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Abukhder, J S A (2004) A study of the management process on construction projects, and the development of a new notation system, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Dundee.

  • Type: Thesis
  • Keywords: case study; complexity; construction project; efficiency; integration; major projects; roles; site staff
  • ISBN/ISSN:
  • URL: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.603440
  • Abstract:
    The construction is large, yet split into many specialities, each with its own tiers of management. A successful construction project operates with each component acting as an inherent part of an undivided whole rather than as a separate group. However, major projects often encounter problems in the control of activities that will allow them to complete the project on time and to budget. There are many examples of projects that have overrun their budget or have completed late. Three significant examples are the Channel Tunnel, Sydney Opera House and Scottish Parliament. This research aimed to assess the project process and to establish the problems that make the project difficult to control and manage. A review of current literature highlighted the increasing interest in tools and techniques for improving efficiency and quality employed in other industries, as suggested by the Egan Report (1998). The Egan Report used examples from other industries to highlight construction's poor performance. The complexity of projects, created by the present construction process, generates large quantities of information. This information is often not integrated and frequently uses different terms for similar items. Current planning tools are able to represent a one-way progression of activities or tasks, but not the information required to perform the activity nor the roles and responsibilities of the participants in the project. Meanwhile, incomplete, inaccurate, and/ or untimely information may cause a disruption to the different phases of the project. The aims of the study are to identify the major management problems arising from poor integration in construction projects; to measure the significance of the problems on several case studies; to rank the hypothesis in order of significance between projects; and to develop a system that could help to reduce the problems identified. Seven hypotheses have been proposed and tested on four case studies. The key result arising from testing the hypotheses and ranking them in order of significance was the identification of three main dominant problems which in order of importance are Integration, followed by Mapping and Linear Responsibility Analysis. As a result of identifying the main problems in managing projects a model is proposed that can be used to manage and control the project process systematically, and to integrate all the elements of the project in one framework. This model addresses the main issues from testing the hypotheses and combines the planning systems in one framework, in contrast to the current systems which are used separately to plan the project. This proposed model may lead to the reduction and/or elimination of the most dominant problems arising from the use of traditional techniques to plan and control projects. The model was tested and validated on one case study. Site staff were shown how this proposed model could deal with the problems that occur on projects where traditional systems are used. The proposed model was shown to be successful in the planning of this case study, and in predicting and highlighting the source of problems.