This study investigated the relationship between employees’ perceptions of justice and work attitudes in relation to organisational structure in selected commercial banks in Jordan. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed. Data obtained from 308 participants of the questionnaires and 18 interviewees from ten commercial banks in Jordan suggested centralisation played a minor role in employees’ perceptions of justice and work related attitudes. Participation in decision making was not shown to shape employees’ perceptions of justice and work attitudes. Centralising authority related to performing employees’ own tasks (hierarchy of authority) increased employees’ perceptions of interactional justice and job satisfaction. Formalisation and standardisation accounted for greater perceptions of justice and higher levels of satisfaction with jobs and organisational commitment. Employees’ perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice increased the employees’ job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Irrespective of gender, tenure and age, employees perceived justice similarly. Managers, compared to subordinates, perceived higher levels of procedural and distributive justice. Employees from branches, compared to those from headquarters, reported greater perceptions of justice. The study showed that the more uncertain employees are and the more they seek to avoid ambiguous situations, the stronger the relationships among organisational structure, perceptions of justice, and work-related attitudes. Many of the conditions and reasons, whereby the effects of structural dimensions on perceptions of justice and work related attitudes were more possible, were identified. Similarly, many of the conditions whereby the effects of perceptions of justice on work attitudes were more possible were also identified. Among these conditions were uncertainty avoidance culture, risk avoidance, trust in managers, perceived bank support, and perceived managers’ support

The dynamic of confrontation and conflict that prevails between project team members and organizations in the construction industry can provoke some devastating consequences on project performance (Loosemore, M. 1998). Furthermore, the fragmentation of projects into different phases impacts on the professional relationships between team members and organizations involved (Singh, A. and Johnson, M., 1998). This context invites an investigation into the different factors that condition the execution of a project and the impacts, (human, organizational, institutional, governmental, technological, and others) on the relational dynamics of project team. According to Trompenaars (1996), people and teams are as important as other aspects (technical and organizational) in project success. This study investigates the psychological features of the main players from the different organizations involved in the project, and seeks to understand the influence they have on the performance of multidisciplinary teams. The methodological approach was to undertake in-depth case studies of the teams associated with four recently completed construction projects in Quebec. All the projects involved public clients. The case studies gathered information about the performance of the projects and also the psychological characteristics of the team members. Standard analysis tools were used to draw conclusions on the strengths and weaknesses of the teams and the propensity for these to impact on project performance. The findings of the study show that all the teams had significant weaknesses that could lead to problems with project performance. In some of the cases, the analysis shows that there was a link between project failure and team characteristics. The study concludes by proposing that there is a value to construction clients in evaluating project team characteristics before projects commence. It is argued that weaknesses can be identified and appropriate action taken to avoid potential problems in the execution of the project

The continuing incidence of costly disputes in the construction industry has led to a common interest of researchers in different countries to identify the generic aspects of conflicts, claims, disputes and their resolution. This thesis undertakes an extensive review of literature in the field of construction disputes examining the current understanding of the causes of disputes, as identified by other researchers in the field, and attempts made to minimize them. An analysis of the literature helps identify important themes for particular investigation: procurement methods, risk allocation, claims management and dispute resolution methods. A preliminary examination of 20 projects in Lebanon confirmed the existence and revealed the extent of disputes on Lebanese projects. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews with practitioners actively involved in construction projects in Lebanon at the project management level are conducted, from which a set of dispute influencing areas emerge. Fifty cases of disputes occurring on four live case study projects in Lebanon are also analysed to examine the risk allocation and occurrence, the behavioural attitudes of key stakeholders, and the factors which lead to disputes between the parties. The findings demonstrate the relationship between those risks which are addressed in the contract and their interaction (when they eventuate) with the behavioural traits of the project participants involved. Furthermore, the dispute factors encountered in these fifty cases are categorized into dispute influencing areas to establish any correlation with the areas raised in the twenty-four interviews. Following comparison of the evidence gained from the literature, the interviews and the case studies, a set of provisional recommendations to minimize disputes is proposed and organized under three themes: a pre-contract award workshop; the drafting of general and particular conditions of contract; and the potential for improvement based behavioural on compliance of project participants. The validity of the provisional recommendations is tested by the reviews of five experts in the field of construction disputes, in accordance with which the recommendations are amended.

