Managing The Project Scope Creep by Using VR Technology A Stakeholder Communication Perspective

Abstract

Scope creep is a danger in projects and managing scope creep is tough. Internal and external forces constantly impact projects, causing them to deviate from their intended goals. Finally, these adjustments have an impact on the project's cost and timeline. This is referred to as scope creep. It is, however, a significant issue caused by an insufficient definition of scope, which leads to changes in scope that have a detrimental impact on the time, cost, quality, or risk of a project. According to all project stakeholder groups, communication is one of the main reasons for project scope creep, according to previous studies. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) is one of the computer-mediated communication technologies that has recently demonstrated significant promise in the AECO industry concerning communication among project stakeholders. However, their effectiveness as means of communication among the participants concerning scope understanding in construction projects has not yet been thoroughly studied. This study helps fill this gap via a detailed comparison of traditional 2D drawings with an interactive virtual tour of a commercial project in an immersive environment. This study designed controlled experiments by recruiting industry professionals as project stakeholders. First, participants were asked to review the 2D drawing of the project to understand the project scope. After that, they were asked to review the project in the Immersive virtual environment to understand the project scope. Targeted questions were asked at the end of both tasks concerning communication effectiveness, challenges in communication, immersive tendencies, and immersive presence. Results indicate that VR technologies are better at understanding the project scope concerning traditional 2D drawings. In terms of communication accuracy, 2D drawings are better than IVR. While discussing communication appropriateness, communication richness, discussion quality, and communication openness IVR is better as compared to 2D traditional drawings. Also, VR technologies significantly improve the communication challenges concerning project scope, which leads to a better understanding of the project scope and contributes to decreasing the project scope creep effectively.