Aspects Of Project Performance Research Articles

Effects of Organizational Culture Types on Construction Project Performance: A Competing Values Framework Approach in Ghanaian Perspective

Organizational culture plays a critical role in influencing various aspects of project performance. However, existing studies on the impact of specific cultural types on construction projects have produced mixed results. This research examines the effects of organizational culture types on the performance of construction projects. A descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted, utilizing a census sampling approach. Quantitative data were collected using structured questionnaires administered to 375 medium and large-size construction firms. The analysis employed both descriptive and inferential statistical methods, including correlation and regression analyses. The results revealed that market and hierarchy culture types positively influence construction project performance, while clan and adhocracy cultures do not exhibit a significant effect. Furthermore, cultural traits emphasizing external orientation, stability and control characteristic of a hybrid market-hierarchy culture were identified as stronger predictors of successful project outcomes compared to other cultural clusters. To optimize project performance, it is recommended that construction firms in Ghana transition from adhocracy-dominated cultures to hybrid market-hierarchy culture.

Enhancing Construction Performance: A Critical Review of Performance Measurement Practices at the Project Level

The construction industry faces significant challenges in measuring and assessing performance effectively. Conventional methods of measuring construction performance have become less effective, prompting a need to adopt non-financial performance measurements. This shift acknowledges the shortcomings of relying solely on financial performance measurement systems. As a result, there has been a substantial increase in research and focus on non-financial performance measurement systems in recent decades. This study focuses on analyzing performance measurement practices and key performance indicators (KPIs) in the construction industry, specifically at the project level. By examining 146 relevant articles, the study offers a thorough overview of various aspects of project performance. In addition to the traditional dimensions of the project management triangle (cost, time, and quality performance), the study emphasizes the importance of considering other dimensions. These include stakeholder performance, safety performance, technology utilization performance, value performance, environmental impact performance, and the application of maturity models. By incorporating these additional KPIs, a more comprehensive and holistic evaluation of project performance can be achieved. This study’s findings make notable contributions to the methodological framework of performance measurement in construction projects. By consolidating diverse research sources, the study offers valuable guidance for future research in the field of project performance. Moreover, it provides insights into selecting suitable performance measurement methods, empowering practitioners to effectively assess and manage project performance.

Safety Personnel’s Perceptions on the Significant Factors that Affect Construction Projects Safety Performance

The Malaysian construction industry has been long categorized as one of the riskiest industries due to the high number of accidents that happened at construction sites. The poor safety performance in the construction industry has caused several drawbacks and failures in the aspects of project performance, cost, project completion time, and productivity. One of the reasons that led to this situation is due to the inadequate awareness of the project safety performance factors. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the significant factors affecting the safety performance of construction projects, based on the perceptions of safety personnel. Fifty-six (56) questionnaires were distributed among construction safety personnel who are working at construction sites in Kuala Lumpur through email and face-to-face methods. The percentage of the returned questionnaire was 100%. The questionnaire was analyzed using the Average Index (AI) analysis to attain the significant factors that affect the safety performance of construction projects. The findings revealed that among significant factors that affect safety performance on the construction project through project level and organization level were safety training, safety rules and safety induction, and performance monitoring. The outcomes of the study could assist relevant parties especially contractors to avoid accidents occur and have a systematic improvement on safety performance indicators at the construction project.

Project overruns: why are we still getting it wrong?

The issue of poor project performance in the oil and gas industry is not new. It has been discussed since the 1980s and, over the past 30 years, there has been considerable effort put into improving project outcomes. As an industry, we have invested heavily in project management and estimating processes to ensure that reliable data are available for investment decisions. However, recent experience in Australia and elsewhere in the world suggests that little real improvement has been made. This presentation critically examines aspects of project performance and decision making by analysing: the commercial impact that recent cost and schedule outcomes have had on Australian projects; common problems associated with setting and managing cost and schedule expectations throughout the project development process; real (anonymous) examples from projects to indicate how biases affect behaviours, decisions and outcomes; and simple ways to build a more realistic assessment of risk and uncertainty into cost and schedule estimates. We conclude by discussing why this is still important for future Australian projects given the days of complex greenfield megaprojects are likely behind us.

