Professional Ethics in Construction and Engineering

7 Ethical Project Controls in Construction Management

It takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did it wrong.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

7.1 Introduction to the Chapter

This chapter predominantly is intended to make construction professionals aware of some of the governance requirements on their projects and to present some practical control mechanisms for regulatory adherence. It will explain some of the processes around project approval and the importance of project/programme boards in this regard. Various examples of templates and processes for various stages of the approval process will be given to assist construction professionals understand the level of information required. This is intended as a practical guide or toolkit for encouraging best practice.

7.2 Project Controls

For construction professionals, it is imperative that they understand their roles, responsibilities and authorisation levels when leading their project teams. This will ensure they do not make decisions which have a financial or operational effect on projects which should have been escalated to a higher authority. Normally authorisation levels are established for a given project, or they mirror financial regulations for the client organisation. For construction professionals, having robust decision-making processes whilst ensuring governance procedures are maintained is fundamental; avoiding unnecessary delays whilst not infringing financial regulatory requirements.

7.3 The ...