TY - JOUR
T1 - Fuzzy set theory approach for measuring the performance of relationship-based construction projects in Australia
AU - YEUNG, John F Y
AU - Chan, Albert P.C.
AU - Chan, Daniel W.M.
N1 - The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Project No. PolyU 5158/ 04E).
PY - 2012/4/1
Y1 - 2012/4/1
N2 - Research into performance measures for relationship-based construction projects becomes crucial because of an increasing trend of client organizations to adopt a relationship-based (or relational contracting) approach to their construction projects worldwide over the last decade. However, few, if any, comprehensive and systematic research studies focus on developing a comprehensive, objective, reliable, and practical performance evaluation model for relationship-based construction projects. A performance index (PI), which comprises eight weighted key performance indicators (KPIs) and a set of corresponding quantitative indicators (QIs) for measuring the performance of relationship-based construction projects have been developed in Australia. The PI and QIs can assist in developing a benchmark for measuring the performance of relationship-based construction projects. However, the establishment of a set of QIs cannot fully solve the subjectivity of performance evaluation. To remedy this deficiency, the aim of this paper is to adopt a fuzzy set theory (FST) approach to establish a well-defined range of quantitative requirements (QRs) for each QI within each of the five performance levels. By using the modified horizontal approach, fuzzy membership functions (FMFs) have been constructed through three various methods, namely constrained regression line with the vertical error method (VEM), the horizontal error method (HEM), and the bisector error method (BEM). It was shown that the results derived from the three methods were similar, and it seems that the BEM is the best technique to construct the FMFs because it considers both the errors created by the residual sum of squares by both vertical and horizontal distances. The newly developed performance evaluation model is not only innovative in nature, but it can also improve the objectiveness, reliability, and practicality in evaluating the performance of relationship-based construction projects.
AB - Research into performance measures for relationship-based construction projects becomes crucial because of an increasing trend of client organizations to adopt a relationship-based (or relational contracting) approach to their construction projects worldwide over the last decade. However, few, if any, comprehensive and systematic research studies focus on developing a comprehensive, objective, reliable, and practical performance evaluation model for relationship-based construction projects. A performance index (PI), which comprises eight weighted key performance indicators (KPIs) and a set of corresponding quantitative indicators (QIs) for measuring the performance of relationship-based construction projects have been developed in Australia. The PI and QIs can assist in developing a benchmark for measuring the performance of relationship-based construction projects. However, the establishment of a set of QIs cannot fully solve the subjectivity of performance evaluation. To remedy this deficiency, the aim of this paper is to adopt a fuzzy set theory (FST) approach to establish a well-defined range of quantitative requirements (QRs) for each QI within each of the five performance levels. By using the modified horizontal approach, fuzzy membership functions (FMFs) have been constructed through three various methods, namely constrained regression line with the vertical error method (VEM), the horizontal error method (HEM), and the bisector error method (BEM). It was shown that the results derived from the three methods were similar, and it seems that the BEM is the best technique to construct the FMFs because it considers both the errors created by the residual sum of squares by both vertical and horizontal distances. The newly developed performance evaluation model is not only innovative in nature, but it can also improve the objectiveness, reliability, and practicality in evaluating the performance of relationship-based construction projects.
KW - Australia
KW - Evaluation
KW - Fuzzy sets
KW - Relational contracting
KW - Relationship-based approach
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84873326014&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000083
DO - 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000083
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84873326014
SN - 0742-597X
VL - 28
SP - 181
EP - 192
JO - Journal of Management in Engineering - ASCE
JF - Journal of Management in Engineering - ASCE
IS - 2
ER -