The evolution of stakeholder management practices in Australian mega construction projects

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 690-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Jing Yang ◽  
Sajani Jayasuriya ◽  
Chathuri Gunarathna ◽  
Mehrdad Arashpour ◽  
Xiaolong Xue ◽  
...  

Purpose The complicated nature of megaprojects requires appropriate analysis of multiple stakeholders to achieve project objectives and to accommodate stakeholder interests. During the last two decades, many stakeholder theories and empirical studies have sprouted. Although previous studies have contributed to the development of stakeholder theory, it seems that these theoretical advances have not been fully adopted and acknowledged in practices, especially in megaprojects. The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution of stakeholder analysis and engagement practices adopted in the Australian megaprojects over the last two decades. Design/methodology/approach Four mega construction projects are described and analysed in this study. Secondary data were first assembled in order to get general knowledge of each case. Interviews were conducted with the project directors. Project documents were collected from the project teams and reviewed. Wherever the project information was unclear, e-mails were sent to the directors and the team members to confirm the details. Findings Project teams have started to apply snowball rolling and stakeholder attribute assessment methods to analyse stakeholders. However, there is still a way to adopt the “network” analysis perspective because the project teams are reluctant to use complicated tools which need specialists’ assistance. The stakeholder engagement practices have evolved to an extent where the project teams monitor the dynamics of stakeholders’ requirements. Projects teams have identified the importance of continuity to manage stakeholders in these massive projects. However, a structured method selection mechanism for stakeholder engagement has not been developed. Originality/value This study will help academics to understand the adoption progress and status of stakeholder management methods.

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Wang ◽  
Shangde Gao ◽  
Pinchao Liao ◽  
Tsenguun Ganbat ◽  
Junhua Chen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to construct a two-stage risk management framework for international construction projects based on the meta-network analysis (MNA) approach. A plethora of international construction studies seems to assume risks as independent and therefore, risk intervention strategies are usually critiqued as ineffective. Design/methodology/approach In the risk assessment stage, a multi-tiered risk network structure was developed with the project objectives, risk events, risk factors and stakeholders, and critical risk factors were selected based on a series of calculations. In the risk intervention stage, targeted risk intervention strategies were proposed for stakeholders based on the results of the first stage. A highway construction project in Eastern Europe was selected as a case study. Findings The results showed that 17 risk factors in three categories – external, stakeholder-related and internal – are critical, and the project manager, construction management department, supplier and contract department are the most critical stakeholders that affect the entire project performance. Based on the critical risk factors and project stakeholders, targeted risk intervention strategies were proposed. The risk assessment results of MNA were found to be more reliable and consistent with the project conditions than the risk matrix method; the risk intervention strategies of MNA can effectively address project objectives. Originality/value This study modeled risk priorities based on risk associations and put forward a new method for risk management, supplementing the body of knowledge of international construction. The results of this study are of critical importance in management practices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-421
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Yahaya Wuni ◽  
Geoffrey Qiping Shen

PurposePrefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) projects are industrialized building systems that are co-created. Thus, effective management of the involved stakeholders is required to ensure project success. However, knowledge of how best to manage the diverse stakeholders in PPVC projects is limited. This research identified and prioritized the success factors or key result areas (KRAs) for the effective stakeholder management (SM) in PPVC projects.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research design was implemented involving a literature review and structured questionnaire survey with international PPVC experts. The research identified and statistically analysed 12 KRAs for SM in PPVC projects.FindingsAnalysis showed that the top three KRAs for SM in PPVC projects include: effective working collaboration, communication and information sharing among participants; effective coordination of the PPVC supply chain segments; and early involvement of relevant stakeholders in the PPVC project. A factor analysis clustered the 12 KRAs into stakeholder analysis and early involvement, effective communication and information sharing and stakeholder interest integration and conflict management.Practical implicationsThe paper identified and prioritized the KRAs required for the effective SM in PPVC projects. To practitioners, the results may serve as decision support on the key areas to focus to ensure effective SM in PPVC projects and may guide the efficient allocation of limited resources.Originality/valueThis research constitutes the first exclusive attempt at identifying and benchmarking the generic KRAs required for effective SM in PPVC projects and contributes to the SM body of knowledge in industrialized construction.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanchal Tarode ◽  
Sanjeev Shrivastava

