Quality is often claimed as the 3rd dimension of any project: the success of a project depends on the management of time, cost and quality. However, quality is a much more elusive substance and its management can be problematic. This thesis examines some of the models proposed for managing quality in projects and considers their relevance via a number of case studies. The present study aims to provide a foundation from which a methodology for the management of quality in projects can be evolved. The general definition of “quality” is still discussed and its interpretation in the specific area of project management is open to debate. In this thesis it has been found useful to consider three levels of quality management in the project environment, broadly equivalent to those usually accepted in operations management: quality control, quality assurance and total quality management. Various methods of quality control have been employed in projects for many years. The emphasis of the present study is on the project management equivalents of quality assurance and total quality management and to examine whether they fulfil the true need. A major element of successful quality management is the establishing of constructive methods of feedback. Feedback is also often claimed to be a vital ingredient of successful project management: learning from past successes, and failures. A conduit to provide feedback is often problematic due to the very nature of projects and their finite lifespan. Mainstream thinking believes that standard quality systems employed in the production and operation environment can be incorporated effectively in project management thus increasing operational consistency and reducing the risk of activity or project failure. However, is the model of quality embedded in these systems relevant to projects with their characteristics of uniqueness and long time scales? Initial debate assumed that existing quality management systems would be of benefit in projects, which exhibited a lower level of uniqueness and were closer to an operations management perspective. A literature review followed to gauge the level of importance attached to quality systems and its role in the project process. This determined that there was a need to investigate what existing quality systems, contributed in a purely project environment and what impact they had on improving project success especially in regard to the uniqueness of the projects and to the size of the project organization involved. In addition, the impact an industry-standard quality system had on project organizations compared to project organizations that did not possesses any formal system. To compare and contrast the conventional approach to quality in projects, the complementary areas of systems thinking and system dynamics were explored. Examining an alternative field to quality management was beneficial in providing a different perspective on how systems can be modelled evaluated and applied to real-world applications. This part of the research contributed significantly to the formation of the ideas and opinions on the way in which the concept of quality should be promoted in project management. In particular, the identification of mental models and the use of graphical representations to describe, illustrate and model the tangible and intangible entities found in most types of system. The use of a case study methodology was seen as the most valid way of attaining a holistic view of the complete project process and exploring the salient issues surrounding quality and projects. The fieldwork carried out to facilitate this goal, comprised of a restricted number of in-depth case studies, which encapsulated complete projects. An essential part of this process was the use of participant observation and in part action research, as these approaches increased the access to the available qualitative data whilst being mutually beneficial to the research and to the organisations involved. The scope of the case studies carried out was governed by a number of constraints: • The availability of suitable projects. • The timespan of the available projects matching that of the research, consequently the projects studied are on a relatively small scale. • The organizations in which the action research process could be a valid exchange of services. • The reluctance of organizations in certain industries to allow access to data on projects in particular activities that had led to project failure. The alternative models and techniques offered by systems thinking and system dynamics were explored to see if they could deliver more insights into the diverse aspects of project quality and how feedback in systems can be effectively represented. From the four case studies carried out, it is evident that there is a need for a fundamental revision on how quality is both defined and measured in project management. There is a need for greater emphasis on the acquisition and retention of knowledge by project organizations including the ability to disperse that knowledge by a practical and useful medium. Existing quality management systems still exhibit their origins, which do not take into account the uniqueness and instability of the project environment. In practice, the demand for registration to an industry-recognised quality standard appears to discriminate against the smaller project organization. The impact on the larger organizations is no less significant due to the creation of ‘underground’ parallel working practices, which are a significant waste of resources. The veneer of compliance to a global standard does not help the project organization learn or accumulate knowledge. In conclusion, this thesis proposes that project management needs an alternative methodology to provide a more practical method of project feedback, to enhance the ability of future projects. This thesis puts forward a foundation for this methodology based upon the valuable attributes of the models identified during the research in addition to the value of the case studies compiled. The aim for the implementation of a practical quality system has to be based on a reappraisal of what its purpose is. Therefore, it is proposed that the objective of any system would be to capture knowledge, store and redistribute that knowledge in a manner that makes a positive contribution to future project success. Emphasis is placed on increasing success by the acquisition of knowledge, in contrast to the traditional quality concepts of decreasing risk by the control of activities. In essence a shift from existing mechanistic systems towards more neurocybernetic systems. The increasing capabilities of communication and information technologies make the practicalities of creating this type of system perfectly feasible.

