The integration of risk management in major projects within the construction and oil and gas industries has never been more significant especially as these projects are becoming larger and more complex. The increased requirement for risk to be efficiently managed is also supported by the inflated amount of legislation in this area, mainly due to incidents like the Piper Alpha installation in 1988. Hence risk management is developing into a multifarious process which needs continual update throughout the project’s life. Even though the legislation has expanded, there is still no standardisation to which the firms are to perform risk management. Therefore, improvements to the techniques that are used are possible and necessary. Current methods are too conservative resulting in substantial costs and less understanding about the risks themselves. Therefore, more detailed risk management techniques are imperative. This thesis determines the five steps of risk management which are essential to achieve a controlled risk environment. The research involves an in-depth questionnaire canvassing the largest companies within the construction and the oil and gas industries in the UK, who are constantly involved with major projects. The questionnaire ascertains important information which will assist companies in selecting the most pertinent and successful techniques for each of the five steps. A case study from the oil industry is introduced and proposals are made to improve the quantitative risk analysis methodology. This, in turn, will aid the decision making process when confronted with technical risks and will ultimately produce a more controlled risk environment. In addition, valuable information will be gained due to a better understanding of the risks as well as maximising profits. A new risk analysis method is subsequently derived which is based on the use of the @RISK package. It is intended that the results of this thesis will be incorporated in future risk analyses.

Under the current results-driven development agenda, sound evaluation, and a corresponding evaluation toolkit, need to be in place to examine whether and to what extent development interventions have achieved their targeted objectives and results, and to generate lessons for further development learning and improvement. My review of the literature shows that innovative and appropriate evaluation approaches are needed to address key challenges in evaluation such as the tension between learning and accountability objectives, the need to unpack the mechanisms linking outputs and outcomes or goal, and to add an actor perspective. Irrespective of project type, the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) is often a standard requirement of major official donor agencies on projects they fund, so as to fulfil bureaucratic imperatives. However, it is often considered inadequate in addressing key challenges in development evaluation. Given the dominant status of the LFA with such strong support from donors, it is helpful to seek a ‘middle way': a combination of the LFA with other approaches in order to address some of its inadequacies, while satisfying donor agencies' requirements. A synthesis of the LFA and Outcome Mapping (OM) is one such option. This thesis explores the practical value and usefulness of a synthesis model empirically. Applying the model in two case study aid projects, I found that it serves well as a theory-based evaluation tool with a double-stranded (actor strand and results chain) theory of change. The model helps reconcile learning and accountability and add explanatory power and an explicit actor perspective. It also helps establish causation and enable attribution claims at various results levels with its different elements. The model has some limitations but my results suggest it can be usefully adopted. The choice of its application depends on project evaluation context and purpose in specific cases.

