Search results

This paper considers the impact that contractual procedures have upon the client's control system's ability to deal with unexpected problems. An analysis is made of the relevant procedures set out in the New Engineering Contract (NEC) and a comparison is made to those set out in the Standard Form of Building Contract 1980 Edition (JCT 80). The comparative analysis is based upon a model of problem solving which identifies four critical stages in the problem solving process. The objective of the paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of JCT 80 and NEC in relation to the stages of this model. The aim of the paper is to make some recommendations which could be incorporated into future contracts to improve problem solving effectiveness. This work is a continuation of a research project which is considering the communication and behavioural aspects of the problem solving process in construction projects.

Respecting the growing importance of interdependence of knowledge, values and social responsibility, the purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of knowledge-cum-values management and to show how some soft systems approaches can support interdependence of knowledge and human values resulting in socially responsible innovative behavior, hence in success.

The selected soft systems approaches are used to double-check the usefulness of the requisitely holistic approach to knowledge-cum-values management and innovation. The applied methodology for qualitative analysis is the Dialectical Systems Theory.

One-sidedness, unlike the requisite holism, causes oversights and hence disables innovations as a new users’ benefit. Requisitely holistic knowledge-cum-values management prevents one-sidedness and therefore many oversights; hence it is a valuable driver of innovation. It is supported by social responsibility (exposing the systemic behavior by suggesting interdependence and holistic approach to one’s responsibility for one’s influences on society). By including values and by enabling consideration of interdependence of human values and knowledge, some soft systems approaches support innovative behavior with social responsibility.

Research is limited to theoretical findings resulting from authors’ previous empirical studies. The novel concept “knowledge-cum-values” erases the human dangerous one-sidedness resulting from the irrational rationalistic division of the two. Social responsibility supports informal use of some soft systems theories and diminishes this danger.

The practical application of the selected soft systems approaches and social responsibility offers great possibilities for managers to improve the holism of their innovation processes, driven by knowledge-cum-values management. Fewer oversights are possible and lead to fewer mistakes and more success in the invention-innovation-diffusion processes. No human is rational or emotional only, either as a creator or as a consumer, but this fact is disregarded in the management literature.

Social responsibility shall be considered as an important novel soft-system approach and part of organizational innovative behavior aimed to replace the one-sided approaches prevailing so far and causing crises: the overseen attributes do not cease, but they still impact life and are out of control.

The contribution introduces the new, still insufficiently researched concept of knowledge-cum-values management; it highlights new ways of attaining the requisitely holistic knowledge-cum-values management that enhances enterprise’s innovation capacity by requisite holism, supported by social responsibility.

Today there are a number of different types of procurement routes available for clients to choose from. Each different type of procurement (traditional, design and build, management, etc.) has its own proponents and inherent strengths and weaknesses. Selection of optimal procurement systems is difficult, because even experienced clients cannot know all the potential benefits or risks for each system. Procurement is, therefore, a succession of ‘calculated risks’. Industry and academia have focussed research on reducing procurement risk through better procurement‐system selection methods. Current research considers procurement as a set of rationalistic decisions within a closed environment, aiming to produce generic, prescriptive rules for clients and advisers to use to select the ‘best’ procurement route for their project. This paper seeks to identify whether prescriptive procurement guidance was adhered to on a set of case study projects. It was found that clients usually selected appropriate procurement systems, and where an inappropriate system was selected, alterations were made in contract form to incorporate aspects of the ‘best’ procurement route.

Job shop scheduling has been the focus of much research. Heuristic rules to assist in this endeavour abound in the literature. However, rules leading to the optimum schedule have been elusive. The predominant scheduling methods now used are specifically tailored to the type of job shop. Generally, various rules are tried and those giving the best result are used as a starting point. The human expert sifts the schedule through his experience filter, negotiates with affected parties, and finalizes a schedule. Expert systems are beginning to impact in this area. By assuming some of the filtering and negotiating roles of the human expert, they can allow schedulers to look at more alternatives and/or produce more timely schedules. Contains an extensive review of the literature pertaining to expert systems and job shop scheduling. Conclusions are drawn in terms of the advantages and disadvantages of these applications. Finally, recommendations for future directions are given.

This research aims to examine the challenges of recruiting participatory action research (PAR) in managing innovation projects. An enhanced methodology based on PAR was developed to mitigate the challenges related to recruiting PAR in managing innovation projects. The proposed methodology was evaluated by comparing it to established methodologies/frameworks such as Scrum, Design Thinking (DT) and The Lean Startup (TLS). The evaluation aimed to determine the advantages and limitations of the proposed methodology in managing innovation projects.

The proposed enhanced methodology consists of eight steps, ranging from developing an understanding of the industry and business structure to learning and knowledge management. In addition, the enhanced methodology uses other techniques, such as Force field analysis and 12 boundary questions.

The research findings indicate that using the proposed methodology can improve the formalization of collaboration in PAR, enabling the organization to respond better to market changes. It helps define the project scope more clearly, encouraging innovation, addressing communication barriers and considering different worldviews and practical issues. Based on the findings, the proposed enhanced methodology could complement other methodologies/frameworks such as Scrum, DT and TLS.

