Cost overruns of public sector construction projects: a developing country perspective

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in International Journal of Managing Projects in Business on 06/05/2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-09-2018-0177 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.�� 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: Cost overrun of construction projects has been a key concern for all stakeholders of projects for many decades now. Many studies have been done in the past and continue to be done currently to understand the underlying causes of construction project cost overruns. However, the empirical evidence of the causes seem not be clear due to the silo approach in understanding the causes of construction project cost overruns. The purpose of this paper is to take the debate a step forward by providing an understanding of the causes of project cost overrun from a system���s perspective, especially from a less researched environment. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected and analysed from 131 respondents who were mainly involved in construction works in public procurement entities in Ghana. A two-staged approach was employed in collecting data from the respondents. The first stage involved an interview session with key informants in the construction industry in Ghana to ascertain the detailed causes of cost overrun of construction projects. The second stage focussed on the validation of these detailed factors by a wider stakeholder group through questionnaires. Factor analysis was employed to consolidate these detailed factors into major causes of construction project cost overruns. Findings: The results show that there are primarily four major causes of most public sector construction projects cost overruns. These four major causes of cost overruns are poor contract planning and supervision; change orders; weak institutional and economic environment of projects and lack of effective coordination among the contracting parties. Originality/value: The study provides more insights as to the critical and major factors that underpin public sector construction projects cost overruns and more importantly provides a basis for common treatment of the multiple risk factors engendering public sector construction projects cost overruns.Published versio

A comparison of high-speed internet service in Ghana: an analytical hierarchy approach

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Information Technology and People on 05/02/2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-06-2016-0143 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The rising proportion of internet users in Sub-Saharan Africa and the lack of analytical techniques, as decision support systems, in choosing among alternative internet service providers (ISPs) by consumers underpin this study. The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach for evaluating high-speed internet service offered by ISPs in a sub-Saharan African country. Design/methodology/approach: Using a sample size of 150, pairwise comparisons of two ISPs along five criteria of cost, usability, support, reliability and speed were performed by ten person groups of university students working in various organizations in Ghana and undertaking an online Six Sigma Course. Geometric means were employed to aggregate the scores in 15 groups, and these scores were then normalized and used as input into an analytical hierarchy process grid. Findings: The results show that consumers of internet services highly emphasize the cost attribute of internet provision in their decision making. On the other hand, it was realized that consumers least emphasize the support provided by ISPs in their decision making among alternative ISPs. Originality/value: This study has sought to provide an analytical framework for assessing the quality of service provided by alternative ISPs in a developing economy’s context. The evaluating criteria in this framework also reveal the key consumer requirements in internet service provision in a developing economy’s environment. This, to a large extent, will inform the marketing strategies of existing ISPs in Ghana as well as prospective ones intending to enter the Ghanaian market. Besides, the National Communication Authority, a regulator of communication services provision in Ghana, will be informed about the performances of the ISPs along five performance criteria. This is expected to aid in their regulatory functions.Published versio

An Analysis of Health and Safety Provisions in NEC Contracts

The 2015 edition of the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations imposes statutory duties on the project client and other project supply chain members. It is the client's statutory duty to make and implement arrangements for effective management of health and safety (H&amp;S) on the project. It also created two statutory duty holders that the client must appoint to coordinate H&amp;S management. To manage the performance of the duty holders effectively, the client must enter into a contract with each of them that imposes their statutory duties as contractual obligations. This paper critically analyses two representative contracts in the NEC family of contracts to provide guidance on their H&amp;S provisions and pointers to possible review in future editions. An important finding is that the contracts state the H&amp;S duties in very general terms with the expectation that users will draft the details on the CDM duties as part of the scope contract document. This approach has the advantage of flexibility to accommodate international use of the contracts. It is recommended that the promoters consider the alternative of capturing appropriate CDM-related duties as a standard optional clause for adoption by UK users. Suggestions are made as to the terms in such an optional clause.</p

Prevention through design: Conceptual models for the assessment of a Principal Designer’s skills, knowledge and experience

