Search results

This paper is based on a review of the literature on construction productivity and findings from a survey investigating, first, whether there are significant differences in opinions between head office personnel and site managers on factors that influence construction productivity and, second, to determine groups of factors that mostly influence site productivity. A critical discussion is structured under three general headings: (1) management factors; (2) employee motivation; and (3) experience and training. Twenty‐nine factors were extracted from the above headings and were assessed by 19 head office personnel and 17 site managers. The survey indicated that both samples regard ‘ineffective project planning’ and ‘constraints on a worker's performance’ as the most crucial factors influencing productivity. Other highly ranked factors by both samples are ‘difficulties with material procurement’, ‘lack of integration of project information’, ‘disruption of site programme’, ‘lack of experience and training’ and ‘exclusion of site management from contract meetings’. Ultimately, when the factor analysis technique was applied on the 29 factors, the result shows that Resource Management Effectiveness appeared to be the most dominant group of factors influencing construction productivity.

The purpose of this research is to review the perceptions of 359 front‐line management personnel as to why their organizations fail to achieve desired results and to draw lessons for organizational practice on how to prevent failure and improve organizational performance. Managers from 30 organizations were asked to rate the impact that 25 different performance factors have on their ability to get desired results. The results of the study identified a variety of people and leadership factors as the primary causes of poor performance, while factors such as technology, finances, and government regulations ranked significantly lower in the rankings.

A case study analysis was conducted on a Canadian company, to investigate the impact of selected independent variables on productivity, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship. The study tested the hypothesis that there was a decrease in these variables among employees because of ineffective project management resulting in unmet deadlines, incomplete end results, inequitable allocation of resources and inequitable levels of member participation to the accomplishment of projects. Concludes there appears to be a direct relationship between the factors of communication, leadership, power and politics, organizational structure and the decrease in productivity in terms of meeting project timelines and efficient product development.

It is well recognized that the construction industry is characterised by inefficient and ineffective service delivery due to various causative factors. Thus this study aims to examine the influential factors affecting public construction project performance in Ethiopia to improve the industry's service delivery.

From the extensive literature reviewed, 58 potential factors affecting construction project performance have been compiled. Based on the evidence accumulated, the conceptual model of this paper has been developed. By using survey questionnaires, valuable data were collected from the construction industry professionals in Ethiopia; analysed and interpreted with the use of both SPSS and AMOS software.

It is concluded that failure factors related to the “performance” of the contractor, the “capability” of the owner, the “project design-procurement process,” and project contract management can significantly contribute to the poor performance of public construction projects in Ethiopia. Ten key factors include inadequate contractor capacity, weak project site management and supervision, weak project management skills and capabilities of the owner, additional work orders, delayed payment, lack of comprehensive project plans between parties and incomplete project design, rising material prices, ineffective project schedules, and cost management, rising market prices and devaluation of the currency.

The scope of this study confined to public projects in Ethiopia. It suggests that further research needs to consider public and private construction from a comprehensive perspective in the developing countries.

It provides practitioners with information and guidance on the factors that affect the performance of construction projects.

It provides inclusive evidence related to many factors that affect the performance of public construction projects.

Leaders are challenged with the efficient and effective management of their own and their employees’ disputes. These are often managed inadequately using “fight”, “flight”, or management intervention. This paper aims to present the findings of a study into an effective alternative, “one‐to‐one dispute resolution”. The method involves two employees resolving their dispute through face‐to‐face communication and without direct intervention by management.

Using the Critical Incident Technique, incidents of one‐to‐one dispute resolution (n =249) were reported by 88 employees. The contents were analysed, and skill‐related findings were validated using a questionnaire (n =106).

The findings are presented in a descriptive model of the skilful process of one‐to‐one dispute resolution. The model is built on eight skill‐sets that were central to the dispute resolution process.

How and when to effectively coach employees in the use of one‐to‐one dispute resolution, and the resulting personal and organisational outcomes, need to be examined. In addition, research into the practical application of the model, and in specific organisational contexts, is required.

The study highlights the potential for more employees (including both the leaders and the led) to effectively “face” their own disputes without using “fight” or “flight”. It challenges those leaders, who often act as third‐party interveners, instead to coach their employees in the one‐to‐one resolution of disputes, while modelling the method themselves.

Employees are offered a research‐based model of dispute resolution that differs from problematic models in the dispute resolution literature and skills‐training programs. A workable alternative to the methods of fight, flight and intervention is provided.

Implementing total quality management (TQM) is not without difficulties and achieving its promised benefits is not easy. The purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers to TQM successful implementation.

A literature review has been done to explore the major reasons for the failure of TQM programmes.