The current research adds to the existing literature by identifying the challenges of recruiting PAR in managing innovation projects. A deductive reasoning process was utilized because there is no comprehensive research concerning the challenges of recruiting PAR in managing innovation projects. On the other hand, the PAR 4-phase cycle has been reviewed and enhanced to manage innovation projects.

The proposed methodology was used in a new product development project. The case study was done on one of the payment service provider companies that design, develop and deploy a digital product for marketing, installation, repair and maintenance of electronic funds transfer at point of sale devices.

No research has yet sought to identify the challenges of using PAR in innovation project management (IPM). Identifying the challenges associated with applying PAR in the IPM and providing an enhanced methodology to mitigate the challenges could fill a gap in IPM studies.

Choosing the appropriate procurement system for construction projects is a complex and challenging task for clients particularly when professional advice has not been sought. To assist with the decision‐making process, a range of procurement selection tools and techniques have been developed by both academic and industry bodies. Public sector clients in Western Australia (WA) remain uncertain about the pairing of procurement method to bespoke construction project and how this decision will ultimately impact upon project success. This paper seeks to examine “how and why” a public sector agency selected particular procurement methods.

An analysis of two focus group workshops (with 18 senior project and policy managers involved with procurement selection) is reported upon.

The traditional lump sum (TLS) method is still the preferred procurement path even though alternative forms such as design and construct, public‐private‐partnerships could optimize the project outcome. Paradoxically, workshop participants agreed that alternative procurement forms should be considered, but an embedded culture of uncertainty avoidance invariably meant that TLS methods were selected. Senior managers felt that only a limited number of contractors have the resources and experience to deliver projects using the non‐traditional methods considered.

The research identifies a need to develop a framework that public sector clients can use to select an appropriate procurement method. Learning from previous experiences with regard to procurement selection will further provide public sector clients with knowledge about how to best deliver their projects.

The paper adds insight as to how public sector agencies select particular procurement methods.

Knowledge‐based systems (KBS) and multimedia technology (MMT) have been widely used in many industries for years to solve complicated problems. The integration of KBS and MMT, which leads to intelligent multimedia, provides a powerful tool for expertise‐intensive training. Although many tasks in construction demand extensive expertise and years of experience, the use of intelligent multimedia for training on these tasks has, however, hardly been documented in the literature. Aims to demonstrate the feasibility and potential benefits of using intelligent multimedia for expertise‐intensive training in construction. By referring to a case study in strategic cost estimate for building projects, illustrates the facilities that can be offered by the integrated systems. Since strategic cost estimate for a building project at early design stages is an extremely complex task, trainees have to go through a long period of learning before they can be competent in conducting such tasks. Introduces an intelligent multimedia system as a solution to the above problem. Reveals that intelligent multimedia can be deployed to meet the challenges of accurately representing the highly complex expertise in the knowledge base, and facilitating the learning process of the trainees through the highly interactive and non‐linear access to the explicit and transparent expertise.

Within knowledge management (KM) there is a need to develop KM methods that help prioritise requirements and assist in information systems (IS) development strategy. This paper aims to present MaKE™, a KM method that is designed to address this need.

MaKE was developed using an action research approach.

Organisations face a number of challenges in KM. MaKE addresses a number of them, including how to: align organisational performance and IT expenditure; adopt a sensible balance between IT and human involvement; address problems that stem from top‐down models of information strategy; assist in business innovation; address redefined value chain issues in the web technology world; realise the significance of the virtual and intangible as well as the physical; create and apply new knowledge as well as be effective in the ongoing renewal of existing knowledge; engage people in the paradigm shift away from industrial‐economic thinking and towards a knowledge perspective; link business objectives with knowledge‐sharing initiatives and technologies available to address them within a framework; and apply people‐centred KM tools to a whole organisation or across organisations.

The main limitation is the amount of testing that has occurred to test the contribution of MaKE in relation to each of the challenges referred to above.

There are many original concepts within MaKE. For example MaKE First Steps is the first KM process devised to assist in collaboratively defining knowledge in organisations.

Suggests that the development and use of an expert consulting system is vulnerable to biases in the subject‐matter expert, knowledge‐engineer, validators, maintainers and end‐users. An expert system, developed at a large insurance company, is used to study these biases. An economic model is then built to evaluate the trade‐offs which must be considered in the process of managing the source of these biases over the life cycle of an application.

Delivering a building project on time and under budget is still an increasingly complex and risky business. A host of new project delivery methods and management techniques have been promoted to help achieve this. Developing a project delivery strategy and contractual relationships is a particularly complex and large problem domain that requires diverse, highly sophisticated skills, expertise and knowledge. Expert knowledge and lessons learned in the construction phase of a building project hold a wealth of knowledge and expertise that can be often taken for granted. However, this body of knowledge is not systematically incorporated into the procurement phase of subsequent projects. Case‐based reasoning is a technology for problem solving based on recall and reuse of specific experiences; it offers techniques for acquiring, representing and managing the knowledge gained from previous experiences and augmenting a set of specific experiences with generalised knowledge. Outlines how current case‐based reasoning techniques support project delivery method decisions. Presents a case‐based framework for project delivery method selection. Finally, reports the findings of the first phase of the system development cycle.