The viability of energy mineral resources (EMR) construction projects is contingent upon the state of the world economic climate. Oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada exemplify large EMR projects that are highly sensitive to fluctuations in the world market. Alberta EMR projects are constrained by high fixed production costs and are also widely recognized as one of the most challenging construction projects to successfully deliver due to impacts from extreme weather conditions, remote locations and issues with labor availability amongst others. As indicated in many studies, these hardships strain the industry’s ability to execute work efficiently, resulting in declining productivity and mounting cost and schedule overruns. Therefore, to enhance the competitiveness of Alberta EMR projects, project teams are targeting effective management strategies to enhance project performance and productivity by countering the uniquely challenging environment in Alberta. The main purpose of this research is to develop industry wide benchmarking tailored to the specific constraints and challenges of Alberta. Results support quantitative assessments and identify the root causes of project performance and ineffective field productivity problems in the heavy industry sector capital projects. Customized metrics produced from the data collected through a web-based survey instrument were used to quantitatively assess project performance in the following dimensions: cost, schedule, change, rework, safety, engineering and construction productivity and construction practices. The system enables the industry to measure project performance more accurately, get meaningful comparisons, while establishing credible norms specific to Alberta projects. Data analysis to identify the root cause of performance problems was conducted. The analysis of Alberta projects substantiated lessons of previous studies to create an improved awareness of the abilities of Alberta-based companies to manage their unique projects. This investigation also compared Alberta- based projects with U.S. projects to point out the differences in project process and management strategies under different environments. The relative impact of factors affecting construction productivity were identified and validated by the input from industry experts. The findings help improve the work processes used by companies developing projects in Alberta. / text

There is a strong perception that large infrastructure projects (LIPs) implemented in developing economies fail to meet their original estimations and specifications more than those implemented in developed economies. This situation results in weak infrastructural development in developing economies, which, has been associated with the poor industrial development in these countries. A literature review confirms that LIPs implemented in Nigeria failed to meet their original estimations and specifications more frequently than LIP implemented in countries such as UK or USA. The root causes identified in the review were mostly related to lack of project governance. Thus, a study of six LIP cases implemented in Nigeria was carried out. Data was generated from 30 senior management staff; 5 from each LIP; using interviews and questionnaires and a weak positivist philosophy was used in analysing this data. The analysis focused on identifying three factors; the adherence level to PGPs; the adherence to Project Management (PM) common practices; and impact of external factors on LIPs. The analysis shows that in projects with strong governance there was a tendency to use more project management tools and techniques and they performed better in meeting the original estimations of time, cost and performance against specification. The analysis also indicates that political, economic, socio-cultural and technological (PEST) factors have adverse effect on adherence to PGPs in Nigeria. This indicates that adhering to PGPs can help in improving the outcome of LIPs implemented in Nigeria, if PEST factors are controlled.

Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Project systems allow project managers to carry out work in a professional and well organised manner. These systems are created and maintained to advance project performance. Eskom spends a lot of resources on the creation and maintenance of project systems. The literature on project systems shows that, in spite of advancement in project managements processes, systems and tools, project success has not significantly improved. This problem raises questions about the value and effectiveness of project systems. Therefore this paper reports about the correlation between the degree of project manager’s compliance to project systems and project performance in Eskom Distribution Limpopo Operating Unit. The study looked at the performance of 10 projects and used empirical data on designers, planners, managers and project managers working in Eskom Distribution LOU to measure the compliance level of employees to project systems when carrying out the 10 chosen projects or any other projects not listed. A total of 45 completed questionnaires were analysed. Correlation analysis tests found a negative correlation between project manager’s project systems compliance level and project performance in terms of schedule and cost. The conclusion found was that as the compliance level on project systems increases, project performance decreases. Meaning there is an inversely proportional relationship between project system compliance level and project performance. Additionally, a lower level of knowledge than expected on the project managers, designers, and planners was found. Keywords: Project performance, Project systems, Correlation, Adherence,

