What do communication skills mean in the Construction Discipline?

1. Rosalie Goldsmith Student Learning Unit University of Western Sydney Sid Newton Faculty of the Built Environment UNSW What do communication skills mean in the Construction Discipline?

2. Acknowledgements • Support for this research has been provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the ALTC.

3. Where this question came from: • ALTC LTAS project: to define academic standards in a number of disciplines: • A discipline scholar for each discipline, and a project officer • Architecture/Building and Construction: discipline scholar Ass Prof Sid Newton (UNSW) • Project officer Rosalie Goldsmith

4. How the project worked

5. 1st round workshops (audio-recorded) • 1. Discussion about what the stakeholders considered to be threshold learning outcomes (TLOs) for graduates • 2. pyramid discussion with a prepared set of 64 TLOs from a range of disciplines • 3. Post-pyramid discussion feedback • Workshop discussions then transcribed and analysed

6. Communication as defined in the TLOs: • interpret and negotiate building and construction information, instructions and ideas with various project stakeholders

9. How the Construction discipline participants defined communication: • the ability to communicate verbally, in writing, professionally, with confidence (University A) • I think it’s mostly written, but also being able to stand up and talk to people (University E) • I think in construction it’s primarily a socialisation of knowledge, and within the construction industry it’s verbal skills and professionalism (University F) • (no definitions from industry or student workshops)

10. Differences between the stakeholder groups: • Hard to say: as much diversity within as between the groups • Many construction discipline academics have had a background or experience in industry (much less the case in a discipline such as Engineering) • We talk about social responsibility, we talk about leadership, we talk about communications and then we have to demonstrate that in every course. (university D) • So when RICS says teaching teamwork and problem solving, but AIB talks about communication some other way, we align that.(university C)

11. Differences continued • Industry A focused on plan reading: • I want them to be able to read a drawing for example and a lot of them can't. • Obviously there has to be some plan reading skills that come through at that stage. • Industry B focused on the broader aspects of communication: • . And given the amount of written dialogue that happens through emails;... both written and verbal communication skills for me is a pretty important learning outcome as well; the ability to communicate with an architect at the same time as a lawyer at the same time as an accountant, a tradesperson,

12. As for the students... • And so communication practices and how to manage people is of primary importance. (students A) • there should be more emphasis on getting people together, communicating, getting confidence, just being around people and feeling comfortable. (students B)

13. How the participants saw communication/skills • As presentation skills: • presenting the capstone project to a client (university) • As talking to people: • talking to subbies [sub-contractors]; talking to a client (university) • – like I know it’s stupid, but you have to teach people how to be confident: (student) • As negotiation skills: • you need to be able to sit at a table with 5 or 6 people and know how to facilitate a general discussion and come up with an outcome; (student) • As reading skills: • I want them to be able to read a drawing for example and a lot of them can't; (industry)

14. As writing skills: • it’s not just being able to write a good report, it’s writing a good report for our type of clients and organisations that are going to consume it. (university) • As critical thinking: • that ability to actually process information in a high level way so for me reading a financial statement...(university) • As command of English: • some of the challenges we have faced, going through our recruitment process, is around the verbal skills, and the written English skills; (industry) • As team work: • you need to be able to work within a project team, go to site meetings, and deal with tradies all the way up to financiers from day one . (university) • As generic skills: • but I also do expect them to be able to present themselves, to be able to communicate, to write well and to present themselves in a professional manner; (industry)

15. Shared understanding? • Not from the looks of things...Why? • In the construction sector, communication is seen to be about “the transfer of information between people”: the skills that project managers need to deal with individuals, small groups, large groups, organisations... • Compare this with: • I think in construction it’s primarily a socialisation of knowledge, and within the construction industry it’s verbal skills and professionalism (University F) • I think we understand that the ability to communicate effectively is critical for their future success, but even they don’t think it’s important: the students, I mean. So we impose it on them. (University E)

16. How is this to be done? • That was a point that was made by the students: the main people they’re communicating with is the subbies [sub-contractors], and that’s a very different kind of communication from talking to a client, and yet that’s what they’re having to learn the process of. So it comes back to: is it reasonable for us to include that kind of training or that kind of outcome in our degree program? (University F)

17. Who is responsible for teaching this range of skills and abilities? • ? • Needs further investigation on a national and a local level

18. What does this mean for ALL advisers? • Be aware of the complexity and multi-faceted nature of communication skills within the construction discipline • Be aware of the already crowded curriculum in the discipline • Contextualise as much as possible • Team teach and/or integrate within the current units of study

19. TLOs for the construction discipline: • Knowledge • integrate and evaluate the fundamental principles and technical knowledge of building and construction technology, management, economics and law • Judgement • identify and resolve typical building challenges with limited guidance, employing appropriate problem-solving and decision-making methodologies • Self-Development • critically and creatively reflect on personal behaviours and capabilities in the context of entry to the profession • Communication • interpret and negotiate building and construction information, instructions and ideas with various project stakeholders • Innovation • research and develop emerging methods and strategies for the procurement and delivery management of contemporary construction work • Engagement • experience and demonstrate an integrated understanding of both the theory and practice of building and construction