Recent years has seen a significant drive away from traditional procurement routes with contractors finding themselves with an increasing responsibility for control of design - a process they have had little experience in managing. They now have to adapt accordingly. The learning curve is steep, not least because many projects must now be delivered fast track while co-ordinating increasingly complex fabric and content of buildings without a platform of accepted good practice to manage the design process. This is a major factor preventing the UK construction industry from delivering projects on time, to budget and to the specified quality. There is a need to educate an increasing number of people in design management techniques to equip them to manage today's fast moving and demanding projects. However, many current design management tools are insufficiently developed for industry application. Therefore, to improve design management in the industry, current techniques must be modified to align them with the needs of the modern design manager. This research has developed and tested a training initiative aimed at improving design management practice within a major UK Design and Construct Contractor. It comprises a Design Management Handbook, Design Management Training, Team Support and Project Monitoring. The Design Management Handbook is the core of the training initiative. It addresses critical aspects of design management practice and provides design management tools. Training provides guidance to project teams on the tools and practices. In Team Support project teams are supported in the implementation of the new practices and tools to help embed new ways of working in company practice. Project Monitoring establishes the impact of the new practices on project performance to demonstrate that they are working and thus reinforce change. To establish the training initiative's effectiveness and key findings, the impact of the initiative on design management performance has been explored. The research has established which practices and tools were used, which were not, as well as an understanding the applicability and performance of each Handbook practice and tool. From this, barriers to implementing new design management tools in industry were identified and strategies developed in order to overcome such barriers.

This thesis argues that the management of environmental impacts has many analogies with the management of risk and practice can be improved by using ideas, concepts and principles found in the management of risk in other spheres of human activity. An overview of the challenges faced by environmental impact practitioners in New Zealand and reinforcement of its importance to the sustainable management of natural and physical resources under New Zealand's Resource Management Act is provided. Key risk management ideas, concepts and principles drawn from a variety of sources are listed and parallels drawn between these and existing environmental impact assessment practice in New Zealand. From this list a number are selected and opportunities for improving environmental impact assessment practice are explored. A number of opportunities are identified, starting with the need for a common language and methodology amongst practitioners. Categorisation of impacts to assist transparency of analysis and expression using frequency-consequence curves to aid and promote consistency of decision-making are further areas of opportunity. Risk management has several well-developed techniques for dealing with uncertainty and selection of assessment endpoints. The connection between communication of risk and public perception is an area with significant potential for communication about environmental impacts. Challenges with effective public participation in environmental decision-making are backgrounded and risk management practised in two high profile areas examined for opportunity for improved practice. Neither appears to offer opportunity for improvement in key decision-making areas. A relatively new indicator approach towards risk assessment called "healthy systems method" appears to have significant potential for cost-effective analysis of systems of various types and at various levels. This thesis identifies a number of other areas of risk management requiring further research to determine potential for achieving better practice in environmental impact assessment.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Feb 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-94).

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Dissertation deals with a draft of the system for monitoring and planning of attendance of promoters on the stores of the Slovakian store chain NAY, where the project management is used for securing of versatilely effective project. PEST, SWOT, RIPRAN of analysis and analysis of risks are used in this draft. It contains the plan of solution from the schematic imaging to the graphic previews and time schedule of realization. This is the real project from practice which should be realized based on this dissertation and commercially spread and innovated.