Purpose: The prevention through design (PtD) initiative places a duty on designers to originate designs that are inherently safe for construction, maintenance, occupation and demolition. In the UK, legislation has been introduced creating a new statutory role called the principal designer (PD) to ensure that PtD occurs during the design process. To realize this objective, PDs under the regulations must have appropriate skills, knowledge and experience (SKE) of occupational safety and health risks as they relate to construction products. However, there is a paucity of knowledge, in the extant literature and in practice, regarding what specifically constitutes PDs’ SKE of PtD and how to measure the same. Design/methodology/approach: The study undertook a systematic review of meanings of SKE and carried out content analyses to provide robust conceptualizations of the constructs SKE. This underpinned the development of nomological networks to operationalize the constructs SKE in respect of PDs’ ability to ensure PtD. Findings: PDs’ SKE of PtD are presented as multidimensional constructs that can be operationalized at different levels of specificity in three theoretical models. Practical implications: The models indicated in this study can assist project clients to clarify the PtD SKE of prospective PDs in the procurement process. Correspondingly, PDs can look to these frameworks to identify their SKE gaps and take steps to address them. Originality/value: This study contributes to the PtD literature by providing theoretical frameworks to clarify the PtD SKE of PDs. The study provides a basis for future research to empirically test the attributes of these as they relate to PDs’ competence to ensure PtD

The design coordination role at the pre-construction stage of construction projects

The importance of the concept of prevention through design (PtD) to the alleviation of the problem of poor health and safety (H&S) management in the construction industry is widely acknowledged. It has been adopted in the regulatory framework for H&S in the UK construction industry through the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) which place on the project client obligations with emphasis on coordination of H&S at the pre-construction stage of the project by a client-appointed ‘Principal Designer’ (PD). Unfortunately, research into the implementation of CDM 2015 into actual practice at the pre-construction stage has been patchy. The paper reports, with respect to the PD role, on part of research undertaken to respond to this gap. It involved surveys of clients and practitioners via fourteen focus group discussion sessions with over eighty participants to develop knowledge and understanding of the PD role. The research issues included: appointments to the role; structures for discharge of the role; day-to-day functions of the PD; remuneration arrangements; and common challenges regarding the PD

Prevention through design: conceptual models for the assessment of a principal designer’s skills, knowledge and experience

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-07-2020-0278 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Purpose - The prevention through design (PtD) initiative places a duty on designers to originate designs that are inherently safe for construction, maintenance, occupation and demolition. In the UK, legislation has been introduced creating a new statutory role called the Principal Designer (PD) to ensure that PtD occurs during the design process. In order to realize this objective, Principal Designers under the Regulations must have appropriate skills, knowledge and experience (SKE) of occupational safety and health (OSH) risks as they relate to construction products. However, there is a paucity of knowledge, in the extant literature and in practice, regarding what specifically constitutes Principal Designers’ skills, knowledge and experience of PtD as well as how to measure same. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study undertook a systematic review of meanings of skills, knowledge and experience, and carried out content analyses to provide robust conceptualizations of the constructs skill, knowledge and experience. This underpinned the development of nomological networks to operationalize the constructs skills, knowledge and experience in respect of Principal Designers’ ability to ensure PtD. Results – Principal Designers’ skills, knowledge and experience of PtD are presented as multi-dimensional constructs that can be operationalized at different levels of specificity in three theoretical models. Practical implications – The models indicated in this study can assist project clients to clarify the PtD skills, knowledge and experience of prospective Principal Designers in the procurement process. Correspondingly, Principal Designers can look to these frameworks to identify their skills, knowledge and experience gaps and take steps to address them. Originality/Value – This study contributes to the PtD literature by providing theoretical frameworks to clarify the PtD skills, knowledge and experience of Principal Designers. The study provides a basis for future research to empirically test the attributes of these as they relate to Principal Designers’ competence to ensure PtD

Dispute resolution in public private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in Nigeria: literature review

