Research Project Assignment : Impact Of Payment Issues On Australian Construction Project

Question

The research topic

• Does it summarise the main idea of my proposed research in an exciting way in no less than 10- 15 words?
• Can it stand alone? Is it fully explanatory?

Rationale and Significance

• Do I provide a brief description of my proposed research?
• Do I explain how the results of my research will advance the general understanding of this topic?
• Do I explain how the results of my research fill a knowledge gap?

Preliminary Literature review

• Does my literature review justify my research questions?
• Does my literature review identify gaps, shortcomings, and limitations in existing research giving context to my study?
• Do I demonstrate a thorough and current understanding of the peer-reviewed literature relating to my topic?

Research approach, methods, ethics and limitations

• Do I explain the approach I intend to use to solve the challenge in my study? Is it explicit and well thought out?
• Are both my research approach and methods tied to my research questions and objectives?
• Does both my approach and methods show an understanding of relevant reviewed literature?
• Are my procedures well organized and clearly described?
• Do I discuss how confidentiality of participants and their responses will be maintained? (if applicable)
• Have I explained the scope boundaries and exclusions of my research?

Project management

• Does my project schedule name all key activities and milestones for specific achievements? And does it pertain to the objectives I have set out to achieve?
• Is my schedule manageable and realistic? Do I allow adequate time for completion of each activity?
• Is the sequence for completion logical?
• Are all resource requirements assigned to project activities?
• Are the key risks well identified and analysed?
• Have I completed the responsibility matrix?
• Are the key stakeholders well identified and analysed?
• Are my procedures for data management clearly described?
• Have I provided a shared link to my Endone library and project data folder?

References, Appendices and Presentation

• Have I provided cover page and abstract as per requirements?
• Have I had my work checked by Studiosity and ALC before submission?
• Is my language clear enough and free from typos and grammatical errors?
• Do I provide a list of cited references that are current and relevant?
• Am I using Harvard style in the reference list and in-text referencing?
• Have I followed all other instructions for submissions?
• Have I provided all documents needed under appendices as well as the hyperlink of shared folder?

Answer

Abstract: This research project assignment is based on investigating the impact of payment problem in the context of a construction project in Australia. This is a rising issue in Australia. There are a lot of people suffering from this issue. There has been no solution to the problem. People are facing such a situation that they have to leave their jobs or work without proper resources. In this research project assignment, a research rationale has been given. It explains the problem and how this research has been helpful. The significance of this research has been seen. A proper literature review has been done on this issue. The impact of payment issues has been seen. Research questions and objectives have been made.Research methodology has been discussed in greater details. The research philosophy had been taken was interpretivism. The research approach had been inductive. A face-to-face interview has been done and qualitative data analysis has been done.The ethics statement has been mentioned.The team contribution has been studied in details. Research project management has been done. It included data management, project risks, stakeholder’s risks, milestones of the project and project limitations.This research project assignment has been of great help to the construction industry in Australia.

Title: Investigating the impact of payment problem in the context of a construction project in Australia

1. The rationale of the study
The issue discussed in this research project assignment is mainly related to payment in a construction project in Australia. The industry is facing a financial crisis and due to which they are unable to complete projects.Payments are not being done in proper time and hence disputes are being caused (Purnus&Bodea2016). This problem is not just faced by project owners but with the head contractors too. This causes a dispute between the subcontractor and the head contractor. The overall progress is having a major impact on the construction industry. There are many cases filed in court for payment issues in the construction business. There are defaulters who are not paying the amount on time and this is causing difficulties for construction owners.

This is an issue because without proper payment system none of the business or industry can run smoothly. The progress is decreasing and work is not getting delivered on time. Contractors are unable to get resources for work. This is causing a situation where workers are not having any jobs. The financial status of the construction industry is decreasing. People are not considering payment regulation seriously. The payment issue sometimes occurs due to an imbalance in the payment market.There are some projects that are initiated by the government but they are left incomplete. This is because the government is not giving payment incorrect time.Sometimes the market behaviour is unfair. There is a specific payment related clause which causes issues in the later stages of construction. The impact of payment problem in the construction industry is forcing people to live in poor conditions too (Loosemore& Lim 2015).

The issue is still continuing because nobody is finding any solution to the problem. People are least concerned about the condition of the construction industry. The construction business is running slow. There are fights taking place between the contractors due to payment issues. The government of Australia is not taking any major steps for solving the problem. The payment issues are stopping the work in a maximum number of project sites. The laws are also not being strict due to which owners are not receiving payment on time. The reputation of the industry is deteriorating day-by-day.

