could tou read these papers and do half paper abstract...

I UN LUMIYU TIL JUULI ULI How professional ethics impact construction quality: Perception and evidence in a fast developing economy Hamzah Abdul Rahman, Chen Wang* and Xiang Wen Yap Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Malaysia. Accepted 11 November 2010 There is a perception that majority of quality-related issues are caused by human factors. The issue of professional ethics plays an important role in quality-related problems in a construction project. This paper highlights the current level of professional ethics standard in the construction industry and how ethics influences the quality of construction projects. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the construction industry in Malaysia, a fast developing economy. Results indicate that various forms of unethical conducts have significant impact on construction quality. This study concludes that professional ethics is a pre-requisite to attaining sustained and acceptable quality in construction and suggests several approaches to enhance professionalism among construction professionals to improve quality in construction. Key words: Professional ethics, quality-related problem, unethical conducts, fast developing economy. construction quality INTRODUCTION The adoption of ethical principles and the enforcement of standards become matters of increasing importance to society as the number of professions and professionals increase and the work environment becomes more ethically sensitive because the credibility of the entire profession is endangered when there are lapses in occurrence of ethical behaviour. It is important to understand the term "profession" before discussing the issue of professional ethics in depth. According to Greenhalgh (1997), the essence of the word "professionalism" can be defined as the possession and autonomous control of a body of specialized knowledge, which when combined with honorific status, confers power upon its holders. Professionals have always been linked with the notion of "service" so that a profession is described as a group of people organised to serve a body of specialized knowledge in the interests of society based on the perceived relationship (Appelbaum and Lawton, 1990). According to Bayles (1989), professional ethics is defined as a system of norms so that both the morality and behaviour of professionals could be dealt with in their day-to-day practice by this system. Professional ethics also ascribes moral responsibility not to an individual, but to all professionals practicing in a particular profession. Carey and Doherty (1968) stated that it automatically tied up with more practical concepts and expectations from the public, encompassing issues such as competence responsibility and willingness to serve the public. Brien (1998) feels that the problem that faces any professional community is how could it regulate itself effectively to justify its autonomy, while ensuring that the clients of its members and society as a whole benefit from the profession's and the individual professional's actions, rather than becoming their victims. It is one of the ethical quality control Construction industry plays a substantial role in a country's economy, irrespective of the country's levels of economic development (Zantanidis and Tsiotras, 1998). The construction sector in a country's economy is an important employer of a nation's workforce as it employs between 2 to 10% of total workforce of most countries (Abdul-Rashid and Hassan, 2005). Malaysia had gained an impressive economic growth during the last three *Corresponding author. E-mail: derekisleon@gmail.com. Tel: 03-7967 3203. Fax: 03-7967 5713. decades (Abdul Rahman et al., 2005) and this sector had employed an estimated 798,200 workforce nationwide in 2004 (CIDB, 2006). The Malaysian Government had given a much needed boost to the country's construction industry under the 9th Malaysian Plan where a total of 880 projects worth RM15 billion is to be tendered (The Star, 2006a). Nevertheless, much had been reported about the performance of the construction industry in terms of quality, productivity and safety. In addition, it should be highlighted that the issue of poor quality in the construction sector had been identified as a major concern even as far back as the mid 1980s (The Star, 2006b). Generally, it is a rule that construction projects must be completed within the planned cost, scheduled time and required quality. Quality may sometimes be ignored in this industry to cut the costs or to shorten the project time (Turk, 2006). To deal with the low quality problem faced by the industry, quality management is seen as an approach to achieve the required level of quality of the end product and had been given great attention world-wide over the past three decades (Hiyassat, 2000: Berawi and Woodhead, 2005). However, there is a perception that majority of quality-related issues are caused by human factor. Therefore, the issue of professional ethics plays an important role in reducing quality problems and preventing inconvenience to all parties concerned. The issues of professional ethics within the construction industry affect a wide spectrum of population. The local authorities, public works department, client organisations, consultants, suppliers, contractors, home buyers, and users of public infrastructure, are all within the scope of professional ethics. All those mentioned have their own contributions towards the problems in hand, and issues of ethics and integrity in the Malaysian construction industry. professional code of ethics (Toor and Ofori, 2008). Contractors on the other hand, are keen to make a profit and hence their actions inclined to business ethics. Each profession has its own interests, which are often divergent and competing in nature. Their diversity can be a source of conflicting ethical standards and practice, which may affect quality performance and accountability to clients or customers. The uniqueness of the sector and the need to perform accountability among all participants places an imposed duty on the associated notions of ethics and professionalism in an integrated framework that should facilitate responsible and accountable performance across the construction sector (Sichombo et al., 2009, Turk, 2006; Abdul-Rashid and Hassan, 2005). Profession is an occupation that requires both advanced study and mastery of a specialized body of knowledge and undertaken to promote, ensure or safeguard some matter that significantly affects others well being (Vee and Skitmore, 2003). Almost every profession has its codes of ethics to provide a framework for arriving at good ethical choices. Therefore, professional ethics is a system of norms to deal with both the morality and behaviour of professionals in their day- to-day practice, and ascribes moral responsibility not to an individual, but to all professionals practicing in a particular