Construction Management Module

Words 3000 total

Scenario

As for Assignment 1, you are a senior construction manager for a medium-sized contractor, party to a framework agreement with your client, and this is the first of a series of projects to be delivered.

Your client is the Chief Executive of a charitable residential care home provider seeking to roll out a programme of new build facilities to enhance their existing estate and you have been appointed by virtue of a JCT D&B contract.

The project has been rescheduled and is on track to maintain a revised completion date. The Board of Trustees for the charity now have some additional concerns.

Task

Your construction director has asked you to provide a report for the client investigating these concerns.

Your report must be written within the context of the scenario provided and should address the following:

1. Your client is very aware of their charitable reputation locally and is understanding of the objectives of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from an organisational perspective; your client has requested an update as to the attainment of the CSR goals for this project and has requested a critical evaluation of three project specific measures presently in place.

Note: As part of your evaluation of CSR you must consider measures specific to the local society, environment and economy.

2. Your client wishes to monitor your overall performance on this project and has requested a critical appraisal addressing three performance KPIs for the project and a critical analysis of your internal and external benchmarking systems.

Note: As part of your appraisal and analysis of KPIs and benchmarking you must consider the provision of project specific examples.

3. Your client is aware the project employs a wide and variable supply chain, and requires assurance ethical and safe working practices have not been exacerbated by the revised programme; critically appraise how your team are addressing these challenges.

Note: as part of your appraisal of ethical and safe working practices you must include references to legislation and organisational interventions.

Further guidance

• All tasks are equally weighted.
• Your report must include cover/title page, introduction, conclusion, and recommendations.
• An executive summary is not required.
• Appendices are not required.
• Clearly state any assumptions within your work.

Reference list and bibliography

You should include a reference list with a minimum of 15 separate relevant and appropriate sources that you have written about and cited within your work.

A bibliography of uncited sources is not required.

Additional information

Further information to support you with this assignment is available within the study materials for this module on the UCEM VLE.

It is recommended that you engage with the Assignment briefing webinar and Assignment forum, as the module team may signpost relevant learning activities and also answer any questions you may have.

Marking guidance for this assessment

This guidance is designed to help you to do as well as possible in your assessment by explaining how the person marking your work will be judging it.

Your work will be assessed in relation to the requirements set out in the assessment criteria marking guide shown below and the grading guidance section below.

It is recommended that you read both of these sections before starting your assessment to learn what will help you to achieve the highest marks. Before submitting your assessment you should review it to check you have produced what is required to achieve the highest marks.

When you receive your feedback from your tutor you should be able to see where you gained marks and, where relevant, recommendations about how to improve your performance going forward.

Grading guidance

This grading guidance section explains in more detail what a submission for this assessment should include in order to achieve a mark at the threshold, good and excellent standards.

Threshold

You will have produced a professional report which explains and describes, with some critical discussion, Corporate Social Responsibility, the application of benchmarking and KPIs, and ethical practice. You will have clearly presented and applied your answer to the given scenario with reference to current best practice which you should research to support your ideas. All these discussions will need to be supported by the minimum number of references.

Good

You will have met the criteria for Threshold and there will be reference to the scenario with relevant examples of the application of Corporate Social Responsibility during the construction stage. Your answers will provide a sound explanation of benchmarking with a discussion which clearly identifies what to benchmark against. This will provide a focus which identifies key performance indicators related to the scenario. There will be a section of the report which clearly and appropriately discusses issues related to ethical best practice within the supply chain. Good answers will critically discuss those challenges which might arise from communication. There will be examples of management challenges related to the scenario to demonstrate a professional understanding. All points should be clearly articulated with evidence of competent self-directed research of current best practice and use of references to support the evaluation of construction management challenges raised. All these answers should be related to the scenario and should be supported by a wider range of quality literature sources.

Excellent