Traditional Project Research Articles

On some intracranialist dogmas in epistemology

Research questions in mainstream epistemology often take for granted a cognitive internalist picture of the mind. Perhaps this is unsurprising given the seemingly safe presumptions that (i) knowledge entails belief (viz. the entailment thesis) and that (ii) the kind of belief that knowledge entails supervenes exclusively on brainbound cognition. It will be argued here that (contra orthodoxy) the most plausible version of the entailment thesis holds just that knowledge entails dispositional belief. However, regardless of whether occurrent belief supervenes only as the cognitive internalist permits, we should reject the idea that dispositional belief supervenes only in cognitive internalist-friendly ways. These observations, taken together, reveal two things: first, that a cognitive internalist picture of the mind is much more dispensable in epistemology than has been assumed and, second, that pursuing questions in extended epistemology need not involve any radical departure from the commitments of more traditional epistemological projects.

Decision-Making Evaluation of the Pilot Project of Comprehensive Land Consolidation from the Perspective of Farmers and Social Investors: A Case Study of the Project Applied in Xianning City, Hubei Province, in 2020

Comprehensive land consolidation is an important means to implement the rural revitalization strategy. The decision-making of comprehensive land consolidation projects is the basis of scientifically selecting land consolidation projects, ensuring the quality of project, and making the project advance in an orderly manner. Compared with the traditional land consolidation project, the overall land consolidation project has a large demand for funds, and the participation of social capital has become an important way to solve the project funding problem. From the perspective of farmers and social investors, this research constructs a comprehensive land consolidation project decision-making evaluation index system and evaluation method from five aspects, including agricultural land consolidation, construction land consolidation, rural ecological protection and restoration, rural historical and cultural protection, and rural industrial development goals. The results show that there is a big difference in the evaluation results from the perspective of farmers and social investors. Considering the urgency of farmers’ needs and the investment willingness of social investors in comprehensive land consolidation, the evaluation results are basically consistent with the actual project approval. The index system and evaluation method established in this study are helpful to scientifically select pilot projects of comprehensive land consolidation and invest limited government financial funds into the consolidation contents that are both urgently needed by farmers and willing to be invested by social investors.

The interplay of formal integrative mechanisms and relational norms in project collaboration

Collaboration can bring multiple benefits to projects. Real collaboration appears, however, complex to implement. So far, there is no scientific agreement on the importance of the formal and relational (behavioural) sides of project collaboration. Through a qualitative study of two collaborating teams in large engineering and construction projects we uncover the roles of these two sides of collaboration and analyse their interplay. We find that relational and formal aspects of collaboration are complementary, yet each has a distinct role. The formal integrative mechanisms provide an arena for relational norms to be established, and for collaborative behaviours to be practiced and implemented. Relational norms transform traditional project management activities into collaborative, integrative ones. We advance theory of collaboration by offering a holistic and at the same time fine-grained view on it, and stress that project teams need to pay equal attention to both formal and relational sides for collaboration to succeed.

Production Capability Creation (PCC) for Collaborative Construction Projects – A Qualitative Study From Finland

The construction industry has been suffering from modest productivity development in recent decades. To address the recognized problems, collaborative delivery methods are replacing traditional project delivery models, especially in large and complex projects.The aim of this research is to describe the production capability creation (PCC) process as a solution for planning the production phase. The PCC process should be implemented parallel to the design phase and owned by the production. A qualitative and inductive approach, based primarily on case company interviews, is applied to identify the twelve most important challenges for preplanning in the design phase from a group of different types of stakeholders in construction projects. Based on these challenges, the main areas of PCC are structured, solving the depicted production challenges, enabling a wasteless and cost-efficient production phase to avoid unnecessary delays and problems. Parallel implementation of PCC and design processes of the building naturally also improve the result of the design itself. With PCC, contractors can recognize the need for improvement in their processes but, more importantly, can directly contribute to the design of the building. Described PCC process solves major challenges emerging from the case company interviews. Earlier literature on capability creation is scarce, and for the construction industry it is even more narrow. The PCC process presented in this research enables significant improvement in efficiency and effectiveness, and the elimination of waste in the construction industry.

