Wassim Albalkhy

Bio: Wassim Albalkhy is an academic researcher from University of Jordan. The author has contributed to research in topics: Computer science & Manufacturing engineering. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 5 publications receiving 29 citations.

Barriers to adopting lean construction in the construction industry: a literature review

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify and theoretically explain the general barriers to adopting lean construction practices in the construction industry regardless of the country or the company size or specialization, and to suggest future research studies in this field.,Systematic literature review was conducted to identify and explain the list of the barriers from scientific sources that were published before May 2018.,Twenty-nine barriers were identified and explained, and a proposed model to classify the sources of the barriers was chosen. Seventeen barriers were classified as internal environment-related barriers, five were labor-related, three were materials-related and four were exogenous barriers. In addition, some directions for the future research studies were suggested.,The barriers that are related to the advanced levels of lean construction (LC) implementations, to a specific location or to a specific LC tool were excluded.,This review will help to increase the understanding of the new concept of LC and might help to encourage the adoption of LC practices. Also, it might be useful for identifying the strategies to achieve successful application of these practices.

Assessing lean construction conformance amongst the second-grade Jordanian construction contractors

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the level of the conformance of the practices of the second-grade contractors with lean construction principles. This study adopted the descriptive and quantitative d...

Factors Affecting Occupants’ Satisfaction in Governmental Buildings: The Case of the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract: Satisfaction is a very important factor in improving productivity and performance in the work environment. This study aims to investigate the levels of occupants’ satisfaction with the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in the governmental buildings in the Kingdom of Bahrain and to investigate the impact of occupants’ demographics and building attributes (non-IEQ factors) on these levels. For these purposes, the study used a questionnaire that has 17 indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors in addition to a group of non-IEQ factors. The questionnaire was distributed by hand or using email to 279 employees in the Bahraini governmental sector. The findings of the study revealed that occupants in the Bahraini governmental buildings are not strongly satisfied with IEQ factors, especially with sound privacy, followed by visual privacy and amount of space, and then noise levels. The findings also showed that for most IEQ factors, men are more satisfied than women are, those who work in enclosed private offices are more satisfied than those who work in open-plan offices, and those who have central air-conditioning at their workplace are more than those who have a wall-mounted air conditioner. The impact of age, nature of work, duration of working in the current building and at the current workstation, weekly working hours, and proximity to the window were also investigated. Accordingly, a group of recommendations was suggested aiming to improve the levels of occupants’ satisfaction.

ISO-9001 implementation and critical success factors of the Jordanian consulting engineering firms

Abstract: PurposeThis paper aims at studying the level of implementation of ISO 9001 in Jordanian consulting engineering firms and to what extent does the implementation effectiveness affect the success of the construction projects. Moreover, the paper seeks to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that directly influence the ISO 9001 effectiveness in Jordanian consulting engineering firms.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was constructed and distributed to a sample of 125 employees from six ISO 9001-consulting firms. After collecting the data, exploratory factor analysis was utilized to validate the latent constructs (CSFs, ISO 9001 Effectiveness, and Firm Performance).FindingsThe findings suggest that firms experience a high level of ISO 9001 effectiveness. Moreover, among the five identified CSFs; employee attributes, external environmental pressure and quality system attribute had a significant impact on the ISO 9001 effectiveness, while internal motivation and firm attributes were insignificant.Originality/valueThe significance of this study lies in exploring such topic in the developing countries, since most of current studies were focused on developed contexts such as the USA and UK. Therefore, this research acts as a response to calls in the current literature regarding considering different industries and contexts.

Sustainability management of international development projects by International Non-Governmental Organizations: the case of INGOs working with refugees in Jordan

Abstract: Sustainability is one of the most significant challenges in International Development (ID) projects. This research aims to study the role of Project Management (PM) tools in promoting the adoption ...

Quantitative relationships between occupant satisfaction and satisfaction aspects of indoor environmental quality and building design

Abstract: Author(s): Frontczak, Monika; Schiavon, Stefano; Goins, John; Arens, Edward A; Zhang, Hui, Ph.D; Wargocki, Pawel | Abstract: The paper examines which subjectively evaluated indoor environmental parameters and building features mostly affect occupants’ satisfaction in mainly US office buildings. The study analyzed data from a web-based survey administered to 52,980 occupants in 351 office buildings over ten years by the Center for the Built Environment. The survey uses 7-point ordered scale questions pertaining to satisfaction with indoor environmental parameters, workspace and building features. The average building occupant was satisfied with his/her workspace and building. Proportional odds ordinal logistic regression shows that satisfaction with all 15 parameters listed in the survey contributed significantly to overall workspace satisfaction. The most important parameters were satisfaction with amount of space (odds ratio OR 1.57, CI: 1.55-1.59), noise level (OR 1.27, CI: 1.25-1.29) and visual privacy (OR 1.26, CI: 1.24-1.28). Satisfaction with amount of space was ranked to be the most important influence for workspace satisfaction, regardless of age group (below 30, 31-50 or over 50 years old), gender, type of office (single or shared offices, or cubicles), distance of workspace from a window (within 4.6 m or further) or satisfaction level with workspace (satisfied or dissatisfied). Satisfaction with amount of space was not related to the gross amount of space available per person.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONSTo maximize workspace satisfaction designer should invest in aspects which increase satisfaction with amount of space and storage, noise level and visual privacy. Office workers will be most satisfied with their workspace and building when located close to a window in a private office. This may affect job satisfaction, work performance and personal and company productivity.

Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices - eScholarship

Abstract: Open-plan office layout is commonly assumed to facilitate communication and interaction between co-workers, promoting workplace satisfaction and team-work effectiveness. On the other hand, open-plan layouts are widely acknowledged to be more disruptive due to uncontrollable noise and loss of privacy. Based on the occupant survey database from Center for the Built Environment (CBE), empirical analyses indicated that occupants assessed Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) issues in different ways depending on the spatial configuration (classified by the degree of enclosure) of their workspace. Enclosed private offices clearly outperformed open-plan layouts in most aspects of IEQ, particularly in acoustics, privacy and the proxemics issues. Benefits of enhanced ‘ease of interaction’ were smaller than the penalties of increased noise level and decreased privacy resulting from open-plan office configuration.

Field experiments on occupant comfort and office thermal environments in a hot-humid climate

Abstract: This paper presents the main findings of ASHRAE research project RP-702, a field investigation of indoor climates and occupant comfort in 12 air-conditioned office buildings in Townsville, located in Australia’s tropical north. The project replicates an earlier ASHRAE investigation in San Francisco (RP-462). A total of 836 subjects provided 1,2.74 sets of questionnaire responses, each accompanied by a ,full set of physical indoor climatic measurements ,from laboratory-grade instrumentation. Clothing insulation estimates for seated subjects included the incremental effect of chairs. Thermal environmental results are compared with ASHRAE Standard .55-1992 prescriptions. Thermal neutrality, preference, and acceptability results are compared with laboratory-based models and standards. Gender and seasonal effects were minor, and many of the differences from the earlier San Francisco data were explicable in terms of clothing patterns. Most of the thermal dissatisfaction expressed within the Standard 55 comfort zone was associated with requests, for higher air velocity.