Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Hani Melhem / Researchers have been compiling lists of key factors the presence or absence of which have determined the success or failure of projects. Early researches of critical success factors were largely theory based; subsequent researches employed the use of statistics and continuously refined methods like neural network and the analytical hierarchy process. Over the passage of time, the focus has narrowed down from broad generalization of ‘projects’ to ‘project classes’. The thesis can be broadly divided into three components. First Component: The first component (Chapter 1, 2, and 3) leads an insight into the basic concept of success factor studies, and the empirical frameworks adopted for identification of critical success factors. The second and the third component, comprises literature review and original research, respectively. These components pertain to success factor studies of construction projects, and are introduced as below. Second Component: The second component (Chapter 4: Review Component) sets out to choose from among a treasure of resources on construction projects, three such state of the art works that can best explain the progress in search of success factors over a period of the foregoing 25 years. After discussing each work in detail, the reader’s attention is drawn to a collective discussion, and summary towards the end of the Review Component. The review includes the following works: (1) Pinto and Covin, 1989, (2) Ashley et al., 1987, and (3) Kog and Loh, 2011. Pinto and Covin (1989) endeavored to set aside the convenient research trend of treating all project types (Manufacturing, R&D, Construction etc.) as similar. It was felt that management practitioners considered the generalized project management prescriptions offered by researchers as mostly inapplicable to the unique situations posed by their respective classes of projects. Stepwise regression analysis was employed to seek separate sets of CSFs for construction and R&D projects. The choice of these two project types was made as they apparently lied on opposite ends of the spectrum of characteristics. The phases of project lifecycle considered for determining CSFs were conceptualization, planning, execution, and termination. It was concluded that though identification of a set of general critical success factors has some benefits for both academics and practitioners, strict adherence to them would not necessarily ensure project success. It was proved that every project type offers its own set of problems, and that these vary over a project’s lifecycle. The review briefly touches upon the work of Ashley et al. (1987) so as to lead an insight into yet another methodology adopted by CSF researchers. This study views project success from the project managers’ perspective for the owner and contractor organizations they works for, and does not take into consideration the view point of other professionals working for owner, contractor and consultant organizations. Hypothesis testing was employed to find those factors that exhibited strong statistical difference while going from average to outstanding projects. Kog and Loh (2011) studied a possible dissimilarity between CSFs pertaining to different components of construction projects: (1) civil works, (2) architectural works, and (3) mechanical and electrical works. Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process the CSFs were compared separately for the objectives of budget, schedule, quality, and overall performance. They concluded that, on the whole, markedly distinct sets of factors were perceived as crucial by professionals associated with these three components. Apart from their varying job descriptions, the divergence in views of professionals was interpreted to be an outcome of the different frames of time that they mostly work in. While a major portion of civil and structural works would be undertaken in early project-life, mechanical and electrical works, and architectural works would be initiated later in the project’s life. For the three components of construction projects (C&S: civil & structural, M&E: mechanical & electrical, and architectural works), the highest correlation of views was seen to exist between the C&S and M&E, while the lowest was always that between the M&E and the architect. This trend remained the same whether the goal of overall performance or any of the three objectives were taken into consideration. Third Component: The thesis terminates with the original work (Research Component: Chapter 5) conducted by the author in the light of Chua et al. (1999) that had attempted, though very briefly, to distinguish between CSFs for different organizations involved in construction projects. Because the survey sample of Chua et al. (1999) was quite small, the researchers referred to their findings regarding organization-based CSFs as inconclusive. It was suggested that further research be conducted in this regard. Addressing these recommendations, the ‘Research Component’ has differentiated the CSFs based on organizational backgrounds of project participants: consultants, contractors, and project management organizations. Spearman’s test on overall rankings of 40 significant factors results in a highest level of correlation between the managers and contractor personnel (rs=0.54), followed by that between the managers and the consultants (rs=0.50), and a least correlation between the contractor personnel and the consultants (rs=0.19). Managers not only maintain a significant presence on the site with the contractors, but also coordinate with the consultants regarding any design-construction issues that arise more than often during project execution: No wonder why their pivotal position helps the managers to establish a higher understanding with both contractor personnel and consultants. The lowest correlation of views between the contractor personnel and the consultants arise from the spot on difference between their workspace environments. Whereas the contractor personnel operate in the field, the consultants are mostly restricted to their design offices.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of M.Sc. Building to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / Project management is no longer seen as just a management based approach but as a profession in its own right. It is, however, still common that individuals practice project management without, necessarily, being registered with the profession creating a crossing of professional jurisdiction. Existing literature or lack thereof indicates shallow investigation into project management registration and its impact on project performance. This report compares the project performance of registered and non-registered construction project managers in the South African built environment. A mix method approach was applied where the quantitative data was collected and complimented by qualitative data that aimed to solicit perceived factors that may influence improved project performance. Using a cross-sectional survey interview consisting of a semistructured questionnaire, data were collected from project management practitioners and professionals with the relevant knowledge and experience. The survey solicited 578 responses, with only 402 being regarded as complete survey responses. There respondents were sourced from the various professional councils that fall under the South African Built Environment. The results indicate no significant differentiation between the project performance of registered construction project managers and those who are not registered as construction project managers. On the job experience is considered a vital factor influencing project performance from a project manager’s perspective. Responses also indicate a variance in the perceived importance of construction project management registration. Despite the primary motivation behind registration having been expressed as “competitive advantage”, registration was considered most effective when used in combination with education, training and the understanding of project management knowledge areas. / XL2018