profession (Corvellec and Macheridis, 2010) For the building and designing professions, the incalculable value of human life demands nothing less than the highest moral considerations from those who might risk it otherwise (Smyth et al., 2010: Mason, 1998) The construction industry is a perfect environment for ethical dilemmas, with its low-price mentality, fierce competition, and paper-thin margin (FMI, 2006). Jordan (2005) stated that unethical behaviour is taking a growing toll on the reputation of the industry. From a survey conducted by FMI, 63% of the respondents whom are the construction players feel that construction sector is tainted by unethical conducts (FMI, 2006). Surveys conducted by researchers in Australia (Vee and Skitmore, 2003) and South Africa (Pearl et al., 2005) identified several unethical conducts and ethical dilemmas in the construction industry such as corruption, negligence, bribery, conflict of interest, bid cutting, under bidding. collusive tendering, cover pricing, frontloading, bid shopping, withdrawal of tender, and payment game. It is evident that there exist significant areas of concern pertaining to the ethical conducts practised by the construction professionals There are many other efforts taken to increase the ethical standards and integrity among the professionals in construction sectors worldwide. According to Pearl et al. (2005), the regulatory professional acts relating to the built environment professional sector in South Africa were totally overhauled in the late 1990's and a new suite of professional acts were promulgated in 2000 to enhance the professionalism. Meanwhile, in America, the construction management association of America PROFESSIONALS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY The construction sector in Malaysia as that in most other countries is made up of different sectors including client groups, the federal and state councils, private organisations, individuals, developers, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and professionals, architects quantity Surveyors, and engineers incorporating civil, structural, mechanical and electrical. In addition, there are supporting regulatory bodies whose function is to inspect and to ensure that specialist installation confirms to standards set up by building byelaws. The main problem surfaced is the fragmentation of the different sectors in the industry (Hiyassat, 2000: Berawi and Woodhead, 2005; Segalas et al., 2010). Construction professionals exercise their own skills and judgement and they are accountable to the client and bound by their countries is made up of dierent sectors including client collusive tendering cover pricing fronding groups, the federal and state councis private shopping with o ne and payment games organisations individual developers contractors evident that there welcom suppliers, a cturers and professional architects pering to the conducte d by me quantity Surveyors and engineers incorporating civil Mucur mechanical and ectrical Ind on, there There are many other for the are supporting regulatory bodies whose function is to ethical standards and integrity among the professionals inspect and to ensure that specialisation como concions According Pearl 10 wanded up by building by The main 2005. hertory professional t o the problem surfaced the moon of the butto n to South A actors in the industry Mass 2000. Brandt overed in the sand new prog o m 2000 ance profesi o nal and met d e professionale they are h e client and bound by their construction Area 314 Soles Essays OMAA had updates codes include a w i de onom Thus the need arge of professional services as well as professional propert y .com services among construction players CMA 2006 A high level of pedo m a n andard of professional conduct to govom the thical Construction industry Dong 2009 Ab m an practices in the American G engineering profession al 2006 Scho e m anagement was published by the American Society of civil engineers had been adopted by many countri e ve One other hand, Australia had her own code of construction in c luding Hong Kong Long tendering to the times and transparency Ray. 1999: A ndV1999 Targad Ka 1999 1997 Malay the govermentis very us about Singapore Low and Omw 100 Low and Yes 1997 Improving this in both public and private sector For Greece Tits and G aman 1996: Zarands and instance, the construction industry had introduced codes T 1 Turkey Turk 2006. Jordan of this for contractors to encourage to 2000). Soud Arti s t and AA 1999. among the contractor in this sector The Star, 2006) Sweden Landin 2000). U n d Voz Sta r s of construction projects were asked to 2003). South Arica Pelama 19951 and Maria enforce the existing code of ethics to safeguard the engineer's good name (The S 2 00001 The Quality management is a complex or may not Construction industry development board (CIDB) o be frutu only technical aspects are focused and is Malaysia also host integrity courses for contractors to had led to the modern concept of quality promote the importance of grity and plans to management (TOM) (Tan and Abu Raman, 2005 the course as a prerequisite for contractors when Besterfield et al. (2003) defines TOM as both philosophy renewing their registration (The Star, 2006). Finally, the wunching of the construction industry master plan (CIM ) foundation of continuously improving in Mary by COB 2004 as handed in the master plan an tools, methods and schniques have been developed objective to enhance profesional ethics in the local worldwide in order to give substance to the concept of construction industry, TOM (Gernes et al. 2001: Bera 2004 A re number of comparisoned the ISO 9000 dards certificate as a first step towards TOM Hassat 2000 QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION However, people are not serious memerang INDUSTRY quality management ne how good the systems it will eventually. There is a strong perception that The have existence vibal chis ed solu majority of the unit are caused by human 2005: Tabassi factors kings and phrased two professional and ethics Betrid . 2003 and a procese can be defined a meeting the legal het Ardis and Gunaydi1907) and functional m ent of a project Ber 2005 Cents and customers both from the PERCEPTION BETWEEN QUALITY-RELATED ISSUES public and private sectors, nowadays place more AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS emphasis on the quality of products rather than the price which was the concem in the past. Hence, mold Beldet 2000 moneda son olemational competion in it had arredor d an Abd Rahman this have a common which and Ber 2 002 of wat in construction things right and is a way to co industry. TU 2006 Ad d Gunaydin (1999 over mentioned a high quality building project include actions d e factors the the design being easily understandable and construction pro aplicatieconomy of design with specifications economics of construction case of operation case of great concem public sem . 