Nos últimos vinte anos, alguns programas voltados ao atendimento de populações de baixa renda foram implementados por órgãos governamentais, inclusive empresas estatais fornecedoras de serviços públicos. No caso da empresa responsável pela distribuição de energia elétrica na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo, esses programas atuaram em um largo espectro de atividades, indo da implementação de redes de distribuição de eletricidade em favelas à administração de circos-escola. Devido às características de funcionamento da empresa e do contexto em que ela estava inserida, os chamados programas sociais não foram objetos de avaliações sistemáticas, o que possibilitou o predomínio de opiniões preconceituosas e não permitiu a definição de regras claras, que garantissem a continuidade dos seus benefícios. Com a transferência do controle das empresas distribuidoras para o setor privado, passa a ser ainda mais necessário o estabelecimento de normas para esse atendimento, dado o volume de pessoas atendidas por eles e a importância da energia elétrica no cotidiano. A Avaliação sistêmica dos programas da Eletropaulo voltados ao fornecimento de energia elétrica a núcleos residenciais de baixa renda aponta na direção de que esse tipo de atendimento pode ser viável para a concessionária e para a sociedade, se operados dentro de limites de uma regulamentação adequada, que garanta o equilíbrio entre todos os interesses. / During last twenty years, government, as well as state-owned companies, implemented many public programs in order to assist low income populations. In the specific case of Eletropaulo, the company responsible for the distribution of energy in the Metropolitan region of São Paulo, there was a large selection of activities, ranging from the implantation of electric grid in slums to the management of school-circuses. Due to particular operational conditions and the context of Eletropaulos situation, the so called social programs were not systematically evaluated. As a result, prejudice against these programs arouse and clear rules were not defined to guarantee continuous benefits. With the privatization of electrical energy distribution companies, it is even more necessary a clear regulation of these programs, given the volume of people served by them in addition to the importance of electrical power to all kinds of activities. Systematical evaluation of the program of electrical energy distribution in poor areas proves that it can be feasible both to the company and the society if the regulation guarantees the balance between all interests.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The aim this study was to assess the impact of training of Extension Officers on poverty alleviation agricultural projects in Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality. It aimed to assess if the skills that the Extension Officers acquired from the training offered to them did have a positive impact on the farmers and their projects. The objectives of the study thus, were: to identify and describe the nature and relevance of the training programs offered to the Extension Officers; to assess the impact of training and development on service delivery; and to suggest appropriate actions or interventions as may be necessary to improve the impact on service delivery. The study was qualitative in design and it sampled 10 projects. Data was gathered from Extension Officers attached to the 10 projects, famers, key informants consisting of community leaders and headmen and Deputy Managers. The study used focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to collect data. The key findings from this study are: computer literacy skills training seems to be the most popular one among the Extensions Officers. Some of them have never been given the opportunity to attend agricultural-related training. The study recommends that the computer literacy should be combined with the technical agricultural subjects so that the Extension Officers could be equipped with more information which will assist them to search for information from the internet and to impart the agricultural information to the farmers so that they could improve their productivity and income. Training in marketing and financial management is imperative for farmers to enhance their productivity and to manage their finances. The study also found out that the Extension Officers are not receiving adequate posttraining supervision in the form of evaluation. The frequent project visits and supervision of the extension officers’ daily duties by their superiors can improve their commitments to their work as well as increase the farmers’ productivity. Farmers lament the fact that they are offered the training theoretically and none of the extension officers make an effort to demonstrate to them practically. The work-related training which the Extension Officers have attended have improved service delivery at their work place because some of the beneficiaries since they started working in their projects, they have been getting their salary every month and their secret is that they cultivate the correct vegetables at the right time and this helps them to manage the three months waiting period easily. The Limpopo Provincial Department of Agriculture should extend the number of the extension officers in their municipality so that they could be available when they need them. The study adds to the knowledge base on the impact of training of extension officers on poverty alleviation agricultural projects.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Construction project organisation is a complex human system. Despite the formal governance structure of project, construction works and activities still rely primarily on informal personal contacts of the participants. It is the “here-andnow” interactions and mutual adjustment of project participants that underpins daily construction operations. From the perspective of social learning theory, human interactions in project organization involve learning. In this context, the social nature of learning comes to prominence. Learning embodies the accommodation and adjustment of the project participants’ expectation and tacit nuances prevalent in the interactions among participants. As a human system, the organization of project participants in a project forms a social network. The relational links of participants embedded within the network act as an important resource. This resource, especially the goodwill engendered among the participants, can be used to facilitate actions. Such goodwill is referred to as social capital. The combination of these two perspectives enables the construction of a model of the project team. Social capital engendered in the project organization can be appropriated to facilitate positive actions. In this line of conception, the network of relationships among the project participants may offer mutual support for the cultivation of reflective practices and learning in terms of adaptation, integration, and cooperation. Because social capital is the primordial form of social phenomenon, it is postulated that social capital provides the conditions necessary for learning to take place, and learning, in turn, contributes to project success – that is, project learning mediates the impact of social capital on project success. To test this hypothesis and a series of other related propositions, empirical studies had been carried out within the Hong Kong construction industry. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted in the empirical studies – questionnaire survey and case studies were conducted. Findings reveal that a more integrative procurement arrangement, management commitment, project team appraisal system that emphasises team working, participants’ intensive interactions, positive personality all contribute to the formation of project social capital, while multiple managerial hierarchies, subcontractor-induced problems, government transparency requirement, goals mismatch, and bureaucratic contract administration all impede its formation. In project organisation, the overlapping of both formal and informal organisational structures occupied by personnel with both technical and managerial capabilities improves project organising efficiency. Indeed, with the mediational thesis generally supported – the impact of social capital on project performance is mediated through learning - and the emergence of a new personal dimension, social capital is a critical antecedent to project organising. However, because social capital and learning affect the soft rather than hard success criteria, other factors need to be considered for overall project performance. These other factors are the capabilities of all project parties and the adoption of relational contracting norms and behaviours. It is the combination of all these factors with social capital as the substrate of participants’ interactions that are most likely to lead to overall project performance. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

