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Article
Publication date: 1 August 2003

Gerard D. Wood and Robert C.T. Ellis

Risk management (RM) is now widely accepted as an important tool in the management of projects. Through a series of semi‐structured interviews with RM facilitators, current…

3712

Abstract

Risk management (RM) is now widely accepted as an important tool in the management of projects. Through a series of semi‐structured interviews with RM facilitators, current practice is explored. The findings provide a number of soft benchmarks. Interest in RM comes largely from educated clients and is regularly adopted as an integrated front‐end service. Ongoing RM studies throughout the project life cycle are limited largely to the public sector and utilities. The use of RM workshops and the production of risk registers are commonplace. The use of Monte Carlo simulation through specialist software is widespread as a means of obtaining a greater degree of confidence in project budgets. There is scepticism regarding the usefulness of complex risk analysis techniques and a predisposition to rely on judgement based on experience. The use of historical data is limited. Evaluation of the service is informal and there is a relative lack of training and skills development underpinning RM provision.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2004

Robert C.T. Ellis, Gerard D. Wood and Tony Thorpe

Construction is a project‐oriented industry that benefits from both the technical and interpersonal skills that a project manager has to offer. Increasingly, project management is…

1680

Abstract

Construction is a project‐oriented industry that benefits from both the technical and interpersonal skills that a project manager has to offer. Increasingly, project management is viewed as being an integrated process relevant throughout the project lifecycle, which necessarily draws upon a broad range of knowledge and abilities. It is imperative that project managers, therefore, have ready access to education and training programmes that enable them to update their skills. This paper compares a new distance learning project management educational software application with a traditional multiple‐media resource and a well‐established postgraduate module delivered in part‐time mode to establish the pedagogic effectiveness of distributed interactive multimedia. An analysis of quantitative data generated over a two‐year period finds that whilst learning and confidence gains occur in all delivery modes, there is no significant difference in the academic performance of students between the traditional control and distance learning experimental groups.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 11 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2003

Josef Eberhardsteiner, Günter Hofstetter, Günther Meschke and Peter Mackenzie‐Helnwein

In this paper, three research topics are presented referring to different aspects of multifield problems in civil engineering. The first example deals with long term behaviour of…

1278

Abstract

In this paper, three research topics are presented referring to different aspects of multifield problems in civil engineering. The first example deals with long term behaviour of wood under multiaxial states of stress and the effect of moisture changes on the deformation behaviour of wood. The second example refers to the application of a three‐phase model for soils to the numerical simulation of dewatering of soils by means of compressed air. The soil is modelled as a three phase‐material, consisting of the deformable soil skeleton and the fluid phases – water and compressed air. The third example is concerned with computational durability mechanics of concrete structures. As a particular example of chemically corrosive mechanisms, the material degradation due to the dissolution of calcium and external loading is addressed.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 20 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1985

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…

12667

Abstract

The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 23 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 July 2017

Gerard McElwee and Adrian Wood

The purpose of this paper is to explore enterprise diversification amongst wetland farmers in Zambia as a way of reducing poverty and improving sustainability. This paper…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore enterprise diversification amongst wetland farmers in Zambia as a way of reducing poverty and improving sustainability. This paper identifies ways in which such entrepreneurial activities can be supported and applied more widely.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study of Zambian farmers, based on a series of workshops and interviews held in Zambia with farmers and farm business advisers.

Findings

Despite adopting new technologies most farmers are restricted to the local market where their increased production holds down prices. However, a very small number of farmers are able to progress to production and marketing for markets in major urban centres hundreds of kilometres away, and considerably more are able to use the capital accumulated from wetland farming to diversify their household enterprises to reduce poverty and improve the sustainability and resilience of their livelihoods.

Originality/value

No work has previously been undertaken in diversification strategies of small-scale farmers in Zambia.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1909

IN making the suggestion, as some of my friendly critics have done, that the classes Fine and Useful Arts should be restored, as in Dewey, they rather miss the humour of the…

Abstract

IN making the suggestion, as some of my friendly critics have done, that the classes Fine and Useful Arts should be restored, as in Dewey, they rather miss the humour of the situation. The Subject Classification is not an amended Dewey or Cutter, but a humble attempt at an entirely new system, designed to meet the needs of popular libraries. It is not even a classification of knowledge, but, as experience has proved, a very practical and simple rearrangement of the factors of knowledge as set forth and preserved in books. The scheme is not indebted to any other system for aught but suggestions of main classes; all the details of the tables having been worked out independently, without reference to any classification save the Adjustable. It will be manifest, on reflection, that it would be fatal for the compiler of a new system to allow himself to be fettered or influenced by the schedules of other authors. I am one of those who decline to believe in the value of standardization of ideas or practice, save to a small degree in certain mechanical matters, and it would therefore be foolish to follow in the same rut as certain predecessors, simply because a longer existence has to some extent established their findings as settled conventions.

