Mega Infrastructure Projects Research Articles

Branding and governmentality for infrastructure megaprojects: The role of social media

This paper explores subtle strategies that megaproject teams develop in practice to manage stakeholders external to the project team. A governmentality approach is used to account for these strategies. A metro rail megaproject in India provides the case for the study. The strategies were identified through a content analysis of 640 project and non-project based Tweets posted by the metro rail organization. We augmented this dataset with the community's response through social media, as well as through semi-structured interviews that captured the project teams' responses. The findings indicate that the megaproject used various strategies: promoting the organization, giving progress updates, appealing to the community, as well as targeting of specific sections of the population. The effect of these attempts at governmentality through branding were observed in community discourses on social media platforms that echoed the strategic discourses projected by the megaproject while interviews enabled us to access the project team's responses. For the project community, the effects included a positive brand image, creating community brand advocates and building support for the project during contentious episodes. For the project team, the effects included job attraction, enhanced job perception as well as the creation of project team brand advocates. The relation between the governmentality instruments and their corresponding effects are theorized in six propositions.

A Periodic Collaboration and Coexistence Management Model with the Oscillation Effect for Complex Mega Infrastructure Project under the Risk of Infection

In view of the intergroup structural relationships involved with the complex mega infrastructure projects (MIP), we develop a periodic collaboration and coexistence model that can efficiently curb the risk of infection and ensure normal, orderly progress. We conduct a systematic analysis of the periodic collaboration and the coexistence process for mega infrastructure projects. The results suggest that when a complex major engineering project develops the risk of infection and one group keeps expanding, assimilation or disappearance of the other group may occur, impeding the normal project construction process. If a disruption occurs, it is difficult to resume construction, and substantial economic losses can result. Furthermore, the periodic collaboration and coexistence management model with the oscillation effect can effectively prevent the risk of problems from spreading among groups. By doing so, the model stabilizes the intergroup structural balance in a complex major engineering system. In summary, our model and analysis help, to some extent, to elucidate the critical mechanisms influencing the risk of infection in engineering collaborative management and explain the collaboration and coexistence rules for a complex mega infrastructure project that may risk spreading infection to other parts of the project. The research findings, while further verifying and supplementing relevant theories, also provide beneficial references for collaborative management practices.

Game-based crowdsourcing to support collaborative customization of the definition of sustainability

Successful adoption and management of sustainable urban systems hinges on the community embracing these systems. Capturing citizens’ ideas, views, and assessments of the built environment will be essential to this goal. In collaborative city planning, these are qualified and valued forms of partial knowledge that should be collectively used to shape the decision making process of urban planning. Among other tools, social media and online social network analytics can provide means to capture elements of such a distributed knowledge. While a structured definition of sustainability (normally dictated in a top-down fashion) may not sufficiently respond well to the pluralist nature of such knowledge acquisition; dealing with the unstructured community inputs, assessments and contributions on social media can be confusing. We can detect fully relevant topics/ideas in community discussions; but they typically suffer from lack of coherence.In this paper, we advocate the use of a semi-structured approach for capturing, analyzing, and interpreting citizens’ inputs. Public officials and professionals can develop the main elements (topical aspects) of sustainability, which can act as the skeleton of a taxonomy. It is however, the community inputs/ideas (in our case collected via social media and parsed), that can shape-up that skeleton and augment those topical aspects with adding the required semantic depth. In more specific terms, we collected tweets for four urban infrastructure mega-projects in North America. Then we used a game-with-a-purpose to crowdsource the identification of topics for a training set of tweets. This was then used to train machine learning algorithms to cluster the rest of collected tweets. We studied the semantic (finding the topics) of tweets as well as their sentiment (in terms of being opposing or supportive of a project). Our classification tested different decision trees with different topic hierarchies. We considered/extracted eight different linguistic features in studying contents of a tweet. Finally, we examined the accuracy of three algorithms in classifying tweets according to the sequence in the tree, and based on the extracted features. These are: K-nearest neighbors, Naïve Bayes classifiers and Support Vector Machines (SVM).Respective to our data set, SVM outperformed other algorithms. Semantic analysis was insensitive to the depth/number of linguistic features considered. In contrast, sentiment analysis was enhanced when part of speech (PoS) was tracked. Interestingly, our work shows that considering the topic (semantic) of a tweet helped enhance the accuracy of sentiment analysis: including topical class as a feature in conducting sentiment analysis results in higher accuracies. This could be used as means to detect the evolution of community opinion: that topic-based social networks are evolving within the communities tweeting about urban projects. It could also be used to identify the topics of top priority to the community or the ones that have the widest spread of views. In our case, these were mainly the impacts of the design and engineering features on social issues.