The research would shed light on the impact of payment problem in the construction industry in Australia. The condition of the industry in Australia is decreasing and no solution is being found. From this research, the researcher will try to understand the situation of the construction industry and the payment issues related to it. The proper research methodology will be conducted an interview of owners, contractors and sub-contractors will be done. This research will shed light on the solutions to the payment problem in the construction industry in Australia.The solutions will have to be followed in the industry so that the problems get solved. The researcher will be looking at the problems that are related to government projects. There are many cases pending due to payment issues in the construction business. The researcher will try to understand the reasons of such cases being pending. The research will be helpful to those who are suffering from the issues of payment in the construction sector in Australia.

2. Significance
It is seen that payment problems are slowing down the growth in the construction industry. It is also leading to financial stress in the Australian market. The non-performing assets are increasing in the construction industry. This is creating an imbalance in the business ecosystem in Australia. It is also affecting nearby countries. The payment problem in the construction business is a very serious issue and has to be dealt in a proper manner.The researcher will be exploring certain areas in the construction business. They are infrastructure finance, regulations and law of Australian payment act. A long-term debt solution will be found by the researcher. This research will be building knowledge of the researcher. Great depth of understanding can be gained by the researcher. This will be increasing public awareness and people will try to solve the problem. This will also compel the government of Australia to take major steps. This research will be helpful for bringing the construction business back to track and make it successful. It will also fuel up the economy in Australia. All the truths and lies will be out through this research and hence decisions can be taken easily.

3. Preliminary literature review
3.1 Australian construction industry and its issues of payment: The Australian construction industry is the biggest and most growth in the world (Rafferty & Toner 2019). There is an expectation that it will be expanding by 9.3% in a single year. The demand is increasing and it is creating a huge impact on the overall GDP. This is also contributing to the Australian economy. The construction companies comprise 8% of the GDP. Each quarter there is a rise of 2% in the construction industry in Australia. Productivity is also growing in this industry by 2.8% annually. There is also a rise in employment by 3% in construction companies in Australia. However, there are some issues which are slowing creating a problem in the construction industry in Australia. The major one is the payment issue due to which most of the work is coming to halt. The resources are decreasing and creating a huge impact on the workers. There is an issue related to cash flow. The incoming bills are not being paid. The contractors and sub-contractors are fighting with each other on this issue (Loosemore & Lim 2016). There is no solution coming out for this problem. There is a lack of business credit and companies are unable to complete their work. The issue of bad debt is also coming up. Construction companies need to ensure that they work properly to solve the problem.

3.2Reasons behind payment issues in the Australian construction industry: Construction industry always stays in limelight due to the perfidious and deceitful activities. The most hurdle place in business is the construction business. A huge amount of investment is always required in case of the potential profits. Until and unless full payment is paid for a particular contract no guarantee can be assured that the money is given in the right place and the investment is worthwhile. Huge obstacles can be created if there is a delay in the payment and cash flow.

The construction industry in Australia is diverse and healthy although challenges are these to interrupt the healthy environment. The constant cost rising of the raw materials creates pressure and it becomes a great hurdle for the contractors in reaching those pressure problems with innovative ways.

There are lots of unique characteristics of the payment issues which can affect the construction industry. No huge barriers are there for the entrants’ entry in this industry and well known for the less capital backing along with deep realignment on the cash flow for the sustainability (Halpin, Lucko & Senior, 2017).

Some major reasons behind the payment issue in Australian construction Industry are as follows.

Due to the late payment issues the contractors and the consultants’ perspectives always differ. The basic reasons for the payment delays are certification delay, very poor financial management of the clients, and failure in the implementation of good governance, cultural attitude and lastly underpayment of the clients. Among all these the cultural attitude, disapproval of client's claim and lastly underpayment of the clients are considered as the top 3 causes for the payment delay in the construction department. In the construction industry, there is a frequently used phrase "work first, gets paid later" and this adds another level of issue in the payment delay factor. Other payment included issues are disagreement in the work valuation, withholding the payment deliberately, budget deficits and the poor communication between the contractors and the clients (Park & Tucker, 2017).