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science in Building (Project Management in Construction) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / There is a noticeable prevalence of public resistance when implementing mega public sector projects in South Africa. This resistance is indicative of a lack of communication between implementers and the general populace. The aim of the study was to assess the regulatory framework of public consultation in mega projects in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design of consulting engineers, project managers, and municipality staff, using structured questionnaire was adopted. This was followed by case analyses of three mega projects in South Africa. The main finding of the study is that there has to be operationalizable regulatory framework which could be utilized to inculcate public consultation, its coordination should be articulated within the three spheres of government, this has to be monitored systematically. As such thereis the need to improve on the provisions and implementation of the existing regulatory framework among the spheres of government for better coordination and monitoring with the public. / MT 2018

O presente trabalho visa analisar, a partir da perspectiva do uso final de energia, os resultados do indicador de eficiência criado para averiguar o desempenho de equipamentos usados em obras de construção civil de grande porte. Dentro do setor apreciado, optou-se por analisar energeticamente apenas a fase de construção per si em razão desta etapa ser uma fase de intenso consumo energético. O presente trabalho contou com uma compilação de dados baseados no consumo de 26.121 equipamentos em operação, em 84 obras de construção de grande porte. A partir do banco de dados inicial realizou-se a análise dos dados dos equipamentos monitorados via satélite e com informações de eficiência. Por fim, estimou-se, especificamente, a variação da eficiência nos equipamentos em questão. Na busca de resultados, foi possível constatar uma predominância no consumo de óleo diesel quando comparado a outros insumos energéticos. Geradores, guindastes, compressores e caminhões foram os itens que apresentaram maiores índices de eficiência, com 99,0%, 93,5%, 93,2% e 92,3%, respectivamente. Esses resultados mostram que a maior parte destes equipamentos operam próximo ao ótimo do consumo por hora registrado no projeto. / The present work aims to analyze, from the perspective of the end use of energy, the results of the efficiency indicator created in order to investigate the performance of a group of equipment widely used in large construction projects in Brazil. The analyze comprehends only construction period itself due this step is to consider a phase of intense energy consumption. This work included a database related to the fuel consumption of 26,121 equipment during their operation, at 84 work sites in the large construction projects. From the database described, we performed data analysis of satellite equipment monitored and with efficiency information. Finally, it was estimated the variation of efficiency of the equipment in question. The results show a predominance of diesel consumption when compared to other fuels inputs. Considering our methodology, generators, cranes, compressors and trucks were the items that had higher levels of efficiency, with 99.0%, 93.5%, 93.2% and 92.3%, respectively. These results show that most of these devices operate close to the optimal consumption per hour recorded in the project.

Effective team working across disciplines is essential to solve the technological and managerial problems associated with construction projects. However, while it is widely accepted that this method of working is critical to the achievement organisational goals, it is a poorly understood process. Generic best practice recipes on how to improve team work in collaborative projects appears to have had limited impact on performance. Unless the realities of implementing and managing such joint endeavours are conceptualised and articulated in a manner that reflects the actual processes and patterns of behaviour, multi-disciplinary team working will remain a poorly understood working model. The goal of this work was to develop a conceptual framework that visualises the real success factors of multi-disciplinary working so that practitioners can apply a new understanding of predictable processes and patterns of behaviours to improve collaborative project outcomes. To achieve this, the project started with an exploration of critical success factors in multi-disciplinary design projects, encompassing extensive interviewing, workshops and a survey followed by a grounded theory (GT) study of collaborative working in six multi-disciplinary design projects. The switch to GT methodology offered possibilities to further probe into the dynamics of multi-disciplinary team working from the perspective of the team members. The findings show that team working in multi-disciplinary design projects can be explained through the social process of informalising. Informalising refers to the strategies practitioners use to cope with the multiple pressures and unforeseen demands that pervade the collaborative design environments. It portrays the relevance of managing of expectations and value-judging to remain effective and efficient in the face of change and uncertainty. These are critical factors that influence the project trajectory and experience of those involved. Alongside these results the work also demonstrates the importance of so called super soft factors such as shared values, creativity and innovation and passion and enthusiasm to achieve positive project outcomes. Overall, recognising that the process of informalising forms an essential part of cultivating collaboration, and hence getting the work done, more attention should be given to understand such activity in today s turbulent and transient project organisations. Knowledge and understanding of this form of emergent and improvisational strategy may enable managers to predict and control patterns of behaviour inherent in the management of collaborative design projects, and positively influence project outcomes in terms of perceived value and profit.