Enhanced Cooperation among Stakeholders in PPP Mega-Infrastructure Projects: A China Study

Despite the consensus that enhanced cooperation among stakeholders is critical to the successful delivery of public-private partnership (PPP) mega-infrastructure projects, there has been a limited utilization of the quantitative approach to explore the cooperation mechanism. Drawing on research and the actual practice of PPP projects in China, a quantitative mathematical model using evolutionary game theory is constructed to explore the internal cooperation mechanism. Numerical simulation is implemented to investigate the impact of the punitive mechanism and allocation mechanism on the enhanced cooperation. The simulation result indicates that reasonable benefit allocation and a strong punitive mechanism are crucial to enhanced cooperation. Action research supported by a case study in Dalian was conducted to verify the scientific practicalities of the simulation method. An enhanced cooperation framework was proposed. The role conversion of the government and the private sectors makes the enhanced cooperation feasible. This evolution model and cooperation framework can facilitate enhanced cooperation in PPP mega-infrastructure projects.

San Diego, We Do NOT Have a Problem! SE Leadership in the Construction Industry

Problem Statement. Construction holds the dubious honor of having the lowest productivity gains of any industry. The Economist reported recently that more than 90% of the world's infrastructure projects are either late or over-budget. Even the sharpest of tech firms are not immune from this affliction. Apple's new headquarters in Silicon Valley, for instance, opened two years behind schedule and cost $2B more than budgeted (Economist, 2017). While many US sectors including agriculture and manufacturing have increased productivity ten to 15 times since the 1950s, the productivity of the construction industry remains stuck at the same level as 80 years ago, according to the McKinsey Global Institute (Barbosa, 2017). Root Cause(s). The construction industry has become less likely to reinvest in productivity. Volatility in demand for construction, extensive fragmentation of construction companies, and slim margins lead to a tendency to defer improvement investments. Often projects have more than a dozen subcontractors, each keen to maximize profit rather than collaborate to contain costs. The result is an industry that mostly ignores tools that might improve productivity (Barbosa, 2017). A variety of factors account for poor productivity and cost outcomes: poor organization, inadequate communication, contractual misunderstandings, poor short-term planning. Contractors and suppliers identify misaligned contracts as the most important root cause of low productivity (Barbosa, 2017). Possible Solution(s). Examples of innovative firms and regions suggest that acting in several areas simultaneously could boost productivity by 50 to 60 percent. Many of these actions translate directly into Systems Engineering activities, including rewiring of the contractual framework, rethinking design and engineering processes, improving procurement and supply-chain management, and introducing holistic project-operating systems into infrastructure megaprojects (Barbosa, 2017). Systems Engineering Challenge(s): Most individual construction industry players lack both the incentives and the scale to change the system, resulting in industry that is literally not willing and not able to make changes to improve productivity. Systems engineering attempts are commonly met with a firm “San Diego, we do NOT have a problem, we have always done it this way!” The true systems engineering challenge is therefore to nudge industry players towards “being willing and able” to make changes by applying organizational change management skills while cautiously introducing systems engineering elements. This paper demonstrates how systems engineers – despite the identified obstacles – can be successful in identifying systems engineering opportunities, and using influence and leadership to drive change from within construction projects, as illustrated by two real world construction megaprojects.

Influence of Project Leadership on Success of Public Infrastructural Megaprojects in Kenya

Influence of Project Leadership on Success of Public Infrastructural Megaprojects in Kenya

Influence of System Behavior on Success of Public Infrastructural Megaprojects in Kenya

Influence of System Behavior on Success of Public Infrastructural Megaprojects in Kenya

Influence of Ambiguity on Success of Public Infrastructural Megaprojects in Kenya

