Research into the use of project management procedures has mostly been directed at the private sector of the construction industry, despite the fact that the public sector contribute almost half of the UK's construction output, in the repair and maintenance sector of the construction industry. Indeed, since the introduction of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in 1980, the public sector has had to carry out a continually increasing proportion of their work under competitive conditions, bidding for work along with private sector construction contractors. This thesis focuses on the use of project management procedures in both private and public sector construction contractor organisations, looking at the utilisation of a number of different project management procedures, including organisation profile, project planning and control, quality management, and human resource considerations. It is believed that all these aspects must be considered together, if an accurate picture of an organisation's approach to the management of projects is to be achieved. The argument employed throughout this study is that where project management procedures are adopted in the management of projects, a project manager will have the potential to better manage the project, than would otherwise be the case. Empirical research was carried out using both a quantitative approach (structured mail questionnaire) and a qualitative approach (semi structured interviews). 100 responses were received in all, 80 to a questionnaire for construction contractors, 63 in the private and 17 in the public sector. Personal interviews were carried out with 20 project managers. Analysis of the data investigated the use of a number of different project management procedures and identified differences in their use between private and public sector contractors. The results showed that despite tendering for and carrying out work in the same market area, there were notable differences in the use of project management procedures between private and public sector construction contractors. In the main, private sector construction contractors utilised project management procedures to a greater extent than contractors in the public sector; however, in many instances the use of such procedures could hardly be described as extensive. For example, planning in many instances did not extend to the monitoring and control phase once projects were underway; the 'baseline' plan was effectively disregarded for updating project status, particularly so in the public sector. Despite the powerful nature of performance monitoring techniques, such as 'earned value analysis', little use was made of them. This general lack of project control was further exacerbated because both private and public sector construction contractors tended to operate separate 'stand alone' project costing systems, remote from those used for project planning and control purposes. There was a strong commitment to quality in both the private and public sectors. However, a noticeable difference wast that the private sector tended to apply their quality management systems to all areas of their business, whereas, the public sector normally only operated such systems for restricted areas of work, when compared to the 'overall' project. Of further concern was that both private and public sector construction contractors took account of the 'human' element to a much lesser degree than issues of time, cost or quality, even though they said they viewed it as important. Notwithstanding the existence of project management procedures for many years, there was a common lack of awareness and under utilisation of all but the most straightforward procedures in both sectors of the industry. This was especially so within the public sector. Essentially, private and public sector construction contractors must initiate familiarisation and training programmes within their organisations to enable their project managers to access the best project management 'tools' available to assist them in their projects.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2008. / Title from PDF cover (viewed April 30, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 262-298)

Submitted by Karen Britto (karenbritto@unipampa.edu.br) on 2018-11-20T14:48:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mauro Barcellos Sopeña - 2016.pdf: 2656108 bytes, checksum: 8af022580ee49770af088ad153fd3c8c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-20T14:48:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mauro Barcellos Sopeña - 2016.pdf: 2656108 bytes, checksum: 8af022580ee49770af088ad153fd3c8c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-22 / A presente tese examina contratos agroindustriais selecionados para o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir do conceito williamsoniano de governança eficiente, busca-se compreender e mensurar de que forma o comportamento oportunista dos agentes se manifesta diante daquelas estruturas de governança, considerando o princípio da incompletude contratual. Para tanto, utiliza-se de métodos mistos de análise que combinam a abordagem quantitativa oriunda da lógica fuzzy, com o aporte qualitativo dos estudos multicaso. O pressuposto comportamental do oportunismo, próprio da Nova Economia Institucional, é analisado para contratos da orizicultura, fumicultura e suinocultura. Propositalmente – e a priori, os contratos são considerados, respectivamente, como clássicos, neoclássicos e bilaterais, o