It becomes very hard in the regulation of cash flow due to the inefficient invoicing system. It is necessary to outline the various phases in the project by the use of a progressive payment schedule. If the phase is complete then the payment should be progressed after the completion of it. But in most of the cases, this does not happen. After completion of one phase of the construction, the contractor does not get the prior set money from the client as promised before and that leads to not getting the proper money of the workers. This is considered as the huge payment issue in the construction department. Without having the progressive payment it becomes very challenging in case of escalating the construction project.

The metal and oil commodities cost rise and the interest rate rise alongside it due to the strength of the currency of the nation. Although it is considered as the good news sometimes for the contractors when the rates increased beyond the level then the customer tries to look elsewhere for the construction deals. The payment is considered as the issues over here too.

3.3 Impact of payment issues on the Australian construction industry: The construction industry in Australia was found to have huge investments due to its ability to make potential profits. However, there is no guarantee of the investment until the full payment is handed over after the completion of the project and contract. Thus the flow of the cash is crucial and any problem in the receivables will leads to various issues(Singh, 2017). In spite of the health construction sector, there are several challenges. For example, an increase in the cost of the raw materials, in such cases it is important for the contractors to find innovative methods in order to keep the cost competitive.

Contractors in Australia find regulation of the flow of cash to be difficult especially in case of the invoicing. Due to this reason, it is observed that the contractors have to follow up after every two weeks the progress of the payment based on the type of the project. If there is not regular progress in the payment procedure, the construction project becomes difficult to track. In addition, it becomes difficult to start any other project when a large number of finances are stuck in the current project. It is essential for the organization to have a progress payment facility which will help in the operation of the project smoothly.

Additionally, with the increase in the price of the commodities for oil and metal an increase in the interest rates and strength of the Australian currency is increased. In such a case, it is important for the enterprise to cut down the cost on the other fronts in order to streamline the operation of the project (Ashworth & Perera, 2018). In the current situation, there is an organization that uses digital applications and software which assist in the invoicing and also help in maintaining records of the transactions. This tool and the software help the company to keep a track of the money received at the end of the projects. An increase in the payment delays and loss is observed in the construction industries which have posed a concern amongst the industries. Issues are mostly related to the contractual issues, the strength of finances of the stakeholders, disputes related to the shortcomings for the payment processes. This has created a demand for a financially secure process which will assist in the security of the payment. Also, a prequalification of the status of the contractors for their finances will be verified before they participate in the project.

According to the current law, it is important for the organization to promptly pay for the projects. In Australian, there was an increasing demand of legislation for the protection of the payment of the contractors participating in the construction jobs so that there is a consistency which can be maintained during the project (Seboru, 2015). Western Australia and the northern part of the country are currently behind the standards for following the payment of the contractors. Several measures are been taken by the government which once get implemented will be able to provide the best payment protection to the construction workers.

3.4 Solving payment disputes in the building & construction industry in Australia: The disputes in the building and construction industry can be solved in many ways. There are special provisions for contract, legislation and administration. The risk of the owners is protected from the contractors and sub-contractors (Shah 2016).The companies should be having contractual rights so that disputes can be solved easily through it. There are special contracts for payments and non-payments. Through this companies can claim their payment in case of any problem. Also if the timeframe is not achieved then the payment can be claimed by the companies. There are legislative provisions for disputes. In this method, a lien is placed over the estate. This protects contractors and sub-contractors. According to Australian law, there is the provision of the right to payment. Here the contractors cannot keep the money of subcontractors on hold. The contractors try to understand the status of the client and hence they provide necessary security to the client. In case of non-payment, the payee will be getting the amount as debt from the payer. The payees then have to suspend the work of the construction contract. Adjudication is a method that is used for saving money and solving the dispute quickly. There is the security of payment (SOP) legislation. The frequency of payment is reduced and late payment problems are handled (Ashworth&Perera2018). The payment practices can be improved through this legislation. The clients have to give their funding arrangement of the project to the government of Australia. This helps them to solve the payment related issues in future.The company owners must follow some rules and regulations as it helps them from getting into any unnecessary dispute. They also have to be careful while dealing with contractors and sub-contractors. All the constructions laws of Australia must be followed properly.These remedies will solve the problem of the construction industry in Australia.

4. The research questions and objectives
Primary Question
Q1. What are the impacts of payment issues in the construction sector in Australia?

Secondary Questions
Q1. What are the challenges construction companies are facing due to payment issues in Australia?

Q3. What steps can be initiated to solve the problem of payment in construction sector so that growth can be increased?

