Search results

In the past decades, artificial intelligence (AI)-based hybrid methods have been increasingly applied in construction risk management practices. The purpose of this paper is to review and compile the current AI methods used for cost-risk assessment in the construction management domain in order to capture complexity and risk interdependencies under high uncertainty.

This paper makes a content analysis, based on a comprehensive literature review of articles published in high-quality journals from the years 2008 to 2018. Fuzzy hybrid methods, such as fuzzy-analytical network processing, fuzzy-artificial neural network and fuzzy-simulation, have been widely used and dominated in the literature due to their ability to measure the complexity and uncertainty of the system.

The findings of this review article suggest that due to the limitation of subjective risk data and complex computation, the applications of these AI methods are limited in order to address cost overrun issues under high uncertainty. It is suggested that a hybrid approach of fuzzy logic and extended form of Bayesian belief network (BBN) can be applied in cost-risk assessment to better capture complexity-risk interdependencies under uncertainty.

This study only focuses on the subjective risk assessment methods applied in construction management to overcome cost overrun problem. Therefore, future research can be extended to interpret the input data required to deal with uncertainties, rather than relying solely on subjective judgments in risk assessment analysis.

These results may assist in the management of cost overrun while addressing complexity and uncertainty to avoid chaos in a project. In addition, project managers, experts and practitioners should address the interrelationship between key complexity and risk factors in order to plan risk impact on project cost. The proposed hybrid method of fuzzy logic and BBN can better support the management implications in recent construction risk management practice.

This study addresses the applications of AI-based methods in complex construction projects. A proposed hybrid approach could better address the complexity-risk interdependencies which increase cost uncertainty in project.

Knowledge management (KM) is regarded as an essential factor in project-based organizations (PBOs), leading to organizational learning across projects. Over recent years, most PBOs have inserted project management offices (PMOs) into their hierarchical charts to manage their projects much more coherently. These offices can correspondingly provide KM facilities in PBOs. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between PMO functions and KM infrastructure, as KM enablers in organizations, in Iranian oil and gas upstream PBOs.

A two-phase quantitative survey strategy was exercised in this research. The first phase was to investigate the relationship between PMOs and KM infrastructure and to prioritize PMO functions and KM infrastructure based on their existing implementation/establishment status in Iranian oil and gas upstream PBOs. The research participants, identified through the website of the National Iran Oil Company (NIOC), were comprised of 46 oil and gas upstream PBOs which applied for exploration and production (E&P) certificate in Iran in 2016 and 2017. Accordingly, a total number of 46 questionnaires were submitted to the aforementioned companies with a return rate of 41 cases. The second phase was fulfilled questioning 19 Iranian oil and gas industry experts to determine the one-to-one effect of PMO functions on KM infrastructure and to verify the first-phase results.

The results indicated a strong relationship between PMO functions and KM infrastructure. This relationship was significant with regard to “practice management” and “technical support”, having the most considerable connections with KM infrastructure. According to the first-phase results, the main functions of PMOs in Iranian oil and gas industry were “practice management” and “technical support”. Considering KM infrastructure, “structure” showed the lowest mean value while “culture”, “human resources” and “processes and procedures” obtained the highest scores. The results also demonstrated that PMO functions could lead to more improvements in “processes and procedures”, as a sub-component of KM infrastructure, compared with other sub-components. Furthermore, the oil and gas industry experts believed that “organizational culture” in KM could be shaped by most of PMO functions.

This study fulfilled the need for exploring the relationship between PMO functions and KM since academic literature lacked a thorough investigation, to the best of authors' knowledge, pertaining to the effects of PMO functions on KM development in oil and gas PBOs.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of project management flexibility in early project phases on end-project performance including its mediating role on the effect of complexity over project performance.

Out of 13 hypotheses, 6 hypotheses regarding the relationships between areas of flexibility and project performance, 1 regarding the effect of complexity on performance and 6 other hypotheses regarding the mediating effect of six areas of flexibility were formulated. Statistical analysis was performed using partial least squares–structural equation modeling on data gathered from 111 surveys.

Research results revealed that flexibility of “how-attitude” and “how-organization” has positive significant effects on project performance. “How-attitude” contributes to the flexibility of project management processes by having an “open attitude,” “wide approach” and “proactive attitude” while “how-organization” put the emphasis of flexibility on “facilitate planning,” “outer organization” and “inner organization.” Moreover, this research confirmed that complexity has a negative effect on project performance. Among the six areas of flexibility, flexibility of “how-organization” mediates the effect of complexity on project performance.

The increased project complexity requires some degree of flexibility in project management to deal with project dynamics. However, whether such flexibility in early project phases has an effect on end-project performance has not been empirically investigated. This research contributes to filling the gap in literature about the relationship between project management flexibility and project performance. Such effect was investigated by studying the direct effect of flexibility on project performance and the mediating role of flexibility on the negative effect of project complexity on project performance.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for assessing the lean construction management performance (LCMP) of engineering projects using the analytic network process-fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (ANP-FCE) model.

Literature review and questionnaire surveys were used to achieve an evaluation index system for LCMP. The data needed to calculate the weights of the indices were derived from questionnaire surveys. The ANP and the Super Decisions (SD) software were used to calculate the weights of the indices and verify the validity of the weights. The FCE was adopted to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of LCMP, and the validity of the evaluation results was verified by applying the validity degree of maximum membership principle. The applicability of the method for evaluating LCMP was validated by empirical research.

The proposed method for assessing the LCMP using the ANP-FCE model is validated to be feasible. Decision makers can easily identify the strengths and weaknesses of lean construction (LC) management of the evaluated project from the evaluation results.