2004 NST ce der Zands and 2009 A G Two 1998 and Abdul Rahman and Bea 2002 construction industry w e e re med plans for a cono cy Kay F an 2004 prilor d he number of met educated and conscious customers are the largeum Within t he core Subcontractor for the tabrication and recono When deconomy c onfirm Sed changed worldwide we g geschieve me approved by the consulting During to con levelse then the c on part of the cold and the position in the emerging on m engineer came out with the reportag e Abdul Rahman 3745 factors like the design being easily understandable and applicable confly of design with specifications economics of construction case of operation case of maintenance and energy efficiency. Zantanidis and Tiras (1990) and Abdul Rahmanand Berawi 2002 mentioned the spectations for conduction projects will continue to grow rapidly as the number of ant educated and concus customers are construction professional will lead to a problem These issues were highlighted in the media and received great concem of a 2000 NST 2004 As an example the case the construction industry was of the My Regency Kansas City d an 2004 shor t 1970s wh e red over the largeum. With o ut the Subcontractor for the fabrication and rection of Steel Suggested chang e and Boroved by the consulting srcu gne Dung the construction to re c ord and with the globalization of economy, construction is worldwide are actively engaged to achieve on compted love to sure their forefront position in the emerging internation l AR sale and to be opened for business in 1980 The wagedy happened one year after the completion of the pract during a part in the lobby Some of the w o n which people dancing Type of form ent de T choice Questions AR respondent on to co contracting wwe thomfrom ww n w than a hundred people dead and almost two hundreds ured. Investigation was then conducted by the Missouri Board of Archic Prof Engineers and land Surveyors reported that the original design was only mary complete the Kansas Chybuilding code where the walkways would only have had approximately 60% of the capacity quired by the code. The station was even worse in the new design proposed by the steel contractor and approved by the engine. The con was found neigence inv estigation of the atrium collapse and places too much reliance on the w ord. Therefore, e engine had been charged for u mos consel racing This case strongly indicates that thical behaviour wil lead to a problems and structural failures Flederman, 2004) in Malaysia as an example, a newly opened specialist hospital in Johor Bwr was closed due to fungi attack on como ons were designed very e as and a very y company Dested from here w e were sich sowo ports RESEARCH FINDINGS Professional industry ethics in Malaysian construction w werage system we nor according to the specifications This clearly shows the poorthics of the contractor who Tated to do right things right. The contractor was given the month orcy problems including aking pipes. 2004 Another substandard quality of construction project in Malaysia is RM28 on Made Ring Road Two M yover which was closed to ww her cracks were found in 3 pilars and structura movements were detected (The Sun. 2004. The Goverment engaged an independent constant from independent cons idered that design delicacies and improper anchoring of the com o te robu were the main of the INST, 2004 Design deficiency is found to be negligence on the design team and work was en carried out animated of RNDO Million Amorty (77361 of the recorder s practice the code of ethics. Another 22 ofe nders indicated that they do not have a for code of this Theindings show that most of the companies were of the more of the of the respondents indicated the orga n eve ang programs for the recyfrwng programes cond e m ne Terms of stafin thereofoons The survey results show th e orders end conducts. Another s indicate the standard cod e The reponde re construction industr y Coducts Respondents d e conduct based on the frequency Tab 2 Mee d to determine the average for each on The options can be determined option would in one of the four roo m Table 3 shows the man of the c onducted em dibution can n ot 3746 Sol Res. Essays wo h ertyd whics. The research options can be determined more as each option would in one of the four range of means Table 3 shows the rank of the conducts based encensoren bution can which is nemohon c The on mandong new s by post with 3746 Sol Res. Essays 5 225 Ungdong Options U nd sonst conduct traud Somewhat are Somewhat 11025 Charge de game Cove priorg w ww of ander and 9.1% caimed that my ad not experience such option Table 3 asellustraties eight unethical conducts which the mean score within the categories of Sometimes Meanwhile, two groups of unethical conducts score mean values were in the range of " O n and one unethical conducts score mean value falls under "None option Apart from that one respondent reported TWO more unethical conducts in Construcson industry. Buying orderer and under table money was rated as "Very Olen happened in the Malaysian construction industry Table t s op five categories of unethical conducts in the construction industry, namely: a) Under bidding, tidshoping and tid ting categorised as a groupe Broery and aud: Negr gence de Front loading and Clams game and payment game. Analysis showed at the top two most unethical conducts Oh happened and the remaining three Occurred Sometimes. Une tenderer eliming for compensation of andering cost with mean07 Determination of relationship between quality related Issues with professional ethics Nearly 73% respondents rated the local construction Guality level as average while 18 w eGood, but nobody rated "Excellent Tables 5 and 6 state the options provided and the details of indings in answering the question that whether the contribute to the quality-related problems in construction industry. 60. respondents Strongly Agree" and 53.0% respondents "Somewhat Agree. This shows that the majority of the respondents are th e the quality related problem in construction industry as the mean score 0.67 (Tabs tin Strongly Agree and A maiority of the respondents 72 age that unethical conducts can be the main cause of poor quality in construction industry with a mean score of 105 There are together 72. respondents the Strong Agree or Somewhat Agree that thical conducts can be the main cause of poor t Respondent industry. As won in Table 4. 