First International Conference on Construction in Developing Countries (ICCIDC-I) “Advancing and Integrating Construction Educatio, Research& Practice”
August 4-5.2008 Karachi,Pakistan
Issues in Curriculum Development for M. Tech in Construction Management
in Developing Countries
Tazyeen Ahmad
Reader, Department of Civil Engineering, ZHCOT, AMU, Aligarh-202 002, U.P, India [email protected]
Amjad Masood
Reader, Department of Civil Engineering, ZHCOT, AMU, Aligarh-202 002, U.P, India
Muhammad Arif
Reader, Department of Civil Engineering, ZHCOT, AMU, Aligarh-202 002, U.P, India
V. P Mital
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, ZHCOT, AMU, Aligarh-202 002, U.P, India
Abstract
Today if we go through the syllabi of Civil Engineering graduate program, most of the time we discover that cost and construction aspect are missing or is covered in a very prosaic manner. The area of construction management has not received its due place in the Civil Engineering program run in developing countries like India. Since construction activities are carried out mostly at the construction site, which are usually far flung from main cities, the academician/authors, and the faculty may not be aware of the practical difficulties and nuances of construction management. These might be the reason that construction management has not received due place in the institutes, universities, colleges and in many management books.
Today, due to increased competition and the capital that is scarce, large constructions like metro rail, high-rise building cannot be handled without the use of modern construction equipment and modern construction and management techniques to reduce time and to maintain higher standards of construction quality. It is necessary to use modern machinery and latest construction management tools to optimize the construction activity and to improve the productivity.
This is high time for the countries of Indian sub-continent to pay due attention to this commercially valued knowledge, which is directly related to infra structure development, and in turn with national economy. One-way of introducing subject is to copy the syllabus of any reputed institute. In this paper various issues related with curriculum development for M Tech in Construction Management has been discussed. The paper concludes on the theme that such course should be field-oriented and should really add value to human capital, as opportunity cost of education is very high in developing countries.
Keywords
Introduction
Like any other knowledge the knowledge of Construction Management is also very vast. Student has to be given specialized knowledge under the realm of construction management when an individual decides to acquire any knowledge. He is confronted with three questions
• Firstly, which knowledge one will acquire
• Secondly, what quantum of knowledge he will acquire • Thirdly the orientation of the knowledge being acquired
Answer to first question is governed by so many factors like opportunity available, aptitude and means and it depends mostly on the individual decision. The answer of second and third question depends on the institution he joins. Per-force he has to study the prescribed syllabus of the institution. Since at Post Graduation level a student is a bit mature and can understand and appreciate the lofty thoughts and underlying concepts in the theory, he can now appreciate orientation aspect, as he is about to enter in the material world. Third issue of orientation depends upon the philosophy of the institution e.g. in India, Indian Institute of Technology is considered as premier institution of engineering, where engineering is taught like a science subject. However “In spite of best theoretical grinding the IIT graduates have been found to perform poorly at shop floor condition. In this regard there is no substitute for German system of technical education, wherein every semester has practical apprenticeship courses in their curricula. The German technology has already proved its superiority in first as well as in Second World War.
This factor invokes the author for suggestion or discussing the various issues involved in curriculum development of construction management. In the present paper the focus is on producing practicing construction managers. The topics to be covered in this M.Tech programme can be summarized as under
• Project Management in Construction
• Cost Management
• Cost Optimization Techniques
• Management of Real Estate and Fixed Assets
• Organizational Behavior
• Fundamentals of Management and Management Thoughts
• Managerial Economics
• Functional Planning, Building Economics and Building Science
• System Design and Value Analysis
• Marketing of Real Estate
• Principles of Materials Management
• Project Planning, Implementation and Control • Materials management in Construction Project
• Maintenance Engineering and Maintenance Management in Construction • Recent Advances in Construction Materials and Construction Technology • Management of Quality and Safety in Construction
In author’s opinion the papers should be tailored to include the following
Fundamentals of Management
The aper should be of six credits so that students can grasp the basic concepts, terminology, principles, task, responsibilities and issues, which a management practitioner encounters. The students should be
equipped with management tools to improve their decision-making skills to solve the problems of corporate as well as non-profit seeking organization.