Supplier Opportunism in Buyer–Supplier New Product Development: A China‐U.S. Study of Antecedents, Consequences, and Cultural/Institutional Contexts

ABSTRACTCollaborating with a supplier in a buying firm's new product development (NPD) project is commonly advocated and adopted, but does not always improve project performance. Some pre‐existing collaboration contexts, such as buyer–supplier NPD projects, are especially exposed to supplier opportunism due to the uncertain nature of the collaboration process. Adopting agency theory and transaction cost theory perspectives, we examine: (i) contextual antecedents and project consequences of supplier opportunism and (ii) if these causal influences vary in different cultural and institutional contexts. Using a survey sample of 214 United States (U.S.) and 212 Chinese buying firms’ responses about buyer–supplier NPD projects, we find that supplier opportunism is significantly influenced by the task and relational contexts. We also show that supplier opportunism damages both design quality and efficiency, two aspects of project performance. When comparing U.S. to China, we find that task and relational contexts have a greater impact on supplier opportunism in the U.S., but design efficiency is less hurt by supplier opportunism there. Finally, we show challenges of preventing supplier opportunism in certain NPD collaboration contexts, and offer solutions for overcoming these challenges.

Intuition in project management and missing links: Analyzing the predicating effects of environment and the mediating role of reflexivity

The role of an intuitive cognitive style in project planning may be more complex than prior studies have allowed for. Therefore, we used a model of the role of environment in intuition and the relationships between intuition, reflexivity, and project outcomes (measured as project success and speed of completion) in order to examine how environment influences intuition; and whether reflexivity mediates the link between intuition and project outcomes. Our field study incorporates responses from 450 managers representing 410 projects from firms located in the United Arab Emirates. The regression analysis suggests that competition uncertainty and environmental complexity are determinants of intuition; intuition promotes team reflexivity and this in turn enhances project outcomes. These results show that the intuitive approach in planning projects and team reflexivity are complementary foundations for improving different aspects of project performance and, therefore, that models of intuition in project management should incorporate the effects of reflexivity.

Positive Psychology in Information Technology Project Management

This paper is an initial study on the impact of positive psychology on IT project management. Prior studies have found that High Psychological Positive Capital (PsyCap) of individuals is positively correlated with their work satisfaction and higher performance. PsyCap comprises individual's positive capacities of optimism, hope, resilience and efficacy. Drawing from Beck's cognitive theory, the authors hypothesized that High PsyCap PMs, when required to report bad news to a client, are inclined to consider the project-oriented reasons rather than the personal-oriented ones. As a result, they are more willing to report bad news compared to Low PsyCap PMs. A questionnaire consisting of four cases of bad news in IT projects, together with PsyCap tests, was distributed to professional communities on the internet. Data was collected from 42 respondents. The results of the statistical analysis have shown some support for our hypotheses. The research encourages more research on PsyCap contribution on various aspects of project performance and success. Such research may also have practical implications for PM recruiting and training.

Validating differential relationships between risk categories and project performance as perceived by managers

Effectively controlling software risk helps ensure project performance. Although the relationship between risk and software project performance has been continuously examined, project managers who have attempted to apply existing knowledge to mitigate risky areas remain confused. This study presents two distinct risk prioritization strategies to assist practitioners in developing risk mitigation plans when considering the performance aspects that a particular project should pursue. On the basis of data from 139 software projects, this study shows that each aspect related to project performance is influenced by at least two types of software project risks: objective risks and resilience risks. In particular, objective risks negatively influence all aspects of project performance. Finally, the study shows that using either a risk-focused prioritization strategy or a performance-actualized prioritization strategy provides a gradual management foundation for controlling risks without worrying about excess or deficient risk management investments.