48.5% of the respondents never experienced such conducts in the construction industry About 40% of the respondents did not experience w underbang bidhing and bid unting in the construction industry. In contrast more of the medha they O n or "Very Orient experienced such conducts m i n dustry, solperience in brbery and Con u nder the Very whe r edas Sometimes industry falls in the range of somewa Salw a mean value of 1.47. There were onders wheat Stondy Dised Meanwhile, a h o l conducts onowbout from hence of ethical conducts which we re and Abu Rahman 377 t e quel problem Per Unical conducta cor Songly records Soort) Strongly recome never experence we conduc t e construction industry. About 4.6% of the respondents did not experience any under bieding bid shopping and bid cuising exercise in the construction industry. In contrast. more than hal (51.5%) of the respondents claimed that they "O n "Very O n experienced such conducts in the industry in forms of experiences in bribery and comption about 53.0% respondents marked it as an or "Very One while 37.9% make it as Sometimes industry in the ranged somewhat Sady with a mean value of 1.47. There were 43.90% spondents who rated it as strongly Disasie Meanwie 84.8% agreed tha t conduct affect the effectiveness of management implementation of which about 57% of them at the hence of the conduct which was effectiveness of quality management Exe y rillit a 300 Uhondobuleted P a ge CEO ARCH O S. Oarty Surveyor. ENG.Eng Tutte Resol Pear's ways Satisfaction on Cuner Quay level construction industry work this practiced in the Q Porn evelin Conconi The respondents were furished with a list of ways to once professioni in construction industry. The wo top mou chosen ways to enhance professionali are ty leaders serving as role models and by seating a andard of code of his for the construction industry with 576 and 500% supporters, respectively Table shows the responses details on how to enhance profesional A Pero com p romed on the Wong O n ly tag heuty level inoms of performance and constructed product of the construction and Current work is in the local concion industry emine whether or not Quality and professional thics are come T owe ned from the way. The value of 0.249 in this sector is better advice versa The co n i grificantly under a 0.05 The r egtens e points and profeso r ed and professional ethics has a strong impact on the of Construction et d e devong country should not jump to the band who taking care of the needs to g o participants involved in the cou n try DISCUSSIONS ON RESEARCH FINDINGS o n Al respondents agreed that the local c d by the conduct among con son players The Come local conduction industry will be better this have conducted as one th e program 318 Ses Es This show that many other rms are aware of the Importance of good work ethics and on the issue of work ethics among the Mew amy (14 the respondents view that the local construction industry isted by thical conduct among construction overcome the behaviour in the conduction industry, immediate steps must be the one that all construction projecte d by managers who are formally trained by professional ethics. Further, organisa to encouraged t o grossonethics and indicated that the level of quality in local construction and the works are positively come Quality level in local construction industry will be better the work s construction industry considered owl The survey findings show that only bu d eme have conducted as one thi n g program 3748 Soles y s ons coord ne on every Moreno motorce pe L o asmole models among the employee ve s ummary and promo related problems are carr ied by human factor is considered as Good w the economy gricant influence on the guy and performance the product CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS portance of good w h ics and on the work amongst Mem ory (742 oder view the local construction industry ed by thical conduct among consudion players. The s t ore wch conducted by which revealed of a survey a nd the Construction industry started by ethical as among Conciones Indeed84% of the orders in the SS who com o concion players had experienced ved encountered Concorations which they enthal Based on the w o rds indicate that ethical conducted to monetary loss and poor Five ethical conducts were mentioned most by the respondere, amely a Under bidding, bid Shopping Front fonding and claims game and le Payment game Failure to control of the bidding exercise may end up under bidding by contractors, which wil eventually let the quality of the end product delivered to end . This specially prevalent in public projects were contractors and suppliers with lowes onder bid are often wwwded with the tender, Broery and compion is other common unethical conduct rated Comupted or bribed personal wil bypass stringent inspections and work procedures required during construction leading to tandard quality works that will affect customers' confidence Indication of relatively high comption incidents in the Malaysian construction Industry is comparable to the results of an investigation on comption by Vansparency remational (TOwhich is a global coalition against comption revealed that 10% o the goal construction in 2004 was loss to corruption in construction industry globally. This means AM on was burned to such unethical conduct in Failures on the part of professional personnel to were the duty of care result in poor workmanship inadequate s t andards on site and design negligence Professionals in the construction industry would ways en duty of care when conducting their responsibility. From the cases reported in the newspaper s are found love correlation with ethical conduct of the construction players. More than t hird of the respondents are not very saded with equity in construction industry This makes sense at there are many sub standard quality works found in the construction industry. More ham qed that the conducts conue d om and a majority (7271 red conduct can be the man cu The ponders so agreed conducts we w e re ece of management mention Some maced on the c esso cheong To The Sindings indicate that contava direct and negative impact on the construction There exist ilicant areas of concern in Malaysian construction industry such as the ti standards among conduction professional wired be average. One of the bes t ance profession model for the stall Athough the economy growth is one of the main concerns by many economists would not be at the expense of poor because such a route will we have a negative on the economy Unethical acts that exist in developing economica negatively affect the quality of conced projectThus n dermining the dients anders of those prots tuation continues e development and of construction industry will sur Construction professionals are expected to b e with professional integrity and of care. They should strive to achieve good quality of work as they owe responsibility to the gener Only when profesorial ethics are well practiced professionali be enhanced and thus the liye problems directly. The main publica cies of developing countries are encouraged to force laws and procedures and standard code of the Al construction players must be monitored tog a achieved by contractors Con h ouder their duty of care in performing the do o ethical behaviour orc ing dard work. The contractors should not comprot ways. Construction would be dry today tha t the con players from northw es we recommended fo r the con total management TOM o the construction industry A 3 The LP A . OG De APA Com A m G Am Bowl I UN LUMIYU TIL JUULI ULI How professional ethics impact construction quality: Perception and evidence in a fast developing economy Hamzah Abdul Rahman, Chen Wang* and Xiang Wen Yap Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, Malaysia. Accepted 11 November 2010 There is a perception that majority of quality-related issues are caused by human factors. The issue of professional ethics plays an important role in quality-related problems in a construction project. This paper highlights the current level of professional ethics standard in the construction industry and how ethics influences the quality of construction projects. