ATTRACTING AND IDENTIFYING HIGH PERFORMING PROJECT MANAGERS

Author(s):  
Kristen Hurtado ◽  
Anusree Saseendran ◽  
John Savicky ◽  
Kenneth Sullivan

Construction project managers (PMs) are critical to the execution of successful construction projects, conducting and orchestrating the intricacies of dynamic and complex projects. A large state university was challenged with attracting and retaining PMs in their construction department during a period of rapid university growth and departmental re-organization. The university tried current models for selecting construction PM firms largely based on commodities-based procurement and/or low bid structures and was unsuccessful. A new model was developed that considered and analyzed both the capabilities and qualifications of the individual PMs. The importance of individuals being able to identify their unique capabilities, be accountable for their performance, and operate in a transparent environment are critical concepts within this model. The new model also created an environment of organizational transparency, requiring PMs to measure their performance and the performance of their projects. The model resulted in an overwhelming amount of high quality PMs seeking to join the university. The university initially sought a specific skills set for new PMs, but revised their criteria and future selection processes for hiring future PMs based on the results of this model. Analysis of the PM capabilities, qualifications, and performance are shared as well as lessons learned to refine the model. This model can also be used to identify high performing individuals in other positions or disciplines.

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gould

The mission of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) is to provide leadership, scholarship, and outreach that “transforms” the face of youth sports in ways that maximize the beneficial physical, psychological, and social effects of participation for children and youth while minimizing detrimental effects. Since its inception in 1978, ISYS has partnered with numerous organizations to promote healthy youth sports participation. In this article, the general steps ISYS takes to form and facilitate partnerships are addressed. Four long-term partnerships are also described. The services provided to these organizations are described and the advantages and challenges of working with partners, in general, are delineated. How these partnerships are used to facilitate the teaching, outreach-engagement, and scholarship components of the Michigan State University land grant mission are also described. The case of ISYS shows that conducting community outreach and engagement projects greatly enhance the scholarly mission of the university.


Author(s):  
Ana Toledo-Chávarri ◽  
Yolanda Triñanes Pego ◽  
Eva Reviriego Rodrigo ◽  
Nora Ibargoyen Roteta ◽  
Blanca Novella-Arribas ◽  
...  

Objective The Spanish Network of Agencies for Assessing National Health System Technologies and Performance (RedETS) defined a patient involvement (PI) framework for health technology assessment (HTA) activities in 2016. The aim of this study is to evaluate the process and impact of those PI initiatives that were implemented in the first year following the publication of this new framework. Methods A survey was sent to those HTA researchers who implemented PI in RedETS projects. Responses were reviewed by two authors. An adapted thematic analysis was performed and the results were later discussed by all authors. Results Six responses from six agencies/units were analyzed. The objectives of PI initiatives were the following: inclusion of patient perspectives, preferences and values; elicitation of important health outcomes measures; and barriers, facilitators, or suggestions for implementation. Different methods were used for PI: surveys, focus groups, in depth interviews, and participation in an expert panel. Five main themes emerged: (i) challenges with the recruitment process, (ii) needs identified, (iii) impact of PI, (iv) lessons learned, and (v) suggestions for the future. Conclusions PI initiatives within the RedETS framework were tailored to each HTA project, its specific goals and the individual needs and resources of each HTA agency. The results also pointed out how PI has a relevant impact that has enriched RedETS products providing key information on experiences, values, and preferences of patients, contributions that benefit the HTA and the process of drawing up recommendations. The main challenges were related to recruitment processes and capacity building.


2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (XV) ◽  
pp. 138-149
Author(s):  
Anna Armeini

Academic misconduct performed by the university students is an illegal practise and will give negative effects to the individual as well as the related institution. This research aims at discovering significant factors and psychological dynamics in the university students performing academic misconduct. The research based on the post positivistic paradigm with three students of State University of Jakarta as the objects of the study. Using interview technique in collecting data, the research conducted in the odd semester of 2009/2010 concludes that demographic factor, individual factor, and situational factor are the signifant factors. The academic misconduct performer has a psychological dynamic showing dissonance. The performer believes academic misconduct is inapprorate, but he/ she still keeps doing.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Waldir Vilalva Dezan

The benefits gained in design mediated by Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology are manifold, among them stand out the early visualization, the generation of accurate 2D drawings, collaboration, verification of design intent, the extraction of cost estimates and performance evaluations. By adopting this modeling technology and using to produce, communicate and analyze architectural or engineering solutions practice is transformed. Therefore, the implementation of this new method of working in architectural design and engineering firms finds resistance, implies in adoption stages where incremental adjustments must occur to overcome difficulties and ensure learning and gaining with the new process. The Architectural and Engineering Office COORDENADORIA DE PROJETOS (CPROJ ), belonging to the School of Civil and Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Campinas, seeks continually innovations therefore incorporated BIM in its design method. This paper presents a practical case, that is, the first large scale project developed with BIM, considered to be a BIM pilot study at CPROJ. The pilot study was the research laboratory of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Engineering of the Boldrini Children’s Hospital. Training efforts and ownership of BIM previous to the pilot study and the pilot study itself are presented. The highlights and lessons learned in this process are summarized. The understanding of how BIM changed the office production and qualitatively benefits achieved are presented.


