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Agyekum-Mensah, G (2013) The development of an innovative sustainable total planning and control system for construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University.

  • Type: Thesis
  • Keywords: case study; communication; control system; ethics; government; interview; project management; project planning; qualitative research; scheduling; sustainable construction; UK; workflow
  • ISBN/ISSN:
  • URL: http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29/
  • Abstract:
    The management of construction projects has been heavily criticised by government institutions, academics and practitioners for delays, cost overruns and suboptimum performance. Numerous studies have identified project planning as the main problem with both the management methodology and conventional project planning techniques deemed insufficient. It has been established that only fifty per cent of the planned work is completed as scheduled. This is consistent with the findings of this study, which again confirms the insufficiency of the techniques available to the general practitioner. This research explores operational problems associated with project planning and control, and develops an innovative and holistic planning and control system to deliver sustainable construction projects. A qualitative strategy was adopted for this study utilising interviews and multiple case study methods, which are complementary approaches. In total, four case studies were selected from the predominant UK construction industry and 81 interviews were conducted for this study. Given the criticisms of qualitative research as methodologically weak, this study develops a research process that addresses the specific objectives of the study. This research contributes to Project Management (PM) knowledge by developing and implementing an innovative Total Planning and Control (TPC) system to enhance the current practice and to deliver sustainable projects. The TPC system is a holistic, simple, effective and efficient approach for project planning and control in the ‘real world’ construction industry. It was developed through a practice informed theory approach, which make it more applicable to actual construction projects. The implication of the TPC system is to overcome the limitations of planning and managing construction projects, which also improves communication, workflow and sets foundation for related functions such as, logistic, cost, risk, collaborative and early warning planning. The TPC system comprises of the development of a 4Es (Economic, Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Ethics) management and performance model, project and PM constraints, construction PM managerial process, as well as a sustainable model, 4Es and 4Poles (Technology, Economy, Society and Environment). This study is concerned with the enhancement of construction PM practice. It also enables a deeper understanding of project planning and control in contrast to the conventional planning system which focuses mainly on scheduling.