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the construction industry in Malaysia, a fast developing economy. Results indicate that various forms of unethical conducts have significant impact on construction quality. This study concludes that professional ethics is a pre-requisite to attaining sustained and acceptable quality in construction and suggests several approaches to enhance professionalism among construction professionals to improve quality in construction. Key words: Professional ethics, quality-related problem, unethical conducts, fast developing economy. construction quality INTRODUCTION The adoption of ethical principles and the enforcement of standards become matters of increasing importance to society as the number of professions and professionals increase and the work environment becomes more ethically sensitive because the credibility of the entire profession is endangered when there are lapses in occurrence of ethical behaviour. It is important to understand the term "profession" before discussing the issue of professional ethics in depth. According to Greenhalgh (1997), the essence of the word "professionalism" can be defined as the possession and autonomous control of a body of specialized knowledge, which when combined with honorific status, confers power upon its holders. Professionals have always been linked with the notion of "service" so that a profession is described as a group of people organised to serve a body of specialized knowledge in the interests of society based on the perceived relationship (Appelbaum and Lawton, 1990). According to Bayles (1989), professional ethics is defined as a system of norms so that both the morality and behaviour of professionals could be dealt with in their day-to-day practice by this system. Professional ethics also ascribes moral responsibility not to an individual, but to all professionals practicing in a particular profession. Carey and Doherty (1968) stated that it automatically tied up with more practical concepts and expectations from the public, encompassing issues such as competence responsibility and willingness to serve the public. Brien (1998) feels that the problem that faces any professional community is how could it regulate itself effectively to justify its autonomy, while ensuring that the clients of its members and society as a whole benefit from the profession's and the individual professional's actions, rather than becoming their victims. It is one of the ethical quality control Construction industry plays a substantial role in a country's economy, irrespective of the country's levels of economic development (Zantanidis and Tsiotras, 1998). The construction sector in a country's economy is an important employer of a nation's workforce as it employs between 2 to 10% of total workforce of most countries (Abdul-Rashid and Hassan, 2005). Malaysia had gained an impressive economic growth during the last three *Corresponding author. E-mail: derekisleon@gmail.com. Tel: 03-7967 3203. Fax: 03-7967 5713. decades (Abdul Rahman et al., 2005) and this sector had employed an estimated 798,200 workforce nationwide in 2004 (CIDB, 2006). The Malaysian Government had given a much needed boost to the country's construction industry under the 9th Malaysian Plan where a total of 880 projects worth RM15 billion is to be tendered (The Star, 2006a). Nevertheless, much had been reported about the performance of the construction industry in terms of quality, productivity and safety. In addition, it should be highlighted that the issue of poor quality in the construction sector had been identified as a major concern even as far back as the mid 1980s (The Star, 2006b). Generally, it is a rule that construction projects must be completed within the planned cost, scheduled time and required quality. Quality may sometimes be ignored in this industry to cut the costs or to shorten the project time (Turk, 2006). To deal with the low quality problem faced by the industry, quality management is seen as an approach to achieve the required level of quality of the end product and had been given great attention world-wide over the past three decades (Hiyassat, 2000: Berawi and Woodhead, 2005). However, there is a perception that majority of quality-related issues are caused by human factor. Therefore, the issue of professional ethics plays an important role in reducing quality problems and preventing inconvenience to all parties concerned. The issues of professional ethics within the construction industry affect a wide spectrum of population. The local authorities, public works department, client organisations, consultants, suppliers, contractors, home buyers, and users of public infrastructure, are all within the scope of professional ethics. All those mentioned have their own contributions towards the problems in hand, and issues of ethics and integrity in the Malaysian construction industry. professional code of ethics (Toor and Ofori, 2008). Contractors on the other hand, are keen to make a profit and hence their actions inclined to business ethics. Each profession has its own interests, which are often divergent and competing in nature. Their diversity can be a source of conflicting ethical standards and practice, which may affect quality performance and accountability to clients or customers. The uniqueness of the sector and the need to perform accountability among all participants places an imposed duty on the associated notions of ethics and professionalism in an integrated framework that should facilitate responsible and accountable performance across the construction sector (Sichombo et al., 2009, Turk, 2006; Abdul-Rashid and Hassan, 2005). Profession is an occupation that requires both advanced study and mastery of a specialized body of knowledge and undertaken to promote, ensure or safeguard some matter that significantly affects others well being (Vee and Skitmore, 2003). Almost every profession has its codes of ethics to provide a framework for arriving at good ethical choices. Therefore, professional ethics is a system of norms to deal with both the morality and behaviour of professionals in their day- to-day practice, and ascribes moral responsibility not to an individual, but to all professionals practicing in a particular profession (Corvellec and