Value Management: Competency Requirement of Certified Value

Manager Towards Value Management Success

Farah Nasiha bt Suhaili
farahnasiha@gmail.com
2013314175

Siti Salha bt Nordin,
salhanordin@gmail.com
2013192829

Muhammad Zharif Sufyan,
zharif_06@yahoo.com
2013192401

Abul Aswad bin Abdul Latiff
aswadlatiff@gmail.com
2013311777

Muhammad Akramin
akramin87@gmail.com
2013159617

Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Ever since Value Management (VM) was introduced to the Malaysian Construction Industry in
1999, the awareness of the approach has increased. Currently, not only is the public
department practicing Value Management in their projects, but it has also started to attract the
attention of the private sector to adopt this approach too. Because of that, the role of a Value
Management Facilitator has become crucial since they need to lead and guide the participants
during the Value Management Workshop in fulfilling the Clients and End Users needs. The
purpose of this paper is to review the importance of an efficient Value Management Facilitator in
securing the success of a Value Management workshop. The required characteristics, skills and
knowledge will be identified and assessed thoroughly. This research aims to provide insights to
enhance understanding of VM Facilitator role and competency.
Keywords: Certified Value Manager; Value Management Facilitator; CVM Competency;
Malaysian Construction Industry; Successful VM
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In 2009, The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Ministers Department, Malaysia issue
a Value Management Circular 3/2009 highlighting that all government project above RM50
million must undergo Value Management Process. Ever since the issuance of the Circular,
Value Management has gained greater recognition in Malaysia. With the increase in awareness
of VM amongst Malaysians, the role of a Facilitator to conduct the Value Management
Workshop became crucial. A Facilitator is like a Maestro in an orchestra. He is the one who will
conduct the workshop, responsible in assembling each and every idea from the participants to
satisfy the Client as well as the End Users needs and wants. This study intends to explore the
characteristic, skills and knowledge that a Facilitator should have in order to successfully lead
the team in achieving the goal and objective of the VM Workshop. This study employed three
(3) case studies and four (4) semi-structured interviews as the method for collecting the data.
This study is aimed to provide descriptive findings of the characteristic, skills and knowledge of
a successful Facilitator in the Malaysian context.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
This section discusses the role of a Facilitator in a Value Management Workshop as well as the
characteristic, skills and knowledge that a Facilitator must possess to secure the success of the
VM Workshop.
2.1 Value Management
Value management was originated from a supply crisis during World War II by a key person Mr
Lawrence Miles, General Electric company chief engineer, who develop a method to reduce a
cost over product performance during that time (Jaapar, A., J.B. Torrance, et al., 2005.). Then,
this technique known earlier as value analysis has been introduced and established through the
world nation and its been accepted due to its benefit. VM in Malaysia was first introduced by
Prof Barton from Australia to Dr Mazlan Che Mat from UTM , which they have worked together
to promote the Value Management until it was been accepted to various industry in the country.
Later, Value Management has been recognized by Malaysian government and its application
has been utilized nationwide with the guidance from Dr Mazlan and the team ( Che Mat 1999).
Value Management is define as a rigorous, systematic and innovative methodology with multi-
disciplinary approach to achieve better value and cost optimization for projects, products,
facilities, systems and services without sacrificing the required performance levels. (Che Mat,
M.M (2004,) Value management usually incorporates a series of workshops, interviews and
reviews, through which the project requirements are evaluated against the means of achieving
them. Any construction project should only be commissioned following a careful analysis of
need. Failure to carry out this analysis will cause problems at subsequent design and
construction stages. Many projects suffer from poor definition through lack of time and thought
at the earliest stages. This is likely to result in cost and time overruns, claims, user
dissatisfaction or excessive operating costs. Value management can help to avoid these
problems.
The Value Management job plan started off with a pre-study phase in which during this phase
the value management team will conduct a thorough study in regards to the subject matter. It
follows with the information phase where the understanding of the subject matter influenced the
development of the project design. The designers will present an oral overview of the project.
The information phase of VM study never ends as it keeps on adding as the study progress.
The VM team then accomplishes the creativity to generate as many ideas as possible at
speculation phase. Ideas that generate from the speculation phase are then judged as to their
merits and demerits in the judgment phase. Ideas are found impractically to be irrelevant or not
worthy of additional study are disregarded. Those ideas that have potential for cost savings or
improvements to the project are then developed further. During the development phase, the
ideas that have been evaluated and selected earlier are expended into workable solution.
Alternative design sketches and illustration are prepared whenever necessary. The alternative
proposal is estimated preferably its life cycle cost that includes not only initial cost but operation
and maintenance during economic life span. Lastly is reporting phase that function to sell
recommendations, incite action and convey the information. Although each job plan phase has
specific items that must be accomplished and specific cut off time and dates, it is solely
depending on the facilitators skill and knowledge to manage and utilize the workshop to achieve
the required goals.