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop a stakeholder management ecosystem, which is an improved concept of stakeholder management practices implemented in organizations. The approach is to strategically manage, monitor and assess stakeholders' involvement efficiently during the various stages of the project. The paper aims to structure and organize the stakeholder management ecosystem concept, which would enhance working standards by gaining support and healthy interest of stakeholders in the ever-changing and increasing complex business environment.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework study is incorporated on the secondary data of stakeholder management, engagement and assessment. The conceptual insights are drawn for the comprehensive framework of 4Ps (project, people, process and promoting participation) to establish a stakeholder management ecosystem.FindingsThe findings expand the understanding and importance of efficient stakeholder management practices through a stakeholder management ecosystem concept. The implementation of efficient practices can exert a significant effect on the project outcome and organizational goals. Thus, these practices should be assessed and altered according to changing situations and dynamics at the various stages of the project.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes to the literature on stakeholder management. First, it holds organizational and managerial implications to efficiently channelize stakeholder resources to maximize the output of the project and the performance of an organization. Second, managing people associated with an organization formally or informally can not only draw their interest, trust and involvement but also can develop further scope and vision of growth and development.Social implicationsThe philosophy behind the concept is social cooperation and value creation. The more the people are engaged with the organization, the more will be the organizational support and well-being in the community as it broadens the pool of people involved, both inside and outside the organization.Originality/valueThe paper advances the practices of stakeholder management and organization management by introducing the ecosystem concept, 4Ps framework and assessment matrix. The ecosystem concept can be used to develop value and explore the potential of each person associated with an organization and further develop a functional relationship. The 4Ps framework is a structured and flexible approach to ease the process of understanding, analyzing, evaluating and involving stakeholders. The assessment matrix supports the evaluation of the incorporated strategy and further decision-making for the project by gauging project performance and stakeholder involvement.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Young ◽  
Raymond Young ◽  
Julio Romero Zapata

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the notion of maturity assessment and maturity models more broadly and goes on to examine the findings from the assessments of project, programme and portfolio maturity undertaken across Australian Government agencies. Design/methodology/approach – A statistical analysis was performed to determine the level of maturity that best represents the Australian Federal Government agencies as a whole. The unit of analysis in this study is the agencies overall scores in each sub-model across the seven perspectives of the portfolio, programme and project management maturity model (P3M3) maturity model. Findings – This study has identified a number of interesting findings. First, the practices of project, programme and portfolio across the dataset practiced independently of each other. Second, benefits management and strategy alignment practices are generally poor across Australian Government agencies. Third, programme management practices are the most immature. Finally, the results showed a high sensitivity to the “generic attributes” of roles and responsibilities, experience, capability development, planning and estimating and scrutiny and review. Research limitations/implications – All data used in this analysis are secondary data collected from individual Australian Government agencies. The data were collected by accredited consultants following a common data collection method and using a standard template to ensure a consistent approach. Practical implications – The study poses some implications for practice, particularly given the context of Australian Federal Government agencies current plans and action to improve organisational maturity. The study suggests that benefits management processes at the project level and benefits management, governance and stakeholder management processes at the programme level should be an area of focus for improvement. Originality/value – This study is the first attempt to systematically review the data collected through such an assessment and in particular identify the findings and the implications at a whole of government level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faizan Ali ◽  
Mehmet Ali Koseoglu ◽  
Fevzi Okumus ◽  
Eka Diraksa Putra ◽  
Mehmet Yildiz ◽  
...  