A Semantic Web-Enabled Approach for Dependency Management

The use of external libraries in today’s software projects allows developers to take advantage of features provided by such application programming interfaces (APIs) without having to reinvent the wheel. However, APIs have also introduced new challenges to the software engineering community (e.g. API incompatibilities, software vulnerabilities, and license violations) that extend beyond traditional project boundaries and often involve different software artifacts. One potential solution to these challenges is to provide a technology-independent representation of software dependency semantics and its integration with knowledge from other software artifacts. In our research, we take advantage of the semantic web (SW) and its technology stack to establish a unified knowledge representation of build and dependency repositories. Given this knowledge base, we can now extend and integrate other (heterogeneous) resources to allow for a flexible and comprehensive global impact analysis approach. To illustrate the applicability of our SW-enabled modeling approach, we discuss two different applications. These applications illustrate how our modeling approach can not only integrate and reuse knowledge from dependency management systems and other software artifacts, but also take advantage of inference services provided by the SW to support novel software analytics services across artifact and project boundaries.

Research on Life-Cycle Project Cost Management Based on Random Matrix Weight Algorithm

The traditional project management in the construction industry has the uniqueness of exclusive customization, the irreversibility of the project, the immobility of the project address, the long-term nature of the project, and the dynamic nature of the project. Based on these characteristics, the complexity and difficulty of project management in the construction industry are determined. Modern engineering is no longer satisfied with the traditional basic needs, but develops in a green, environmental friendly and efficient way. On the one hand, the project is required to meet good use requirements and meet the most basic functional requirements. On the other hand, the project construction process is required to meet the requirements of green environmental protection and ecological harmony. Therefore, the maintenance cost and operation cost corresponding to modern projects have become the key to the sustainable and healthy development of the engineering construction industry. Based on this, this paper will take the construction industry as an example to fully analyze the current situation and existing problems faced by the current project cost management. Through the research on the full life-cycle project cost management mode of the construction industry, the random matrix weight algorithm is creatively introduced, and the adaptive full life-cycle project cost management extended target tracking algorithm is proposed, which cuts the corresponding full life-cycle project cost management model into multiple submodels, and the corresponding management subobjectives are constructed from the submodel, and the expansion status of the corresponding subobjectives is described and analyzed in detail using the inverse distribution description, so as to accurately estimate the effect and target weight coefficient required by the management subobjectives, and finally realize the efficient, reasonable and scientific operation of the construction industry’s whole life-cycle project cost management, so as to maximize economic benefits. An experimental verification is carried out for a specific construction company. The verification results show that the full life-cycle project cost management scheme based on random matrix weight algorithm proposed in this paper has obvious advantages in management efficiency, cost control, process control, and other aspects compared with the traditional management scheme.

Items and Constructs of Blockchain Adoption in Software Development Industry: Experts Perspective

The use of Blockchain is becoming a matter of increasing importance, yet the software development industry has not given Blockchain adoption enough consideration. As a result of their inability to modify their software process within the project life cycle, many software development companies struggle to [adopt Blockchain technology. This is because Blockchain Oriented Software (BOS) and its projects have distinctive characteristics that are distinct from traditional software and projects. The constructs and their items to adopt Blockchain in Software development industry have not been identified or investigated. This study aimed to identify technological, organizational, and environmental constructs and their items to adopt Blockchain. Utilizing a quantitative validation approach, 10 interviews and 25 assessment questionnaires were analyzed. The results reveal the identified technological, organizational, and environmental constructs and their items to adopt Blockchain. Experts unanimously agreed with Content Validity Ratio (CVR) results. According to most evaluation questionnaire forms and interview transcripts, the top technological construct was “Trialability” and the top organizational construct was “Cost” while the top environmental construct was “Market Dynamics.” All other constructs and their items were applicable, as indicated by most evaluation questionnaire forms and interview transcripts. This research gives a comprehensive list of technological, organizational, and environmental constructs and their items that demand the attention of Blockchain adoption researchers and industry players in the software development sector.

Success in collaborative construction through the lens of project delivery elements

PurposeThe emergence of collaborative delivery models and working practices in construction industry has created a potential area for project success research. Previous studies have addressed success factors of various collaborative delivery models (e.g. alliance and partnering). However, there is currently very limited research-based knowledge concerning core success factors for different collaborative delivery models, exploring the commonalities. Thus, this study aims to conceptualize a success model for collaborative construction projects by identifying and structuring their core success factors through the lens of project delivery elements.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted, and thematic as well as content analysis of the relevant studies led to the identification of mentioned success factors in the literature for different collaborative delivery models. Then, those common success factors were structured in a model based on factors' relation to project delivery elements.FindingsThe obtained results present eight core success factors (e.g. equality, mutual trust and commitment to win–win philosophy) for collaborative construction projects, structured in a model based on their contribution toward project organization, contractual relationships, and operational system in construction project delivery. Moreover, the differences between success factors for traditional and collaborative construction projects are discussed.Originality/valueThis study's findings provide insightful theoretical contributions on collaborative construction project success and providing a departure point for future studies based on the discussed differences between success factors of collaborative and traditional construction projects. The findings can be also practically insightful for the project professionals in collaborative construction projects to succeed in managing project organization, contractual relationships, and operational system.