2.2 Facilitator
Jerry K. (2000) defined facilitation as the vehicle that synthesizes the VM discipline into a
variable process which serves as the cornerstone for a successful value improving venture.
Jerry K (2000) then added both parts of the process and the delivering of that process is
essential to achieving a successful VM projects.
According to Zuhri (2014), to obtain maximum benefit from a value management approach, it is
important to make somebody within the organization which is the architects, engineers or a
representative from the project team to be explicitly responsible. The appointment of an
experienced facilitator either from within the organization or as an external consultant - is critical
to the success of any value management exercise. The facilitator should be knowledgeable
about value management methods and techniques and experienced in applying them. Rigorous
application of value management techniques requires competence in a range of skills including
(Constructing Excellence, 2004):
1. organizing and managing workshops
2. communicating with both technical and lay project participants
3. providing conditions to challenge project assumptions about needs and approaches
4. motivating project participants towards achieving objectives
5. the ability to analyze complex problems
6. providing conditions to seek innovative solutions to project needs
7. the ability to tease out issues from a project background
8. leadership and authority.
Jerry K (2006) mentioned that the VMF serves to educate the team on the guiding principles,
methods and applications of VM prior to and during the process of facilitating the team. The
VMF establishes a clear set of goals that are later used to gauge the success of the projects.
The main objective of the VMF regardless of the nature assignment is to improve value.
2.3 Certified Value Manager
In Malaysia, a Value Management Facilitator is
called Certified Value Manager (CVM). It is the
highest level of certification attainable through
Institute Value Management Malaysia (IVMM) who
has demonstrated expert level of experience and
knowledge in the practice Value Management
methodology. The CVM qualification signals
competence to lead and manage VM studies and
contribute to the development of VM
methodologies. Certification must be earned by
fulfilling all criteria and requirements and is for
individual recognition and may not be transferred or
used to imply that an organization or association is
certified (IVMM, 2014). Figure 2.1 shows the
certification route practiced in Malaysia.
Minimum of 3 years post full members
Certification for Certified
Value Manager
Application for Full Member
Value management modul II
(VM Simulation Workshop)
Value management modul I
(VM Awareness & Principle)
Figure 2.1: Certification Route (IVMM, 2014)


2.4 Characteristic, Skills and Knowledge of a CVM
Thurnell, D (2002) and Male, Kelly, Fernie, et.all (1998) confirmed that experienced VM
facilitators are necessary for a successful VM workshop and they also mentioned that these
facilitators should posses the required characteristics, skills and knowledge to do so. As Palmer
(1990) stated that it is crucial for a VM facilitator to secure the necessary commitment and
enthusiasm from the client and the entire team. In order to do so, the required characteristic,
skills and knowledge will be elaborate further into this topic.
According to the Merriam-webster dictionary, characteristic can be defined as a special quality
or trait that makes a person, thing, or group different from others. As we generally know, each
and every person on earth has a different characteristics/ traits. We might have a similar
characteristic with one to another but we can never have the exact same characteristic with
another person, not even twins. So here are some general characteristic that a VM facilitator
should or might have in order to achieve a successful VM workshop. According to Cook, M.J.
(1999) the characteristic of a VMF are more or less the same with a consultants characteristic.
They should have patience, humility, self-confidence, openness, willingness to learn, courage
and empathy.
Merriam-webster dictionary defines skill as the ability
to do something that comes from training, experience,
or practice. As shown in figure 2.2, to become an
effective VM facilitator, one not only require to have the
ideal characteristic, but also the skills that comprises
technical skills, interpersonal skills as well as other
supporting skills. Examples of Technical skills required
for conducting a VM workshop according to Cook,M.J.
(1999) are as below:
Function Analysis
Report writing and documentation
FAST Diagramming
Storyboarding
Analytic skills
Evaluation skills
Problem identification & Definition
Scientific methods
Decision-making tools
Scribing techniques
Creativity techniques
Financial skills
Knowledge of application arena (e.g., Industry, Construction, Government)

