move from a project-based business that emphasizes the success of projects as the key to long-term success to a strategic business that emphasizes the customer and the enterprise as the key. The trend is toward building a business that is selective in its customers, innovative in its marketing plans, hungry for new markets, eager for diversity in the talents in its workforce, and ready to formulate a plan for long-term success. Charts illustrate how small and large companies are approaching such topics as core competencies, knowledge resources, lifelong learning, financial management, and competitive advantage analyses.