Stakeholders are considered to be one of the key drivers for any construction project. On the other hand, the performance of construction projects is primarily driven by sustainability-related targets. Hence, there is a need for a systematic approach to engage the stakeholders, as part of the Project Management process, to achieve the construction sustainability. This research focused on stakeholder engagement with the aim to improve the construction project performance through achieving construction sustainability. A framework is developed which integrates stakeholders with sustainability driven project performance. This research performs an empirical investigation through mixed-method research as the appropriate research technique. Data collection of this research is carried out in two stages. A series of semi structured interviews were carried out with 16 experienced UK construction professionals. Prior literature were used to design the interview questions about different issues related to the stakeholder engagement, construction sustainability and construction project performance. The aim of the interview is to investigate the current issues and practices of the construction projects are facing relating to engaging stakeholder to make the construction sustainable to improve the construction project performance. Some of the hypotheses are generated relating to the findings from the interviews and literature reviews. After analysing the interviews, a questionnaire is designed based on the findings from the interviews. Questionnaires were mailed to 500 UK construction companies and 233 (46 per cent) responses were received. The aim of this survey is to find out a structured and appropriate methodology to accomplish the requirements of making the construction sector more sustainable by improving its performance. Typically, questionnaires will be used to get the participants opinion in order to produce data to follow. These data will be used to test the hypothesis. These two approaches were adopted to align the participant’s opinions and beliefs and to develop jointly acceptable strategies with agreed long-term, sustainable solutions. Statistical Package for Social Science [SPSS] is selected and used to analyse the questionnaire responses. Correlation analysis revealed that the extent of the impact of stakeholder engagement to achieve the construction sustainability and improving the construction project performance. ANOVA revealed the variation of the perception of participant’s roles and companies’ strategic focuses towards the stakeholder’s engagement, construction sustainability and construction project performance. In essence, adhering to the various levels of implementation presented will ensure that construction sector can derive the maximum benefit from stakeholder engagement and that the decision-making process and the actions regarded as critical are taken into consideration. Based on the findings from the interview and questionnaire survey a conceptual framework is set out that underline the preparation and presentation of stakeholder engagement to improve the construction project performance through achieving construction sustainability. This derived framework demonstrates that such engagement can be valuable in anticipating the expectations of the different stakeholders from the projects, which may impact on behaviour. Finally, this research provides recommendations from both a theoretical and practical point of view to improve the stakeholder’s impact on construction sustainability and construction project performance.

The construction industry is one of the most significant industrial contributors to the economy in terms of gross product and employment. As a result, the success of a construction project is a fundamental issue to most governments, users and communities. The thesis addresses the role of the contractor in construction project success as one of the main stakeholders in the project.The research aims to study the impact of contractors’ attributes on project success from a post-construction evaluation perspective to identify what goes right and to recognise the most critical success factors (CSFs) of contractors that greatly impact on project success and link those factors to project success objectives. Initially, a literature review on construction project success was conducted to investigate the success criteria and CSFs of contractors in project success. This was followed by a survey to establish construction professionals’ perceptions of the CSFs of contractors that greatly impact on the success of construction projects.One hundred and sixty-four (164) completed surveys were returned, representing a 32% response rate. The data gathered was analysed using quantitative analysis tools (SPSS). Factor analysis reveals nine underlying clusters perceived to greatly impact the success of projects, namely: (i) health, safety and quality; (ii) past performance; (iii) environment; (iv) management and technical aspects; (v) resource; (vi) organisation; (vii) experience; (viii) size/type of previous projects; and (ix) finance.Four logistic regression and artificial neural network models were developed to predict the most important contractor factors associated with project success. The predictive ability of neural network models outperforms that of logistic models by 47.5% for scheduling model; 34.8% for budget model; 46.2% for quality model; and 46.5% for contractors’ impact model. Assuming that project success is repeatable, these findings provide a clear understanding of contractors’ performance and could potentially enhance existing knowledge of construction project success.