que corresponde à tipologia contratual definida por Oliver Williamson a partir da teoria relacional de Ian MacNeil. Ao considerar que cada modelo contratual apresenta condições estruturais próprias e distintas dos demais, a análise comparativa da ocorrência de posturas oportunistas passa a importar. Assim, as atividades agroindustriais são analisadas em termos de conformidade com os modelos teóricos, utilizando-se, para isto, controladores ou marcadores apropriados em cada estrutura de governança. O modelo fuzzy elaborado para a mensuração do fenômeno constitui-se de três categorias de análise: (a) o nível de confiança que os agentes possuem sobre a contraparte contratual, (b) as referências que possuem junto a seus pares e (c) a importância que atribuem à adoção de salvaguardas contratuais. A análise qualitativa de cada caso contém, além das entrevistas junto aos agentes, processos de observação, pesquisas documentais e visitas a entidades setoriais representativas. Registra-se, a partir da análise dos dados, uma forte correspondência entre os resultados apurados em ambos os métodos, ou seja, ambos os planos de análise apresentaram a mesma tendência acerca da postura dos agentes, o que valida, de certa forma, o modelo quantitativo proposto. Os resultados globais do trabalho demonstram ainda que um maior nível de contratualização formal, juntamente com uma maior complexidade contratual, associa-se com maior ocorrência de comportamentos oportunistas por parte dos agentes – resultado este já sugerido pela literatura, embora com escassos modelos analíticos. Nesta perspectiva, outras contribuições de ordem teórica foram possíveis, sobretudo quando o referido pressuposto comportamental foi cotejado com atributos próprios da transação. Em linhas gerais, os acordos examinados revelaram a existência de uma importante co-especificidade de avaliação e de prova em ativos, propriedade esta que está diretamente vinculada à ocorrência de oportunismo via informação assimétrica. Este achado contribui para uma análise mais realista daquelas atividades agroindustriais, além de expandir o conceito de ativos específicos. Por fim, uma especial dimensão relativa aos problemas de informação assimétrica em contratos foi detectada. A proposição decorrente sustenta-se na noção de revelação e validação da informação por parte dos agentes, questão esta que representa uma nova e importante dimensão estrutural existente para aqueles contratos. / This thesis examines agroindustrial contracts selected for the State of Rio Grande do Sul. From the williamsoniano concept of efficient governance, we seek to understand and measure how the opportunistic behaviour of agents is manifested on those governance structures, whereas the principle of contractual incompleteness. To do so, uses mixed methods analysis combining quantitative approach of fuzzy logic, with the qualitative contribution of parallel studies. The behavioral assumption of opportunism, of New Institutional Economics, is parsed for contracts of rice, fumicultura and pig farming. Purpose – and a priori, the contracts are considered, respectively, as classics, and bilateral, neoclassical which corresponds to the contractual typology defined by Oliver Williamson from the relational theory of Ian MacNeil. When considering that each contractual model presents structural conditions and separate themselves from the others, the comparative analysis of the occurrence of opportunistic postures passes the import. Thus, the agro-industrial activities are analysed in terms of conformity with the theoretical models, using, for this, controllers or appropriate markers each governance structure. The fuzzy model developed for the measurement of the phenomenon consists of three categories of analysis: (a) the level of confidence that the agents have on the contractual counterpart (b) references that have next to their peers and (c) the importance we attach to the adoption of contractual safeguards. The qualitative analysis of each case contains, in addition to the interviews with the agents, processes, documentary research and observation visits to sectoral representative entities. Registers, from the analysis of the data, a strong correspondence between the results calculated in both methods, i.e. both plans showed the same tendency analysis on the attitude of the agents that validates, in some ways, the proposed model. The overall results of the work demonstrate a higher level of formal contracts, along with a greater complexity of contract, associated with a higher occurrence of opportunistic behaviour on the part of the agents – this result suggested by literature, although with few analytical models. In this perspective, other order theoretical contributions were possible, especially when the behavioral assumption was cotejado with own attributes of the transaction. In General, the agreements examined revealed the existence of an important evaluation and evidence co-especificidade in assets, property is directly linked to the occurrence of opportunism via asymmetric information. This finding contributes to a more realistic analysis of those agro-industrial activities, as well as expand the concept of specific assets. Finally, a particular dimension concerning problems of asymmetric information in contracts was determined. The resulting proposition is supported in the notion of revelation and validation of the information by the agents, which represents a new and important dimension existing in those structural contracts.