Motivated by Agility, Hampered by Switching: A Boundary Perspective

While agile working methods become more and more important in practice, the implications from applying this new work form are largely underexplored. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on the downstream effects of agile working methods from a Job-Demand-Control perspective. Our moderated mediation model suggests that agile working methods increase employees’ intrinsic task motivation through role clarity. Furthermore, we argue that this indirect effect diminishes with the frequency of switching projects. We find empirical evidence for both hypotheses using data from a field study in a manufacturing company with 206 observations of 103 employees, who were surveyed in terms of their experience with working in agile and traditional projects.

Yazılım yerelleştirmede kitle kaynaklı çeviri etkinliği

Kitle kaynaklı çeviri, bir hizmet ya da ürünle ilgili içeriğin aynı anda birçok dile çevrilmesi amacıyla, gönüllü olarak bir araya gelmiş insanların gerçekleştirdiği bir yerelleştirme uygulaması olarak tanımlanabilir. Çevrimiçi platformlar aracılığıyla gerçekleştirilen kitle kaynaklı çeviri işlerinde yer alan gönüllüler, çevirmen ve/veya düzeltmen olarak projeye katkı sağlayabilirler. Kitle kaynaklı projelerde çok sayıda dile eş zamanlı olarak hızlı bir şekilde çeviri yapılabilmesi ve çeviri etkinliğinin gönüllülük esasına dayanması ya da düşük ücretlerle gerçekleştirilmesinin sonucu olarak maliyetten tasarruf edilir. Bu nedenle, bir çeviri projesinin kitle kaynaklı yapıda yürütülmesi şirketlere avantaj sağlar. Geleneksel yerelleştirme projelerinde “şelale modeli” adı verilen bir yöntem kullanılmaktaydı. Bu yöntemde, yazılım ya da uygulama geliştirildikten sonra yerelleştirme aşamasına geçiliyor; tüm metin unsurlarının bir araya getirilmesi ve çeviri işlemlerinin başlaması, ürünün piyasaya sunulmasından hemen önce gerçekleştiriliyordu. Günümüzde ise, yerelleştirme çalışmaları çoğunlukla yinelemeli ve iş birliğine dayalı yöntemlerin öne çıktığı çevik yazılım geliştirme yaklaşımlarıyla yürütülmektedir. Çevik yerelleştirme döngüsü içerisinde yer alan çevirmenler, ürün geliştirme çalışmaları devam ettikçe iş akışı içinde sürekli olarak görev alır. Geleneksel şelale modelinin aksine, çevik yerelleştirme sürecinde, çeviriler, erek kitlenin/son kullanıcıların beklenti ve gereksinimlerine yanıt verebilecek şekilde, yenilikçi çözümler üretilerek ve yazılım güncellemeleri dikkate alınarak gerçekleştirilir. Mozilla Firefox gibi açık kaynaklı yazılımlar, içerik çevirilerinde makine çevirisi sistemleri ve kendi çeviri bellekleri yanında, kitle kaynaklı çeviri olanaklarını da kullanmaktadır. Sistemde, farklı dil ve lehçelere çeviri yapan 200’ü aşkın ekip yer almakta, gün içinde binlerce metin dizgisi birçok dile çevrilmekte ve gerekli düzeltiler gerçekleştirilmektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında, ilk olarak yazılım yerelleştirme sürecinde çevirmenin konumu sorgulanacak; ardından, kitle kaynaklı yerelleştirme çalışmalarında çevirmenin ne gibi görevler üstlenebildiği Mozilla Pontoon yerelleştirme yönetim sistemi özelinde örneklerle açıklanmaya çalışılacaktır.

The dynamics of changes in PPP projects – a meta-case analysis approach

Changes in public-private partnership (PPP) projects are inevitable and often lead to project failure, hence, the management of changes in PPP projects are more challenging than with traditional projects. The complex nature of changes in PPP projects, however, lacks systematic investigation and a quantitative approach in current literature. To fill this gap, this study considers the development process of major changes in PPP projects from a whole-life cycle perspective. The findings reveal significant relationships between causes and negative change results, as well as the enlarged interactive effects of certain causes. Most of the negative changes occur at the operational stage and vary across different types of project and regions, but the pre-contract stage is the most critical stage to prevent future negative changes. Hence, more proactive change management strategies are suggested for the government decision makers and project managers. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in PPP literature by providing a meta-case analysis approach, which can improve the accuracy of case selection and facilitate statistical analysis. The findings can help the researchers and practitioners to better understand the nature of changes and manage them in a more efficient way.