Purpose The study aims to investigate if lodging research suffers from a method bias by comprehensively reviewing the research methodology used in lodging related research articles. Design/methodology/approach In all, 2,647 published papers in 16 leading hospitality and tourism published between 1990 and 2016 are analyzed using bibliometric technique. Findings In all, 69% of the empirical studies in lodging research across 26 years period used quantitative methods, with an increasing reliance on regression-based analysis and structural equation modeling, a disturbing plunging trend in methods diversity. Findings also suggest an increasing trend of using secondary data. Research limitations/implications Based on the findings of this study, theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and tourism researchers are provided. Originality/value This is the first study that reviewed a large corpus of published research (2,647 papers in 16 hospitality and tourism journals from the last 27 years) to highlight (a) methodology used, (b) methods employed and (c) data collection and analysis procedures.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 803-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Boon Hui Yap ◽  
Anna Lock

Purpose Knowledge management (KM) is the central know how for the construction industry. However, the delivery of construction projects is often plagued by schedule delays and cost overruns due to lack of working knowledge of project personnel. Hence, the need to appraise the practices of knowledge management in the construction industry has become all the more germane. This paper aims to determine the awareness of KM practices in Malaysia-based construction small and medium enterprises, and to investigate the benefits, tools and techniques, and challenges associated with knowledge management implementation so that effective measures can be devised to address them. Design/methodology/approach The research data were gathered using a structured questionnaire survey disseminated in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia. Responses were collected from 107 industry practitioners. The quantitative data are subjected to descriptive statistics, and the ranking with category of significance of the hypothesised variables is determined using the relative importance index (RII) technique. Findings The key benefits of KM practices are predominantly raising efficiency, quality, productivity and decision-making. The most preferred KM techniques are “face-to-face interaction”, “mentoring” and “documents and reports”. The highly significant tools are “groupware” and “telephone”. The major organisational issue hampering the implementation of knowledge management practices is “lack of motivation” while the critical cultural issue is relating to “bureaucracy and hierarchical”, and the vital people issue concerns “lack of trust”. Research limitations/implications The respondents were limited to only small and medium construction enterprises located in the Klang Valley region in Malaysia, which makes generalisation challenging. Practical implications KM provides not only a pragmatic but also a proactive approach to raising the competitive edge and capabilities of a construction company. Identification of the critical attributes of KM provides the basis for project managers in formulating KM strategies to enhance the chances of successful delivery of future projects. Originality/value The study contributes to the debate on the knowledge agenda in the construction industry, particularly from a fast developing economy’s perspective, where an effective KM can further contribute to realising a reasonable level of competitiveness operation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish Kumar ◽  
Sisira Colombage ◽  
Purnima Rao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the status of studies on capital structure determinants in the past 40 years. This paper highlights the major gaps in the literature on determinants of capital structure and also aims to raise specific questions for future research. Design/methodology/approach The prominence of research is assessed by studying the year of publication and region, level of economic development, firm size, data collection methods, data analysis techniques and theoretical models of capital structure from the selected papers. The review is based on 167 papers published from 1972 to 2013 in various peer-reviewed journals. The relationship of determinants of capital structure is analyzed with the help of meta-analysis. Findings Major findings show an increase of interest in research on determinants of capital structure of the firms located in emerging markets. However, it is observed that these regions are still under-examined which provides more scope for research both empirical and survey-based studies. Majority of research studies are conducted on large-sized firms by using secondary data and regression-based models for the analysis, whereas studies on small-sized firms are very meager. As majority of the research papers are written only at the organizational level, the impact of leverage on various industries is yet to be examined. The review highlights the major determinants of capital structure and their relationship with leverage. It also reveals the dominance of pecking order theory in explaining capital structure of firms theoretically as well as statistically. Originality/value The paper covers a considerable period of time (1972-2013). Among very few review papers on capital structure research, to the best of authors’ knowledge; this is the first review to identify what is missing in the literature on the determinants of capital structure while offering recommendations for future studies. It also synthesize the findings of empirical studies on determinants of capital structure statistically.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amirali Shalwani ◽  
Brian Lines