Author(s):  
Thurmon Lockhart ◽  
Rahul Soangra ◽  
Ijphmeditor

This special issue was conceived during the 11th Annual Conference of Prognostic and Health Management Society’s Panel session on the September 25th at Scottsdale, AZ, USA. We would like to thank the panel members and their colleagues in their participation in this special issue focusing on engineered technologies for older adults. This work was partially funded by the NSF ERC seed grant from an interdisciplinary group of researchers from Iowa State University, Arizona State University, Georgia Tech, Florida State University, Chapman University and the University of California Irvine who are engaged in developing a large-scale grant proposal that will be focused on integrated technologies to promote resilient aging and reducing healthcare costs.The manuscripts exemplify our research focus and illustrates contributions in the fields of wearable smart sensors, sensor-data-fusion, machine learning and data mining, prediction and diagnosis, and electronic health records and databases - all in the context of prognostics and health management for human health and performance.We would like to thank the PHM Society for providing an opportunity to publish in their premier journal, and importantly, we are grateful for help of the Editor-in-Chief – Marcos Orchard, Ph.D. for his countless hours to edit and make it best possible of this special issue. Finally, we would like to express sincere appreciation to all the reviewers who have contributed their time and thoughtful feedback to making this special issue publication a success.


Author(s):  
Lindsay M. Corneal

The advanced energy storage industry is a rapidly growing field. This industry is looking for engineering graduates with the skills and training to work in the area of energy storage. The School of Engineering at Grand Valley State University is developing a three-course certificate in advanced energy to address this need. The objective of the certificate is to prepare students with a sound engineering and science education which is augmented with knowledge of energy as applied to advanced energy storage for electrified vehicles and power management. As part of the certificate in advanced energy, a course is being developed in Materials for Energy Storage. This course will study the components of electrochemical cells and the various materials used for these components. The focus will be on the properties of the different materials, the benefits and drawbacks of each one, and the selection of materials for specific applications. The interaction between the materials of the individual components within the cells will be examined. Finally, the electrochemical energy storage system will be considered as a whole and the testing and performance of the cells will be studied. This paper will present a description and overview of the course, and the topics that will be covered. As the course is in the development stage, the plans for assessment after its pilot offering will be discussed.


Author(s):  
T. A. Deyneko ◽  
O. L. Epanchintseva ◽  
A. V. Rodyukov

Automating scheduling is a classic task in learning management systems. The process of scheduling is, in a sense, the final one in the chain of support of educational activities, and its automation reveals all inconsistencies and shortcomings of the previous processes. In order for the scheduling to be automated as much as possible, a lot of various initial information should be processed in the information systems of the university — curricula, staff, workload, schedule of the educational process, contingent of students, classroom fund. It is especially difficult for universities with educational programs of various orientations — natural science, humanitarian, creative, etc., which have specific principles for organizing and conducting classes.The level of automation of educational activities at Dostoevsky Omsk State University, a classical university with a wide variety of types of educational programs, made it possible to tackle the task of scheduling. However, during the implementation of the automated scheduling system, the project team faced a number of problems.The article describes the results of the project for the transition to an electronic schedule in Dostoevsky Omsk State University using the circulation software product 1C:Automated scheduling. University based on the 1C:Enterprise 8.3 system. Initial data on the individual workload of teachers, the classroom fund, the list of student groups, and the list of disciplines were loaded into the configuration from the existing information system of design of Dostoevsky Omsk State University. Based on the results of the audit of the downloaded reference information, the initial data, including curricula, were normalized. The compiled schedule in two modes (manual and automatic) was published on the official website of the university and is used to operate a chatbot on the VKontakte network to inform students and teachers about upcoming classes.


Author(s):  
Giancarlo D'Orazio ◽  
Jiajun Xu ◽  
Sasan Haghani

Abstract In 2018, the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) participated in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge for the first time in the school’s history. An interdisciplinary team of students designed and fabricated a two-person, human-powered rover which competed against 100 other colleges and universities. Based on their success, in 2019 UDC again formed a team to participate in the challenge, improving on the 2018 rover design and performance. This paper reports the process of implementing this experiential learning activity and how this project has contributed to the STEM curriculum at UDC, and recruitment and participation of underrepresented STEM students. Lessons learned from implementing this project is also shared and discussed in this paper.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S43-S57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bon-Gang Hwang ◽  
Lay Peng Leong ◽  
Young-Ki Huh

Over the last few years, the green building movement in Singapore has leaped bountifully. While environmental sustainability for greener construction has been emphasized, rare research has been conducted to analyze performance of green construction projects. As a result, this study aims to address schedule performance of green building construction projects and to provide some recommendations that may improve the targeted performance. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was developed and the responses from 30 companies were analysed, and interviews with 6 project managers were conducted to further supplement and substantiate the survey results. The analysis reported that green building projects required an average of 8% more time than traditional building projects of similar size and characteristics. In addition, on average, these projects were delayed by 4.8% when compared with their as-planned schedules. Lastly, a list of recommendations was also introduced, aiming to ameliorate the schedule performance. This study will offer a benchmark for the industry to gauge the overall duration and performance of green building construction projects.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyad Zouher Al-Sibaie ◽  
Ali Mohammed Alashwal ◽  
Hamzah Abdul-Rahman ◽  
Umi Kalsum Zolkafli

Purpose – Conflict was recognized as a major cause of inefficiency and limited performance of construction projects. Factors pertaining to conflict in construction are vast; however, there have been less recognition of these factors in international construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to provide in-depth understanding of conflict in this context and analyze how it influences project performance. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 161 professionals working in Malaysian companies, which are undertaking construction projects overseas. Findings – Analyzing the data using factor analysis revealed six new factors of conflict: external, internal, control-related, knowledge-related, mismanagement, and social conflicts. Further analysis of the data using partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) affirmed a significant relationship between project performance and two factors of conflict only: internal and social. The results also showed that conflict contributes to about 27 percent of the variance in project performance. Originality/value – This paper provided a clear picture for project managers and team members about specific aspects of conflict and how to mitigate them to attain better performance of international construction projects.


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