The aim of this research is to identify and analyze the impact of design changes to a system in a concurrent engineering environment and the development project, and to make proposals how to minimize the impact on the development project performance. A further objective is also to determine the effect of design changes as a result of design influencing. In a concurrent engineering environment system components are being developed in parallel. Any change to one component of the system may impact on other system components under development. Design as part of the systems engineering process is an iterative and dynamic process. Although the systems engineering process has been very well structured and refined over the years, it still remains to a certain extent an unpredictable process. A consequence of this is that changes to a design of a subsystem or component comprising the system can occur at any stage of the process. The systems engineering process is a “static” process since there are no time constraints or management of consumption of resources on the different systems engineering processes and steps. As such system engineering cannot function in isolation. To bring a system into being, systems engineering must function within a project management environment to provide the management of schedule and the consumption of resources. The interaction between project management and system engineering processes can have a distinct influence on the systems engineering process and must be taken into account when studying the performance of system development projects. This research investigates the project management/systems engineering interface with specific focus on cost and schedule. Since project management is the encompassing process wherein a system is being developed, its influence on the system engineering process will also be investigated. This research has the following research objectives: <ul><li> Optimization of design influencing by dividing the design teams into two different complementary but opposing mindset groups. </li><li> Evaluate the impact of design changes in terms of cost and schedule overruns in a concurrent engineering development environment.</li></ul> A comprehensive development project was used as a case-study. A Narrative Inquiry comprising the main system development project players investigated the problems experienced on the project and found that management was the major cause for the project cost and schedule overruns. The principal finding of this research showed, that unplanned, unexpected and forced design changes was the primary area of conflict between systems engineering and project management, leading to development project cost and schedule overruns. The Narrative Inquiry findings were actually the symptoms of a deeper underlying problem. Root Cause analysis identified the fundamental mechanisms of design change and the influence of management on the process. This research identifies the fundamental mechanisms that result in design iterations and the influence that management has on this process. An improved “Effect-to-Cause” design influencing model is proposed to reduce the risk of design changes during system integration. A mathematical model has been developed to quantify the impact of a design change on a multi-layer, multi-component system. This model confirms that the system hierarchy design is very important to minimize the impact and consequential development project risk should a design change be required for one of the system components. By means of the mathematical model, a proposed system’s architecture can be modelled. The model quantifies the impact of a system component design change on the rest of the system development project. This model will facilitate the optimization of system architecture to reduce development project cost and schedule risks. The system architecture model will also enable design review boards to make informed decisions when considering options for a system component design change. This research also found that the Systems Engineering process must function harmoniously within the larger Project Management environment for the optimum performance of a development project. The road forward to achieve this goal is for the systems engineering and design processes to become more structured and the removal of the unpredictability in the processes so far as the number of design iterations is concerned. This will enable the systems engineering processes to be more easily accommodated within the structured project management processes to the benefit of the overall development project performance. A structured “Cause-to-Effect” design influencing methodology has been investigated. Indications are that this may be the road forward for systems engineering process development to even further reduce the risk of a design change during system integration and consequential detrimental impact on the development project performance. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

There is a strong perception that large infrastructure projects (LIPs) implemented in developing economies fail to meet their original estimations and specifications more than those implemented in developed economies. This situation results in weak infrastructural development in developing economies, which, has been associated with the poor industrial development in these countries. A literature review confirms that LIPs implemented in Nigeria failed to meet their original estimations and specifications more frequently than LIP implemented in countries such as UK or USA. The root causes identified in the review were mostly related to lack of project governance. Thus, a study of six LIP cases implemented in Nigeria was carried out. Data was generated from 30 senior management staff; 5 from each LIP; using interviews and questionnaires and a weak positivist philosophy was used in analysing this data. The analysis focused on identifying three factors; the adherence level to PGPs; the adherence to Project Management (PM) common practices; and impact of external factors on LIPs. The analysis shows that in projects with strong governance there was a tendency to use more project management tools and techniques and they performed better in meeting the original estimations of time, cost and performance against specification. The analysis also indicates that political, economic, socio-cultural and technological (PEST) factors have adverse effect on adherence to PGPs in Nigeria. This indicates that adhering to PGPs can help in improving the outcome of LIPs implemented in Nigeria, if PEST factors are controlled.

The successful delivery of large complex infrastructure projects continues to challenge the civil engineering profession, with a predominance of projects delivered late and over budget. Many researchers have investigated methods and means of improving the less-than-satisfactory record of the execution of these projects. One recent research direction suggests that improvements in project delivery may not be realized until the project setting is understood from the as-lived perspective of the participants. Following this direction, the research described in this dissertation explores the personal and interpersonal dynamics operating within projects, treating them as complex social processes. The social dimensions explored in this study involve team leaders and staff engineers in a matriced organization handling a large urban design-build infrastructure project. The interactions among the participants within and across units and levels had both positive and negative impacts. The data for this exploratory case study comes from semi-structured interviews and online surveys collected at three points over eleven months when the project was in the design phase. Interviews were conducted with a limited number of individuals; the survey was collected from the larger engineering organization. From the interview data, issues which impacted project delivery were identified as the relationship with supervision, the availability of information, an understanding of the larger project context, and the response to project constraints. The survey data was used primarily to understand the social dimensions affecting two engineering disciplines, one that performed well and one that performed poorly. Issues that aligned with the performance differences included frequency of contact with supervision, the ability to make decisions, and effective use of time available to complete design tasks. Data from the two modes of investigation demonstrated strong triangulation. Recommendations for both academia and industry are provided. / Ph. D.

