Management Issues in the U.S. Construction Industry

In order to begin to examine the construction industry and its operations, the management and organization aspects of the industry are reviewed. The issues facing the industry in these areas are examined, in terms of identifying some of their causes, effects, and interactions and of examining some solutions suggested to alleviate certain undesirable situations. The specific topics considered include: (1) Some structural features of the industry; (2) participants and their interactions in conventional project construction; (3) contractual arrangements; and (4) management functions in a construction company's projects. These issues, among others relating to economics and financing, labor, and technology, are found to be of considerable concern to the construction industry and thus warrant further substantial research. It is necessary to ascertain whether the industry is doing the best it can under the present circumstances and whether conditions external or internal, or both, to the industry can or should, or both, be altered somehow to improve the industry's operations. Research along these lines should be executed on both a micro and macrolevel.