An examination of 54 TQM empirical studies identified 54 obstacles to successful TQM implementation. There are both theoretical and practical difficulties in applying TQM in organisations. An ineffective TQM package, inappropriate TQM implementation methods and an inappropriate environment for implementing TQM are the main reasons for TQM failure. The most frequently mentioned reasons for TQM implementation failures include insufficient education and training, lack of employees’ involvement, lack of top management support, inadequate resources, deficient leadership, lack of a quality-oriented culture, poor communication, lack of a plan for change and employee resistance to the change programme.

The review was limited to articles written in English language during the past 30 years (1980-2010).

TQM does deliver better performance when an appropriate model of TQM is appropriately implemented in a supportive environment. The findings of this paper provide managers with a practical understanding of the factors that are likely to obstruct TQM implementation. Managers should overcome these barriers to achieve the TQM benefits.

Understanding the factors that are likely to obstruct TQM implementation will help organisations in planning better TQM models.

This article aims to outline the theoretical perspectives of international training and development and examine how theoretical frameworks have been implemented by practitioners.

Literature review.

There appears to be a considerable gap between academic theories and multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) practices. MNEs pay little attention to international training and management development. Ineffective international training and management development have a considerably adverse impact on MNEs.

In order to succeed in a globally competitive environment MNEs need to effectively train expatriates and their spouses, host‐country nationals (HCNs) and third‐country nationals (TCNs), and develop and nurture a truly global management team.

This paper systematically reviews the existing literature and reveals a considerable gap between academic theories and MNEs’ practices.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate delay factors within private housing construction in Northern Ireland. Delays are inherent throughout the construction industry and create major difficulties in terms of project performance and client satisfaction. Whilst a voluminous body of international literature has investigated pertinent delay factors within construction projects, there is a relative paucity of research which offers a more delineated exploration of delay factors affecting private housing development schemes, particularly in the UK context.

This study applies questionnaire survey research to examine the relative importance of 75 delay attribute factors for housing construction projects in Northern Ireland. The approach applies both a relative rank and principal component analysis to distil the key factors impinging upon the delay process in housing construction.

The key finding from this research is that delays within the housing construction sector in Northern Ireland can be attributed to deficiencies in site management, ineffective communication strategies and a lack of coordination between key stakeholders involved in the construction process.

The study adds to the existing knowledge base and provides stakeholders with information on factors, which, if properly risk assessed and understood, can improve housing construction performance. The findings are of relevance to construction industry practitioners, policy makers and researchers with lessons learned serving as a basis for future policy development as well as affording an information platform for improving the efficiency and expediency of housing provision internationally.

For decades, troubled information systems (IS)/information technology (IT) projects have continued to lose billions of dollars all over the world. The purpose of this paper is to look for the root causes of this widespread and important phenomenon.

This paper begins with a concise survey of empirical research and shows that a significant proportion of project failures are derived from the behavior of managers rather than from objective or technical obstacles. Although researchers have made significant efforts to improve the professional conduct of managers, the situation ameliorated only slowly. This raises the issue of a possible hidden cause lying behind the perceived determinants of failure; the authors, therefore, look for the root-cause of this broad noteworthy phenomenon and apply the techniques typical of “root-cause analysis”.

IS/IT managers handling troubled projects worldwide have nothing in common except for a similar cultural basis. As students, they learned the fundamental concepts of informatics, and it is, therefore, natural to hypothesize a specific cause and effect relationship between these lessons and the ineffective behaviors of managers. A careful analysis shows that computing theories are narrow, self-referential and abstract, and this negatively affects the conduct of managers, who have broad, practical responsibilities.

The cultural causes of runaway projects require advanced theoretical research on the foundations of computer science to create a comprehensive and consistent construct that can support the manifold duties of IS/IT project leaders. A future theoretical structure will underpin innovative courses in universities and professional organizations, making leaders more aware of their roles and more capable of managing them.

In general, when a problem is traced to its origin, it can be eradicated. This work offers evidence that the root causes of troubled projects lie in the management culture, and therefore, the professional preparation of managers needs to be improved so to remove the present difficulties in IS/IT projects.

Most quality professionals recommend a core set of attributes as the nucleus of any quality improvement process. These attributes include: (1) clarifying job expectations; (2) setting quality standards; (3) measuring quality improvement; (4) effective super‐vision; (5) listening by management; (6) feedback by management; and (7) effective training. Based on a survey of employees at a medium‐sized manufacturing firm in the United States, it was found that management philosophy and actions can undermine even a proven total quality management (TQM) programme. For the many firms which hire outside consultants to set up a TQM programme, makes recommendations to management to ensure its successful implementation.