This thesis is about how systems thinking might contribute to the successful management of change (MOC). The motivation is the increasing importance of MOC in an environment where competition and internationalisation of markets are ever intensifying: organisations either "change or die", yet MOC suffers adversely with unacceptably high failure rates. A critique of MOC literature shows that current MOe methodology is characterised by reductionist approaches with a diversity of confusing and contradictory suggestions and recipes. This is seen to be impoverished where different types of organisational change are interacting. All these suggest that MOC methodology itself needs to be improved and a systemic approach is more appropriate. In search of methodological underpinnings for proposing a systemic approach to MOC, literature on systems thinking is reviewed, indicating that systems approaches, especially critical systems thinking, are potentially powerful to inform the development of MOC. Nevertheless, important questions are raised about applying systems ideas to MOC. Further research is needed. And this has been done by triangulating data, theory and method to develop a fuller understanding of systems perspectives and their relevance to MOC. By combining MOC and systems thinking together in a theoretically informed way, a systemic MOC framework is suggested and revised. This framework is seen to provide a characterisation of MOC by identifying the conceptual components, a coherent theoretical structure by specifying and ordering the relationships between these components, and a way of helping understand and manage the diversity in organisational change systemically. This framework is theoretically underpinned and applied to a case study where different types of organisational change and their interactions are surfaced. The outcomes firmly support the view that MOe is characterised by different types of organisational change and their interactions, for which systemic approaches are more appropriate; thus the systemic MOC framework developed is seen to be useful in helping understand and manage organisational change more effectively. The findings are critiqued within the study, and from this come out the conclusions, and recommendations for future research.

Pavement Management Systems (PMS) are widely used by transportation agencies to maintain safe, durable and economic road networks. PMS prioritize the maintenance and rehabilitation of pavement sections by evaluating pavement performance at the network level. There are many PMS software packages that have been developed over the past decades for provincial/state road agencies. However, sometimes due to lack of budget and experience, adopting the existing PMS for a road agency is not cost effective. Thus, it is important to introduce a simple, effective, and affordable PMS for a local agency and municipality. This research is carried out in partnership between the City of Markham and the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology (CPATT) located at the University of Waterloo. For the purpose of developing a PMS for local agencies, an extensive literature review on PMS components was carried out, with emphasizing data inventory, data collection, and performance evaluation. In addition, the literature review also concentrated on the overall pavement condition assessment. In July 2011, a study on “Evaluation of Pavement Distress Measurement Survey” was conducted as a part of this research and was distributed to cities and municipalities across Canada. The study focused on the current state-of-the-practice in pavement distress and condition evaluation methods used by local agencies to compare the results from the literature review. The components of the proposed PMS framework are also developed based on the literature review with some modifications and technical requirements. The City of Markham is selected as a case study, since it represents a local agency and provides all the data, to illustrate the validation of the proposed PMS framework.

Both integrated library management systems and DAISY production and manipulation tools become widespread. We study how they could be combined to build a ready-to-use digital library with DAISY as its core format. The obtained framework should cover the entire book processing, from digital files provided either by publishers or by scanning printed material, until the delivery of DAISY content to end-users in a possibly secured way. We first give a functional description of the framework we have in mind. Then, we examine the existing tools of interest and give some tracks for further software developments.

Australia's tertiary educational environment is changing; in the past decade, it has faced a new set of challenges and pressures (Cunningham et al., 1998) that are encroaching on the traditional definitions of what higher education is. These challenges often dictate the directions in which the tertiary education environment evolves into. Within the framework of institutional reforms, the adopted policies are often the best indicators of that transition. Flexible delivery or learning has been espoused as a means of meeting and mediating some of those challenges. With their emphasis on catering to the needs and expectations of the consumer in a consumerist society, flexible policies are becoming the norm in most institutes of higher learning. However, of interest within the structure of the flexible delivery approach is the development of learner management systems (LMS). The question is what are learner management systems? What do they represent and what do they offer to the learner that differentiates it from the traditional forms of learning? In its basic form, a learner management system is essentially a series of processes that are developed and organised so as to efficiently provide the learner with the required access and interaction required to facilitate his or her learning. However, what are the benefits of being aware of the capabilities and limitations afforded by such approaches? How does it contribute to the process of teaching and learning in the context of higher education? The effectiveness of how these learner management systems are used in context to its application in multimedia programmes is of importance. Institutions are progressively introducing similar learning systems into their delivery framework. The question as to whether a singular adaptive system or a customised option remains to be tested.

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Thesis (Ph.D. in ) -- University of Colorado Denver, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 174-182). Free to UCD affiliates. Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations;

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-305).

Thesis (M.S.C.I.T.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jul. 14, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.