The important role of BIM in construction project management, quality, and investment schedule control

With the continuous development of the economy and technology in today's society, China's construction level has also made significant progress. At the same time, the complexity and difficulty of engineering projects have gradually increased as people's requirements for building functionalization, appearance, life span, green, and so on have increased. In addition, as the scale of engineering and construction continues to expand, engineering projects are vulnerable to the interference of many different factors. The project management is throughout the whole life cycle of the project. If the traditional project management method is followed, the problems of the construction schedule, construction quality, construction safety, construction cost control, etc., are very properly solved. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt new technology to fundamentally strengthen the construction quality and improve the construction efficiency of construction projects.

Hybrid project management – a systematic literature review

Hybrid project management is an approach that combines traditional and agile project management techniques. The goal is to benefit from the strengths of each approach, and, at the same time avoid the weaknesses. However, due to the variety of hybrid methodologies that have been presented in the meantime, it is not easy to understand the differences or similarities of the methodologies, as well as, the advantages or disadvantages of the hybrid approach in general. Additionally, there is only fragmented knowledge about prerequisites and success factors for successfully implementing hybrid project management in organizations. Hence, the aim of this study is to provide a structured overview of the current state of research regarding the topic. To address this aim, we have conducted a systematic literature review focusing on a set of specific research questions. As a result, four different hybrid methodologies are discussed, as well as, the definition, benefits, challenges, suitability and prerequisites of hybrid project management. Our study contributes to knowledge by synthesizing and structuring prior work in this growing area of research, which serves as a basis for purposeful and targeted research in the future.

EFFECT OF IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON CLAIMS MITIGATION IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

The fragmented management of traditional construction projects, which mainly lacks the integration of project processes, results in schedule delays and cost overruns which often lead to client dissatisfaction, quality defects, and a raise in safety-related accidents. As a result, claims and disputes are most likely to arise between the contracting parties that can be extremely expensive and may severely impact the project performance. Numerous studies have investigated the impact of integrating sustainable management practices (SMPs) in construction projects on specific project performance objectives, such as cost, time, and quality; however, there is a need to investigate the effect of implementing SMPs on claims and dispute resolution. This research aims to fill the existing literature gap by identifying correlations between implementing SMPs and the frequency and severity of claims and disputes that may arise in construction projects. To achieve this goal, 25 SMP and 13 common construction claims were extracted based on an extensive literature review. A 5 point Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and administered to construction professionals to explore the aforementioned correlations. A total of 93 responses were received through online data collection. The research results demonstrate that empowering communication and collaboration among project stakeholders at early stages of the construction phase can significantly mitigate the occurrence of claims. This paper contributes in providing construction professionals with recommendations to improve construction sites’ performance and reduce claims.

Beartooth: Nuclear material testbed with MBSE and digital twin

AbstractDigital engineering can fundamentally change the construction and operation of complex projects. Traditional engineering teams operate in siloed tools and disparate teams. Throughout a project lifecycle, data is translated manually or over brittle point‐to‐point connections, which increases the risk of silent errors. These potential errors can cascade across the effort, resulting in significant project delays and cost overruns. Furthermore, traditional engineering projects are not designed for the rapid digitization that allows for advanced analytic tools. Digital engineering can create a cohesive data “source of truth” to ensure a project is designed for the digital future. There is a need for a standard toolset to normalize and integrate project datasets. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has developed DeepLynx, a crucial tool to mitigate this data management problem. This paper introduces INL's digital engineering approach and provides a concrete example of a digital engineering design effort currently taking place with Beartooth, a new nuclear material processing testbed project. This paper will provide the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned in using digital engineering on this complex system. The digital engineering approach is utilizing model‐based systems engineering, extended reality, and a digital twin. Finally, this paper will discuss the new possibilities provided by using a digital thread and twin during future operation of a nuclear fuel cycle testbed.

Trans Rights: The Ongoing Debate in Latin American Legal Agendas

This article offers an overview of the Trans people's rights agenda in Latin America. It focuses on various Latin American countries to reveal how the route towards rights has been marked by a binary and medicalizing approach to non-normative identities, directly influenced by the traditional and conservative moral projects prevalent in the region. It also accounts for some recent normative and case-law developments, which however coexist with restrictive norms that criminalize the rights of gender-diverse people. It concludes that the recognition of Trans people’s rights is often insufficient, that it contributes to rendering Trans diverse realities invisible, thus reinforcing discrimination.

