Search results

This paper studies how the concepts of efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy are used in project management literature. The concepts relate to the degree of success or failure of projects and the degree to which the results are achieved. The purpose of this paper is to review the use of the concepts of efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness in project management literature and among practitioners.

The study is based on an extensive literature review, initially from the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. The first phase involved searching the words “efficiency”, “effectiveness” and “efficacy” in all articles of the journal, and then quantifying the results. This was followed by a qualitative search of the same articles with the aim of understanding how the terms “project efficiency”, “project efficacy” and “project effectiveness” are used. A further intensive literature review was then conducted in other literatures in the field of project management, including, but not limited to, International Journal of Project Management and Project Management Journal. Finally, the authors complemented the review by including theories from deep searches of Google Scholar and Google Books using the parameters “project efficiency”, “project effectiveness” and “project efficacy” and checked how the three concepts are used in other fields.

This research reveals there is wide diversity in interpretations of the three concepts among research scholars and practitioners, which makes it challenging to apply these three concepts appropriately and clearly. As a consequence, the authors propose a model for describing these concepts.

This research is based on an academic and non-academic literature review. It identifies a number of inconsistencies in existing literature regarding the three concepts.

This review enriches understanding of project management. Clarifying the understanding of project efficiency, project effectiveness and project efficacy will help and support organisational improvement. A clear and aligned view of these concepts can also be a basis for measurements based on possible developed indicators.

This paper highlights the gap in the literature concerning the practical use and interpretation of the concepts “project efficiency”, “project effectiveness” and “project efficacy”.

The purpose of this paper is to study how the project owner role is described in the literature, and how the role is carried out in practice. In particular, the author studies the project owner role in relation to project execution and benefit realization.

Based on a literature review, the author proposes a model for the relationships between the project owner, project manager and the operation of project delivery. The author then uses the model to describe the empirical results derived from a mapping of project owner responsibilities in a set of Norwegian information technology projects.

The author defines a project owner type 1 as a project owner that is focused on the business case and has responsibility for both project delivery and benefit realization. This project owner is the type described in most of the literature. The author further defines a project owner type 2 as a project owner that is mainly concerned with supporting the project manager and enabling project delivery. This is the type of project owner found in the empirical study.

The author identified a mismatch between the project management literature and observed practice.

There is a need to clarify the type of project owner role referred to in different contexts. Different project owners will have a different set of incentives and priorities. It is important to make sure that both investment costs and benefits (i.e., the complete business case), are seen in close relation to each other and not as separate undertakings.

There is a need for a distinction between two types of project owners. This study proposes a framework for the description, analysis and implementation of project governance, with a special focus on the project owner role.

Standardizing the development, planning and construction of public building projects can contribute to timely and efficient project delivery. This is especially relevant when there are urgent needs for capacity. The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences from the development of standardized concepts for school extensions and prison building in Norway.

The research questions posed in this paper are on the interaction between public entities project delivery models and standardizing building types and the construction method. To investigate the research questions, the paper presents the findings from two case studies: school and prison development and construction projects. It is based on a literature review, semi-structured interviews, document studies and quantitative data on time and cost for the planning and construction phases.

Standardization and use of modularized building systems can contribute to shortened delivery time by reducing the duration of both the planning and construction phase. The most significant time reduction resulted from less time spent on quality assurance of cost estimates prior to the funding of the projects. Project costs increased in the school case, but were reduced in the prison case. An important challenge faced in both cases is a shallow pool of capable suppliers; the actors have approached the challenge with different strategies, yet neither actor has been successful in their attempts.

The paper provides empirical data to add to the collective knowledge on the project management aspects of using standardized project delivery models and standardized (modular) building. However, by emphasizing the interaction between project delivery models and standardization of the planning and execution of the projects, additional insight into the benefits and challenges are highlighted.

The purpose of this study is to explore the multifaceted challenge of managing construction and demolition waste within the context of the Jordan construction industry.

Using data sourced through desk research, interviews and questionnaires, this study examines the principal causes of increased volumes of construction and demolition waste, as well as the obstacles to both developing and implementing better waste management strategies.