Construction is one of the most information-dependent industries compared to other sectors. Computers have been used to improve the efficiency of management in most businesses including the construction industry. Treating information efficiently is the key to maintaining an edge over competitors and for success in business. However, in order to succeed, companies must choose a management system that is most suited to their operations. The difficulty about computerization in civil engineering is that the construction industry does not have trained IT experts with Civil engineering or Management background. Although there are many computer applications for project management, almost all the applications required some form of manual modification for updating information. In a construction project, time and accurate information is vitally important in order to accomplish scheduled completion. A small change in plan costs money and time in both the traditional methods as well as current IT applications. The main reason is that there is no direct link between the head office and the regional site office and there is no “quick” link between site office and site engineers who are out in the field for most of the time. This study proposes the design of an information transfer system to improve construction site management. A Web-based Construction Site Management system called “WCSM” will be developed. WCSM incorporates some major features including: Integration of Web technology and mobile computing into construction site management and automatic project schedule updates. The performance of WCSM is evaluated through virtual simulations, and comparisons with other relevant applications are reported. These evaluations showed that WCSM required significantly less time, for initial project set up and modifications during project implementation, when compared to MS Project and Micro Planner.

Bakgrund: Forskningen kring projekt har under senare år ökat i omfattning. En anledning är att projektorganiseringen utgör ett sätt att samla ett antal specialister för att få dem att samverka mot ett gemensamt mål. Utöver de interna relationer som uppstår i projekt förekommer det även involvering av interorganisatoriska partners i samarbetet vilket är speciellt vanligt i byggprojekt som karaktäriseras av en hög grad av interorganisatorisk specialisering. Problemformuleringar: Den utpräglade specialiseringen inom byggprojekt fordrar som all annan typ av specialisering, samordning och koordinering av resurser med den skillnaden att det här handlar om samordning över de organisatoriska gränserna. Det som denna studie behandlar är därför de relationer byggföretag har till sina underentreprenörer i samband medbyggprojekt. Fokus ligger på hur företag kan samverka vertikalt i förädlingskedjan för att på detta sätt uppnå konkurrensfördelar. Syfte: Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att utforska styrning och kontraktering av interorganisatoriska relationer för projektbaserad byggverksamhet. Utöver detta är syftet att specificera en optimala relationen mellan byggherre och underentreprenör för de fall som studien omfattar. Avgränsningar: Studien har avgränsats till att endast innefatta relationen mellan byggherre och underentreprenör. Genomförande: Studien har genomförts med grund i kontraktsansatsen genom intervjuer på två byggföretag med olika strategi, storlek och geografisk placering. Resultat: Resultatet visar att en optimal relation mellan byggherre och underentreprenör är avhängigt av i vilken grad samverkan kan ledan till utveckling hos de båda parterna. Alltför omfattande outsourcing av tjänster kan vara negativt precis som alltför täta relationer. Därför är situationen helt avgörande. Ger även stöd åt- samt utvecklar Alvesson&Lindkvists teori om ekonomisk kooperativa klaner. / Background: Business research focusing on different aspects of project work has recently increased. One reason is that project teams can be used as an effec- tive means of getting specialists from different parts of a business to work to- wards a common goal. In addition to the internal project relations that charac- terize project work, some businesses have also shown evidence of involving ex- ternal parties in projects. This is particularly common for construction projects where a large number of firms enter a project in order to achieve a high degree of interorganizational specialisation. Purpose: The high extent of specialization within the construction industry in- creases the need for coordination of resources among participating firms. This thesis relates to this coordination with special regard to the relation between contractor and sub-contractor and the involvement of subcontractorsin the verti-cal dimension of the supply chain. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the procurement phases related to the involvement of subcontractors in con-struction projects. Further, the study aims at specifying the optimal relations between main- and sub contractor for the construction firms researched. D elimitation: This thesis is solely focusing on the relations between main con- tractor and sub-contractor and is not dealing with other parties involved in con-struction projects. Realization: The research material for this thesis has been obtained through in- terviews with employees of two Swedish construction firms that differ in strat- egy, size and geographical location. Conclusion: The concluding remarks of the study indicate that the optimal rela- tion between main- and sub contractor is highly dependent on in what ways the relations may lead to long-term development for the parties. A high extent of outsourcing from the main contractor as well as too extensive partnering rela- tions may lead to substantial disadvantages in development for both firms. Therefore the environment in which the main contractor is operating is of great importance to the decision on how to handle subcontractor relations. The study also gives insights into the clan literature and supports and extends the theory of economic cooperative clans, developed by Mats Alvesson&Lars Lindkvist.

Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects are becoming more complex in terms of client requirements, stakeholder issues, physical, budget and time constraints, and safety and environmental concerns. These constraints have spawned ad-hoc innovations in some AEC projects, without structured frameworks for their assessment, resulting in varying success for these innovations. The primary goal of the thesis is to test an existing framework for evaluating innovative design and construction technologies for high-rise buildings by way of a case-study. The case study is a48-story structure (with an 8-level sub-grade parkade) in a downtown setting with significant constraints and challenges. Unlike most other assessment frameworks which are single-issue based (financial, cost, time or risk), a holistic method that captures a broad range of critical issues at the micro and macro levels is used to screen a number of construction innovations. The process highlights the primary difficulty in balancing stakeholder issues, technical/engineering requirements and project goals in assessing the overall feasibility and net benefits of an innovation. As a useful tool, it facilitates the engineering/technical judgment of proposed innovations and provides evidence of a sufficient trade-off between incremental 'cost and benefits' to justify a detailed evaluation and possible subsequent use of a subset of the innovations that passed successfully through a tiered first stage evaluation process. A secondary objective is to propose appropriate quantitative models for a detailed evaluation of the screened technologies that not only seeks to quantify incremental cost and benefits (e.g. time, increased revenue, etc.) but also assess the level of certainty (in benefits and cost) of innovative construction technologies. An illustrative evaluation provides insights as to the level of modeling and analysis required to evaluate an innovative or novel strategy both at the 'activity/work package' and project levels. The quantum of data required at the pre-construction planning stage coupled with the lack of easy to apply evaluation models probably accounts for the non-prevalence of detailed quantitative evaluation of innovative construction technologies on AEC projects, especially in terms of impact at the project level and the degree of certainty with which net benefits are likely to be achieved.

Due to its high-risk nature, international construction projects are more vulnerable to adverse changes in project environment and company objectives. To achieve successful project outcomes, early provision of risks has a vital place in managing construction projects. Within the literature, several risk assessment methodologies have been offered to simulate probable consequences of risks. The majority of the proposed methodologies are limited in reflection of real project conditions as they require probabilistic measures or rely on solely intuition and experience of decision makers. In this study, it is argued that an additional assistance is needed for decision-makers when they are assessing magnitudes of risks under different project and country conditions. The purpose of this study is to develop a knowledge-based risk mapping tool for international construction projects using an ontology that relates risk and vulnerability to cost overrun and a novel risk-vulnerability assessment methodology. The tool incorporates a &lsquo / lessons learned database&rsquo / that utilizes learning from previous projects in order to assist decision-makers when quantifying the risk-related variables. The database is expected to aid decision-makers by retrieving and making use of the knowledge of previous projects that have been captured, codified, and stored within the database previously. In addition, to guide decision-makers by giving better understanding of the risk variables, attributes of the risk-related variables are identified that lists probable triggering events for the occurrence of the relevant variables. The tool has also been tested on a real construction project as well as its usability has been ensured by conducting some usability tests.

Bidding is a very competitive process in the construction industry; each competitor’s business is based on winning or losing these bids. Contractors would like to predict the bids that may be submitted by their competitors. This will help contractors to obtain contracts and increase their business. Unit prices that are estimated for each quantity differ from contractor to contractor. These unit costs are dependent on factors such as historical data used for estimating unit costs, vendor quotes, market surveys, amount of material estimated, number of projects the contractor is working on, equipment rental costs, the amount of equipment owned by the contractor, and the risk averseness of the estimator. These factors are nearly similar when estimators are estimating cost of similar projects. Thus, there is a relationship between the projects that a particular contractor has bid in previous years and the cost the contractor is likely to quote for future projects. This relationship could be used to predict bids that the contractor might quote for future projects. For example, a contractor may use historical data for a certain year for bidding on certain type of projects, the unit prices may be adjusted for size, time and location, but the basis for bidding on projects of similar types is the same. Statistical tools can be used to model the underlying relationship between the final cost of the project quoted by a contractor to the quantities of materials or amount of tasks performed in a project. There are a number of statistical modeling techniques, but a model used for predicting costs should be flexible enough that it could adjust to depict any underlying pattern. Data such as amount of work to be performed for a certain line item, material cost index, labor cost index and a unique identifier for each participating contractor is used to predict bids that a contractor might quote for a certain project. To perform the analysis, artificial neural networks and multivariate adaptive regression splines are used. The results obtained from both the techniques are compared, and it is found that multivariate adaptive regression splines are able to predict the cost better than artificial neural networks.