Macheridis, 2010) For the building and designing professions, the incalculable value of human life demands nothing less than the highest moral considerations from those who might risk it otherwise (Smyth et al., 2010: Mason, 1998) The construction industry is a perfect environment for ethical dilemmas, with its low-price mentality, fierce competition, and paper-thin margin (FMI, 2006). Jordan (2005) stated that unethical behaviour is taking a growing toll on the reputation of the industry. From a survey conducted by FMI, 63% of the respondents whom are the construction players feel that construction sector is tainted by unethical conducts (FMI, 2006). Surveys conducted by researchers in Australia (Vee and Skitmore, 2003) and South Africa (Pearl et al., 2005) identified several unethical conducts and ethical dilemmas in the construction industry such as corruption, negligence, bribery, conflict of interest, bid cutting, under bidding. collusive tendering, cover pricing, frontloading, bid shopping, withdrawal of tender, and payment game. It is evident that there exist significant areas of concern pertaining to the ethical conducts practised by the construction professionals There are many other efforts taken to increase the ethical standards and integrity among the professionals in construction sectors worldwide. According to Pearl et al. (2005), the regulatory professional acts relating to the built environment professional sector in South Africa were totally overhauled in the late 1990's and a new suite of professional acts were promulgated in 2000 to enhance the professionalism. Meanwhile, in America, the construction management association of America PROFESSIONALS AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY The construction sector in Malaysia as that in most other countries is made up of different sectors including client groups, the federal and state councils, private organisations, individuals, developers, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and professionals, architects quantity Surveyors, and engineers incorporating civil, structural, mechanical and electrical. In addition, there are supporting regulatory bodies whose function is to inspect and to ensure that specialist installation confirms to standards set up by building byelaws. The main problem surfaced is the fragmentation of the different sectors in the industry (Hiyassat, 2000: Berawi and Woodhead, 2005; Segalas et al., 2010). Construction professionals exercise their own skills and judgement and they are accountable to the client and bound by their countries is made up of dierent sectors including client collusive tendering cover pricing fronding groups, the federal and state councis private shopping with o ne and payment games organisations individual developers contractors evident that there welcom suppliers, a cturers and professional architects pering to the conducte d by me quantity Surveyors and engineers incorporating civil Mucur mechanical and ectrical Ind on, there There are many other for the are supporting regulatory bodies whose function is to ethical standards and integrity among the professionals inspect and to ensure that specialisation como concions According Pearl 10 wanded up by building by The main 2005. hertory professional t o the problem surfaced the moon of the butto n to South A actors in the industry Mass 2000. Brandt overed in the sand new prog o m 2000 ance profesi o nal and met d e professionale they are h e client and bound by their construction Area 314 Soles Essays OMAA had updates codes include a w i de onom Thus the need arge of professional services as well as professional propert y .com services among construction players CMA 2006 A high level of pedo m a n andard of professional conduct to govom the thical Construction industry Dong 2009 Ab m an practices in the American G engineering profession al 2006 Scho e m anagement was published by the American Society of civil engineers had been adopted by many countri e ve One other hand, Australia had her own code of construction in c luding Hong Kong Long tendering to the times and transparency Ray. 1999: A ndV1999 Targad Ka 1999 1997 Malay the govermentis very us about Singapore Low and Omw 100 Low and Yes 1997 Improving this in both public and private sector For Greece Tits and G aman 1996: Zarands and instance, the construction industry had introduced codes T 1 Turkey Turk 2006. Jordan of this for contractors to encourage to 2000). Soud Arti s t and AA 1999. among the contractor in this sector The Star, 2006) Sweden Landin 2000). U n d Voz Sta r s of construction projects were asked to 2003). South Arica Pelama 19951 and Maria enforce the existing code of ethics to safeguard the engineer's good name (The S 2 00001 The Quality management is a complex or may not Construction industry development board (CIDB) o be frutu only technical aspects are focused and is Malaysia also host integrity courses for contractors to had led to the modern concept of quality promote the importance of grity and plans to management (TOM) (Tan and Abu Raman, 2005 the course as a prerequisite for contractors when Besterfield et al. (2003) defines TOM as both philosophy renewing their registration (The Star, 2006). Finally, the wunching of the construction industry master plan (CIM ) foundation of continuously improving in Mary by COB 2004 as handed in the master plan an tools, methods and schniques have been developed objective to enhance profesional ethics in the local worldwide in order to give substance to the concept of construction industry, TOM (Gernes et al. 2001: Bera 2004 A re number of comparisoned the ISO 9000 dards certificate as a first step towards TOM Hassat 2000 QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION However, people are not serious memerang INDUSTRY quality management ne how good the systems it will eventually. There is a strong perception that The have existence vibal chis ed solu majority of the unit are caused by human 2005: Tabassi factors kings and phrased two professional and ethics Betrid . 2003 and a procese can be defined a meeting the legal het Ardis and Gunaydi1907) and functional m ent of a project Ber 2005 Cents and customers both from the PERCEPTION BETWEEN QUALITY-RELATED ISSUES public and private sectors, nowadays place more AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS emphasis on the quality of products rather than the price which was the concem in the past. Hence, mold Beldet 2000 moneda son olemational competion in it had arredor d an Abd Rahman this have a common which and Ber 2 002 of wat in construction things right and is a way to co industry. TU 2006 Ad d Gunaydin (1999 over mentioned a high quality building project include actions d e factors the the design being easily understandable and construction pro aplicatieconomy of design with specifications economics of construction case of operation case of great concem public sem . 