Promoting & Extending VM Professional Services in the Belt and Road Regions

Interactive Workshop: In-depth Dialogues on VM Practices in Different Countries
on 30 June 2019 09:00-17:30 at Metropark Kowloon Hotel, Hong Kong

Xiaoyi WEI, Ph.D. Candidate, City University of Hong Kong
Mei-yung LEUNG, Associate Professor, City University of Hong Kong

Introduction

A full-day interactive workshop titled “In-depth Dialogues on Value Management (VM) Practices in Different Countries” was successfully conducted on 30 June 2019 at Metropark Kowloon Hotel in Hong Kong. The traditional 6-phase job plan promoted by SAVE (i.e., information, function analysis, creative, evaluation, development, and presentation) was adopted. During the workshop, Ir. Paco Tsang, Dr. Mei-yung Leung, Ir. Lillian Chan and Sr. Ricky Wong from the HKIVM, and Mr. Hein B.A. de Jong from the Netherlands played the roles of facilitators for the first 5 phases respectively (see Figure 1).

Figure 1  Facilitators in the workshop

Throughout the workshop, participants were divided into six groups focusing on specific regions (i.e., Hong Kong, Brunei, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka & the Philippines, Iran, and Malaysia). For each of the phases, group discussions were done first followed by presentation to the whole floor.

In the information phase, the participants shared the current VM or team decision making practices in different countries.

In the function analysis phase, they identified the functions of VM in developing countries using verb and noun pairs of phrases, analyzed the function relationships by FAST diagrams, and selected key functions by voting.

In the creative phase, based on the identified key functions, ideas were generated for VM promotion and implementation in developing countries using different creative techniques, including brainstorming, picture association and scamper.

In the evaluation phase, they identified the evaluation criteria and voted for the best ideas for VM promotion and implementation in different countries.

Finally, the best ideas were developed into detailed VM proposals. (See Figure 2).

Figure 2  Team working during the workshop

Results

According to the shared information in the information phase, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Iran have well adopted VM. Official VM guidelines and mandatory requirements have been established by their local VM institutions or governments. Professional VM training and qualifying systems are generally provided by their local VM institutions. Malaysia has the strongest government support and regulations and Iran has a lot of periodical publications and conferences. On the other hand, VM is still in the infancy in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Brunei, which lack high level support (e.g., government, professional institutions, colleges, etc.) and have fewer qualified VM facilitators. The VM project types, objectives, workshop durations and participants are very varied in different countries. The most common threats to VM implementation were identified as a lack of VM awareness and difficulties in implementing VM results.

In the function analysis phase, 155 functions were identified. The identified missions of VM can be divided into cost-related (e.g., improve value-for-money in Hong Kong and the Netherlands, enhance investment and improve cost-effectiveness in Malaysia, and reduce spending and improve outcomes in Brunei), and macro-level (e.g., improve economy in Iran, align culture in the Netherlands, and improve life in the Philippines and Sri Lanka).

In the creative phase, 334 ideas on different aspects (66 generated by the Iran group to empower people, 66 by the Malaysia group to define scope, 47 by the Brunei group to establish standards and develop people, 38 by the Netherlands group to create value-awareness, 58 by the Hong Kong group to improve transparency, and 59 by the Philippines and Sri Lanka group to promote equality and eliminate corruption) were generated.

In the evaluation phase, each group identified criteria for assessing the generated ideas at different levels. The criteria at the macro level (e.g., regulation, fit for market, minimizing corruption, etc.), project level (e.g., efficiency, sustainability, applicability, etc.), and people level (e.g., enhancing knowledge sharing, available for everyone, etc.) were suggested.

Based on the identified criteria, group members classified the ideas into fair or good ideas, and voted out of the good ideas for the best with 6 red dots per member. After voting, each group chose the best ideas to develop into detailed proposals. Some groups developed ideas at the macro level into proposals such as building up Brunei’s roadmap for VM (Brunei), providing public relations, establishing local VM institutions, setting mandatory requirements (the Netherlands), setting VM guidelines and conducting VM training (the Philippines and Sri Lanka). The Hong Kong and Malaysia groups developed proposals for ideas at the project level, namely, improving transparency of project information (Hong Kong) and carrying out feasibility study (Malaysia). For the people level, the Iran group developed a proposal for involving people on new skills.

Recommendation

According to the results, several practical recommendations have been proposed for the VM implementation and promotion in the Belt and Road regions:

1. The governments should be suggested to establish related policies for the application of VM, such as VM standards, mandatory requirements, and long-term VM planning.
2. In order to create value awareness, empower people, increase independency, promote equality and eliminate corruption, VM education and training are necessary.
3. The regions along the Belt and Road have to cooperate together to facilitate VM application, such as trading among different countries, sending people to study overseas, and sharing VM experiences among different countries.
4. To eliminate corruptions in construction projects, it is necessary to conduct VM workshops to enhance transparency for construction projects.
5. Defined workshop scope, project brief, contractual requirements, outline design, estimated budget, legal issues, etc. should all be clarified at the workshop preparation stage.
6. Various techniques can be adopted in the VM workshops, such as risk management, checklist, etc.
7. The VM workshop should involve multi-stakeholders, and they can learn new things, new skills, and may change their mindsets to develop themselves.
8. People with VM knowledge should be rewarded in order to encourage the application of VM.

DISCLAIMER

This material/event is funded by the Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/any event organized under this project do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Vetting Committee of the Professional Services Advancement Support Scheme.