This thesis examines agroindustrial contracts selected for the State of Rio Grande do Sul. From the williamsoniano concept of efficient governance, we seek to understand and measure how the opportunistic behaviour of agents is manifested on those governance structures, whereas the principle of contractual incompleteness. To do so, uses mixed methods analysis combining quantitative approach of fuzzy logic, with the qualitative contribution of parallel studies. The behavioral assumption of opportunism, of New Institutional Economics, is parsed for contracts of rice, fumicultura and pig farming. Purpose and a priori, the contracts are considered, respectively, as classics, and bilateral, neoclassical which corresponds to the contractual typology defined by Oliver Williamson from the relational theory of Ian MacNeil. When considering that each contractual model presents structural conditions and separate themselves from the others, the comparative analysis of the occurrence of opportunistic postures passes the import. Thus, the agro-industrial activities are analysed in terms of conformity with the theoretical models, using, for this, controllers or appropriate markers each governance structure. The fuzzy model developed for the measurement of the phenomenon consists of three categories of analysis: (a) the level of confidence that the agents have on the contractual counterpart (b) references that have next to their peers and (c) the importance we attach to the adoption of contractual safeguards. The qualitative analysis of each case contains, in addition to the interviews with the agents, processes, documentary research and observation visits to sectoral representative entities. Registers, from the analysis of the data, a strong correspondence between the results calculated in both methods, i.e. both plans showed the same tendency analysis on the attitude of the agents that validates, in some ways, the proposed model. The overall results of the work demonstrate a higher level of formal contracts, along with a greater complexity of contract, associated with a higher occurrence of opportunistic behaviour on the part of the agents this result suggested by literature, although with few analytical models. In this perspective, other order theoretical contributions were possible, especially when the behavioral assumption was cotejado with own attributes of the transaction. In General, the agreements examined revealed the existence of an important evaluation and evidence co-especificidade in assets, property is directly linked to the occurrence of opportunism via asymmetric information. This finding contributes to a more realistic analysis of those agro-industrial activities, as well as expand the concept of specific assets. Finally, a particular dimension concerning problems of asymmetric information in contracts was determined. The resulting proposition is supported in the notion of revelation and validation of the information by the agents, which represents a new and important dimension existing in those structural contracts. / A presente tese examina contratos agroindustriais selecionados para o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A partir do conceito williamsoniano de governança eficiente, busca-se compreender e mensurar de que forma o comportamento oportunista dos agentes se manifesta diante daquelas estruturas de governança, considerando o princípio da incompletude contratual. Para tanto, utiliza-se de métodos mistos de análise que combinam a abordagem quantitativa oriunda da lógica fuzzy, com o aporte qualitativo dos estudos multicaso. O pressuposto comportamental do oportunismo, próprio da Nova Economia Institucional, é analisado para contratos da orizicultura, fumicultura e suinocultura. Propositalmente e a priori, os contratos são considerados, respectivamente, como clássicos, neoclássicos e bilaterais, o que corresponde à tipologia contratual definida por Oliver Williamson a partir da teoria relacional de Ian MacNeil. Ao considerar que cada modelo contratual apresenta condições estruturais próprias e distintas dos demais, a análise comparativa da ocorrência de posturas oportunistas passa a importar. Assim, as atividades agroindustriais são analisadas em termos de conformidade com os modelos teóricos, utilizando-se, para isto, controladores ou marcadores apropriados em cada estrutura de governança. O modelo fuzzy elaborado para a mensuração do fenômeno constitui-se de três categorias de análise: (a) o nível de confiança que os agentes possuem sobre a contraparte contratual, (b) as referências que possuem junto a seus pares e (c) a importância que atribuem à adoção de salvaguardas contratuais. A análise qualitativa de cada caso contém, além das entrevistas junto aos agentes, processos de observação, pesquisas documentais e visitas a entidades setoriais representativas. Registra-se, a partir da análise dos dados, uma forte correspondência entre os resultados apurados em ambos os métodos, ou seja, ambos os planos de análise apresentaram a mesma tendência acerca da postura dos agentes, o que valida, de certa forma, o modelo quantitativo proposto. Os resultados globais do trabalho demonstram ainda que um maior nível de contratualização formal, juntamente com uma maior complexidade contratual, associa-se com maior ocorrência de comportamentos oportunistas por parte dos agentes resultado este já sugerido pela literatura, embora com escassos modelos analíticos. Nesta perspectiva, outras contribuições de ordem teórica foram possíveis, sobretudo quando o referido pressuposto comportamental foi cotejado com atributos próprios da transação. Em linhas gerais, os acordos examinados revelaram a existência de uma importante co-especificidade de avaliação e de prova em ativos, propriedade esta que está diretamente vinculada à ocorrência de oportunismo via informação assimétrica. Este achado contribui para uma análise mais realista daquelas atividades agroindustriais, além de expandir o conceito de ativos específicos. Por fim, uma especial dimensão relativa aos problemas de informação assimétrica em contratos foi detectada. A proposição decorrente sustenta-se na noção de revelação e validação da informação por parte dos agentes, questão esta que representa uma nova e importante dimensão estrutural existente para aqueles contratos.