Vulnerability reduction of infrastructure reconstruction projects

Various infrastructure segments of numerous countries have been repeatedly subjected to natural and man-made disasters. The potential reason of damaging infrastructure facilities and their services is resultant disaster risks due to natural or man-made hazards connect with vulnerable infrastructure facilities and vulnerable communities. The simplest way to prevent or mitigate disaster losses is addressing vulnerabilities. The main study based on which this paper was compiled aimed at exploring and investigating the vulnerabilities of infrastructures and communities benefited from infrastructures and possible solutions to overcome them. This paper presents the literature review conducted on vulnerabilities of infrastructures and empirical evidence collated on best possible DRR strategies to overcome such vulnerabilities of infrastructures. The main study was conducted using case study strategy and the expert interviews. This paper is entirely based on the data collated from the expert interviews conducted in Sri Lanka and United Kingdom. The expert interviews discovered various DRR strategies to overcome the vulnerabilities of the infrastructure project

The Role of Horizontal Coordination in Performance of ISD Projects

ISD projects depend on coordination among team members and stakeholders to be successful. In the past, researchers studied antecedents, strategies, contingencies and outcomes of coordination. This study examines how horizontal coordination can impact the performance of project team members. We propose a research model that horizontal coordination will result in increased leadership empowerment, knowledge transfer, and experimentation among team members. The results of the study can recommend suggestions for project managers to improve project performance by utilizing horizontal coordination

Looking for synergy in organizations: The role of the concept of configuration in contemporary theory

The aim of this article is to add to organization theory by exploring the theoretical concept of organizational configuration and identifying its added value. Why is it used and what possibilities does it offer for organizational theorists? We will examine the underlying assumptions and try to produce a sound definition of configuration. This article is based on 77 articles and books from which we identified 6 authors as being the main theorists for configuration theory.microeconomics ;

Coordinating Multiple Interdependent Projects in Innovative Product Development Programs

A software product program is usually knowledge intensive, having highly interdependent projects and a high level of product development uncertainty. Different types of knowledge and expertise are viewed as critical resources that the software development program must acquire and manage. Based upon contingency theory, this study examines the effects of inter-project coordination between multiple project teams within a software product development program. A new model is proposed to examine each type of uncertainty and the moderating effects of inter-project coordination including administrative and expertise coordination. Four hypotheses are developed for empirical testing. Data is under collection from project managers working in IT product development programs. The results will provide an in-depth understanding on how inter-project coordination can effectively reduce the negative impact from requirement and technological uncertainty. The expected results are discussed and future research pointed out

The Effects of User Partnering and User Non-Support on Project Performance

Information system software development projects suffer from a high failure rate. One of many obstacles faced by project managers is non-supportive users, those not actively sharing in development responsibilities. The coordination activity of early partnering has been proposed in the literature to promote collaboration and enhance user support. The extent of partnering is considered in a model that relates partnering to the risks of user non-support and eventual project success. The model is developed from contingency theory, with residual performance risk as an intermediary variable. A survey of IS project membership provides the data, which indicates that partnering significantly relates to higher user support, less residual risk, and better project performance. Researchers may use variations on the model to examine other barriers to success and the techniques applied to lower the barriers. Practitioners should consider applying partnering techniques to improve software development project performance

Supporting the management of electronic engineering design teams through a dynamic contingency approach

The contribution to knowledge presented in this thesis is the dynamic contingency approach, supported through software, which supports the management of the early, conceptual stages of electronic engineering team design. 1he term contingency pertains to the design environment being in a contingent state, that is "dependent on uncertain issues" (Hayward & Sparkes, 1991). These issues are typically dynamic, that is ''pertaining to forces not in equilibrium, forces that produce motion" (Hayward & Sparkes, 1991). The concept for the dynamic contingency approach was developed through a soft systems analysis. This analysis drew upon an ethnographic study conducted in parallel with the present work by another researcher. Both the present work and the ethnographic study were carried out within a multidisciplinary research team in collaboration with an industrial partner (company A). This thesis discusses the evolution of this multidisciplinary research method, including the development of a software prototype (EDAPT), which enabled the requirements for the dynamic contingency approach to be established. Through this research method key issues were identified which affect the ability of design managers, and to a lesser extent design engineers, to adequately perceive the current situation of a design project; and to determine appropriate corrective responses to potential problem situations. The work indicates that this is particularly true when under pressure in such a complex, interdependent and dynamic environment. This thesis illustrates how the environment of design can be dependent upon these key issues which are often uncertain, that is, the environment is in a contingent state. Furthermore, the thesis depicts the dynamic nature of these issues. The dynamic contingency approach was developed in response to these issues in partnership with the industrial collaborator. The approach synthesises a variety of such issues to support the coordination of interdependencies, provide a view of the current project situation, alert stakeholders to potential problem situations, and present possible responses to potential problem situations. In short, what has been achieved is a design management worldview with sufficient detail to help people expect and anticipate what might happen, and how others may behave in a team design environment, together with the foundations for a system which enables and supports this perspective. In essence the approach provides a way of conceptualising the design environment which should enable improvements in the management of design teams at the early, conceptual stages of electronic engineering design projects

Scenarios for system development: Matching context and strategy

A comparison of seventeen contingency models for system development (SD) led to the conclusion that no model supports all requested activities: diagnosing the contest, describing alternative approaches, matching context and approach, looking at social organizational issues, and supporting a dynamic fit between contest and approach. This study paid special attention to the social and organizational aspects of system development. Our contingency model specifies five possible types of risk (functional uncertainty, conflict potential, technical uncertainty and resistance potential) in system development that should be controlled. For each type, a corresponding proposition about its control was derived from this model and analysed in seven system development processes. We succeeded in explaining the outcome of the development process through the fit between context and situation, thereby gaining some preliminary support for the model. Still, the limitations of such a contingency model are to be taken seriously

Traveling of Requirements in the Development of Packaged Software: An Investigation of Work Design and Uncertainty

Software requirements, and how they are constructed, shared and translated across software organizations, express uncertainties that software developers need to address through appropriate structuring of the process and the organization at large. To gain new insights into this important phenomenon, we rely on theory of work design and the travelling metaphor to undertake an in-depth qualitative inquiry into recurrent development of packaged software for the utility industry. Using the particular context of software provider GridCo, we examine how requirements are constructed, shared, and translated as they travel across vertical and horizontal boundaries. In revealing insights into these practices, we contribute to theory by conceptualizing how requirements travel, not just locally, but across organizations and time, thereby uncovering new knowledge about the responses to requirement uncertainty in development of packaged software. We also contribute to theory by providing narrative accounts of in situ requirements processes and by revealing practical consequences of organization structure on managing uncertainty