CRITICAL COMMUNICATIONS VARIABLES

Effective communications are essential to the successful completion of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects. Research f rom the Construction Industry Institute (CLI) confirms this hypothesis . However, this finding would be of little benefit without a means for measuring a project's communications effectiveness. This paper docume nts the efforts of a CII research team in identifying and measuring cr itical communications variables during the execution phases of EPC pro jects. It confirms the common recognition of communication problems, p rovides insight into communications theory, and outlines procedures us ed by the research team throughout the study. Critical communications variables identified in the process are consolidated into six manageab le categories establishing the basis for a communications improvement program. These categories in relative order of importance are accuracy , procedures, barriers, understanding, timeliness, and completeness. T he paper concludes by acknowledging that this is the first step in sol ving project communications problems. To gain maximum benefit from thi s research, the categories and variables identified must be incorporat ed into an assessment tool and applied as part of a communications imp rovement program.