On the Importance of Project Management Capabilities for Sustainable Business Process Management

In a recently published study on business process management (BPM) capabilities in the view of digitalization, project management was not named as a core capability by the corresponding Delphi panel. However, earlier (pre-digitalization) research suggests that project management is a key success factor for BPM. This contradiction could have severe impact with regard to the sustainability of process management. This article uses qualitative case study data to discuss potential reasons for this contradiction and to answer the question of how important project management is for contemporary BPM. As both traditional and agile project management knowledge was employed in the case study, results indicate that project management is indeed helpful for BPM, especially for discrete process change. Practitioners should consider project management knowledge when staffing business process optimization and digitalization initiatives. Research should develop a deeper understanding of agile and traditional project management as antecedents to sustainable BPM success and as BPM capabilities.

Improved reliability in planning large-scale infrastructure project delivery through Alliancing

PurposePrice reliability for complex and highly complicated infrastructure projects is problematic. Traditional project delivery approaches generally fail in achieving targeted end cost reliability. However, integrated project delivery (and particularly Alliancing), develop a far more reliable and robust project delivery plan and outturn time-cost targets. This paper aims to explore why this may be the case.Design/methodology/approachThis case study investigated the project design, planning, cost/time estimation approach and how risk/uncertainty was dealt with. Five senior project delivery experts from an organisation that delivers multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects in Australia were interviewed. These five experts collectively had 100+ cross-disciplinary experience years delivering complex infrastructure projects.FindingsAlliancing adopts a radically different approach to project design, time/cost planning and risk assessment and management to traditional project delivery approaches. Key findings explain how the project alliance agreement designs-in processes that maximises team integration and collaboration. Analysis concludes that design thinking is used to craft and shape collaborative behaviours and project governance. Additionally, including project owner and facilities operator representatives in the project team adds valuable insights, expertise and knowledge contributing to planning reliability.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is exploratory and focussed on complex infrastructure projects so findings cannot be generalised.Practical implicationsWe unpack Alliancing processes that develop the target outturn cost plan, comprising a holistic and realistic plan to design a project to meet expected project outcomes. This case study may serve as an exemplar for complex project delivery.Social implicationsThis paper illustrates how Alliancing more effectively delivers best value than traditional procurement approaches through its TOC-TAE processes.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the scant existing academic literature analysing these processes. Its novel contribution is explaining how Alliancing treats unexpected events that in traditional delivery forms trigger expensive and time-energy-wasting disputation. This case study may serve as an exemplar for complex project delivery.

Concurrent 23. Presentation for: On a mission to decommission?

Presented on Thursday 19 May: Session 23 E&P operators with ageing assets are making informed investment decisions around financial commitments for later-life asset management through to full decommissioning and abandonment in a safe, environmentally sound and cost-effective way. Factors affecting decommissioning decisions include: Oil price, New technology, Regulatory requirements, Supply chain and contracting options. Operators are optimising the execution of decommissioning projects and consistently looking to improve efficiencies through decommissioning strategies, technologies and approaches. At the same time, a new focus on programmatic approaches, and the use of data are becoming more prevalent to eliminate waste and create cost saving opportunities. This paper provides: an overview on the decisions that need to be taken when commencing decommissioning activities; a review of the various models and strategies for decommissioning and abandonment; discussion on how traditional project approaches may not be appropriate in light of environmental and sustainability targets; and consideration of contracting options. The paper will appeal to E&P operators, major contractors and service providers. To access the presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

EFFECT OF IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON CLAIMS MITIGATION IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

The fragmented management of traditional construction projects, which mainly lacks the integration of project processes, results in schedule delays and cost overruns which often lead to client dissatisfaction, quality defects, and a raise in safety-related accidents. As a result, claims and disputes are most likely to arise between the contracting parties that can be extremely expensive and may severely impact the project performance. Numerous studies have investigated the impact of integrating sustainable management practices (SMPs) in construction projects on specific project performance objectives, such as cost, time, and quality; however, there is a need to investigate the effect of implementing SMPs on claims and dispute resolution. This research aims to fill the existing literature gap by identifying correlations between implementing SMPs and the frequency and severity of claims and disputes that may arise in construction projects. To achieve this goal, 25 SMP and 13 common construction claims were extracted based on an extensive literature review. A 5 point Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and administered to construction professionals to explore the aforementioned correlations. A total of 93 responses were received through online data collection. The research results demonstrate that empowering communication and collaboration among project stakeholders at early stages of the construction phase can significantly mitigate the occurrence of claims. This paper contributes in providing construction professionals with recommendations to improve construction sites’ performance and reduce claims.