2004 NST ce der Zands and 2009 A G Two 1998 and Abdul Rahman and Bea 2002 construction industry w e e re med plans for a cono cy Kay F an 2004 prilor d he number of met educated and conscious customers are the largeum Within t he core Subcontractor for the tabrication and recono When deconomy c onfirm Sed changed worldwide we g geschieve me approved by the consulting During to con levelse then the c on part of the cold and the position in the emerging on m engineer came out with the reportag e Abdul Rahman 3745 factors like the design being easily understandable and applicable confly of design with specifications economics of construction case of operation case of maintenance and energy efficiency. Zantanidis and Tiras (1990) and Abdul Rahmanand Berawi 2002 mentioned the spectations for conduction projects will continue to grow rapidly as the number of ant educated and concus customers are construction professional will lead to a problem These issues were highlighted in the media and received great concem of a 2000 NST 2004 As an example the case the construction industry was of the My Regency Kansas City d an 2004 shor t 1970s wh e red over the largeum. With o ut the Subcontractor for the fabrication and rection of Steel Suggested chang e and Boroved by the consulting srcu gne Dung the construction to re c ord and with the globalization of economy, construction is worldwide are actively engaged to achieve on compted love to sure their forefront position in the emerging internation l AR sale and to be opened for business in 1980 The wagedy happened one year after the completion of the pract during a part in the lobby Some of the w o n which people dancing Type of form ent de T choice Questions AR respondent on to co contracting wwe thomfrom ww n w than a hundred people dead and almost two hundreds ured. Investigation was then conducted by the Missouri Board of Archic Prof Engineers and land Surveyors reported that the original design was only mary complete the Kansas Chybuilding code where the walkways would only have had approximately 60% of the capacity quired by the code. The station was even worse in the new design proposed by the steel contractor and approved by the engine. The con was found neigence inv estigation of the atrium collapse and places too much reliance on the w ord. Therefore, e engine had been charged for u mos consel racing This case strongly indicates that thical behaviour wil lead to a problems and structural failures Flederman, 2004) in Malaysia as an example, a newly opened specialist hospital in Johor Bwr was closed due to fungi attack on como ons were designed very e as and a very y company Dested from here w e were sich sowo ports RESEARCH FINDINGS Professional industry ethics in Malaysian construction w werage system we nor according to the specifications This clearly shows the poorthics of the contractor who Tated to do right things right. The contractor was given the month orcy problems including aking pipes. 2004 Another substandard quality of construction project in Malaysia is RM28 on Made Ring Road Two M yover which was closed to ww her cracks were found in 3 pilars and structura movements were detected (The Sun. 2004. The Goverment engaged an independent constant from independent cons idered that design delicacies and improper anchoring of the com o te robu were the main of the INST, 2004 Design deficiency is found to be negligence on the design team and work was en carried out animated of RNDO Million Amorty (77361 of the recorder s practice the code of ethics. Another 22 ofe nders indicated that they do not have a for code of this Theindings show that most of the companies were of the more of the of the respondents indicated the orga n eve ang programs for the recyfrwng programes cond e m ne Terms of stafin thereofoons The survey results show th e orders end conducts. Another s indicate the standard cod e The reponde re construction industr y Coducts Respondents d e conduct based on the frequency Tab 2 Mee d to determine the average for each on The options can be determined option would in one of the four roo m Table 3 shows the man of the c onducted em dibution can n ot 3746 Sol Res. Essays wo h ertyd whics. The research options can be determined more as each option would in one of the four range of means Table 3 shows the rank of the conducts based encensoren bution can which is nemohon c The on mandong new s by post with 3746 Sol Res. Essays 5 225 Ungdong Options U nd sonst conduct traud Somewhat are Somewhat 11025 Charge de game Cove priorg w ww of ander and 9.1% caimed that my ad not experience such option Table 3 asellustraties eight unethical conducts which the mean score within the categories of Sometimes Meanwhile, two groups of unethical conducts score mean values were in the range of " O n and one unethical conducts score mean value falls under "None option Apart from that one respondent reported TWO more unethical conducts in Construcson industry. Buying orderer and under table money was rated as "Very Olen happened in the Malaysian construction industry Table t s op five categories of unethical conducts in the construction industry, namely: a) Under bidding, tidshoping and tid ting categorised as a groupe Broery and aud: Negr gence de Front loading and Clams game and payment game. Analysis showed at the top two most unethical conducts Oh happened and the remaining three Occurred Sometimes. Une tenderer eliming for compensation of andering cost with mean07 Determination of relationship between quality related Issues with professional ethics Nearly 73% respondents rated the local construction Guality level as average while 18 w eGood, but nobody rated "Excellent Tables 5 and 6 state the options provided and the details of indings in answering the question that whether the contribute to the quality-related problems in construction industry. 60. respondents Strongly Agree" and 53.0% respondents "Somewhat Agree. This shows that the majority of the respondents are th e the quality related problem in construction industry as the mean score 0.67 (Tabs tin Strongly Agree and A maiority of the respondents 72 age that unethical conducts can be the main cause of poor quality in construction industry with a mean score of 105 There are together 72. respondents the Strong Agree or Somewhat Agree that thical conducts can be the main cause of poor t Respondent industry. As won in Table 4. 