Design Management Practices in Building Design Process in the Case of Ethiopian Construction Consultant and Design Engineers
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Date
2022-08-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In recent times, the construction industry has been under pressure to improve efficiency in terms of quality improvement, timely delivery, and maintaining budget costs. The need for quality design solutions and effective processes has also incited significant emphasis in the industry. This study aimed to assess the design management practice in the building design process for Ethiopian construction consultants and design engineers in Addis Ababa. Accordingly, the study
employed a quantitative research design. The study mainly used primary sources of data to collect the necessary information. It used three data collection methods, namely a questionnaire, an interview, and a document review. By employing descriptive statistics, this study found that challenges of design management practice included a lack of a structured and explicit design process and design information production and flow, as well as unimproved design planning, lack of design management tools and techniques and implementation by an inexperienced team. It mostly exhibited unsatisfactory level of design management disciplines, and various barriers included tools poorly deployed into industry practice, deficient resources in quality or quantity, and the inability to have a design checking system. There are also difficulties areas in terms of improvement needs on better managing design process include of having adequate design time increasing specialized design professions, to recognize design is as a process. Thus, the study concluded that these organizations created a low-level design management practice definition that involves setting high-level project milestones or gateways that the team can work towards. Accordingly, this study suggests that organizations must be cultured about the importance of the design process in delivering value to the whole project, how the way they work affects the design process, how they can contribute to the design and consequentially the whole project process. Therefore, implementation of a design management tool or practice must include and educate at all levels within an organizations and project team to ensure it is taken up in practice.
Keyword: Design, Management, Practice, Challenges, Issues, Improve efficiency, Timely delivery