Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.

Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.

Because of globalization and the rapid advancement of technology, researchers and employers agree that the 21st-century engineer must have a set of skills (e.g., teamwork, communication, and management) that were not emphasized in the past. In response, many universities have started to implement program changes in order to graduate well-rounded engineers. As an attempt to assess the gap between what universities are exposing their engineering students to and the requirements of the industry, this paper examines the perceptions of a sample of engineering students about the importance of various soft skills and how well their universities have prepared them in gaining the associated abilities. Students were also surveyed about their career aspirations in an attempt to determine whether these aspirations affect their perceptions. The results revealed that, although the students showed a significant understanding of the importance of soft skills, some of these perceptions can be attributed to their career aspirations. This finding implies that universities need to play a stronger role in strengthening students’ nontechnical skills in specific areas such as oral communication skills.

Small-sized and medium-sized contractors are characterized by organizational structures that are highly focused on control. As a result, employees concentrate on day-to-day activities with little time or motivation to generate creative ideas. Generally, the technological improvements of these companies arise as a result of problem-solving at the construction site. Nevertheless, the actual status quo is changing. Some Spanish public agencies are already considering innovation as an added value in public procurement; thus, large contractors are starting to systemize their innovative efforts. This means that small-sized and medium-sized enterprises must modify their attitudes towards innovation in order to sustain their competitiveness. The implementation of a system that enhances innovation and acquisition of knowledge may be the solution to overcome this disadvantage. The implementation of an innovation management system was analyzed in a Spanish construction firm of medium size for 9 years. The system builds on a set of processes aimed to generate innovation projects that allow the contractor to document the innovation, not only for internal purposes related to knowledge management, but also for external ones associated with obtaining better results in public tenders. These processes are as follows: (1) technology watch, (2) creativity, (3) planning and executing innovation projects, (4) technology transfer, and (5) protection of results. The final step is the feedback of the entire process through the assessment of the final outcomes. The implementation of the innovation system is ensured within the organization, through training of personnel, participation of stakeholders, and encouragement of the innovation culture.

International construction contractors are practitioners operating in a complex environment of uncertainty. To be successful, they must learn to effectively execute projects in multiple regions and societies with multinational/multiethnic teams. This paper compares the performance of international and local construction contractors in the context of the Saudi Arabia construction industry as an example of international construction practices. The research statistically quantifies the effects of company ownership upon thirteen project performance indicators. It concludes by pointing out that international contractors have not only overcome the common challenges of delivering projects outside their resident country, but seem to have found success in the unique Saudi Arabian construction environment.

Learning more about the career outcome expectations of students interested in civil engineering can help identify gaps between their expectations and sustainability challenges. The authors used data from two national surveys to compare students interested in civil engineering and other engineering disciplines. Those interested in civil engineering are more likely to address such sustainability topics as environmental degradation, water supply, and climate change. However, civil engineering students are less likely to have outcome expectations related to disease and saving lives. Particularly, female students interested in civil engineering have similar expectations to males but also hope to address poverty and opportunities for women and minorities. The gaps in outcome expectations related to disease and saving lives are troubling for a profession that is so instrumental in providing, for example, clean water and safe shelter. Showing the connection between societal needs and civil engineering may broaden participation, including among underrepresented female students. Recruiting more undergraduates using these outcome expectations would bring sorely needed new ideas and ways of thinking to help civil engineering respond to sustainability challenges.

The construction industry is likely to face a manpower leakage should graduates with construction-related degrees choose not to enter it at graduation. The aim of this research is to craft strategies to reduce such leakage to the educational pipeline so that more construction-trained graduates will be attracted to professional construction jobs. Using three sets of specially designed questionnaires, data were collected from undergraduates in construction-related courses (construction students) (Survey 1); construction professionals (Survey 2); and professionals working outside the construction industry (nonconstruction professionals) (Survey 3). It was found that almost half of the construction students were unlikely to enter the industry, indicating a serious leakage to the educational pipeline. The two groups of professionals were compared to find out if there was any significant difference in their work satisfaction. The results show that both groups were significantly satisfied with their jobs, working hours, and work-life balance. There was also a similar level of job satisfaction, indicating that construction professionals are not significantly worse off than professionals working in other industries. Construction students who reported being unlikely to join the construction industry were significantly discouraged by the following: low salaries compared with other industries, mentally and physically challenging and dirty work environment, lack of job security, and long working hours with no work-life balance. Nonconstruction professionals reported not choosing a job in the industry because of long working hours and a working environment seen as dirty, dangerous, noisy, damaging to health, and suitable for males only. Recommendations on how to attract more professionals to the construction industry include up-skilling construction jobs, improving site management, improving work-life balance, arousing students’ interest, offering adequate remuneration, enhancing job security, and providing better staff welfare. It is suggested that construction work be redesigned so that, for example, advanced equipment and information technology can be harnessed to handle the more tedious and laborious aspects of work.