Research Objectives

• To find out the impacts of payment issues in the construction sector in Australia
• To find out the challenges faced by construction companies due to payment issues in Australia
• To initiate steps so that the payment problem in the construction sector can be solved and growth can be increased

5. Research Methodology
5.1 Research Approach: Research philosophy is a method of gathering data and then analysing them for a particular phenomenon (Research Methodology.com 2019). They are four types and they are Positivism, Interpretivism, Realism and Pragmatism. For this research, Interpretivism research philosophy will be taken. Exploration process helped in building the theory. In this, the conduction of research will be important than hypothesis testing. A proper conclusion will be achieved through this research philosophy.

Research Approach is a proper plan that is having specific steps which helps in data collection method and analysis (Sekaran & Bougie2016). They are of three types and they are Deductive research approach, Inductive research approach and Abductive research approach. The research approach that will be taken for this research is Inductive. Here the real situation will be understood and then theories will be made on it. The hypothesis cannot break into parts to understand the problem. This will be non-scientific research. The deductive research approach is appropriate for scientific research. In the deductive approach, all the information and theories are known. Only theory verification is done and hence this method is not useful for this research. A conceptual framework will be done in the data collection process through the inductive research approach.

5.2 Data Collection and analysis: Data Collection and analysis is a major part of the research methodology. Information gathering and answering the issues is done through the data collection method. Data collection is mainly of two types and they are Primary and Secondary method. Primary data collection is done through surveys and interview. The issues are practically experienced. However, secondary data is where the answers are collected through books and journals. In this particular research primary data, collection method will be followed. A face-to-face interview will be done on the finance managers of the construction firms in Australia. There will be 10 closed-ended questions taken by the researcher. There will be two parts of it that are demographic and subjective. The interviewer will try to understand the problems faced by employees in construction due to payment. There will be a verification of the replies received. This will be done through the various theories and facts that are available in this sector. The interview will be greatly helpful as problem identification can be done through it. Different opinions will be given to solve the major issue in this sector.

Data analysis is the method of analysing the data collected from different sources (Palinkas et al. 2016). They are generally of two types and they are Qualitative and Quantitative data analysis method. The researcher will be considering Qualitative data analysis technique. All the information collected will be non-numeric in nature. It will consist of interview recording, notes, video, images and text documents. Quantitative Data analysis will not be considered because a lot of numeric data will be required. It will become difficult to handle such a huge amount of data. The analysis in this research project assignment will be showing how will be the response of the financial manager of the companies. There are many differences between qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Sampling simply means selecting a specific set of people from the population (Pitard2019). For this report, the researcher will be conducting an interview. There are many types of sampling but the researcher will be taking a simple random sampling technique. Here through this technique, the researcher will be selecting people through a random process. This method is quite useful during the collection of data. There will be closed-ended questions and the selected people will have to answer them properly. For this research in research project assignment, the sample population will be financed by managers of construction firms in Australia. The sample size will be 5 people. A face-to-face interview will be given all the required answers easily.

5.3 Ethics statement: The topic of research project assignment is investigating the impact of payment problem in the context of a construction project in Australia. The researcher needs to be careful while conducting such research.

• There cannot be any manipulation of the research data.
• There has to be the maintenance of confidentiality in the research.
• The researcher will have to delete the data after the research is completed.
• The researcher should not follow any kind of bias.
• There will be no exchange of money among people during the time of research.
• The researcher will be recording all the details in a proper manner so that samples will be kept intact.

6. Team Contribution

7. Research Project Management
Project exclusion: This research project assignment will be limited to Australia only. Other countries will not be taken into consideration because it will not be possible to research. Similarly, sampling will be done on a limited number of people because the researcher will not be having time to conduct an interview for many finance managers. This research will be conducted in a short period of time. Only the major parts of the issue will be discussed. This is because the researcher will be having limited resources. There will also be a budget constraint for the researcher. The researcher will be verifying through theories but only limited books and journals will be followed. However, the researcher will have to overcome these weaknesses. The researcher should try to expand their research by expanding the geographical area up to two countries. This will help the researcher to understand the issue briefly. The time limit also needs to be expanded so that the researcher can follow many books and journals.

Project schedule and milestone: The researcher will be doing a cross-sectional study for this topic. This will be helpful in performing the research. Multiple rounds of questioning will be done and this will be taking a lot of time. The analysis will also be conducted in similar form.

