Contractors' experiences of integrated management systems

Integrated management systems (IMS) are an innovative method of handling the multitude of management functions and procedures that are applied throughout major construction projects. Quality, safety and environment are at the forefront of management systems evolution where the integration of these traditionally independent and dedicated organisational systems is expected to deliver a range of benefits through efficiency gains and operational effectiveness at both the company and project level. Building and civil engineering contracting organisations are implementing management integration in different ways and this makes the potential benefits of successful systems application difficult to identify and share widely throughout the industry. This paper reports on a government-funded PhD project that examined IMS developments in the construction industry. The research involved data obtained from a survey of 30 UK-based building and civil engineering companies together with interviews and case studies provided by five principal contractors at the leading-edge of management systems integration. The research found that IMS has the potential to deliver greater organisational effectiveness and efficiency and can improve project performance. It also identified that difficulties in system configuration and implementation are commonplace. The challenge is to establish a generic framework for IMS development which contractors can apply to their activities within the context of their core business.