The challenges arising from the changing demographic profile and the rapid increase in the older population in the UK promotes the development of a range of models of housing and support that allow elderly individuals to live independently for as long as possible. Over half a million elderly individuals live in rented, sheltered housing in England. Sheltered housing is purpose built accommodation for elderly individuals who want to live independently in an environment that provides support and is secure. It is a common view that knowledge sharing plays an important role in the success of businesses and organisations. This study proposes to identify the critical success factors (CSF) of knowledge sharing that should improve the provision of floating support services (FSS) to the elderly in sheltered housing. Literature demonstrates that the success of knowledge sharing is influenced by factors including trust, management support, communication, team networking, technology, structure and organisational culture. Knowledge sharing covers a wide variety of functionalities and supports different sets of activities within an organisation. Therefore, to achieve the research aim, both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are used to gather data. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with thirty (30) participants and survey questionnaires engaging ninety (99) respondents across six organisations in Greater Manchester. The findings suggest that trust and relationships, team networking, strong leadership support and information technology are the CSFs that can improve knowledge sharing between floating support workers and adult social service workers; and play an important role in the decision to share knowledge. Based on these findings, a framework for improving knowledge sharing in the provision of FSS was developed. The framework will be of benefit to policy makers and regulators such as housing associations and providers of floating support services. The findings from this research contribute valuable new knowledge to both researchers and practitioners in both housing associations and the adult social service sectors by developing a holistic approach and in turn increasing their chances of improving knowledge sharing between teams providing floating support services.

The implicit aim in this kind of study, especially within developing countries, is to provide a tool that allows an economic decision maker to stand on solid ground and to reduce the problems that arise from the stochastic decisions in such countries. One of most effective tools, in this regard, is the econometric model. Accordingly, in pursuit of achieving this aim, this study constructed a small econometric model for the Libyan economy with a view to assessing the existing and alternative economic policies, specifically fiscal and monetary policies, and then aimed to explore their transmission mechanisms and interaction. Therefore, the model is designed to capture the main characteristics of the economy whilst also exploiting the developments in economic theory and econometric analytical tools. The model consists of six blocks, namely, the aggregate demand, the aggregate supply, the balance of payments, the government, the monetary, and the price. The model has been estimated utilizing time-series data spanning the period from 1970 to 2006. Also, the single equation of the model was estimated by using the ‘Gets’ technique which involves the formulation of a ‘general’ unrestricted model ‘GUM’ that is congruent with the data and the application of a ‘testing down’ process, eliminating variables with coefficients that are not statistically significant leading to a simpler ‘specific’ congruent model that encompasses rival models. This step achieves the first objective of the use of econometric models which is the structural analysis. In addition, this study has carried out the remaining two objectives of econometric studies, namely forecasting and policy analysis. Accordingly, in order to fulfil this aim the model of the study has been solved as a whole, simultaneously using the dynamic simulation technique. It is evident from the dynamic simulation of the model that the model’s performance is, generally, quite satisfactory, whereby the model tracking behaviour clarified a good fit, and this is realized for most of the equations which performed much better than would be expected for a model of a developing country such as Libya. The evaluation of the forecast accuracy of the model using the (MAPE), (RMSPE), and the Theil inequality coefficient (U) asserted the relatively good performance of the model. The simulations’ experiments in this study have evaluated the potential influences of the two major policy options, fiscal policy and monetary policy. As expected, with regard to the analysis of the monetary policy scenario and compared with the fiscal policy scenario, it can be concluded that monetary policy is less efficient compared to fiscal policy, according to this proposed model for the analysis of economic policy in Libya. In addition, also, it is evident that fiscal policy should play a key role in the management of the Libyan economy and the role of monetary policy should be confined to supporting fiscal policy.