PurposeThe Project Management Body of Knowledge recommends the use of issue logs as a best practice to minimize the potential project cost and schedule growth. Although the broader topic of project control has been widely studied in the construction literature, the specific application of issue logs has remained relatively understudied. This study aims to analyze the extent and consistency with which construction teams utilize issue logs and the corresponding project performance outcomes.Design/methodology/approachA dataset of 5,635 individual issues was gathered from the final issue logs of 881 small building projects delivered via the design–bid–build method. Differences between groups were determined using the Kruskal–Wallis H test with post hoc testing via the Mann–Whitney U test with pairwise comparison.FindingsThe results showed that, on average, project teams who used issue logs to a greater extent achieved a 3.1 to 4.3% reduction in cost growth and a 5.3 to 12.3% reduction in schedule growth. This result shows that issue logs can be used to improve construction project performance in the areas of cost and schedule.Originality/valueThis result provides a contribution to practitioners, wherein project teams should be encouraged to establish their issue management practices early in the project schedule to encourage greater issue log usage for the remainder of the project.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Osama ◽  
Aly Sherif ◽  
Mohamed Badawy

Purpose This paper aims to enlighten the importance of the risk management process which is considered as a major procedure to effectively handle the potential inherent risks in the construction industry. However, most traditional risk analysis techniques are based on theories that deal with each risk factor as an independent, which does not take into consideration the causal relationships between risk factors. Design/methodology/approach This study aspires to identify the overall risk of the administrative construction projects in Egypt and to recognize the most influencing risk factors through the project life cycle by using Bayesian belief networks (BBN). Through a review of the literature, 27 risk factors were identified and categorized as the most common risk factors in the construction industry. A structured questionnaire was performed to estimate the probability and severity of these risks. Through site visits and interviews with experts in the construction field, 200 valid questionnaires were collected. A risk analysis model was developed using BBNs, then the applicability of this model was verified using a case study in Egypt. Findings However, the outcome showed that critical risks that manipulate administrative construction projects in Egypt were corruption and bribery, contractor financial difficulties, force majeure, damage to the structure and defective material installation. Practical implications The proposed study presents the possibilities available to the project parties to obtain a better forecast of the project objectives, including the project duration, total project cost and the target quality by examining the causal relationships between project risks and project objectives. Originality/value This study aspires to identify the overall risk of the administrative construction projects in Egypt and to recognize the most influencing risk factors through the project life cycle by using BBNs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Yahaya Wuni ◽  
Geoffrey Qiping Shen

PurposeModular integrated construction (MiC) projects are co-created by a network of organizations and players providing different roles, information and activities throughout the supply chains. Hence, a successful delivery of MiC projects can hardly be decoupled from effective supply chain management (SCM). This study investigated the critical success determinants of effective SCM in MiC projects.Design/methodology/approachComprehensive literature research and expert review identified 20 candidate success determinants, which formed the basis for a structured questionnaire survey of experts in eighteen countries. The study computed the mean scores, normalized mean values and significance indices of success determinants for SCM in MiC projects.FindingsThe analysis revealed that design for SCM, effective communication and information sharing, organizational readiness and familiarity with MiC, seamless integration and coordination of supply chain, early involvement of critical supply chain stakeholders and extensive supply chain planning are the top five critical success determinants of effective SCM in MiC projects. The 20 success determinants are categorized into five: project strategy, bespoke competencies, process management, stakeholder management and risk management.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has some limitations. The smaller sample size could affect the generalizability of the results. The generalized analysis of the success determinants overlooked their sensitivities to specific contexts, industry climates and project types.Originality/valueThe study established a novel set of critical success determinants for SCM in MiC projects that have not been explicitly discussed in the MiC success literature and described their hypothetical dynamic linkages. It contributes to a better understanding of how best to manage the MiC project supply chain effectively.


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