Establishing the association between collaborative working and construction project performance based on client and contractor perceptions

The assumption that forms of collaborative working (for example, partnering) can have a substantial beneficial impact on project performance underlies many of the proposed reform agendas in the UK construction sector. The majority of supporting evidence is, however, either anecdotal or limited to individual cases. This shortfall is addressed and aspects of project performance are evaluated relative to different degrees of collaborative working. To achieve this, project performance and collaborative working were first analysed into identified constituents. For clarity, these were referred to as attributes (of collaborative working) and indicators (in the case of project performance). This permitted the operationalization of the two concepts into a more measurable format. Data from 44 projects were evaluated. The results indicate a positive linear relationship between collaborative working and project performance. Further, by seeking associations between these disaggregated attributes (of collaborative working) and indicators (of project performance) a richer picture emerged of how the association between the two headline concepts might possibly be explained. Aside from its theoretical contribution, the work has a practical implication in terms of how project performance might be improved.

Improving building project performance: how buildability benchmarking can help

Although the buildability of building designs has not been commonly taken as an important parameter in design quality assessment, previous studies have linked buildability to time, cost, quality and safety performance in many ways. Based on this observation, the question arises of how buildability can be benchmarked and which aspects of project performance can be improved. After identifying available benchmarking tools, the relative correlations are investigated between different buildability attributes and construction performance in terms of time, cost, quality and safety. Based on a questionnaire survey, it was found that construction time performance has strong positive correlations with buildability in the design of external wall elements, simplicity of assembly and installation considerations, while other design attributes affect cost, quality and safety performance to varying degrees. With this understanding, it is postulated that best practice can be promoted among design teams for enhancing buildability, which would in turn raise project performance. Three experienced practitioners have been interviewed for verifying the practicality of buildability benchmarking. As an incentive to improve buildability, benchmarking would help construction stakeholders reap their desired benefits by focusing on the related design attributes in the pre‐construction stage, particularly for functionally oriented buildings.

How project managers can better control the performance of design-build projects

The purpose of this study is to identify key factors that affect 11 areas of design-build (DB) project performance. Using data from 42 public and private DB projects, this study finds that contractor characteristics are the key determinants that affect the most number of performance metrics. The most important variable is the contractor's track record for completing projects on budget, on schedule and to acceptable level of quality. Other important determinants are contractors' capability and adequacy of their resources. It is recommended that project managers pay close attention to contractor selection in order to ensure that the different aspects of project performance are achieved.

How project managers can better control the performance of design-build projects

The purpose of this study is to identify key factors that affect 11 areas of design-build (DB) project performance. Using data from 42 public and private DB projects, this study finds that contractor characteristics are the key determinants that affect the most number of performance metrics. The most important variable is the contractor's track record for completing projects on budget, on schedule and to acceptable level of quality. Other important determinants are contractors' capability and adequacy of their resources. It is recommended that project managers pay close attention to contractor selection in order to ensure that the different aspects of project performance are achieved.

Systematic Automated Management Exception Reporting

Exception reporting, hardly a new concept, is too often still largely that—a concept. Modern project‐control information systems should generate an assortment of useful exception reports. As decision support systems, they must provide all levels of management with current information about various aspects of project performance in a timely and meaningful manner. Exception reports can enhance management's productivity by focusing on the most critical subset of performance information. This paper presents a systematic approach to exception reporting for construction labor cost and related performance aspects. Several exception reports are used, individually and in combination, to provide structured and guided exception‐reporting and variance‐analysis capabilities. These reports, and their underlying concepts, are demonstrated using a computerized prototype. The purpose of such exception‐reporting capability is to enable managers to identify critical control points, prioritize their limited time and improve their effectiveness. Flexibility, versatility, user‐defined criteria, and multiple reporting perspectives are emphasized.