48.5% of the respondents never experienced such conducts in the construction industry About 40% of the respondents did not experience w underbang bidhing and bid unting in the construction industry. In contrast more of the medha they O n or "Very Orient experienced such conducts m i n dustry, solperience in brbery and Con u nder the Very whe r edas Sometimes industry falls in the range of somewa Salw a mean value of 1.47. There were onders wheat Stondy Dised Meanwhile, a h o l conducts onowbout from hence of ethical conducts which we re and Abu Rahman 377 t e quel problem Per Unical conducta cor Songly records Soort) Strongly recome never experence we conduc t e construction industry. About 4.6% of the respondents did not experience any under bieding bid shopping and bid cuising exercise in the construction industry. In contrast. more than hal (51.5%) of the respondents claimed that they "O n "Very O n experienced such conducts in the industry in forms of experiences in bribery and comption about 53.0% respondents marked it as an or "Very One while 37.9% make it as Sometimes industry in the ranged somewhat Sady with a mean value of 1.47. There were 43.90% spondents who rated it as strongly Disasie Meanwie 84.8% agreed tha t conduct affect the effectiveness of management implementation of which about 57% of them at the hence of the conduct which was effectiveness of quality management Exe y rillit a 300 Uhondobuleted P a ge CEO ARCH O S. Oarty Surveyor. ENG.Eng Tutte Resol Pear's ways Satisfaction on Cuner Quay level construction industry work this practiced in the Q Porn evelin Conconi The respondents were furished with a list of ways to once professioni in construction industry. The wo top mou chosen ways to enhance professionali are ty leaders serving as role models and by seating a andard of code of his for the construction industry with 576 and 500% supporters, respectively Table shows the responses details on how to enhance profesional A Pero com p romed on the Wong O n ly tag heuty level inoms of performance and constructed product of the construction and Current work is in the local concion industry emine whether or not Quality and professional thics are come T owe ned from the way. The value of 0.249 in this sector is better advice versa The co n i grificantly under a 0.05 The r egtens e points and profeso r ed and professional ethics has a strong impact on the of Construction et d e devong country should not jump to the band who taking care of the needs to g o participants involved in the cou n try DISCUSSIONS ON RESEARCH FINDINGS o n Al respondents agreed that the local c d by the conduct among con son players The Come local conduction industry will be better this have conducted as one th e program 318 Ses Es This show that many other rms are aware of the Importance of good work ethics and on the issue of work ethics among the Mew amy (14 the respondents view that the local construction industry isted by thical conduct among construction overcome the behaviour in the conduction industry, immediate steps must be the one that all construction projecte d by managers who are formally trained by professional ethics. Further, organisa to encouraged t o grossonethics and indicated that the level of quality in local construction and the works are positively come Quality level in local construction industry will be better the work s construction industry considered owl The survey findings show that only bu d eme have conducted as one thi n g program 3748 Soles y s ons coord ne on every Moreno motorce pe L o asmole models among the employee ve s ummary and promo related problems are carr ied by human factor is considered as Good w the economy gricant influence on the guy and performance the product CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS portance of good w h ics and on the work amongst Mem ory (742 oder view the local construction industry ed by thical conduct among consudion players. The s t ore wch conducted by which revealed of a survey a nd the Construction industry started by ethical as among Conciones Indeed84% of the orders in the SS who com o concion players had experienced ved encountered Concorations which they enthal Based on the w o rds indicate that ethical conducted to monetary loss and poor Five ethical conducts were mentioned most by the respondere, amely a Under bidding, bid Shopping Front fonding and claims game and le Payment game Failure to control of the bidding exercise may end up under bidding by contractors, which wil eventually let the quality of the end product delivered to end . This specially prevalent in public projects were contractors and suppliers with lowes onder bid are often wwwded with the tender, Broery and compion is other common unethical conduct rated Comupted or bribed personal wil bypass stringent inspections and work procedures required during construction leading to tandard quality works that will affect customers' confidence Indication of relatively high comption incidents in the Malaysian construction Industry is comparable to the results of an investigation on comption by Vansparency remational (TOwhich is a global coalition against comption revealed that 10% o the goal construction in 2004 was loss to corruption in construction industry globally. This means AM on was burned to such unethical conduct in Failures on the part of professional personnel to were the duty of care result in poor workmanship inadequate s t andards on site and design negligence Professionals in the construction industry would ways en duty of care when conducting their responsibility. From the cases reported in the newspaper s are found love correlation with ethical conduct of the construction players. More than t hird of the respondents are not very saded with equity in construction industry This makes sense at there are many sub standard quality works found in the construction industry. More ham qed that the conducts conue d om and a majority (7271 red conduct can be the man cu The ponders so agreed conducts we w e re ece of management mention Some maced on the c esso cheong To The Sindings indicate that contava direct and negative impact on the construction There exist ilicant areas of concern in Malaysian construction industry such as the ti standards among conduction professional wired be average. One of the bes t ance profession model for the stall Athough the economy growth is one of the main concerns by many economists would not be at the expense of poor because such a route will we have a negative on the economy Unethical acts that exist in developing economica negatively affect the quality of conced projectThus n dermining the dients anders of those prots tuation continues e development and of construction industry will sur Construction professionals are expected to b e with professional integrity and of care. They should strive to achieve good quality of work as they owe responsibility to the gener Only when profesorial ethics are well practiced professionali be enhanced and thus the liye problems directly. The main publica cies of developing countries are encouraged to force laws and procedures and standard code of the Al construction players must be monitored tog a achieved by contractors Con h ouder their duty of care in performing the do o ethical behaviour orc ing dard work. The contractors should not comprot ways. Construction would be dry today tha t the con players from northw es we recommended fo r the con total management TOM o the construction industry A 3 The LP A . OG De APA Com A m G Am Bowl