The purpose of the study is to identify the tourism potential, examine the significance of tourism to the national economy and evaluate the marketing of Libya as a tourist destination. The effects of tourism development on several countries including Libya are considered. Concepts of tourism development including policies, planning and marketing for tourism are used to provide a theoretical basis for the study. Policy recommendations are produced to encompass a strategy framework to improve the performance of the tourism sector in Libya.

The construction industry is very much fragmented and the concept of interoperability and integrated model based engineering is now becoming an industrial need, to address the difficulties of information exchange at all stages and between all parties involved in the construction life cycle. The lAI's IFC (common building information model standard) is now maturing in supporting the various phases of the construction life cycle. In addition, the industry is beginning to use geographic information systems (GISs) in various stages of the construction life cycle. Geospatial representations of building information models can be required when working with geographic information systems in the construction life cycle. On the other hand, geographic information systems are commonly used information systems to plan and manage the urban built environment. Some urban management tasks such as disaster management, delivery of goods and services, detailed cityscape visualisation require a high amount of geometrical and non-geometrical information about buildings. In fact, the lack of integration between Building Information Models and the Geospatial Information Domain, creates a technological barrier to, automation of some industrial processes in construction life cycle and urban management domains. In order to find a solution to this integration problem, this study aimed to assess the applicability and benefits of an implementation of a building information model in geospatial context. In light of the aim, the research assesses how a technological innovation (an implementation of a building information model in a geospatial context) can improve the process in related areas of the construction life cycle and urban management domains. The research started with a background literature review that is concerned with the trends and visions of construction information technology, in order to determine the main research directions. Major industrial trends and visions of, computer integrated construction were investigated and, building and geospatial information modelling are selected as two main research directions. The next phase of the background study aimed to investigate the building information modelling knowledge domain. In this context Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP), STEP based methods for information exchange, file and database implementations of STEP, STEP based building information modelling efforts, the structure of industry standard building information model- Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)-, several industrial projects that implement IFC model are investigated. The final stage of the background study investigated the modelling and management of geospatial information. This stage of the research started with investigating the role of geospatial information in construction and urban management knowledge domains. The research continued with investigating the geospatial data modelling efforts in two and three dimensions, and also looked at the use of three dimensional geospatial

Many hospitals have developed over a number of years in a piecemeal fashion. This has resulted in complex environments made up of long and confusing corridor systems with bends, turns, and confusing signs. Such settings challenge and frustrate those who visit them. The importance of wayfinding to building use, costs and safety and the growth in terms of theories, principles, guidelines, and methodologies over the years does not appear to have made an impact on wayfinding performance in complex hospitals. Thus, there remains a need to find more effective wayfinding solutions to the problems that continue to occur in complex hospitals. This research aims at improving methods for developing wayfinding systems and strategies in old and complex hospital environments. The study adopts a design science research approach informed by uniquely adequate observations of how wayfinders make sense of wayfinding information embedded in the complex built environments they have to navigate. The approach includes an extensive review of literature on wayfinding supported by that of the fields of knowledge management, design (architectural and industrial), and production and operations management. The research brings together the disciplines of design and knowledge management to sensitise designers to the varied needs and knowledge levels of wayfinders when designing wayfinding systems. Drawing on findings from both the review of literature and extensive ethnographic fieldwork the research has produced prescriptive and evaluative wayfinding frameworks to aid the design of effective and efficient wayfinding systems and strategies. The outcome of successfully applying the design science research approach to researching the problems of wayfinding and mapping the approach research process with the unique adequacy approach is the Wayfinding Conceptual framework. It represents a methodological contribution, aimed at helping to mitigate the problem of relevance often associated with academic management research.

