A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 1991. / Abstract not provided.

This thesis examines the call for reform in the governance of risk and control within major construction programmes in the UK. Over the next 8 years, Construction 2025 describes aspirations for major improvements in productivity, cost efficiency and delivery lead times. However, the pathway to reform remains unclear. Major infrastructure projects have a history of dissonance where competing value systems can create friction. However, the productive friction from multiple evaluative perspectives can also be a fundamental part of resolving emergent and perplexing problems. Construction 2025 highlights the need to develop stronger delivery relationships with an emphasis on the early engagement of suppliers and “fixing” the front-end of projects through more rigorous procurement strategies. It also notes that “much” of the waste in construction is fundamentally linked to the treatment of risk. Intelligent Clients, such as Heathrow, have been identified as exemplars in developing superior models of risk governance that work “with” suppliers to articulate the nature of value and evaluative purpose (CE, 2009). This thesis is a study of the composition and evolution of control in the construction of Terminal 5 (T5) and the more recent Terminal 2 (T2) at Heathrow. Terminal 5 is considered a landmark case that challenged traditional self-seeking opportunism with a lean partnering philosophy delivered through integrated teams. A year later Terminal 2 moved away from the partnering with suppliers, engaging a 3rd party integrator managed through an intelligent control system. At the time this raised concerns that T2 represented a relinquishing of the project management capability developed on T5 and a weaker model of integration. However, T2 was a success. This thesis draws on extensive project-based technical data, interviews with industry experts and policy reports to build a comparative picture of the calculative infrastructures. Temporal bracketing is used to trace the patterns of development into “phases of control” as a sequence of evaluative orders. Both cases move the conception of control beyond directive forms of control “over” resources to consider the nature of social integration and the complexity of enrolling allied interests. The findings explore a variety of innovative calculative technologies that translated tensions into productive friction. In both cases Heathrow did not fix the front-end. Instead an adaptive calculative infrastructure mediated collective deliberation, critical inquiry and emergent learning. These findings suggest that the current reform discussion would benefit from more explicit consideration of the importance of architectures of control in making projects valuable, governing risk and shaping conduct towards enterprise and discovery.

Improvements to construction health and safety were driven by primary legislation promulgated in the 1970s and by subsequent regulations, codes and official guidance. In parallel social psychology, management and leadership theories were developing practical means for achieving health and safety objectives and reducing accidents and incidents of ill health. Despite the notable improvements that were achieved in countries with strong legislatives bases, the reduction in the rate of accidents has been significant but at the same time substantially falling short of providing safe and healthy workplaces. Construction sites remain places of high hazard and high risk activities for workers. Acknowledging the gains made by the compliance approach whilst challenging the underpinning assumptions on the causes of accidents and ill health, a critical theory methodology was developed to explore different perceptions and arrive at a new understanding of workplace culture within which safe practices take place. The purpose was to determine the degree of cultural maturity within and readiness of companies for the attainment of preventative workplace safety cultures, and this was achieved through the development of two projects, 1) the development of a cultural maturity index and 2) the development of an ethics reasoning pedagogy for construction professionals. Utilising a set of criteria deemed necessary for achieving success and sustainability the first project is a metric based on behavioural objectives and rational planning was designed and developed to ascertain the intangibles that would be indicative of a company’s culture. This was field tested and substantial revisions made to the original criteria resulting in a shift of focus from Corporate Social Responsibility, innovation and resourcefulness to moral agency, ethics reasoning and leadership, all of which were subject to critical evaluation and redefining on a priori principles. The resulting model, Organisation Cultural Maturing Index, is designed to develop a greater understanding of the social relationships that underpin workplace cultures and explain the many factors that come into play when health and safety programmes and practices are developed and implemented on construction sites. The model allows for the development of and flexibility in company and site specific approaches to achieving safe outcomes through respect for autonomous thought and support for collective action by all workplace employees. The model distinguished between concepts of leadership that are associated with managing operations and originates a new concept of leadership which initiates and supports agency and advocates a restructuring of workplace relationships in order to achieve safe, healthy and sustainable construction projects and contributes to a humanising ethos in work relationships. The second project is the development of under-graduate and post-graduate modules on ethics reasoning designed to facilitate moral agency through the development of critical thinking and reasoning skills and fill a gap in construction professional education. It integrates with the OCMI model through the provision of under-graduate and post-graduate programmes of study which develop the ethics reasoning skills of construction professionals facilitating their abilities to make design and operational judgements based on human and societal benefit. This project further integrates with the ethics standards required by Joint Board of Moderators and Engineering Council in respect of professionalism, and professional code of ethics such as the RICS’s. The review will further identify from both projects those elements of innovation and originality in the methodology adopted and applied to occupational health and safety and the insights and perspectives arrived at as a consequence.

