Value Management

The objective of value management is to create an understanding in general the value process, function analysis and team dynamics in the client's value system. It is also aimed to identify solutions to undertake value studies at difference stage of a project as well as recommend a more collaborative effort towards the promotion and awareness of value management in Malaysian construction industry in an effort to achieve value for money invested.

This is a totally fresh subject for me. Sr. Loo Seong King and Sr Habizah are the lecturers for this subject. They worked hard to guide us during lecture class. Besides, we are required to work for a group assignment. The scope of the assignment is to prepare a value management report as a value management study team in order to conduct a value management workshop on a project. The project used in my group assignment is a resort hotel where the client wants to maximize profit of the resort building. Therefore, we need to consider many factors in order to achieve client's objective and maintain a balance between function, cost and quality. The value management tools used are function analysis, FAST diagram, brainstorming and weighting and scoring system.

I have gained new knowledge from this subject and I believed these will help me a lot in my future career. I have also improved my communication skills by conducting a real value management workshop with my fellow team members.

Project Management

This subject is lectured by Mr Leong Boon Tik and it is one of my favourite subject in my degree life. Project management is an interesting topic for me. The objective of this subject is to appreciate the roles and functions of construction project participants and the organizational structures where they occur. It is also aimed to develop understanding of the form and influence of leadership in the construction project process and the relationships of players to a project's success. The next objective is to understand the application of management techniques in the control and direction of construction project resources as well as evaluate the dynamic changes which occur during a construction project's life cycle and the nature of a project's success. The topics that has been covered include time management, cost management, procurement management, risk management, quality management and project termination.

We are required to form a group in order to complete the group assignment. The scope of the assignment is to prepare a report on risk and quality management of a proposed development. We need to include quality planning, quality assurance and quality control throughout the project life cycle. Besides, every possible risks of the proposed development has to be identified and mitigated by using various methods. This is an challenging process as it created chance for us to think of the method to manage a project and I found that it is not easy to become a project manager. Furthermore, Mr Leong guided us to use Microsoft Project software. The software is used to create a gantt chart which is one of the most important element in project management.

I have gained much knowledge on project management which made me feel interested in this field. Thank you Taylor's University for providing such good quality education. Mr Leong shared a lot of real life experience in the industry which made me understand the lecture easier.

Dissertation

In this subject, it is aimed to develop awareness of the current local and global issues in the construction industry. It is also intended to explore the approaches to research. The third goal is to demonstrate a systematic and orderly mind to produce a viable academic research. This is an interesting subject that I can try something new that I have never tried in my university life. My supervisor is Ms Normah Sulaiman who was my Research Methodology's tutor. She is very helpful and she always be there when I need help on my research study. She also motivated me when I faced some hardships in the preparation of dissertation. 

In this semester, I was required to complete the research study done in previous semester. Research methodology, data analysis and conclusion were done in this semester. This subject is more challenging compared to the previous semester because we are required to complete 3 chapters in short period. We were also required to create new and original things because this is our product. I think this is the most difficult part because I used to study research done by others but I never tried to create something new for others to study. 

My research title is "Project Management of Adaptive Reuse in Kuala Lumpur". The main constraint that I have encountered was difficulty in looking for case study and interviewee. The cruel fact is that I have been rejected by countless times for conducting interview. I was giving up in approaching the interviewees but Ms Normah encouraged and motivated me. Fortunately, there were two interviewees replied me and said yes. I was extremely excited because I can complete the research without changing the topic and start over again.

After complete writing the dissertation, I was required to present my dissertation in a VIVA presentation. It was stressful because the panels would question much about the research where we have paid effort on it. Besides, I was also required to write a research paper based on my own dissertation. It was basically a summary of dissertation in 6 to 8 pages. 

This subject was fun as I really learned a lot. I became interviewer first in my life time and also produced something new that I have never thought that I will. I wish that the dissertation can make contribution to the society. 

Development Economics

The main objective of this subject is to understand the basic principles of economics and its link to the real world of construction and to develop an understanding of the whole process of property development. Besides, it is aimed to enhance the understanding of the contribution of feasibility study in property development. The third objective is to understand the overall mechanism of the finance system in the construction industry.

There are two lecturers in this subject who are Ms Tay Shir Men and Sr. Soon Lam Tat. They are passionate in teaching and also spent much time on explaining the parts that we do not understand. They also shared a lot on property development to enhance our knowledge. They are great lecturers. In this subject, there were 20% for mid term test, 30% for assignment and 50% for final exam.

For the assignment, it was merged with the Project Management's assignment. We have to do a report for the proposed development. The report included cash inflow, cash outflow, quarterly cash flow, net present value and more. It was a difficult task because there are so many requirements and we need to follow in order to get an accurate answer. It also enable us to analyse the cash flow of the project and whether is the project bringing positive cash flow. This can improve my critical thinking and enable me to make decision based on analysis.

Construction Law

In my very last semester, construction law plays an important role to widen my knowledge before I work in the construction industry. It provides an understanding of principles of construction laws and its application. The main objective of this subject is to understand the general principles of contract law and formation of a contract and remedies in the event of breach. We can learn about case law which supports the general principle of contract law. Secondly, it can help us to understand the roles and liabilities of parties involved in the contract. It also used to appreciate the laws relating to suspension and determination, payments, contractual claims and so on. In short, it covers most of the legal issue for whole construction process.

The lecturer of this subject is Mr. Wong Chong Wei. He is knowledgeable and full of experience in this field. He always share the real life example which he encountered in the lecture class which makes us to understand the principle of law easier. In the tutorial class, we are required to present the topic that Mr Wong lectured in the previous week. In the seminar, 2 person would form a group and present the topic based on our understanding and findings and also prepare 2 questions each presenter to ask the audience after the presentation. I could learn a lot in the seminar no matter being a speaker or audience. The presentation topic of my group was law relating to payment. I was required to have a role play session with my group mate which I found it interesting. It was interesting to be an audience as well because Mr Wong would ask some challenging questions which required critical thinking and he encourages audience involvement. 

Besides, this module required us to prepare a report as the only assignment. Lecturer has selected the group members for us randomly. Each group has different topic for the preparation of the report. The topic of my group was regarding Time at Large. I had to find and research from many law books and online resources. It was good that I can learn a lot from doing research by myself and also try to think whether the principle is applicable. This assignment helped me to improve my communication skills in order to work with different people.