Cost Management
Although costing in Civil Engineering is taught at UG level but it is done in a very prosaic manner. At M.Tech level a thorough concept of cost should be given first and then various types of cost should be discussed at length. The most important training is the recording of cost at site and calculation of its variance. In this regard author finds that the study material of various professional bodies of financial institution are much more useful than the knowledge given in the standard textbooks on cost. Lifecycle Costing and Social Cost Benefit Analysis should also be covered.
Cost Optimization
Although Structural Optimization is a well-developed area in Structural Engineering but unfortunately the word constructional and cost aspects involved in the design of the structure is missing in most of the books. However a great deal on this very topic can be found in the books of Mathematical Optimization. The aspect of Optimization needed should be managerial. It covers the techniques like cost cutting, cost reduction and Kaizen approach. The syllabus should be so framed that the student is lost in the deep and vast ocean of the cost and comes out with a notion of the cost as in Civil Engineering a small % saving can run into millions of rupees.
Managerial Economics
Of course basic Economics is taught to a student of Engineering at first year or second year level, when he is barely in his teens. The student at this level does not have feel of economic reality. Before discussing the managerial economics the students should be given a few lectures on the fundamentals of economics or asked to go through the study material of foundation course of any institution like Institute of Chartered Accountancy of India. Author will not hesitate in recommending reviewing the book of Economics by Samuelson.
Construction, Human Behavior and Sociology
A construction manager deals with varied type of people from laborer to CEO of the companies. For the success of the project, especially at the project planning level author feels that the Planners and Managers should have a very clear concept of behavior and social traditions of region where the project will be implemented. Local sociology and psychology should also be taught in the Construction Management Program.
Materials Management
Those who practice Civil Engineering, will very well agree, that use of local building material cannot be ignored in construction work. In the syllabus of Materials Management due significance should be given to specification and identification of material specified. As we all know that poorly written specification is a big bone of contention.
Heritage management
It is said that in near future service sector will grow. For developing countries, tourism is one of the developing areas for earning the foreign exchange. The monument or heritage structures are one the attraction for the tourist in India. Taj Mahal is the glaring example in this regard. The curriculum should be such that the students must be exposed to the intricacies associated with the Projects related with heritage: conservation, preservation and restoration. In such projects, selection and procurement of appropriate material, which should be compatible with old materials in the existing structure is a difficult task. Availability of the technical skill or craftsman for its application is rather scarce.
Human Resource Management
A lot of text and material on HRM is available in the books and journals. But the knowledge hardly gives the feel of the subject for construction manager. Tthe students should be educated to train the people on the lines in accomplishment of phrase “If one knows how a job is done, he will get a job and if he knows why things are done so, he will become the boss”. Regarding training lf personnel, the author strongly feels that Denison Theory of Residual factors should be incorporated in the syllabus
Research Methodology
If we go through any dissertation or thesis of social sciences we find that a separate chapter is devoted to research methodology. Author feels that a paper of research methodology should also be introduced in the curriculum, in which types of researches, inductive logic, deductive logic, epistemology of various subjects, especially epistemology of professional knowledge, technique of hypothesis formulation, curve plotting, curve reading and fitting and various other analytical tools should be taught. So that the student becomes familiar with the research world and he does not feel a burden in participating in research programs, as research is the heart and soul of University Education.
Product Development, Standardization and Entrepreneurship
Author has found that development of new product is complementary to entrepreneurship. The students should be taught the different stages through which a product passes from inception to reach the level of saleable commodity. The concept of standardization and familiarity with the process of getting certificate of standardization has become necessary even for a construction company, in today’s competitive world.
Conclusion
The curriculum should be aimed to produce practicing construction managers. The best professional training is “On Job Training” (OJT) which is given on the job. The professional knowledge or skill is never guided by single discipline. The role of educational program for professional course should be based on imparting field oriented training. Application based knowledge of different discipline should be taught. The construction manager should be nurtured to assimilate the knowledge of Engineering, Social Science, Philosophy, Commerce and Arts. In an M.Tech program a student should be trained on science as well as art of the profession.
References
Ahmad, Tazyeen (2004). “Cost Optimization Techniques in Construction Industry in India”, Ph.D. thesis, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
