Study of sustainability opportunities during construction

textConstruction Sustainability involves the processes, decisions, and actions during the construction phase of capital projects that enhance current and future environmental, social, and economic needs while considering project safety, quality, cost, and schedule. Most of the currently available published literature and advances in project level sustainability practices have focused on the early Concept Planning and Design phases of capital projects. Knowledge of sustainability practices during the Construction phase of capital projects is still in the early development stages and is highly fragmented; information regarding the selection, assessment, and implementation of construction sustainability solutions has remained largely unavailable or underdeveloped. Moreover, capital project owners and constructors increasingly seek practical guidance and resources to better integrate and evaluate sustainability decisions and actions within project construction services. The dearth of research on effective sustainability practices during the construction phase suggests that higher levels of sustainability attention and effort are needed in this area, in addition to the creation of support guidance and tools. To fill this gap in knowledge, this research has identified 54 unique actions that project teams can apply during construction to enhance the overall sustainability of their project. These construction phase sustainability actions (CPSAs) have been cataloged, characterized, and evaluated to facilitate their consideration and implementation by project teams. To further support the selection process and implementation of these actions, the research team developed a high-level strategic work process, a spreadsheet-based CPSA Screening Tool, and additional in-depth guidance for three CPSAs. In addition, both input- and output-oriented construction sustainability metrics have been developed and identified. Equipped with the findings from this study, owners and construction contractors will be better prepared to implement sustainability actions during the construction phase of capital projects.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Towards the paperless office: best practices and exploration of enterprise rights management solutions for Ghanaian business processes

Thesis submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University College, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems, April 2010Information Technology continues to have a great impact on the way humans live and work. The business world is one of the aspects of life that has experienced this phenomenon. This advancement of technology has contributed to the growing use of paper in the office place which has had tremendous impact on the environment. However several new technologies have been developed to eliminate paper outright or at least reduce the amount of paper in the office environment. This phenomenon known as the 'paperless office' has become desirable but difficult objective to achieve. The objective of this research is to suggest general best practices and guidelines for implementing paperless office solutions and secondly to find out whether enterprise rights management systems can contribute to the paperless office solution. The research uses a case study methodology to analyze data on business practices. The results of the study showed that stakeholder buy-in, availability and actual use of IT resources and paperless office implementation project leadership have a strong bearing on the success or otherwise of the implementation of paperless office solution. The research also confirms findings in the literature that enterprise rights management does not provide a direct paperless benefit but rather can serve as a security enhancement that allows electronic documents to be protected from unauthorized access throughout the documents lifecycle.Ashesi University Colleg

Etätyön merkitys tehokkuuden ja työvoinnin kokemukselle tulosohjatussa organisaatiossa

Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastelen, miten etätyö on vaikuttanut kokemuksiin tehokkuudesta ja työvoinnista tulosohjatussa organisaatiossa. Lisäksi tarkastelen kokemusten pohjalta sitä, millaisia lähi- ja etätyön yhteensovittamiseen liittyviä haasteita tai mahdollisuuksia kokemuksista on tunnistettavissa. Tutkimus on toteutettu aineistolähtöisesti, sillä tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tarkastella ilman tiukan teoreettisen viitekehyksen rajoituksia kokemuksia etätyöstä. Tutkimus on toteutettu tulkitsevaa fenomenologista analyysiä (IPA) käyttäen. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty loppuvuonna 2022 ja alkuvuodesta 2023. Aineisto koostuu yhdeksästä haastattelusta. Haastateltavista kaksi toimii esihenkilön tehtävissä ja loput seitsemän ovat toimihenkilöitä. Tutkimusorganisaatio on valtion laitos, jossa työ on luonteeltaan tulosohjattua. Tutkimusorganisaatiota ja sen toimialaa käsitellään tutkimuksessa anonyymeinä. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat useita erilaisia etätyön tuomia muutoksia työn kokemuksessa. Näihin lukeutuvat kokemus tuloksellisuuden ja tehokkuuden kasvusta, etätyön kokonaisvaltainen vaikutus työvointiin, omaan itseensä ja valintoihinsa liittyvän vastuunkannon korostuminen, työyhteisön roolin ja merkityksen muutos, etäviestinnän haasteet ja mahdollisuudet sekä etäjohtaminen saavutettavuutena ja vuorovaikutteisuutena. Tulokset osin vahvistavat aiempia etätyötä koskevia tutkimustuloksia. Tulokset myös osoittavat, että etätyö on mahdollista järjestää myös julkisella sektorilla onnistuneesti

The Impact of Organisational Aesthetics upon Innovation in the Public Sector: an exploration of employee perceptions of changes to workplace design

This study considers the impact of two examples of the Working without Walls (WwW) design initiative in the public sector. The Working without Walls (WwW) (2003) and updated Working beyond Walls (WbW) (2008) papers describe the government’s initiatives in workspace redesign. These aim to encourage employee participation, relationship enhancement and improve communication, as well as to reflect organisational strategy and build team identities. These aims resonate with the public sector modernisation reforms aimed to create effective, responsive and accountable services. At the same time an increasingly common approach across sectors has been the adoption of learning organisation principles as a method of creating a culture of interactive behaviour, innovation and knowledge creation. Many public sector agencies are developing strategies to empower employees and create a culture of shared learning and decision making, moving away from the traditional functional and bureaucratic management styles. Within this emergent policy context, this thesis investigates the extent to which the WwW model has facilitated learning through workplace redesign. The study investigates literature from public sector management, organisation theory, learning organisation and workplace design disciplines in order to guide the investigation. Two case studies of organisations who piloted the WwW approach were investigated. The case studies highlight individuals' experience of working in these new working environments, whilst also reflecting the enablers and barriers that research participants have faced. Analysis demonstrates that the critical success factors for facilitating learning through workplace redesign include the removal of many features of bureaucratic organisation and implementation of detailed cultural change programmes. The study has enabled the development of a change strategy which is designed to guide other public sector organisations implementing workplace redesign initiatives as a facilitator of innovation