System Dynamics (SD) is a modelling approach that has been used to support litigation cases that are investigating overruns on large engineering projects caused by Disruption and Delay (D&D). However, the role that SD can play in the analysis of D&D in large projects is not fully understood. The first aim of the research is to explore the appropriateness of SD as a modelling approach in the analysis of D&D for litigation. Criteria on the suitability of SD to model a situation are taken from the SD literature and explored to understand their level of contribution to the research. Experiences from the researcher's involvement in two litigation cases are then used to test how empirical data performs against the criteria. The explorations lead to a revised set of criteria being proposed. These criteria should be used to assess whether or not SD should be used to analyse D&D for any specific litigation case. Testing the data against the criteria also results in lessons for the modelling of D&D. This includes a proposed method of assessing the level of D&D in a project through an analysis of managerial actions. The second aim of the research is to explore the issues that are involved in using SD to analyse D&D for litigation. The approach taken uses the empirical data to test the degree to which SD can meet the purposes of modelling D&D for litigation. This process leads to a number of conclusions. It highlights limitations of using SD in this environment; emphasises the importance that the audience plays in the modelling process; explores the difficulties encountered in gaining audience confidence in the model; provides an appreciation of the validation process required when modelling in this environment. The research provides an initial understanding of the role that SD can play in the analysis of D&D for litigation. It is hoped that this can be built on with future experiences of modelling D&D for litigation.

No description available.

In order to satisfy heterogeneous and unstable consumer demands, firms increasingly leverage product development efficiencies by adopting a platform approach, based on cross-sharing of resources, for developing and introducing product variants, constituting a product family. Although the benefits and costs of utilising platform-based product development to increase product variety have been addressed by previous research, there has been little empirical work focusing on the managerial factors that enable firms to successfully develop new products that extend the product family. The current study addressesth e gap in our understandingo f the relationships between a firm's product variety strategy, new product development (NPD) proficiencies and structural features, and product family performance. The current study's findings are based on data collected from a sample of one hundred South-Korean manufacturers in a wide range of assembling industries. When firms expand platform-based product variety, superior predevelopment planning proficiencies in platform projects are essential for securing all dimensions of product family performance (i. e., operational/technical performance, profitability, and market share/sales)P. roduct family successi s also conditional upon highly proficient execution of marketing activities (business and market opportunity analysis and planning, and commercialisation) in both platform and derivative projects. The findings of this research stress the primacy of predevelopment planning and marketing capabilities. In addition, the findings of this research stress specific structural mechanisms (e. g., spatial proximity, formalisation, and organisational modularity), as drivers of product family performance. This study contributes to the understanding of inter-relationship between platform-based product variety, NPD proficiencies and structural features, and product family performance. This study can act as a guide to further studies of platform-based product development, as well as being useful to practitioners who develop product families.

Thesis (Doctorat de 3éme cycle)--Université Francois Rabelais, 1986. / Title varies slightly for vols. 3-4. Includes bibliographical references (v. 3, leaves 504-660).