Construction Management and Economics

How to write editorial notes - press releases

The editorial notes are not the same as abstracts because they are intended to convey to the main points of interest to an intelligent person who does not know what the work is about, whereas an abstract should summarize the whole work for the purposes of the academic community. One way to approach the writing of editorial notes is to write about what you now think as a result of having dome the research and written the paper. How does this change the views of people who might read it and what kind of people might change their behaviour as a result (practitioners or researchers, but which types)? Therefore, editorial notes should be more like a press release than an abstract. Indeed, we are increasingly using these paragraphs as a basis for press releases. Here are some examples of press releases that have been distributed to the international construction press:

1. Dr Mike Kagioglou, Professor Rachel Cooper and Professor Ghassan Aouad of Salford University, UK, examine how best practice can be transferred from other industries into the construction industry. Their review reveals that many performance measurements are collected without justification. To overcome this, they propose a framework that construction organizations can use as a basis for developing their own systematic performance measurements. The authors illustrate how the framework can be used through two cases - a manufacturing company and a construction company. In these environments the framework forces the organizations to make a clear link between the measurement of performance and the organization's strategic objectives, thus producing more meaningful results than would otherwise be the case.
2. Dr Martin Loosemore of the University of New South Wales, Australia, considers conflict prevention in the construction industry. Using a case study, Loosemore shows that 'weak' parties emerge from negotiations with relatively high levels of responsibility. This is a significant cause of conflict in the construction industry because it results in financial hardship, frustration, anxiety and malevolence. If managers gave more attention to ensuring equity in power and responsibility then the potential for conflict could be reduced.
3. David Greenwood, lecturer and researcher from the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, UK, shows that despite apparent improvements in procurement practices, sub-contractors in the UK are finding that, so far, little has changed. These days, general contractors are quick to claim an interest in closer relationships with their sub-contractors. This involves more principled, transparent, and equitable procurement practices than we are used to hearing about. These new practices are codified in the 1997 Code of Practice for the Selection of Subcontractors issued by the Construction Industry Board of the UK, a direct response to criticisms of the construction industry in the Latham Report. Greenwood has carried out a postal survey of specialist contractors to compare the invitations to tender they actually received with the recommendations of the Code. His results show that these invitations fail to comply with the Code in six out of nine areas monitored, suggesting that traditional approaches to sub-contract procurement are still widespread, despite extensive publicity about main contractors' public interest in sub-contractor 'partnering'.

Will Hughes, October 2006