Fuzzy Agent–Based Modeling of Competency and Performance Measures in Construction
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 149, Issue 12
Abstract
Construction organizations are project-based organizations in which both competencies and performance develop through project execution. A competency measure is a combination of knowledge, skill, processes, practices, and/or technology possessed by a construction organization. Performance measures are used to assess an organization’s competitiveness within its industry. An organization can analyze competencies to predict and improve performance. Previous studies investigated project- and organization-level competencies with respect to performance measures. However, multilevel assessment is needed, although it is challenging because the nature of construction competency and performance measures is complex, dynamic, and subjectively uncertain. To address these challenges, this paper presents a methodology for developing a fuzzy agent–based model (FABM) of competency and performance that models a set of organizational- and project-level competency measures as decision-making entities (i.e., agents) and predicts multiple performance measures as their emergent behavior. A case study was implemented to demonstrate, verify, and validate the proposed FABM model, with encouraging results in performance prediction. The academic contribution of this paper is providing a novel systematic, bottom-up modeling approach for measuring and assessing competencies at the project and organization levels and mapping these multilevel competencies to construction performance measures. Furthermore, the outcomes of this study are expected to support construction practitioners by providing a set of comprehensive hierarchical competency and performance metrics at the project and organization levels for managerial actions taken to identify, construct, and develop competency models to assess performance at both levels.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Chair in Strategic Construction Modeling and Delivery (NSERC IRCPJ 428226–15) held by Dr. Aminah Robinson Fayek. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Dr. Phuong Nguyen, Dr. Nebiyu Kedir, the IRC’s industry partners, and all personnel who participated in this study.
References
Bokor, O., L. Florez, A. Osborne, and B. J. Gledson. 2019. “Overview of construction simulation approaches to model construction processes.” Organ. Technol. Manage. Constr. 11 (1): 1853–1861. https://doi.org/10.2478/otmcj-2018-0018.
Campion, M. A., A. A. Fink, B. J. Ruggeberg, L. Carr, G. M. Phillips, and R. B. Odman. 2011. “Doing competencies well: Best practices in competency modeling.” Personnel Psychol. 64 (1): 225–262. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01207.x.
Cheng, M. Y., and A. F. V. Roy. 2010. “Evolutionary fuzzy decision model for construction management using support vector machine.” Expert Syst. Appl. 37 (8): 6061–6069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2010.02.120.
Frame, J. D. 1999. Project management competence: Building key skills for individuals, teams, and organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gebretekle, Y. T., and A. R. Fayek. 2022. “Identifying multilevel metrics for construction competency and performance measures.” In Proc., Construction Research Congress 2022, 744–753. Reston, VA: ASCE. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784483978.076.
Hanna, A. S., M. W. Ibrahim, W. Lotfallah, K. A. Iskandar, and J. S. Russell. 2016. “Modeling project manager competency: An integrated mathematical approach.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 142 (8): 04016029. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001141.
Hobday, M. 2000. “The project-based organisation: An ideal form for managing complex products and systems?” Res. Policy 29 (7–8): 871–893. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(00)00110-4.
IPMA (International Project Management Association). 2015. IPMA competence baseline (ICB), version 4.0. Zurich, Switzerland: IPMA.
Kedir, N. S., M. Raoufi, and A. R. Fayek. 2020. “Fuzzy agent-based multicriteria decision-making model for analyzing construction crew performance.” J. Manage. Eng. 36 (5): 04020053. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000815.
Krajcovicova, K., D. Caganova, and M. Cambal. 2012. “Key managerial competencies and competency models in industrial enterprises.” In Proc., 23rd Int. DAAAM Symp. on Intelligent Manufacturing and Automation 2012, edited by B. Katalinic, 1119–1122. Vienna, Austria: Danube Adria Association for Automation & Manufacturing.
Liang, K., I. W. H. Fung, C. Xiong, and H. Luo. 2019. “Understanding the factors and the corresponding interactions that influence construction worker safety performance from a competency-model-based perspective: Evidence from scaffolders in China.” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 16 (11): 1885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16111885.
Loufrani-Fedida, S., and S. Missonier. 2015. “The project manager cannot be a hero anymore! Understanding critical competencies in project-based organizations from a multilevel approach.” Int. J. Project Manage. 33 (6): 1220–1235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.02.010.
Loufrani-Fedida, S., and L. Saglietto. 2016. “Mechanisms for managing competencies in project-based organizations: An integrative multilevel analysis.” Long Range Plann. 49 (1): 72–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2014.09.001.
Macal, C. M., and M. J. North. 2008. “Agent-based modeling and simulation: ABMS examples.” In Vol. 23 of Proc., 2007 Winter Simulation Conf., 101–112. New York: IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC.2008.4736060.
Omar, M. N., and A. R. Fayek. 2016. “Modeling and evaluating construction project competencies and their relationship to project performance.” Autom. Constr. 69 (Sep): 115–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2016.05.021.
Ormerod, P., and B. Rosewell. 2009. “Validation and verification of agent-based models in the social sciences.” In Proc., Int. Workshop on Epistemological Aspects of Computer Simulation in the Social Sciences, 130–140. Berlin: Springer.
Pedrycz, W., and F. Gomide. 2007. Fuzzy systems engineering: Toward human-centric computing. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
PMI (Project Management Institute). 2017. Project manager competency development (PMCD) framework. Newtown Square, PA: PMI.
Radujković, M., M. Vukomanović, and I. Burcar Dunović. 2010. “Application of key performance indicators in south-eastern European construction.” J. Civ. Eng. Manage. 16 (4): 521–530. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2010.58.
Raoufi, M., and A. R. Fayek. 2018. “Fuzzy agent-based modeling of construction crew motivation and performance.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng. 32 (5): 4018035. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CP.1943-5487.0000777.
Raoufi, M., A. R. Fayek, and I. R. Gellatly. 2016. “A fuzzy aggregation method for measuring construction crew motivation.” In Proc., Construction Research Congress 2016, 1782–1792. Reston, VA: ASCE. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784479827.178.
Rezk, S., G. C. Whited, M. Ibrahim, and A. S. Hanna. 2019. “Competency assessment for State Highway Agency project managers.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2673 (3): 658–666. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198119832870.
Sargent, R. G. 2013. “Verification and validation of simulation models.” J. Simul. 7 (1): 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1057/jos.2012.20.
Sparrow, P. 1995. “Organizational competencies: A valid approach for the future?” Int. J. Sel. Assess. 3 (3): 168–177. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2389.1995.tb00024.x.
Stieler, D., T. Schwinn, S. Leder, M. Maierhofer, F. Kannenberg, and A. Menges. 2022. “Agent-based modeling and simulation in architecture.” Autom. Constr. 141 (Sep): 104426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104426.
Tiruneh, G. G., and A. R. Fayek. 2020. “Competency and performance measures for organizations in the construction industry.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 48 (6): 716–728. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2019-0769.
Tiruneh, G. G., and A. R. Fayek. 2022. “Hybrid GA-MANFIS model for organizational competencies and performance in construction.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 148 (4): 04022002. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0002250.
Vukomanović, M., M. Young, and S. Huynink. 2016. “IPMA ICB 4.0—A global standard for project, programme and portfolio management competences.” Int. J. Project Manage. 34 (8): 1703–1705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.09.011.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 14, 2023
Accepted: Aug 18, 2023
Published online: Oct 9, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Mar 9, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Business management
- Case studies
- Computer programming
- Computing in civil engineering
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Decision making
- Engineering fundamentals
- Fuzzy logic
- Industries
- Management methods
- Methodology (by type)
- Organizations
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Quality control
- Research methods (by type)
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.