Details

New Library World, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2016

Dorina Chicu, Mireia Valverde, Gerard Ryan and Rosemary Batt

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the service-profit chain (SPC) model in a context that differs from its original conception. The authors do so…

1803

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the service-profit chain (SPC) model in a context that differs from its original conception. The authors do so by considering whether the main relationships it proposes apply in the context of call centre services, characterised by remote services and cost cutting business models.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were gathered from a survey of call centre management with a sample of 937 call centres from 14 countries. The analysis was carried out using structural equation modelling.

Findings

Findings reveal that the SPC model behaves somewhat differently in call centres. Although there is general support for most of the links in the model, the results indicate that customer satisfaction in the call centre industry is a separate outcome, rather than a precursor to company performance.

Research limitations/implications

As is common in most research of this type, the present study is based on cross-sectional data.

Practical implications

Managers would be well advised to keep in mind that even minimum investments in human capital can make a difference in customer satisfaction and company results.

Originality/value

This is the first study to examine the main links in the SPC in non-traditional, non-face-to-face services. It demonstrates that the basic logic of the model is upheld, thus providing evidence that the boundaries of the SPC model may be further pushed in line with the peculiarities of the evolving service economy. Also, the authors make a methodological contribution by proposing a series of organisational level proxies for measuring elements of the chain that are typically assessed using individual level data that is expensive to gather.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1903

IT is evident from the numerous press cuttings which are reaching us, that we are once more afflicted with one of those periodical visitations of antagonism to Public Libraries…

Abstract

IT is evident from the numerous press cuttings which are reaching us, that we are once more afflicted with one of those periodical visitations of antagonism to Public Libraries, which occasionally assume epidemic form as the result of a succession of library opening ceremonies, or a rush of Carnegie gifts. Let a new library building be opened, or an old one celebrate its jubilee, or let Lord Avebury regale us with his statistics of crime‐diminution and Public Libraries, and immediately we have the same old, never‐ending flood of articles, papers and speeches to prove that Public Libraries are not what their original promoters intended, and that they simply exist for the purpose of circulating American “Penny Bloods.” We have had this same chorus, with variations, at regular intervals during the past twenty years, and it is amazing to find old‐established newspapers, and gentlemen of wide reading and knowledge, treating the theme as a novelty. One of the latest gladiators to enter the arena against Public Libraries, is Mr. J. Churton Collins, who contributes a forcible and able article, on “Free Libraries, their Functions and Opportunities,” to the Nineteenth Century for June, 1903. Were we not assured by its benevolent tone that Mr. Collins seeks only the betterment of Public Libraries, we should be very much disposed to resent some of the conclusions at which he has arrived, by accepting erroneous and misleading information. As a matter of fact, we heartily endorse most of Mr. Collins' ideas, though on very different grounds, and feel delighted to find in him an able exponent of what we have striven for five years to establish, namely, that Public Libraries will never be improved till they are better financed and better staffed.

Details

New Library World, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2013

John F. Sacco and Gerard R. Busheé

This paper analyzes the impact of economic downturns on the revenue and expense sides of city financing for the period 2003 to 2009 using a convenience sample of the audited end…

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of economic downturns on the revenue and expense sides of city financing for the period 2003 to 2009 using a convenience sample of the audited end of year financial reports for thirty midsized US cities. The analysis focuses on whether and how quickly and how extensively revenue and spending directions from past years are altered by recessions. A seven year series of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) data serves to explore whether citiesʼ revenues and spending, especially the traditional property tax and core functions such as public safety and infrastructure withstood the brief 2001 and the persistent 2007 recessions? The findings point to consumption (spending) over stability (revenue minus expense) for the recession of 2007, particularly in 2008 and 2009.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Article
Publication date: 1 July 1938

OUR various accounts of the Portsmouth Conference, and the official record of it which is now in the hands of readers shows that it may be regarded as a successful one. It was…

Abstract

OUR various accounts of the Portsmouth Conference, and the official record of it which is now in the hands of readers shows that it may be regarded as a successful one. It was specially notable for the absence of those bickerings and differences which must inevitably come to the surface at times. There may be something in the suggestion of one of our writers that the weather was a main factor. However that may be, there was uniform good temper, and we came away with the belief that a good week's work for librarianship had been done.

Details

New Library World, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

1 – 10 of 296