This thesis uses a systems approach to develop a model for Collaborative Project Design (CPD). Failure of the software process is the area of concern. The focus of the argument is, however, on the organizational environment of the software process. A central argument is that the analytic tools of standard software development methodologies are inappropriate for systems synthesis. They provide little assistance in coping with the loose complexity that is inherent in the organizational environment in which the software process is embedded. These analytic tools and the engineering language and metaphor which dominate the software process undermine collaboration and disempower business users. CPD was developed to enable viable collaboration that is necessary for the software process to succeed. The purpose of CPD is to provide a systemic model of causal influences and social process in order to guide a project designer when intervening in projects which call for acts of shared creation and/or discovery. CPD was developed through a combination of action research (in projects involving software development and organisational transformation) and theoretical readings focused on the philosophy of meaning, systems thinking, social process and the software process. CPD emphasises that a collaborative project requires careful design of its underlying languages, metaphors and conversations. It identifies three distinct types of conversation, namely communication, dialogue and collaboration. The thesis describes how these conversation types are utilised in transforming a project's network of commitments from loose complexity via shared meaning to cohesive simplicity. Associated with each conversation type is a set of project influences which are developed into a causal influence model in order to depict a collaborative project as a dynamic system of mutually interdependent influences. This causal influence model was used to synthesise the learning from action research and the theoretical readings. An appreciative systems framework was then derived in order to justify a collaborative project as a self-regulating social system and was overlaid onto the causal influence model in order to derive CPD in its final form. CPD proved beneficial when tested in practical projects as a framework to organise a project designer's mind when designing project interventions.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

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M.Com. (Business Management) / It is possible to manage the software development process efficiently. It is, however, important to gain a thorough understanding of the software development process and to be able to measure productivity easily and repeatedly. .A concept which may be used with success in the management of a software project is that of software economy. Software economy is achieved when the greatest quantity of software of the highest quality is produced using the smallest amount of resources (people, hardware and software) in the shortest possible time. The extensive software development process model is an important tool which can be used to maintain the various stages of the development process. Important conclusions can be made from the model. One such a conclusion is that adding more people to a project which is running behind schedule, will not help the project to be finished on time, but may even slow the project down further. The most useful and easy to implement metric, the measurement of productivity, is Function Points. Non-technical personnel may use this technique and it can be implemented early in the life cycle of a project. It is possible to successfully manage the software development process by using basic management principles such as planning, organization, monitoring and control together with the necessary adjustments outlined in this work.

<p>This research discovers if there are early indicators of the conduct of clinical trials that related to predicting the success of a clinical trial. Successful trials were those achieving at least 100% of the minimum projected accrual goal necessary to statistically support the scientific objective. Two primary aspects of a clinical trial are investigated that influence success are identified as 1) factors related to the design and development stage of a trial and 2) factors that are observed once a clinical trial is implemented, or available for patient enrollment. The research is conducted using National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) sponsored trials for all therapeutic Phase I, I/II, II and III trials between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2007. </p> <p>Overall observations of the trials in the sample uncover that approximately two out of every five therapeutic studies conducted through NCI-CTEP will fail to achieve the minimum accrual goal. Furthermore, it is observed that phase III clinical trials are unique from non-phase III clinical trials; Phase III trials have longer development times, greater trial size with respect to accrual goals, and a higher rate failure in terms of inability to achieve the accrual goal. </p> <p>The findings of the research suggest that studies with shorter development time have a higher likelihood of achieving accrual success at trial closure; inversely, studies with longer development time have a decreased likelihood of achieving accrual success. Both the time-to-first accrual and the accrual performance at the expected period are both identified as potential accrual milestone indicators of predicting eventual accrual success. Finally, clinical trial characteristics, particularly the number of scientific reviews, can be used to explain the variance in the development time. </p>

The science of system safety provides a structured guideline for managers to follow in order to ensure safe operations, but it does not ensure against deviations from such guidelines. This responsibility lies with management. Engineering managers must be able to dictate and track safety requirements throughout product development, deployment, and operation by treating system safety as an integrated engineering discipline. It is not feasible to expect the technical teams to integrate safety into designs unless safety requirements are considered a design metric just as cost and performance. Therefore, the traditional method of employing a separate safety department to address safety requirements is not sufficient. This responsibility must be given to all technical departments and levied as a design requirement. / text

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / Most new generation organisations have management models and organisational performance measurement systems in place. All these new kinds of models and systems will not be enough in the race for survival. Organisations needs a clear point of view of where they are going -a vision about tomorrow and what they should do to overcome the gap, from their current situation in order to get there successfully. It is also important for organisations to have a solid foundation to base such a visioning process on. Reengineering, continuous renewal, total quality management, lean production, downsizing - these all have proven vital to survival. But getting better at what we do is just about keeping ourselves in the race - it's not about winning the race. To win, we will have to know what the strategic intent and business priorities of the competition are (where are they going), in order to make sure we get there first. Charles Handy said about the winners of the race, "... it will be those who invent the world, not those who respond to it." Benchmarking is a means to ensure the above, where one basically have to say, "Let's look honestly at ourselves and determine what we do well and what we do badly. And where we do things badly, let's figure out what the world standards are, and then find some way to commit ourselves to reaching those standards." The purpose of this study was therefore to ensure a means for an organisation to get ahead in the race. It is important to note that performance measurement plays an integral role in management and benchmarking, because no process or action can be managed if it can be measured. Organisations are also not solely based on actual detail processes. There are other more strategic as well as "softer" issues of an organisation that will become much more important in the future, than concrete processes. These factors are the visioning processes within an organisation and their impact on change, as well as the creation and mobilisation of certain knowledge for certain purposes. The end-result of the study was therefore a scientific analysis of an engineering business environment, in order to create a means/methodology to do benchmarking, whilst ensuring a balance between the strategic, operational and knowledge aspects.

M.Ing. / This dissertation aims to identify the skills, characteristics and management principles necessary for engineers who are involved in entrepreneurial activity. The dissertation covers the fundamental concepts influencing engineering managers; the marketing skills and processes which serve as a basis for successful entrepreneurship; training and development of entrepreneurial engineers; the engineer's function within the entrepreneurial environment; consulting engineering as a facet of entrepreneurship; business planning and financial controls, and finally a case study to correlate theory and practice and to provide a reference for future study. The primary objectives of the research are: to assess the realm of entrepreneurship; to determine what the engineering management principles required are in order to become a successful entrepreneur; to discuss the engineering process from an entrepreneurial perspective; to assess the engineering population in order to determine the potential for entrepreneurship and to formulate a proposal for successful entrepreneurial engineering. This study aims to serve as a reference for engineers who may decide to enter into an entrepreneurial at some point in their career.