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of ambiguity on success of public infrastructural megaprojects in Kenya. The need for this study arose from the thesis that ambiguity is a key cause of complexity that results in infrastructural megaprojects being delivered over budget, behind schedule, with benefit shortfalls, over and over again. The study was designed as multiple-method research based on virtual constructionist ontology recognizing that complexity is the mid-point between order and disorder. A cross-sectional census survey of completed public infrastructural megaprojects was conducted using two interlinked questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data was analyzed using expert judgment, scenario mapping and retrospective sense-making. The projects surveyed majorly utilized fixed price contracts with the outcome of increased delivery within budget than within schedule. The results showed that ambiguity had significant negative influence on process and overall success of public infrastructural megaprojects but had no significant relationship with product and organizational success. Projects in which the client assumed responsibility for cost and schedule risk had higher chances of meeting both cost and schedule objectives. In order to manage the negative effects of ambiguity, we recommend a new perspective to contract design of public infrastructural megaprojects based on complexity science, blending both outcome and behavior-based contracts. Such contracts should ensure that, in the face of ambiguity, the contractors are able to act in the best interest of their clients and that the clients have access to quality Project Management Information Systems.

Increasing project benefits by project opportunity exploitation

PurposeExploitation of project opportunities may bring more benefits than stipulated in the initial business case, and even stakeholder benefits that nobody thought of at the project initiation. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a new research area for megaprojects, i.e. the phenomenon of project opportunity exploitation as a means to increase the project benefits.Design/methodology/approachThis is a single case study of an infrastructure megaproject, i.e. the construction and operation of a 50+ years old American bridge. Data cover information regarding 60+ years old historical documents, newspaper articles, interviews and video-recordings.FindingsThe findings of this paper are as follows: exploiting all opportunities created by the project and increasing project benefits require involvement from many categories of stakeholders; stakeholders get more involved in exploiting the opportunities created by the project when they are proud of the project; for some of the project-related opportunities, it might take a long time before they can be exploited (and related benefits achieved); and celebrating achievements of the project stimulate stakeholders to exploit opportunities created by the project and contribute to further project benefits.Research limitations/implicationsOnly few interviews were conducted. Interviewees were biased as all were very proud of the bridge. This is a single case study of a “rare species”, not representing most megaprojects.Practical implicationsTo enhance project opportunity exploitation and increased benefits, the project owner (team) must continuously communicate about the project, also after project execution.Originality/valueThis study contributes to a gap within the literature on the phenomenon “project opportunity exploitation”. This is a very rich case study and of a “rare species”.

Looking beyond the idyllic representations of the rural: The Konkan Railway controversy and middle-class environmentalism in India

Post-independence India has had its share of controversies around mega-infrastructure projects that have pitted environmental preservation against development concerns. This article studies the environmental controversy around one such megaproject, the Konkan Railway, employing a framework that integrates the environmental values, beliefs and behaviour of individuals and groups with a historical understanding of political economy and ecology (science). Essentialist and over-simplified environmental discourses, without scientific credibility and not based on historical facts, are often influential in policy making, especially when channelled by the middle classes. Better understanding our present concerns and guiding decisions and policies to deal with the problems we currently face, requires unmasking the romanticization of the countryside. We must replace the idyllic version of the past with a nuanced historical understanding of the interaction between nature and culture. This article also locates the controversy over the Konkan Railway within the frames used to study Indian environmentalism. The aim is to improve our understanding of the regional, ideological and cultural pluralities in environmental values, beliefs and behaviour of the middle class in India.

Avoiding the innovation island in infrastructure mega-project

Avoiding the innovation island in infrastructure mega-project

Grasping institutional complexity in infrastructure mega-projects through the multi-level governance system: A case study of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge construction

Grasping institutional complexity in infrastructure mega-projects through the multi-level governance system: A case study of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge construction

Social responsibility in infrastructure mega-projects: A case study of ecological compensation for Sousa chinensis during the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

Social responsibility in infrastructure mega-projects: A case study of ecological compensation for Sousa chinensis during the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

Supplier development and its incentives in infrastructure mega-projects: A case study on Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge project

Supplier development and its incentives in infrastructure mega-projects: A case study on Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge project

Complex integrity and the improved DB mode in infrastructure mega-projects: how does the improved DB mode degrade the complex integrity of infrastructure mega-projects? Evidence from the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project in China

Complex integrity is one of the main characteristics of infrastructure mega-projects (IMPs). Cost, technology, risk, duration, environmental impact, and other uncertain complexities are interrelated and constitute a challenging and complex management problem. At present, there is no unified understanding of or solutions to these complex integrity problems. This study analyzes the complex integrity of the island-tunnel subproject of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) project and proposes an improved design-build (DB) mode in which the owner provides a preliminary design and has the right to form and manage consortium. This improved DB mode creatively degrades the special complexities that arise from multiple dimensions. On this basis, it is an efficacious way to grasp the main contradictions, integrate the effective resources, and degrade the complex integrity in multiple dimensions and at multiple levels so as to effectively deal with the complexity management of IMPs.