Risk register including analysis and response strategy

Stakeholder analysis

Data management: The data will be organized in a proper manner. In this research primary, data will be taken into consideration. Special software will be used by the researcher so that the data management can be done properly (Briney2015). Endnote is the software which will be helping the researcher to organize the data in a proper format. Here the researcher will not have to import citations. It will all be given by the endnote library. The research information will be kept safely. The researcher will not be taking the data out of the college campus. There will be no discussion on researched data with any external people. The researcher will be careful with all the data collected through the interview process. The research discussion will not be done with other class candidates. All the data will be recorded and noted on paper during the process of a face-to-face interview. The researcher will have to be serious in the case of data management.

Research project assignments are being prepared by our project management assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable assignment help service.

Reference List
Ashworth, A. &Perera, S., (2018). Contractual procedures in the construction industry.Routledge.

Australian Government.com. (2019). Available at: https://iclg.com/practice-areas/data-protection-laws-and-regulations/australia [Accessed on 16th May 2019]

Briney, K., (2015). Data Management for Researchers: Organize, maintain and share your data for research success. Pelagic Publishing Ltd.

Halpin, D. W., Lucko, G., & Senior, B. A. (2017), Construction management. John Wiley & Sons.

Loosemore, M. & Lim, B., (2015).Inter-organizational unfairness in the construction industry. Construction management and economics, vol. 33, no. 4, pp.310-326.

Loosemore, M. & Lim, B.T.H., (2016).Intra-organisational injustice in the construction industry. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 23, no. 4, pp.428-447.

Palinkas, L.A., Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom, J.P., Duan, N. &Hoagwood, K., (2015).

Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, vol. 42, no. 5, pp.533-544.

Park, J., & Tucker, R. (2017), Overcoming barriers to the reuse of construction waste material in Australia: a review of the literature. International Journal of Construction Management, Vol17, No.3, PP. 228-237.

Pitard, F.F., (2019). Theory of Sampling and Sampling Practice.Chapman and Hall/CRC.

Purnus, A. &Bodea, C.N., (2016).Multi-criteria Cash Flow Analysis in Construction Projects. Procedia engineering, no. 164, pp.98-105.

Rafferty, M. & Toner, P., (2019).Thinking like Capital markets–Financialisation of the Australian Construction Industry. Construction Management and Economics, vol. 37, no. 3, pp.156-168.

Research Methodology.com. (2019). Available at: https://research-methodology.net/research-methods/data-analysis/qualitative-data-analysis/ [Accessed on 16th May 2019

Sekaran, U. &Bougie, R., (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Shah, R.K., (2016). An exploration of causes for delay and cost overruns in construction projects: a Case study of Australia, Malaysia & Ghana. Journal of Advanced College of Engineering and Management, no. 2, pp.41-55.

Appendices
Appendix 1
Consent Form

Introduction
You, _________________________, have been asked to be in this research study, which has been explained to you by _____________________. This study is being conducted by ____________ [list all investigators – full names and degrees] in the Department of ______________ at _________________________ with funding provided by _____________[if appropriate] or sponsored by _________________[if appropriate].

Purposes of the Study
The purpose of this study is to learn more about ______________.

Description of Procedures
This study involves _____________________ [describe procedures in appropriate detail; e.g. answering questions about your music preferences] and will take approximately ____________ [state how long it will take to participate in the study] for you to complete.

You will be asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding _______________[state what the questionnaire is about]. This will take approximately ______________ [state how long it will take to complete the questionnaire]. You do not have to answer all the questions. You will have the opportunity to see the questionnaire before signing this consent form.

Benefits
You may not receive any direct benefit from this study. The knowledge gained from this study may eventually benefit others.

Financial Considerations
No payments will be made for participating in this study.

Confidentiality
Any information about you that is obtained as a result of your participating in this research will be kept as confidential as legally possible. Your research records and test results, just like hospital records, may be subpoenaed by court order or may be inspected by federal regulatory authorities without your additional consent.

Any information about you that is obtained as a result of your participating in this research will be kept as confidential as legally possible. Your research records and test results, just like hospital records, may be subpoenaed by court order or may be inspected by federal regulatory authorities without your additional consent.

Audiotapes or videotapes will be kept locked and will be destroyed as soon as possible after the research is finished.

In any publications that result from this research, neither your name nor any information from which you might be identified will be published without your consent.

I willingly consent to participate in this research.

_____________________________________ Signature of Subject
_____________________________________ Printed Name
Date __________ Time______________

Appendix 2

Figure 1: Gantt chart
(Source: Self Developed)