The study aims to understand the city centre living characteristics from a sustainable travel behaviour perspective. Three datasets have been utilised; the UK Trip Rate and Information Computer System (TRICS), the Scottish Household Survey and an original household travel survey which has been conducted in Manchester city centre. An array of univariate and multivariate statistical techniques have been utilised to conduct the required travel analysis and modelling. Using Trics 2012a, exploratory analysis has shown a significant variation in the urban form characteristics between residential neighbourhoods located in central locations and those located in other areas. Households in the central locations generally travel less than others; in particular, town centre households walk more and drive less than others in out-of centre areas. In contrast, the inferential analysis showed evidence of a mediation effect whereby neighbourhood features such as the ratio of flats, parking density and transit provisions explain some of the differences in trip frequency. The mediation analysis also revealed that built environment features only partially account for these differences. The Scottish Household Survey and the Manchester city centre survey datasets have been utilised in order to investigate the potential impacts of several socio-spatial and attitudinal attributes on the city centre residents’ personal mobility. Whereas the review process disclosed the notable increase in the residents of the UK city centre and a revival of its housing sector over the past decade, the descriptive analysis revealed some distinct characteristics of those residents such as they are typically young adults, modern and well-qualified and living in single person households or as couples. Walking is their common mode for commuting, shopping and leisure. In Manchester city centre, 42% of the residents’ journeys were found to be within the city centre catchment area. In contrast, the travel behaviour models indicated the potential impacts of socio-spatial attributes such as car ownership, income and parking on mobility measures such as car ownership, mode choice and vehicular mileage. Finally, some attitudinal factors were found to be influential even after controlling for the socio-spatial effects.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is defined as an approach to building design and construction through modelling technology, associated sets of processes and people to produce, communicate and analyse building information models. The implementation of BIM is expected to improve the delivery of design and construction through 3D visualisation, integrated and automated drawing production, intelligent documentation and information retrieval, consistent data and information, automated conflict detection and automated material take off. Although the potential benefits of BIM are well documented, the implementation process requires proper strategic planning and a thoughtful review of many aspects to realise those benefits. One part of the strategic planning is the readiness assessment where it measures the current position of the organisation as compared to the targeted implementation requirements of the BIM system by using several categories and readiness criteria. Set against the background of the Malaysian construction industry, in the infancy stage of BIM implementation, however has raised the question about the categories and the readiness criteria that should be used to conduct the assessment. The lack of documented BIM implementation in a form of publicly available reports, best practice and guidelines has also escalated the situation. The aim of this research was therefore set to support improvements in the design consultant practice by developing an organisational readiness framework for BIM implementation. The research explored and identified the readiness criteria as the main components of the framework. The research engaged a multiple-case-studies approach and four design consultant companies were selected for the primary data collection. Data from each company was analysed by using content analysis technique before it was cross analysed to determine the pattern of answer. After that, the findings were discussed and theoretically validated to produce a conceptual framework. The conceptual framework was later validated through a focus group workshop to produce the final framework. As the research’s main outcome, the readiness framework consists of four elements. The first readiness element is Process which has three categories residing within it, which are, Process Change Strategy, BIM Implementation Management, and Policy. The second readiness element is Management which includes the categories of Business Strategy, Management Competency, and Leadership. The third element is Technology which also has three categories residing within it, which are Hardware, Technical Support, and Software and the fourth element is People, which has four categories and they are, Roles and Responsibilities, Skill and Attitude, Training and Education and Work Environment. Meanwhile, the 38 readiness criteria that were identified and validated, resided accordingly within each readiness category. The readiness framework as the main outcome of the research can be used to assist the design consultant to identify the readiness gap of the company. The importance lies on informing the area of concern so the effort for BIM implementation can be prioritised. In addition, the individual case study report which had information rich data could help the industry to understand the BIM implementation issue within the context of Malaysia. The outcome of this research showed that the main problems that are preventing consultants from embracing BIM were rarely technical. They were related more to the management and people issues which underpin the capability of the company to successfully implement BIM.