This study identifies multiple causes of issues related to waste management and barriers to developing and implementing solutions and concludes by recommending a holistic approach to this multifaceted problem. A lack of adequate construction waste management infrastructure, regarding both physical facilities and regulations, was highlighted as the key challenge.

The accumulation of waste that results from construction and demolition activity, and activities characterized by unsustainable utilization of raw materials and inefficiency are a global issue. The challenge of effectively managing construction waste is importantly tied to factors including the availability of the necessary infrastructure; economic conditions; and the scarcity of skilled laborers, among others.

This study focuses on the Jordan construction industry, which is so far not very well researched. By building upon previous studies, this study supports further research to illuminate the causes of waste and the barriers to better management, an issue that is not only a pillar of progress at the country level but also key for a sustainable development in general.

Relational contracting is increasingly being applied to complex and uncertain construction projects. However, it has proved hard to achieve stable performance and industry-level learning in this field. This paper employs an institutional perspective to analyze how legitimacy for relational contracting has been produced and challenged in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, including implications for dissemination and learning.

A collaborative case study design is used, where longitudinal accounts of the developments in relational contracting over more than 25 years in four Nordic countries were developed by scholars based in each country. The descriptions are underpinned by literature sources from research, practice and policy.

The countries share similar problem perceptions that have triggered the de-institutionalization of traditional contracting practices. Models and policies developed elsewhere are important sources of knowledge and legitimacy. Most countries have seen pendulum movements, where dissemination of relational contracting is followed by backlashes when projects fail to meet projected outcomes. Before long, however, relational contracting tends to re-emerge under new labels and in slightly new forms. Such a proliferation of concepts presents further obstacles to learning. Successful institutionalization is found to rely on realistic goals in combination with broad competence development at the organizational and industry levels.

In seeking inspiration from other countries, policymakers should go beyond contract models to also consider strategies to manage industry-level learning.

The paper provides a unique longitudinal cross-country perspective on the field of relational contracting. As such, it contributes to the small stream of literature on long-term institutional change in the construction sector.

The purpose of this paper is to study the use of potential scope reductions in major construction projects for special-purpose buildings. Scope reductions may result in buildings that are less fit for purpose; this will be negative according to a facilities management perspective. The paper discuses to what extent this is the case. Potential reductions of project scope have been a tool for cost control of governmental investments in Norway since 2001.

The study is based on lists of possible reductions that were identified in the early phase of the projects. Information about the outcome of these possible reductions is collected from eleven public building projects.

In the studied projects, reduction lists were equivalent to 2.7 per cent of projects budgets, ranging from 0 to 9 per cent. Contingencies for these projects were 9.5 per cent on average, ranging from 5 to 13 per cent. The reduction lists were typically smaller than the contingencies’ lists. Seven of 11 studied projects had reduction lists established during the front-end phase. Only two projects implemented some of the reductions. These reductions were general reductions of the quality of spaces.

Empirical research results are based on Norwegian experiences. Results are compared to international practices. Future research can include comparisons between facilities projects and other types of investments.

The Norwegian reduction lists can be seen as a type of value engineering. The studied potential reductions are based on an unusually high degree of specification of the potential actions for cost control. International best practice is more concerned with general approaches. The practice of identifying specific potential reductions has little use as an active tool for controlling costs. General reduction options work better than specific reductions. The potential scope reductions do not appear to be a threat in a facilities management perspective.

This is the first study of how potential reductions have been used in public building projects. The findings are of interest related to cost control of major investments in facilities.

This purpose of this paper is to investigate the volume and background of changes done shortly after project completion.

To ensure a consistent set of projects, selection criteria were related to project budget, time of completion, and executing institution. Data collection included an initial survey followed by interviews.

The study identified frequency and extent of changes/alterations within a certain period after project completion as well as the dominating causes for such changes.

The study is based on a limited number of projects and from three specific Norwegian agencies. Future research should include a larger sample, possibly also covering other sectors.