Some subjectivity may exist in the assessment process due to questionnaire surveys, and only one case has been studied to validate the applicability of the method. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to increase the number of LC experts and cases over the world to make the proposed method more standard.

The research is expected to propose an assessment method of LCMP for construction enterprises, provide a reference to develop assessment standards for LCMP for building associations or governments and help decision makers know the improving path of LC management.

This research contributes to the literature by summarizing the commonly used lean management tools for quality, cost, time, safety and organization in practice, and proposing a novel approach for assessing the LCMP of engineering projects. The study is useful for researchers, project managers and decision makers engaged in LC.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

Introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

Provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The aim of this study was to appraise the delivery of information communication technology (ICT) projects and identify key determinants for stakeholder integration.

Given that empirically, little was known about stakeholder integration in the ICT sector and its influence or effect on project delivery; qualitative method was used. Forty-seven semi-structured interviews were carried out to derive senior project practitioners and policymakers' constructs of stakeholder integration and infrastructure performance improvement of ICT projects. The verification and validation of the proposed assessment tool were achieved through the use of focus group discussion.

As established in this research study, there is a need for project delivery teams to evaluate the level of stakeholder integration, the formulation of a project business case, the project processes and issues of compliance and regulation in ICT projects. What is evident in the findings of the study is that the management model adopted for the stakeholders in the Kenyan ICT sector ought to make communication the fulcrum of their engagement.

The inferences made herein are critical in contributing to knowledge regarding the ICT infrastructure project management terrain in developing countries. There is evidence in the study to conclude that the concept of stakeholder management and integration has implications for the sustainability of ICT projects. One of the issues that predominantly featured in the research was the input of stakeholder integration in terms of project sustainability.

Complex projects require careful management. They may expose stakeholders to greater risks and place additional demands upon resources. In the initial stages of project development, however, little may be known about the nature and magnitude of such complexity. This paper aims to ensure that this gap is at least subjectively assessed and addressed.

Research, using focus group workshops with a convenience sample of construction professionals, was carried out to test the validity of a Project Early Stage Complexity Assessment Tool (PESCAT). The PESCAT concept brings together selected complexity theories and uses subjectively based measures for assessment.

The findings confirm that an early-stage project complexity assessment tool is practicable and can contribute to project management practice in the construction industry. It should be applied by individual project stakeholders using small teams of experienced staff. PESCAT explores project complexity through “filter” sets of perspective factors which should be customised to reflect the stakeholder’s role and processes in a project.

In the initial complexity assessment model, resolution space and uncertainty were tested as project complexity parameters. However, in subsequent versions of the tool, four measures (differentiation and differentiation uncertainty; interdependency and interdependency uncertainty) are used in an innovative way that focuses users’ attention more clearly and points to a more targeted approach for addressing project complexity. The value of our model lies in its practical application and the project management benefits it can deliver.

The weak competencies in urban local bodies (ULBs) for implementing public private partnership (PPP) projects are recognized as a major hurdle in uptake of the PPP model in India. Competency‐based management provides a systematic solution for addressing the competency gap in ULBs, which comprises four components: competency identification, competency assessment, competency development and competency monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of a PPP competencies assessment (PCA) tool for assessment of competencies in ULBs for implementing urban PPP projects.

The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used for modeling of competencies involved in urban PPP projects. The application of the PCA tool was showcased with a case study of PPP projects in the municipal solid waste management (MSW) sector.

The PCA tool is effective in assessment of competencies in ULBs. The outputs obtained from the PCA tool provided detailed information on competency profile of the ULB, competency gap and aggregate measure of PPP competencies index.

The study contributes towards the growing body of knowledge on competency development in ULBs for implementing urban PPP projects. The results would also help policy makers to formulate approaches to overcome the competency gap in ULBs.

This paper proposes an integrated approach for assessing innovation management practices using an innovation management assessment framework, with the application of the innovation management assessment framework at the incubation and firm level.

Innovation management assessment framework is developed, based on the literature review. An innovation management assessment framework toolkit for training innovation practitioners is proposed as the basis for the framework implementation in the industry. The main approach is to make close alignment of the design for lean six sigma phases within broader innovation and stage-gate model in the innovation management assessment framework.

The operationalization of the innovation management assessment framework is enabled and supported by an assessment framework and a toolkit for managing innovation.

A roadmap for innovation management and assessment of performance at incubatee/firm level.

It provides a tool for developing innovative products and services for incubatees in start-ups, thus fueling the economy. It also has applications for ongoing established businesses.

Innovation of new business development can be made through a well-designed and implemented innovation programme that is aligned with stage-gate and design for lean six sigma phases through the innovation management assessment framework.

Over recent years there has been a significant drive away from traditional procurement routes where contractors find themselves with an increasing responsibility for the control of the design – a process they have had little experience in managing. Yet this is an area of significant opportunity for those contractors who can adapt quickly and effectively to the changing construction market. However, many current processes are insufficient to manage today's demanding and fast‐moving projects. This paper aims to address this issue

The paper reflects on the deployment of a design management training initiative to improve performance in a major UK civil and building design and construction company. It investigates the impact of the training initiative, critical practices and a suite of 25 tools on design management performance across the company. The methodology included a structured questionnaire, design management maturity assessment, semi‐structured interviews and a case study.

The paper highlights benefits delivered by the initiative as well as the practices and tools crucial to successful design management. A range of implementation barriers that affect the success of design management practices is also highlighted together with strategies used on a design and build project to overcome them.

The paper should be helpful to those involved in design management and the development of tools and practices to improve the performance of companies and project teams.