Construction projects are commonly afflicted by risk due to their uncertainty and complexity in nature. Thus this requires the contractor to have an effective risk management approach. Previous studies revealed that there was no formal risk management being used by the contractors in Malaysia. Hence, the study concentrated on the types of risk involves during construction project, the application of risk management by contractors in Malaysian construction industry and the strategy taken by them to mitigate risks. The research conducted surveys to the contractors registered with the Construction Industry Development Board, Malaysia (CIDB). The finding shows that there is a lack of standardization in the practice of risk management. Risk management has been mandated by the company and that the application has improved project performance. Besides formal approach and educating the people to conduct risk management, it is recommended that a standardized guideline of risk management is needed to improve the application of risk management among contractors in Malaysia.

No Success Factors References 1 Champion at company (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 2 Champion's network within the company (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 3 Buy in and support from company management (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 4 Buy in and support from industry collaborators (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 5 Short term results and impact on industry (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 6 Organizational stability (industry partner) (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 7 Researcher has a visible presence in industry (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 8 Regular meetings (Claes Wohlin, 2012) 9 Relevant expertise of researcher (main person in the collaboration)

For decades, as a developing country, construction industry remains as one of the largest and most important industries in Malaysia especially in terms of job creation. However, project failures in terms of project delay and cost overrun are observed more severe than the global average. While there are many reasons that may contribute to these problems, but recent studies carried out globally by the well-known researchers in project management have found that the competency of project manager, being one of the most important persons from initiating, to closing of the project, is one of the most crucial factor affecting project success. Many developed nations have come out with their project management assessment and certification standards, in order to train, assess, and certify the qualified project managers that are equipped with the necessary and required competencies and skills, but there is an absence of project manager's competencies assessment and certification standards in Malaysia until to date. This paper presents the literature review that have been carried out on the need for a competencies assessment framework for the Malaysian construction project managers.

Alternative dispute resolution methods (ADR) were developed in the construction industry to acquire suitable solutions. These methods are classified based on the role of the third party (neutral). Third-parties can play multiple roles in the ADR process including a facilitative, advisory, determinative or combined. The authorities of the third-party in the types of ADR techniques are different. Despite the importance of a third party in the ADR process, previous studies are not clearly identified factors for selecting them. The purpose of this research is to provide critical factors for neutral to support ADR methods in the construction industry. This research also, highlights the role of neutral in common ADR techniques. Random sampling was used for quantitative data collection. Of the 200 experts invited to fill in the questionnaire, 112 experts participated. To provide critical factors the factor analysis was used. The research found four critical factors for selecting supporting ADR neutrals in construction including; familiarity with legal and technical issues, being accepted by parties, efficiency and fairness. It can be concluded that selecting neutral party using the critical factors is efficient because the selection of a third-party in ADR is based on many variables is very difficult.

A joint venture (JV) involves two or more businesses pooling their resources and expertise to achieve a particular goal, where the risks and rewards are shared. JV has become popular because of their importance as a strategic alternative in global competition. The number of JV has increased over the past two decades due to intensified technology, competitive challenges and market globalisation but it is important to understand what causes some JV to fail and others to succeed. Conflict is the main reason that causes some JV to fail. It may create problems in future planning and have negative effects on the financial performance of the firm that would affect JV survival. Hence, the study concentrates on the JV relationship between partners in the Malaysian construction industry in order to identify the effective ways in managing conflicts. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed to the selected respondents and the finding shows that all of the respondents experienced conflict in the JV and the conflict management team seems to be inexistent to manage the conflict. Some recommendations in managing conflict are dictated by discussing the problem such as open talk, self-patience, endurance and being decisive as well as educating all the staffs in handling conflict.

Research on dispute avoidance procedure (DAP) particularly in Malaysia is lacking as most of the current research and development deals withvarious issues within the dispute resolution procedure and management field. It is therefore significant to conduct a country-specific research by exploring the viability of DAP based on socio-legal research. The aim of this article is two-fold: to present the perceptions of the Malaysian construction industry players on the substantive elements of a viable DAP mechanism and; to formulate a necessary legal reform to accommodate and support the formulated DAP mechanism within the Malaysian construction industry. As part of a socio-legal research approach, interviews were conducted with the selected construction industry players to disclosethe pattern, which may help to explain the underlying issues. NVivo software has been used to manage and organize the complete interview transcripts and facilitate the data analysis process for this study. Among others, this research suggests that a viable DAP mechanism consists of the following substantive elements, namely, to introduce the mechanism through contract and to provide a contractually binding settlement. In essence, this research also advocatesa necessary legal reform to accommodate and support the formulated DAP mechanism within the Malaysian construction industry. This research generally confirms that a countryspecific research is required through a socio-legal research.

This paper presents the investigation of client-related factor towards delay in public projects by applying qualitative research method approach. Semi-structured interview was conducted involving contractor, architect and consultant with experience in project delay. The investigation managed to discover factors of delay which were ranked by using content analysis. The most significant client-related factor is a poor planning at initial stage by client, followed by late of payment by client, lack of awareness by client on latest progress done by staff, improper consultant selection by client, client select contractor with a weak cash flow, poor attitude of contractor selected by client, late of payment by client, lack of knowledge by client, new proposal request by new hired officer and lack of financial strength. This finding is very useful for practitioners in construction sector and very important for practitioners to be aware on these factors and focus to improve the cause of delay among client.

Ethical practice is usually addressed in the forms of code of conduct, rules and regulations, agreement, and contract. There is a lack of empirical studies on ethical issues involving contractors during tender application submission. Therefore, to begin with, a preliminary research was conducted in an attempt to explore the presence of ethical issues at tendering stage, particularly at the beginning of the tender evaluation stage. The research methodology was qualitative as telephone interviews were used for its data collection method. The participants were selected from a purposive sampling consisting of local authorities and other agencies. Seventy-five percent of the participants claimed of having come across unethical cases. Surprisingly, the findings showed that falsifications of documents by the tenderers were identified during the tender application submission stage. It was also found that the lower grade contractors are prone to practise unethically compared to the higher-grade counterparts. The industry should seriously address these findings as it could possibly reduce the competitiveness of tenders and affect the overall project performance. This research is crucial in order to suggest the way forward for tendering practice, instil the ethical practice of the contractors, assist tender evaluators, and most importantly, elevate the study in refining the tender submission process.