If acted upon, the suggestions for countermeasures can contribute to reducing or preventing post‐project changes. The findings indicate a need for new performance measures for projects, as the classical parameters provide motivation to project managers and their teams to focus on project cost and timely delivery, rather than the life‐cycle cost.

In sectors experiencing a widespread occurrence of changes after project completion, this could mean that cost overruns or functionality beyond what was sanctioned by the financing bodies are “hidden” in this type of change work. If so, this prevents sponsors and society from seeing the real project cost, and is clearly a misuse of resources.

This paper contributes to the limited literature focusing on changes after project completion. The paper includes material that may help project managers and project owners avoid post‐project changes and the costs and inconvenience associated with such changes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Big Data can be used in project evaluations.

The study is based on literature research and interviews with 15 professionals in IT, project and asset management and government agencies. The authors discuss and illustrate what data that can be used for project evaluations and discuss potential obstacles.

New data is creating new opportunities to analyse a phenomenon based on different types of data. Interesting data categories include: internet traffic, movement-related data, physical environment data and data in organisational internal systems. The authors show how these data categories can be applied in project evaluations.

Big Data gives an opportunity to add quantitative data in ex post evaluations. Use of Big Data can serve as a step towards a stronger technology focus in evaluations of projects.

There are major advantages in using Big Data, increasing the opportunities to find indicators that are relevant when a project is evaluated.

Possible problematic issues related to use of Big Data that are addressed in the study include: availability, applicability, relevance, privacy policy, ownership, cost and competence. The study indicates that none of the challenges need to hinder use of Big Data when evaluating projects, provided that the issues are properly managed.

The study illustrates how Big Data can be applied in project management research.

This paper aims to report on the work on a doctoral thesis studying uncertainty management of projects. The thesis was in particular studying uncertainty regarding the functionality that the project should deliver. The research also addresses how the project owner's views and interests are taken care of, and the relation between the project management and the project owner in this uncertainty management. The purpose of the paper is not only to report the research findings and conclusions, but also to give insight into the research process – the researcher's “journey” in his work with the thesis is described and also some main issues regarding the context of the research.

The research work that is reported on was carried out applying a combined research approach utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. The research was mainly based on two case studies – one made up of two projects in the railway sector, and one consisting of seven projects in the energy sector. In both the studies, qualitative techniques were applied: interviews, observations and documentation studies. In the study in the energy sector, there was also made a quantitative study using data from the risk registers of the seven projects, with a total of almost 1,500 risk items.

The study shows that the projects' uncertainty management did not have a project owner's perspective, but was mainly focused on the success factors of the project management. In the quantitative part of the studies, it was found that a great majority (91 percent) of the risk elements in the projects studied were operational risks, i.e. risks mainly concerning the projects' operational goals. Also, most of the projects' risk elements were threats (67 percent).

There appears to be a paucity of similar studies of uncertainty management in projects undertaken in the project management research literature. Developing a better focus on the project owner and uncertainty regarding the projects' effects was found to be the main value of the work.

The purpose of this paper is to present a punctuality improvement method system and to show how it was developed for application in the railway industry.

The method is based on principles from quality management theory and developed through four cases: delayed departures from a freight‐terminal; delays caused by wheel damages at freight‐train cars; delays at a single track railway line; and delays created at a railway junction.

The result is a method called PIMS: Punctuality Improvement Method System. PIMS does especially focus on the coupling of results from quantitative analyses with experience‐based knowledge. It also focuses on the interaction between the improvement project and the base organizations.

The research and development work was performed by researchers from academia in cooperation with practitioners from the railway industry.

Punctuality is claimed to be one of the most important quality factors in railway operations and improvement of punctuality is therefore an objective in most railway companies. Punctuality depends on how all actors involved in railway operations perform, and cooperation and communication within and between railway organizations is therefore essential to achieve improvements.

In Norway, there was a lack of an established method describing how to organize and accomplish punctuality improvement work. Thus, the authors initiated a project to develop a coherent method to solve identified punctuality challenges. Through the cases, the method has proven its capability to generate feasible improvement measures and measurable punctuality improvements have been achieved.