This study has investigated and attempted to enhance understanding of the role of absorptive capacity in influencing a firm to adopt green innovation. Absorptive capacity which has been argued by previous study as an important factor to facilitate the adoption of innovation, may require some degree of pressure from regulators and customers, to be exerted on particular firms, to influence them to become involved in green innovation. Therefore, this study has also attempted to evaluate the extent of the moderating effect of regulatory and customer requirements on the relationship between a firm's absorptive capacity and its adoption of green innovation. A research framework was developed and three research questions were posited. An electronic questionnaire survey was created and distributed to general building firms from the construction industry in Scotland. Subsequent semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subset of participants from the survey as well as with a number of construction industry experts, to investigate further the results of the survey. A total of 84 respondents participated in the survey, while 13 respondents contributed invaluable input from the interview sessions. The findings suggest that, on the whole, the level of green innovation adoption by most of the general building firms in Scotland can be considered as relatively low. Their engagement in green-related activities, however, was focusing more on the technical and process side, which was directly influenced by firms' high levels of existing knowledge and efforts to build new knowledge through employee training. The green administrative practices, on the other hand, had not really been given attention by the building firms as it is a voluntary-based act, which does not demonstrate tangible, financial benefit to them. The evidence from the study also shows that neither environmental requirements from regulators nor customers could encourage the building firms to adopt green practices even when they have high levels of absorptive capacity. The low levels of compliance as well as poor environmental demand from the customers indicate the number one concern within the industry, that is, cost, which hinders the building firms from becoming 'greener'. Additionally, this study provided insights and further understanding regarding knowledge-based factors that could facilitate the adoption of green innovation. This study has also made a methodological contribution by providing evidence and support for the use of mixed method approach to enhance understanding of the construction industry, which has tended to be the focus of quantitative studies. The findings of this study also have a number of implications, especially for policy makers, to explore into strategy and stringent regulations that could encourage more firms in the construction sector, which are operating in one of the industries that contributes most to environmental problems, to seek to reduce their impact on the natural environment. As the government takes a leadership role in this regard, participation from the other stakeholders within the industry is of importance to prompt a wider adoption of green practices. Here, architects, in particular, are in a potentially useful position to have a very strong influence in encouraging building firms to become involved in green practices. Besides, both individuals within the organisations (e.g. the top management and decision makers) and the society outside the organisations (e.g. customers and users of construction outputs) need to be educated to motivate them to make better environmental choices in order to contribute to environmental protection or sustainability.

Research submitted to the faculty of engineering and built environment, university of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of science in building ( Project Management in construction) / The construction industry is one of the key drivers of economic development in any country. Yet the prevalence of construction project delays and cost overruns continues to be a worldwide chronic problem within the industry. The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent of application of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) by construction project managers (CPMs) within South Africa’s built environment. The increase acceptance of project management as a profession indicates that the application of knowledge, processes, skills, tools, and techniques can have a significant impact on project success. Hence, it is imperative to ascertain whether or not CPMs in South Africa built environment are structurally applying PMBOK® Guide’ processes, tools and techniques when managing their construction projects. This study uses the term “structurally applying PMBOK® Guide” to mean appropriate application of the PMBOK® Guide’s knowledge, processes, tools and techniques. The sample population consists of 120 CPMs within South Africa’s built environment drawn from the nine provinces of South Africa. The result of this study confirm conclusions of previous studies that the prevalence of construction project delays and cost overrun is still high in South Africa’s built environment. The results also show that some CPMs do apply the PMBOK® Guide partially, but that, in general, CPMs do not apply the PMBOK® Guide structurally. The findings indicate that this limited structural application of the PMBOK® Guide is one of the major reasons for the prevalence of project delays and cost overruns within South Africa’s built environment. Therefore, this study stresses that stakeholders within South Africa’s built environment and in particular the South African Council for the Project and Construction Manager Professions (SACPCMP) should take measures to address these prevailing challenges attributable to inadequate PMBOK® Guide application as demonstrated in this study. Amongst the measures to address these challenges, this study recommends: firstly, the introduction of the PMBOK® as a compulsory component of a Construction Project Management course. Secondly, that the SACPCMP considers the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional exam as one of the Pr. CPM registration requirements as a demonstration of improved theoretical knowledge. Finally, that the built environment fraternity should review the structure of the Built Environment Bill of Quantity so that it is strictly aligned with the Work Breakdown Structure approach. This will assist CPMs to appropriately estimate and control the schedule and cost of each piece of work to avoid project delays and cost overruns. Key words: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), generally recognised, structurally, Built Environment, Construction Project Managers (CPMs). / GR2017

Includes bibliography.

