Causes for poor communication in construction industry?

Yes, i agree that poor communication sometimes will lead to the failure of projects...The entire project depends on the team leader and the proper communication will play an important role in the construction industry.Unless the project team leader transfers all points related to the project to each person under him, then there will not be any mis-undesrtanding between each others...words shd reach from top most level to bottom ..We shld work like a team-GUNG HO..(Means Team work).

When stakeholder analysis itself is not done in projects, then there is no point of discussing any further on the communication aspects in a project environment.

Without stakeholder analysis, we won't be in aposition to identify the following :

1. Who are all the staekeholders in the project?

2. What and in which mode the information has to be transferred to these stakeholders?

3. What is the frequency of such reporting systems?

4. Authenticy and correctness of information provided?

5. Timeliness of the reports generated and delivered?

All the above is a must and should be adhered to for effection communications to ensure effective decision making throughout the project cycle.

I think the causes for poor communication is Language Barrier. Workers who move from one place to another has little or don't know the language of that particular region/place. They are employed by the construction industry as they are skilled labour or have technical experience. Language barrier largely contributes to poor communication in the construction industry and has a tremendous effect on Project as well.

I have created an Idea Contest " Effects of Poor Communication on Construction Projects " do participate and Share your views there...

Many things are different between projects. There are different teams, different funders and designers. So with the whole new team one can't be on the same level what he thinks or the new team does, with this confusion there might be a major cause for the poor communication in construction industry.

I wouln't like to believe it is lack of knowledge and therefore, hesitance. In todays age, communications have developed to an extent that project managers, contractors, design team, all can keep in touch. People at site can receive instructions, layouts, working drawng, structural details etc and go about their work. People at the office can keep a track of the developments at the site too. It's just the matter of getting used to the new tools of communicaion and adapt to mordern technologies and work in sync with each other.

A smart mobile can substitute a modem and be attached to the laptop, and, the files can be converted to gif from dwg for convenient transport.

When it comes to Quality its the parties that often inadequately define quality. High quality may mean different things to a plasterer and to the project director or project manager. One must use objective standards to define materials and workmanship. One must precisely describe what one requires. A client may specify a much higher standard than what he really wants while wanting a lower price. So this is one such place where there might be lack of proper communication.

The construction industry is well known for its high levels of inter-personal and inter-organisational conflict. Given that poor communication has repeatedly been cited as a cause of conflict in the construction industry ,it is surprising that the nexus between communication, gender and conflict has not been explored. More specifically,  there is a male-centric style of communication in the construction industry which acts as a significant source of interpersonal conflict.