The above listed tools are some of the technical skills that can help to further enhance the
credibility of a VM Facilitator. Different project might require the VMF to use different
combination of tools depending on the issue to be tackled.
Other than these technical skills, Cook, M.J. (1999) also suggests that the VMF should know
other supporting skills such as:
Technical
skills
Interpersonal
skills
Supporting
skills
Figure 2.3: Consultant skill set
(Cook, M.J, 1999)
Technical
skills
Interpersonal
skills
Supporting
skills
Figure 2.2: Consultant skill set
(Cook, M.J, 1999)


Administrative skills
Negotiation skills
Commitment-Building Skills
Meeting management
Expectation management

All of these supporting skills are very important to hold together the technical skills applied.
Last but not least is the interpersonal skill. According to Dalziel, Murray M. and Schoonover,
Stephen C. (1988), The critical barriers are not technical knowledge or skill. Rather they are
simple oversights, lack of persistence, poor communication, or other more personal
vulnerabilities. All of the mentioned abilities fall under interpersonal skills. There are few
interpersonal skills mentioned in Cook, M.J (1999) proceedings paper which are:
Building relationships
Perception
Introspection
Perceiving others
Valuing Diversity
Communication skills
Dealing with resistance
Resolving conflict
Leadership

Clearly, all of these characteristic, skills and knowledge are inter-related with each other. But the
bottom line here is a VM Facilitator must understand the Value Management concept and
processes first before he can conduct any of the workshop. Apart from that, he also must know
what the client needs and wants so that he can always lead the workshop back to the clients
requirement. According to an interview conducted with a representative from IVMA, Zuhry
(2014), mentioned that the process of VM workshop are all more or less the same in every
country and every project, but the issue might be different from one project to another. It is
depending on the VM Facilitators skills and knowledge on how he want to conduct the
workshop in order to come out with an effective outcome that satisfy the function and the need
of a client as well as the end user.
3.0 Methodology
For this research, we solely used the qualitative approach using two (2) methods; Case
study and Open ended interview. The techniques used as the instrument for recording interview
are tape recording, taking videos and writing comments. The data collected will describe the
characteristics, skill and knowledge of an effective VM Facilitator based on the literature review.
Three projects are selected for this research; project in UiTM Dengkil, UiTM Mukah and UiTM
Raub. The client for the three projects is UITM and the end user for this project is the students,
lecturer and UiTM staff. The client (UiTM) has appointed an external value manager consultant
(MCM Value Sdn Bhd) to conduct the value management workshop. All data and information
collected will be divided into categories (by question) to simplify the data analysis proses. Table
below is a summary of the projects selected for this assignment:-.

DETAILS WORKSHOP 1 WORKSHOP 2 WORKSHOP 3
Project UITM Dengkil UITM Mukah UITM Raub
Type of Project Building Building Building
Type of Client Public Public Public
Certified Value Manager Dr. Mazlan Che Mat
(MCM Value Sdn Bhd)
Dr. Mazlan Che Mat
(MCM Value Sdn Bhd)
Dr. Mazlan Che Mat
(MCM Value Sdn Bhd)
Facilitator 1. En. Azmi
2. En Zuhry
3. En. Faiz
1. En. Azmi
2. En Zuhry
3. En. Faiz
1. En. Azmi
2. En Zuhry
3. En. Faiz
Original contract sum RM 364,082,542.62 RM 399,841,008.00 RM 338,028,000.00
Revised contract sum RM 315,736,437.90 RM 313,290,882.00 RM 261,490,000.00
Impact of VM Workshop on cost 13.28% 21.65% 22.60%

4.0 Result and Discussion
The findings were synthesized into table which was headed according to the criteria of an
efficient value management facilitator as proposed by Michael J. Cook (1999). The interview
revealed that all of the key personnel interviewed agree with the value management facilitators
criteria as proposed by Michael J.Cook (1999). The results are then tabulated into the table
below:
Question/Interview Dr Mazlan
CVM
En Azmi
CVM/Assistant
Facilitator
En Zuhry
Assistant
Facilitator
En Faiz
Assistant Facilitator
Sufficiency of the
current CVM in
Malaysia
Sufficient as
government
handled VM by
themselves through
EPU unit. For
private sector is not
mandatory to
conduct VM.
Sufficient as CVM
only required in
certain
government
project only. For
private sector
theres no
enforcement to
conduct VM.
Sufficient as
government
projects handled
by their respective
government
officer. CVM
appointed on case
to case basis only
for the government
project.
Sufficient as
government has in-
house team to
conduct VM
workshop. For
private sector there
arent really VM,
instead they are
doing VE/cost cutting



