Construction Magazine December 2014 | Page 18

management / planning
When a company communicates effectively internally , it is far more likely to provide effective and unified communications to external organisations .
It was the American business writer Thomas J . Peters who famously said that “ communication is everyone ’ s panacea for everything ”. When it comes to maximising efficiency across the construction sector , effective communication really is the cure for a thousand ailments .
Even though the UKs economy is now growing faster than any other G7 nation , it will take a while to recover from the past five years of challenging market conditions .
The recession may have been painful for many construction companies , but it has engendered a focus on efficiency that applies to far more than just cost and financial management .
There are numerous ways in which effective communications can help to identify and resolve problems on projects earlier and even squeeze extra profits from each project .
Don ’ t waste resources Imagine a company simultaneously
Lack of communication can lead to a waste of resources
undertaking two construction projects . Both developments require the use of plant for piling , which has been hired at considerable expense . The plant , however , is lying idle at site A due to last week ’ s discovery of unrecorded underground pipes . Progress has also ground to a halt over at site B , because nothing can be done until the piling rig arrives on-site .
In this scenario , it ’ s easy to see how a lack of internal communication has led to a waste of resource that will inevitably drive up overall project costs .
If everyone in the company knew what their colleagues were doing , resources could be deployed to
18 December 2014