Learning ability is one of the most distinctive characteristics that make humans social creatures. Numerous research has found that individuals learn in different ways, so every student has a different, individual learning style. The more instructors understand the learning differences of their students, the better their chances of success in civil engineering education. Therefore, determining the learning styles of civil engineering students is an important factor in their academic success. The research reported in this paper aims to explore the learning styles of civil engineering students in Turkey, and correlate their learning styles with success in construction management courses, gender, age, type of university, and year of engineering study. Data were collected using the Kolb Learning Style Inventory II, from civil engineering students in undergraduate programs at four different universities. The questionnaire was administered to students by direct contact, and 227 items of data were collected. At the end of the research reported in this paper, it was revealed that there is a correlation between learning styles and management success, age, year of civil engineering education, and type of university, but not gender.

Many Australian universities are pushing the use of distance education in delivering construction programs. However, recent accreditations show that the development of teamwork skills, one core graduate attribute, is not satisfactory in these programs. A case study is therefore adopted to investigate the effectiveness of using simulated global virtual team (SGVT) projects to teach virtual teamwork skills at Central Queensland University (CQU) which offers the construction education program exclusively by distance education. The findings suggest that SGVT projects can help increase the level of engagement and benefit the students through the involvement of experienced practitioners. More importantly, with the increased level of engagement, distance students can develop nondiscipline-oriented teamwork skills, e.g., collaboration and leadership, through the distinct roles they play in the SGVT projects. The results provide good guidance and will be useful for universities and institutions which are seeking to implement distance education in construction education.

One dimension of user-involvement in the design process is the management of user preferences. Managing user preferences, as a way towards optimizing value in the design process, could sometimes involve making tradeoffs among competing design options. The focus of this research is to explore the possibility of applying the choosing by advantages (CBA) decision system to manage user preferences in the design process, especially at the conceptual design stage. The CBA decision system was therefore applied to choose between two conceptual design options in relation to the expansion of an operating theater building at the Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Ghana. A workshop involving the design team, user-group, and management of the hospital was organized to decide on the options using the CBA approach. The findings from this study illustrate the CBA decision aid as a transparent and participative decision system, capable of creating and sustaining a collaborative atmosphere of trust and respect in the involvement of users to make design choices. The observed attributes of the CBA decision system makes it worthwhile to incorporate it in a user-involvement framework for design process.

The flipped classroom is becoming increasingly popular at universities because of its perceived benefits in promoting active learning and decreasing educational costs. Studies have found positive benefits associated with flipped classrooms; however, many have failed to control for confounding factors. Examples of confounding factors include comparing courses taught by different instructors or across courses taught in different semesters using different quizzes. The objective of this paper is to compare the traditional and flipped classrooms in an undergraduate civil engineering course while controlling for potential confounding factors. The quasi-experimental study incorporates students’ online behaviors, in-class performance, office hour attendance, and responses to both attitudinal and behavioral questions to assess student opinions and learning outcomes. It was found that student performance on quizzes was not significantly different across the traditional and flipped classrooms. A key shortcoming noted with the flipped classroom was students’ inability to ask questions during lectures. Students in flipped classrooms were more likely to attend office hours compared to traditional classroom students, but the difference was not statistically significant. Future research should explore whether students’ inability to ask questions when the material is presented in flipped classrooms affects learning outcomes.

The construction industry is experiencing changes in the tools and techniques used in the planning for high productivity, safety, and sustainability. These changes have not been seen much in the preconstruction planning (PCP) stage. The PCP is highly individualistic in nature, in which planners/contractors use their past experience to plan a project within the constraints of time, cost, and quality. The use of planning techniques in the PCP stage has been the subject of research, development, and implementation for a long time; however, at present, importance is being placed on the use of different tools. Tools like knowledge-based systems, computer graphics, and a combination of the two have been reported in the literature. Literature also suggests the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a recent tool in the PCP stage. A structure that is to be developed becomes an important component of its neighborhood. It is closely related to all other existing facilities in its surroundings; hence, its construction should not be planned in isolation but in reference to its locality, existing facilities/utilities, topography, and so on. In the PCP stage, consideration should be given to its surroundings, in which the use of GIS has been found to be helpful. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study is to explore the potential application areas of GIS, as a tool, in the PCP stage. The present study informs practitioners in the construction industry about the application areas of GIS for their wider use in real-life projects. Finally, research areas worthy for further investigation are highlighted.