The aim of this research is to test the effect of different project complexities and project management competence of project managers in public sector mega engineering projects of Pakistan and their effect on project performance. This research study is applied in Pakistan. Complexities in a project are inevitable. These cannot be controlled or eliminated but one can have their better understanding to counter them resulting in better project performance.  Quantitative research techniques have been applied for this particular research study. A total of 100 questionnaires were handed out among respondents, of which 82 survey questionnaires were useful for further analysis. Hypotheses have been developed to test the effect of variables of  project management competence on project performance and subsequently the effect of Technical, Organizational and environmental complexity on project performance.   Results show that project management competence have a positive effect on project performance, like leadership, management skills, communication, ethics, honesty have a strong impact on project performance. Secondly, Technical and organizational complexity have a negative effect on project performance whereas hypothesis of environmental complexity has not supported the project performance.  Further, a number of complexities were high ranked. For instance, goals, tasks and market conditions were ranked very high with respect to their impact on project performance.  This study contributes theoretically in the field of project management and on practical level study will not only help the Practioners in the field of PM, but also helpful for project managers of mega engineering projects. On societal level this study may help the Government intuitions in formulating rules and regulations such as PM certifications that can improve the project performance.

With rapid changes in the business environment, more acute competition and increasingly demanding clients, organisations in the construction industry have identified innovation as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Innovation provides an important avenue for firms to improve performance while differentiating their products and services. Research has identified a number of factors as influencing innovation in construction organisations. Primarily these include internal factors such as organisational climate, innovation championing, leadership and exogenous influences such as clients, regulations, technology and the economy. The role of senior management in promoting innovation is widely recognised in literature. However, in the construction and project based environment, very few studies have focused on middle management and how their day to day leadership activities impact on innovation and project performance. The purpose of this study was to improve middle management leadership behaviour in order to facilitate innovation and improve project performance in construction professional services firms. Through a combination of qualitative case study, questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviews, the research identified how the leadership behaviour exhibited by middle managers in the work place could enhance innovation and project performance. The study was undertaken in five phases to reflect the five key objectives for the research. The first phase comprised a review of the literature on innovation to identify key internal and external factors influencing innovation and ultimately, project performance. The second phase involved a case study of three different innovative projects to examine the role of middle managers in facilitating the innovations studied. Phase three of the study investigated the relationships among transformational leadership, innovation championing and organisational climate for innovation while examining how they combine to promote innovation and enhance project performance. Phase four involved qualitative validation of the relationship among the constructs examined in phase three and preparation of leadership development resource for middle managers which was subsequently trialed in phase five. Key findings from the study suggest that transformational leadership behaviour exhibited by middle managers influences innovation by developing an environment conducive to innovation which in turn fosters innovation championing behaviour and ultimately, enhances project performance. The study contributes to knowledge and adds to the understanding of the role of middle managers in facilitating innovation and improving project performance. It demonstrates that the bypass effect of transformational leadership is applicable in the project based environment since transformational leadership of middle managers directly influenced project performance, circumventing project managers. In addition, the cascading effect of transformational leadership was confirmed, as championing behaviour and climate for innovation mediated the relationship between transformational leadership of middle managers and project performance. Furthermore, it revealed that the individual dimensions of transformational leadership influenced innovation and project performance differently. The study found that individualised support was the most influential dimension impacting on innovation championing behaviour, climate for innovation and project performance. Articulating vision and fostering the acceptance of group goals both influenced climate for innovation and project performance. High performance expectation, modelling behaviour and intellectual stimulation influenced innovation championing and project performance. Beyond these the study has highlighted the particular actions which constituted each dimension of transformational leadership and how they influenced the performance of project team members. Through this study transformational leadership development resource has been developed to help middle managers cultivate the expected leadership behaviour that could facilitate innovation and improve project performance. The study also identified how transformational leadership behaviour can be engrained in the day to day working practices of middle managers. The study presents a more positive view of middle managerial role in improving organisational performance contrary to previous negative reporting on this constituency and identifies the need for greater recognition for their role. The study recommends that construction professional services firms should support middle managers to develop transformational leadership behaviour and create the kind of environment where innovation becomes a part of the normal daily work practices. In addition the study opens a new avenue for the study of transformational leadership by using both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the impact of the individual dimensions. It recommends that future research adopts the same approach in different contexts to further test the suggested relationships. The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers to give greater attention to incorporating transformational leadership behaviour into the essential set of behavioural competencies managers in the construction industry need to develop beyond their technical skills.