Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand the prevailing conflict management styles in Sri Lankan commercial building industry from the main stakeholders' perspective. The dual concern theory is applied to this study as a theory foundation. Design/methodology/approach -The Sri Lankan commercial building industry is currently experiencing a construction boom after 30 years of civil war. Creating a dispute free environment through well conflict management is one of the main ways to keep the continuous demand and development of construction. However, the Sri Lankan construction sector is arranged in such a way that they directly approach the dispute resolution rather than avoiding the dispute initially through proper conflict management. Four cases are selected for this study with the intention of conducting meetings with three main stakeholders of each case who represented client, consultants and contractors, respectively. Findings -The research findings reveal that compromising is the most common conflict management style used by the industry. Forcing style obtained the second place in the ranking whereas obliging and avoiding received third and fourth places. Originality/value -This study is conducted to provide a full picture of conflicts faced by the Sri Lankan commercial building industry and their proper management so that the future projects will use this information to diminish the destructive effects of conflict situations and provide a real value for money.

The issue regarding the lack of women in the UK construction industry has become more prominent for some time, attracting government and industry wide attention due to this potential skill shortage facing the industry. In order to meet these future demands the industry cannot rely on recruiting only from the male workforce. Therefore women's participation for the construction industry especially for professional level is important. This paper explores the importance of career success factors among professional women in the UK construction industry to achieve their career advancement. E-questionnaires were designed and data was collected from 31 professional women, consist of 10 women in idealism career phase (early career phase),10 in endurance career phase (mid career phase) and 11 from reinventive career phase (advanced career phase). Using relative important index technique, the level of importance of career success factors were group in to three categories. The critical career success factors, moderately important career success factors and the least important career success factors were categorised among women in each career phase. The results indicated that the age and gender didn't have impact on professional women's career advancement. Ability to work with people have been identified as one of the critical career success factors both in early and mid career with the highest overall index of 1.00, while strategic vision has became the one of the critical career success factor in advanced career with the highest index of 0.95. The finding of this study will have input towards the identification of different training and development activities to advance women's career in the construction industry.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare cost and carbon critical elements of two office buildings, and to help achieve an optimum balance between the capital cost (CC) and embodied carbon (EC) of buildings. Design/methodology/approach Case study approach was employed to study cost and carbon critical elements of two office buildings as it allows an in-depth and holistic investigation. Elemental estimates of CC and EC were prepared from BoQs of the two buildings by obtaining rates from the UK Building Blackbook. Pareto principle (80:20 rule) was used to identify carbon and cost critical elements of the two buildings, and the significance hierarchies of building elements were compared. Findings Substructure, frame and services were identified as both carbon and cost critical elements responsible for more than 70 per cent of the total CC and EC of both buildings. Stairs and ramps, internal doors and fittings, furnishings and equipment were identified to be the least carbon- and cost-significant elements contributing less than 2 per cent of total CC and EC in both buildings. The hierarchy of cost and carbon significance varies between buildings due to the difference in the specification and design. Originality/value The increasing significance of dual currency (cost and carbon) demands cost and carbon management during the early stages of projects. Hence, this paper suggests that focusing on carbon and cost-intensive building elements is a way forward to keep both cost and carbon under control during the early stages of projects.

Purpose: In this present globalised era, outsourcing has become a very popular and much sought after procurement strategy for Facilities Management (FM). Generally, a sustainable procurement system should be capable enough to deliver the services free of disruptions. However, outsourcing can bring about changes in working patterns, organisational culture and management styles which can possibly disrupt the activities of an organisation. In order to avoid such disruptions, organisations need to adopt a measured approach towards this change. Accordingly, this research aims to investigate the importance of change management to enable sustainable outsourcing of FM services. Design/Methodology/Approach: Within commercial building context, the questions of 'why change is not managed during outsourcing of FM services' and 'how can it be managed' are investigated through case studies. Findings: Organisations encountered various disagreements due to inadequate management of change during outsourcing. If the changes emanating from outsourcing are not managed satisfactorily, it would result in possible disruptions. However, to make changes happen successfully is one of the most challenging tasks faced by the leadership and corporate management of the organisations. Value: In order to facilitate the practitioners in the industry, this paper finally offers a framework for change management during outsourcing based on the findings.

PurposeKnowledge-based economies are popular in the present world. Simultaneously, universities are becoming more responsible for leading economic development through research. As a key contributor to the national economy, it is vital for the construction industry to move beyond outdated practices, and hence, reviewing the role of academic research in empowering construction industry with knowledge is essential. This paper focuses on how relevant theories conceptualise the expected role of academic research in the innovative development of an industry and the specific location in Sri Lankan construction industry. Design/methodology/approachFollowing a comprehensive literature review, empirical data were collected from Sri Lankan context with a mixed approach informed by a pragmatist philosophical stance. The perspective of academia and industry practitioners were deductively obtained through surveys and inductively explored through qualitative interviews. FindingsThis study provides evidence that academic research in Sri Lanka does not contribute effectively to innovative construction management. Due to the absence of industry-focused knowledge dissemination strategies, the academic-industry relationships are mostly non-research based. The industry lacks in research informed-decision making, leading to lesser innovations. Research limitations/implicationsThe research conclusions are more applicable to the developing-country construction industry contexts. Practical implicationsThe research urges the need for improved academic-industry research collaborations and strategic knowledge dissemination movements. Originality/valueThe research confirms academic research as a major integral part of developing construction industry in a knowledge-based economy. In establishing the expected role of academic research, the research revealed the current practice to be under-located. Hence, the research prescribes the necessary actions; research collaborations in major and subsequent requirements.