© 2021 The Authors. Published by IJERT. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://www.ijert.org/dispute-resolution-in-public-private-partnership-ppp-infrastructure-projects-in-nigeria-literature-reviewOver the past decade, Public Private Partnership (PPP) Policy has increasingly been adopted by governments over the World and the Nigerian Government is no exception. This can be attributed to the fact that the era of government singlehandedly providing infrastructural facilities are long gone. The governments all over the world in this new dispensation now cooperate with the private sectors in the provision and management of various infrastructural facilities in their respective countries. Nigeria has also embraced the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) initiative as a means of addressing the huge infrastructure deficits and challenges. But PPP contracts are long-term, projects tend to be complex in their scope with multiple stakeholders involved and contract documents are complex and subject to interpretation Therefore, unlike the case under traditional procurement system, the proclivity for disputes arising in PPP projects is now very high. In light of this, this paper aims to review existing literature on dispute resolution methods in PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria. This study adopts the systematic review process as a methodological approach. A total of 100 articles from 20 construction-related journals were identified and reviewed. Among these, only 25 articles focused on dispute resolution in PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria which were then analysed, synthesised, and summarised. The study found from literature review that dispute resolution methods adopted in PPP contracts relate to binding and non-binding methods i.e. Mediation or conciliation, Negotiation, Dispute Resolution Board (DRB), Expert Determination, Arbitration and Litigation. On the other hand, from redacted PPP contract documents in Nigeria, the different dispute resolution methods identified were mutual consultation, mediation and arbitration, which are more of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). The study highlights the actual state of research into construction dispute resolution methods in PPP infrastructure projects in Nigeria

Improving public sector service delivery: a developing economy experience

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management on 10/09/2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-05-2017-0129 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The Pension Trust Company (PTC) in Ghana is the sole agency responsible for the management of the first-tier pension scheme as well as processing of claims submitted by beneficiaries for this scheme. The claim processing system at PTC was wrought with significant delays resulting in severe customer dissatisfaction and hardship to retirees. Hence, a new system – Age 54+ project – was developed to address the problems related to claims processing. The purpose of this paper is to report on the efficiency gains from the new claim processing system implemented at PTC and to use the philosophies behind the lean operations concept to explain the results. Design/methodology/approach: Data for this study were obtained from the benefits system of PTC for the period 2009–2013. The data consist of a series of benefits processing time for two groups of 56,000 claimants – those cleared under the Age 54+ project and those cleared under the old processing system. The processes of the two claim processing systems were analysed and their processing times compared. Findings: The new system – Age 54+ – decreased the average processing time for new claims by 20 per cent. The new system is a simple approach which is driven by a “Let’s Start in Time” idea. Originality/value: The operations management literature suggests that process redesign approaches and the implementation of continuous improvement techniques represent mechanisms for achieving performance improvements at governmental agencies. This study shows and discusses the redesign of a social security scheme process using a lean operation concept of waste elimination method and application of kanban to deliver performance improvement.Published versio

Supplier integration, operational capability and firm performance: an investigation in an emerging economy environment

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Production Planning and Control on 12/12/2019, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2019.1700570 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The literature on supplier integration’s (SI) impact on firm performance is intertwined with mixed findings in terms of definitional differences, study context, specific integration components, and the types of relationships examined. This study contributes to the supplier integration and firm performance (SI-FP) literature by investigating how and when supplier integration influences firm performance. Drawing on the relational view, the resource-based view, and the Dynamics Capability theories, we suggest that improvements in firm performance from the supplier integration perspective are dependent on gains in operational capabilities. We test this dependency with survey data from firms in Ghana, a developing economy. The results show positive significant relationships between supplier integration and competitive operational capabilities and between supplier integration and firm performance. Our results highlight the importance for managers in developing economies and elsewhere to improve their firms’ operational capabilities and competitiveness by investing in supplier integration. We also discuss implications of these findings for research.Published versio

Supplier relationship management and firm performance in developing economies: A moderated mediation analysis of flexibility capability and ownership structure

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in International Journal of Production Economics on 24/11/2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.11.021 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Collaborative practices between firms and their suppliers are becoming increasing important in the light of short product life cycles, intense global competition, the need for sustainability, and the ever-increasing demands of customers. Although supplier relationship management (SRM) and its purported benefits have been widely studied in the literature, most of the studies have focused on examining its direct relationship with firm performance. Interestingly, there is scare research on the applicability and effectiveness of such relationships in less developed countries. Thus, we use data collected from firms in Ghana, a less developed country, and apply rigorous, robust, and consistent analytical procedures to examine moderated-mediation relationships between SRM, operational flexibility, ownership structure, and firm performance (FP). We demonstrate that operational flexibility capability mediates the supplier relationship management – firm performance link. Additionally, our moderated mediated analyses show that SRM's influence on firm performance is stronger for locally-owned firms (domestic) than foreign owned firms, indicating that domestic firms stand to gain more from investments in SRM than firms with foreign ownership. This finding is particularly interesting and vital given that locally owned firms might not have the needed resources to invest in SRM practices and thus, the need for these firms to comprehend the benefits and advantages of SRM.Published versio