Business practices have and will continue to greatly influence and determine the shape and viability of the built environment. Traditional practices have continued to use non renewable and polluting resources such as fossil fuels, and these are rapidly becoming unviable and unacceptable within the built environment. As an alternative to these traditional practices, concerned building practitioners are applying best practice initiatives in the-belief that these produce sustainable outcomes. The research titled 'A study of the Lithgow New Government Office Development; Using Best Practice to Deliver Sustainable Developments' is based on the hypothesis that applying building industry's best practice initiatives can deliver sustainability within the built environment. This hypothesis assumes links between the applied practices, the outcome achieved and sustainability. This research tests this hypothesis with a single 'critical' case project; the recently constructed Lithgow Government Office Building (GOB) Development, and against a theoretical framework that defines sustainability. The GOB Development is a best practice example procured by a long lived and socially responsible organisation, government organisation - the Department of Commerce. This organisation adopted and applied new government policies along with best practice initiatives to produce a new benchmark - an award wining, trend-setting, seemingly sustainable development. The industry successes of the GOB Development made this a suitable single case study, one that was most likely to fare better than any other development procured at that time and by other means. The research conducted provides an insight and understanding into all the different factors during the procurement of the GOB project and highlights how these influenced the eventual built outcome and determined whether sustainability would be attained. This research assessment is seen as a crucial step in understanding the many limitations of best practice and thereby enabling the building industry's progression towards achieving sustainability within the built environment. The potential insight that can be gained from this research can enable the relationship between practice and theory to be better understood, and thereby provide the means to influence all future built outcomes. It is believed that such insight can encourage building practitioners and organisations to adopt and apply best practice initiatives as a means to achieve sustainability within the built environment.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze how collaboration within a CSR project develops and evolves over time. By analyzing a CSR project that in-volves actors from multiple sectors, the aim is to acquire an increased understand-ing of the collaborative process. Background: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a concept has been growing in im-portance and is becoming an important part of corporations’ strategy, but there are still issues of how to engage in an efficient and effective way. As consumers are be-coming increasingly aware of CSR it can influences their buying behaviors. It is im-portant for corporations to engage in CSR that can result in both social and finan-cial value. CSR collaboration with external actors can provide and leverage unique combinations of resources and knowledge which could otherwise be hard for the corporation to obtain. The challenge for corporations is to find the right collabora-tive partnerships with the capabilities to meet the needs of society. Different types of actors can have different motivations behind their involvement, raising the issue of how they can collaborate without conflict. Method: To answer the purpose, a case study was conducted. The case study is based on a project called “Bra bostäder för småhushåll till rimligt pris” which is aimed at alle-viate the shortage of affordable housing in Sweden. The project intends to show that it is possible to build more affordable homes where the price for the end con-sumer is considered from the beginning. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviewees with important actors involved in the case. Conclusion: The ability to develop a CSR project is critically dependent on the collabora-tion between the involved actors. The collaborative process and inclusion of differ-ent actors are based on the competencies, knowledge, and experience. Social as-pects have been the foundation for a shared purpose, but the focus has been on is-sues regarding sustainable financial viability. The collaborative nature has allowed for a unique combinations that would otherwise not been possible and have in-creased the value of the project.

Most of the construction industry's working capital is high demand, the face of the cash conversion cycle will also need to show stability of the state, to ensure smooth operation. Current construction industry is less focus on working capital , but this study suggests that working capital can be managed through the construction industry issues to explore and understand their working capital management, and thus the status of the problem to find a solution. This study proposes to financial report discusses the case Fu Tai Construction Co., Ltd of its working capital management on the effectiveness of performance, to understand the Working capital management impact on operating performance, follow-up on the case Fu Tai Construction Co., Ltd with discuss the strategies and effectiveness of analysis In this study, financial statements analysis and case study research. Financial Statement Analysis calculated for the relevant indicators, working capital management policies, including some working capital investment policy and financing policy, performance parts into return on assets, return on equity and net profit rate. Case study method and the main result of this case five Listed in working capital management policies and business performance in the indicators observed by comparing the value of the company's strengths and weaknesses of cases, followed by case discussion, strategies. Research results are as follows 1. Taiwan¡¦s Listed Construction Industry working capital management on the operational performance (1).Working capital assets policies: the fixed assets turnover rate will be affected by changes in time, but the ratio of current assets to total assets and total assets turnover rate is not; (2)Working capital financing policy: the current ratio, liquidity ratio and financing decisions liabilities to total assets does not change over time; 3. operating performance: net profit rate of the economy most affected by the return on assets and return on equity is affected to a lesser extent by the economy. 2. The case company's working capital management to improve the implementation of manner in response to the circumstances. (1).The case company policy of working capital assets, an indicator of quality of listed companies, little difference in the policy part of the working capital assets less the same general construction industry, there is no immediate urgency for improvement;(2) working capital financing policy of the indicators in the current ratio and financing decision-making ratio is less than the average listed company, with considerable room for improvement; (3).operating performance indicators are showing a lower level (0.03 to 0.12), representing the need to pay attention to the management of operational activities, to increase management efficiency in order to avoid unnecessary losses.