Difference between
a workshop
conducted by a
CVM and a
workshop
conducted by a full
member of IVMM
The requirement of
CVM to conduct
Value Management
workshop are only
applicable to
private/GLC projects
only, as they are
very stringent while
for the government
projects, the
requirement of
CVM to conduct
Difference in term
of:
1. Mind setting.
Non CVM only
follow the
guideline
2. Tendency to get
bias by targeting to
cut cost rather
than aiming for
enhancing value
through fulfilling
Difference in term
of:
1. Level of
confidence of CVM
is higher than full
member or non-
IVM member.
2. Skills &
techniques which
regards to
facilitation; A CVM
are not just having
Difference in term of:
1. Exposure &
experience. CVM
require completing
the 120 hour of
workshop. While for
non-CVM perhaps
lack of experience
due less workshop
conducted.
2. Confidence level
between CVM and

Value Management
workshop is not
very stringent.

the function. the technical
experience, but
also non-technical
experience.
3. Real in depth
understanding of
the methodologies
itself. 4. Thinking
process. The gap of
understanding is
huge between
CVM and ordinary
member.



non-CVM will be
different also due to
amount of workshop
conducted.
The characteristics,
skills and
knowledge that a
Facilitator should
have in order to
successfully
conduct a
workshop
1. Communication
skill
2.Interpersonal skill
3. Deep knowledge
of value
management
methodology
4. Some level of
understanding with
regards to subject
matter of the
project.
5. Understand the
wisdom of
managing people.
6. Understand the
traits of a person, &
human behavior.
7. Able to
understand how
people will react
towards certain
issue; how people
will counter your
argument and
proposal.


1. Study on the
project
2. Understand the
situation and the
objective of the
project
3. Good
negotiation skills.
4. Tacit knowledge,
instinct how to go
about or tackle
different person in
certain situation.
5. Get info and
know other subject
matter expert so
that they will know
how to handle a
situation, persuade
participant and
encourage them to
involve and
interact.
1. The technical
aspect that
includes discipline
of the project
2. The technical
background of the
projects etc.
3. Non-technical
aspect which
includes the right
techniques in
managing conflicts
etc.








1. Vast experience
2. High confidence
level
3. Know how to
control the situation
and tackle different
personnel
Do they agree with
Michael J. Cook?
Yes Yes Yes Yes


Additional
comment
A good CVM should
have wisdom and
communication skill.
Add on the tacit
knowledge by
having vast
1. In term of
technical skills a
CVM might also
n/a

also be able to apply
the right technique
at the right situation

experience in
conducting the
workshops will be
much better. have
to be neutral,
professional, fairly ,
not bias and avoid
conflict of interest
need to have value
added such as
problem solving
skills, management
skills; strategic
planning, asset
management,
facilities planning
etc. in which can
help him assist to
proceed his VMW.

2. Time
management
which is also quite
crucial since the
workshop has to be
conducted within
40 hours only.
*Data above has been extract from the interview by taking relevant key point related to the research
Based on the interview conducted above, we can see that a CVMs experience, skills and
knowledge are very beneficial in managing the issue as well as the participant. All of the skills
and knowledge are somehow inter-related between each other. Experience in conducting VM
workshop is also important so that the facilitator know what technical tools or methodology to
apply for that particular issue at that particular time. Jaapar, Zawawi, Ahmad Bari and Ahmad
(2011) confirmed through their observation on VM workshop that having a CVM definitely helps
in running the VM processes smoothly and following the job plan accordingly.
5.0 Conclusion
To summarize everything up, a competent facilitator to conduct a VM workshop is very crucial in
securing the success of the VM process. Based on our observation and interview with relevant
parties, CVM in Malaysia is competent to manage a Value Management workshop successfully
because they have the right characteristic, skills and knowledge to do so. This is proven from
the impact of VM workshop to the original cost of the project. Case study 1, 2 and 3 explicitly
shows cost saving of 13.28%, 21.65% and 22.60% individually.
The study consists only three (3) of the public projects as the case study. The data was entirely
gathered through interviews conducted with the value management consultant only. None of the
data represents comments from other parties such as clients and participants from value
management workshop. Hence, it is not viable to generalize the findings for the Malaysian
construction industry as a whole.




6.0 References
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management. Page 5-6
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