Identifying Success Factors in Construction Projects: A Case Study

© 2015 by the Project Management Institute. Published online in Wiley Online Library. Defining "project success" has been of interest for many years, and recent developments combine multiple measurable and psychosocial factors that add to this definition. There has also been research into success factors, but little research into the causal chains through which success emerges. Following the multi-dimensionality of "success," this article shows how success factors combine in complex interactions; it describes factors contributing to project performance by a company working on two major construction programs and shows how to map and analyze paths from root causes to success criteria. The study also identifies some specific factors - some generic, some context-dependent - none of these is uncommon but here they come together synergistically

Negotiation in strategy making teams : group support systems and the process of cognitive change

This paper reports on the use of a Group Support System (GSS) to explore at a micro level some of the processes manifested when a group is negotiating strategy-processes of social and psychological negotiation. It is based on data from a series of interventions with senior management teams of three operating companies comprising a multi-national organization, and with a joint meeting subsequently involving all of the previous participants. The meetings were concerned with negotiating a new strategy for the global organization. The research involved the analysis of detailed time series data logs that exist as a result of using a GSS that is a reflection of cognitive theory

What is Strategic Competence and Does it Matter? Exposition of the Concept and a Research Agenda

Drawing on a range of theoretical and empirical insights from strategic management and the cognitive and organizational sciences, we argue that strategic competence constitutes the ability of organizations and the individuals who operate within them to work within their cognitive limitations in such a way that they are able to maintain an appropriate level of responsiveness to the contingencies confronting them. Using the language of the resource based view of the firm, we argue that this meta-level competence represents a confluence of individual and organizational characteristics, suitably configured to enable the detection of those weak signals indicative of the need for change and to act accordingly, thereby minimising the dangers of cognitive bias and cognitive inertia. In an era of unprecedented informational burdens and instability, we argue that this competence is central to the longer-term survival and well being of the organization. We conclude with a consideration of the major scientific challenges that lie ahead, if the ideas contained within this paper are to be validated

Two Fundamental Concepts in Skeletal Parallel Programming

We define the concepts of nesting mode and interaction mode as they arise in the description of skeletal parallel programming systems. We sugegs

Blight-MOP: Development of a systems approach for the management of late blight (caused by Phytophthora infestans) in EU organic potato production

Blight-MOP Late blight (caused by Phytophthora infestans) is the most devastating fungal disease affecting organic (and conventional) potato production in the EU. It kills the foliage and usually results in losses of yield which can be very large when infection is severe and occurs early in the season. The disease may be transmitted to the tubers which become unmarketable and these can lead to complete deterioration of the stored crop if put into storage with healthy tubers. To a great extent, conventional production systems rely upon frequent applications of synthetic fungicides with different modes of action for late blight control, but this is seldom completely successful. However, in organic systems, the availability of chemical fungicides is currently restricted to those which are ‘considered to be traditional organic farming practices’: these include copper hydroxide, copper oxychloride (tribasic), copper sulphate and cuprous oxide that have a protectant action and are reasonably effective. Their use is restricted by national legislation and organic certifying authorities and pressure has been mounting to withdraw them not only because of possible adverse effects on wildlife, the environment and human health but also their incompatibility with organic production principles. This led to a proposed ban on the use of copper fungicides for control of late blight in organic farming in the EU from March 2002 which had potentially serious implications for the potato crop. The resultant losses of yield and hence income in the absence of copper-based fungicide sprays were expected to threaten the economic viability of both organic potato enterprises and/or whole organic farming businesses in many areas of the EU in the medium to long term until effective, alternative methods are developed. In the meantime, two major approaches were adopted. One was to set a limit to the amount of copperbased fungicides permitted for application: until 31 December 2005, the maximum application was restricted to 8kg of elemental copper/ha/year for annual crops, declining to 6kg/ha/year from 1 January 2006 (but this could be changed at any time in the light of developments in viable alternatives or should there be proposals for withdrawal under the EC Review programme for existing active substances). Another was to promote further research to identify and develop effective alternative late blight control methods and strategies without the undesirable effects associated with copper-based fungicides. The Blight-MOP project – ‘Development of a systems approach for late Blight (caused by Phytophthora infestans) Management in EU Organic Production systems’ was initiated in March 2001 to achieve this aim and maintain yield and quality and hence commercial viability of organic potato crops without the use of copper fungicides. Such an approach involves integrated use of (i) resistant varieties (ii) existing agronomic strategies (iii) alternative treatments that can replace synthetic and copper-based fungicides (iv) use of existing blight forecasting systems to optimise control treatments and to maximise synergistic interactions between (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv). The specific objectives were to: 1. Assess the socio-economic impact of late blight and ‘state-of-the-art’ blight management practices in EU organic potato production systems 2. Assess varietal performance in organic production systems in different EU regions and interactions with local blight populations 3. Develop within field diversification strategies to prevent/delay blight epidemics 4. Optimise agronomic strategies for the management of late blight 5. Develop alternative control treatments to copper-based fungicides that comply with organic farming standards 6. Evaluate novel application and formulation strategies for copper- free/alternative and copper-based late blight treatments 7. Integrate optimised resistance management, diversification, agronomic and alternative control treatment strategies into existing organic potato management systems. To pursue these objectives, experiments were conducted over 4 seasons from 2001 to 2004 under organic cropping system conditions in seven countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and United Kingdom) spanning a wide range of aerial, soil, production and marketing environments. The rate and severity of the late blight epidemics in 2001, 2002 and 2004 gave a rigorous test of the different components of the integrated management system which gave broadly similar effects in the three years. In 2003, the very hot, dry summer (and August in particular) severely restricted the disease making it difficult to evaluate the efficacy of treatments in some regions, but in others where infection did occur the general trends were similar to those observed in other years

The nature of risk in complex projects

© 2017 Project Management Institute, Inc. Risk analysis is important for complex projects; however, systemicity makes evaluating risk in real projects difficult. Looking at the causal structure of risks is a start, but causal chains need to include management actions, the motivations of project actors, and sociopolitical project complexities as well as intra-connectedness and feedback. Common practice based upon decomposition-type methods is often shown to point to the wrong risks. A complexity structure is used to identify systemicity and draws lessons about key risks. We describe how to analyze the systemic nature of risk and how the contractor and client can understand the ramifications of their actions

A review of data visualization: opportunities in manufacturing sequence management.

Data visualization now benefits from developments in technologies that offer innovative ways of presenting complex data. Potentially these have widespread application in communicating the complex information domains typical of manufacturing sequence management environments for global enterprises. In this paper the authors review the visualization functionalities, techniques and applications reported in literature, map these to manufacturing sequence information presentation requirements and identify the opportunities available and likely development paths. Current leading-edge practice in dynamic updating and communication with suppliers is not being exploited in manufacturing sequence management; it could provide significant benefits to manufacturing business. In the context of global manufacturing operations and broad-based user communities with differing needs served by common data sets, tool functionality is generally ahead of user application

The nature of risk in complex projects

© 2017 Project Management Institute, Inc. Risk analysis is important for complex projects; however, systemicity makes evaluating risk in real projects difficult. Looking at the causal structure of risks is a start, but causal chains need to include management actions, the motivations of project actors, and sociopolitical project complexities as well as intra-connectedness and feedback. Common practice based upon decomposition-type methods is often shown to point to the wrong risks. A complexity structure is used to identify systemicity and draws lessons about key risks. We describe how to analyze the systemic nature of risk and how the contractor and client can understand the ramifications of their actions