Impact of COVID-19 on Communications within the Construction Industry

8 pages•Published: June 9, 2021

Elenaor Encinas, April Simons and Anoop Sattineni

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the world and has affected all aspects of personal and professional life. Many construction projects were deemed “critical” during the pandemic and were cleared to proceed with increased safety measures in place to protect employees. Many companies have shifted regularly scheduled meetings from in person to video and/or audio conference when practical to facilitate physical distancing and reduce the spread of COVID-19. This shift to virtual meetings has facilitated continued communication among construction stakeholders. This research addresses the changes in construction communication since the onset of COVID-19 along with the positive and negative outcomes associated with these changes. A survey was completed by a variety of construction professionals, including project owners, architects-engineers, subcontractors, and suppliers. Results of the survey include data on changes in meeting attendance, positive and negative outcomes of virtual communication, and recommendations for improving virtual communication going forward. The study focuses primarily on verbal communication during typical construction meetings.

Keyphrases: construction communication, covid 19, meeting, virtual

In: Tom Leathem, Anthony Perrenoud and Wesley Collins (editors). ASC 2021. 57th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 2, pages 165-172.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/MKJK
	https://doi.org/10.29007/lhs4

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2021:Impact_COVID_19_Communications,
  author    = {Elenaor Encinas and April Simons and Anoop Sattineni},
  title     = {Impact of COVID-19 on Communications within the Construction Industry},
  booktitle = {ASC 2021. 57th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference},
  editor    = {Tom Leathem and Anthony Perrenoud and Wesley Collins},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {2},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {/publications/paper/MKJK},
  doi       = {10.29007/lhs4},
  pages     = {165-172},
  year      = {2021}}

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