A fuzzy model for assessing the risk exposure of procuring infrastructure mega-projects through public-private partnership: The case of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

A fuzzy model for assessing the risk exposure of procuring infrastructure mega-projects through public-private partnership: The case of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

Coupling and evolution mechanism of infrastructure mega-projects complex ecosystem: Case study on Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

Coupling and evolution mechanism of infrastructure mega-projects complex ecosystem: Case study on Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

Influence of Human Behavior on Success of Complex Public Infrastructural Megaprojects in Kenya

The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of human behavior on the success of public infrastructural megaprojects in Kenya. The need for this study arose from the thesis that complexity due to human behavior is the main cause of waste and failure that results in infrastructural megaprojects being delivered over budget, behind schedule, with benefit shortfalls, over and over again. The study was designed as multiple-method research, based on virtual constructionist ontology recognizing that complexity is the mid-point between order and disorder. A cross-sectional census survey of 27 completed public infrastructural megaprojects was conducted using two interlinked questionnaires assessing human behavior constructs and project success. A total of 108 respondents made up of project managers, team members and organizational sponsors, participated in this study. Using both descriptive and inferential analysis, the results of this study have confirmed that human behavior significantly influences success of public infrastructural megaprojects. Optimism bias remains the main individual behavior that leads to cost and schedule underperformance in infrastructural megaprojects but loss aversion is the most occurring cognitive bias. In light of this finding, the study recommends that implementing organizations adopt structures that allow for continued business justification, focus on products and give project managers sufficient authority over project resources in line with the postulations of the structural contingency theory.

An Overview of the Performance of Public Infrastructure Megaprojects in Kenya

The need for this study arose from the thesis that infrastructure megaprojects are often delivered over budget, behind schedule, with benefit shortfalls, over and over again. Many studies have been conducted towards this conclusion but these studies have not included Kenya which is increasingly adopting megaprojects as a model for delivering public goods and services. Through this quantitative study utilizing a cross-sectional census survey design, the performance of 27 completed public infrastructure megaprojects was assessed using broader measures of project success. The findings agree that these projects are delivered over budget and behind schedule but not with benefit shortfalls. It is also confirmed that process or project management success does not necessarily lead to product or organizational success. It is recommended that public infrastructure megaproject sponsors and implementers adopt project structures that allow for innovation through the use of advanced technology. Such structures should encourage the use of competitive tendering and a preference for pain/gain contractual arrangements to accommodate the differences in risk preferences between the client and the contractor, and to minimize the incidences of agency problem among the various stakeholders.

Is the longbow better than the crossbow? Emerging issues from mobilising a longitudinal study on a megaproject

Longitudinal studies of occupational safety and health (OSH) outcomes in construction projects are rarely conducted, due to the financial, practical and ethical difficulties of studying people, projects, and organisations over extended periods of time. Traditionally, OSH research in the construction industry is cross-sectional – where a ‘snapshot’ is taken, often with a retrospective view. The focus of this paper is the mobilisation of a longitudinal research study investigating OSH policy in an eight-year infrastructure megaproject in the UK. The research examines implementation of the project’s “transformational” OSH strategy, in order to develop new understandings of the effectiveness of OSH interventions. The research design uses a “strategy as practice” lens and traces the various strands of OSH policy, from development to their adoption as practice. The research context is complex, due to the complicated contractual arrangements. The research design incorporates a rarely used “tracer” methodology. During the mobilisation phase of the research project, several challenges were identified, including interpretation and implementation of this tracer methodology, coping with a large team of researchers, obtaining ethics approval and establishing the governance structure, deployment of the team to the site, ensuring consistency in the data collection, managing data sets, and the reliability of the coding. The methodology adopted is time-consuming, and the very large data sets that are generated need to be managed. Complex research project management structures and processes are required, which would not be needed for traditional cross-sectional studies. Sufficient time needs to be allowed at the start of such research projects, in order to put the necessary systems in place. The paper will be of interest to OSH researchers and those contemplating longitudinal studies, particularly those employing a tracer approach.