scholarly journals Contract delay: what is it and how are we performing?

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Finnie

AbstractThis paper examines the management of contract delays in the construction industry as currently practised, and suggests some best practice alternative methods.Research results about the level of contractor’s time management skills were analysed to determine the related impact on their ability to manage contract delays. A comparison was made between three conditions of contracts used in New Zealand to determine how delay management should be managed with a discussion about how the different contract conditions distribute risk among the parties. Recommendations were made to improve contract conditions, up-skill industry practitioners and ensure student graduates have adequate delay management skills.

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Speers ◽  
Allen Gale ◽  
Nancy Penney

This paper describes an international biosolids management initiative, known as the Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP). The ANZBP - known formerly as the Australasian Biosolids Partnership – comprises 33 members dedicated to promoting the sustainable management of biosolids across the two nations. Two critical research projects are described, each of which contributes to the ANZBP goal of promoting the sustainable management of biosolids. The first is a review of community attitudes to biosolids management, the outcomes of which will be used to refine communication tools and methods of community consultation and which will provide input to policy development over time. The second is a review of regulations in place in Australia and New Zealand carried out to identify inconsistencies and improvements that could be made. An outcome of this initiative is potentially the development of a best practice manual. The relationship of the two projects to a sustainability framework adopted by the ANZBP is also described, as is the relationship of the two projects to each other.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen E. Best ◽  
Jennifer Kahle Schafer

ABSTRACT Practitioners routinely note that new staff lack documentation skills, communication skills, and strong Excel skills. Further, new staff report critical-thinking, written and oral communication, teamwork, and project management skills deserve greater emphasis in Master of Accountancy programs. The AICPA's (2014) Model Tax Curriculum suggests that active learning approaches be used to enable students to build communication, critical-thinking, and interpersonal skills. This case uses a realistic corporate tax return preparation experience to address these criticisms by focusing on four main areas: time management, communication, research, and technical skills. The case is divided into two phases. In Phase 1, students review client information, generate requests from the client for missing information, keep a log of hours spent on the project, research ambiguous issues, meet with the project “senior” to obtain guidance, and prepare electronic work papers. In Phase 2, students incorporate feedback from the senior's review of their work papers to make corrections, prepare a corporate tax return, and create a client letter. Student feedback about the project is positive.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Kristina Črnjar ◽  
Vedrana Čikeš ◽  
Kristina Ferenčak

Time management is the ability of consciously deciding and controlling the amount of time spent on different activities in order to be more productive and effective. In order to achieve academic success, students should be able to manage a large number of activities, from going to lectures, studying, participating in extra-curricular activities, to making sure they are getting enough rest to stay healthy. The purpose of this research was to determine if there are any significant differences in the effective time management between Chinese and Croatian students. Even though the cultural differences between these two groups are substantial, both groups are becoming a part of the same education and business market. The research was conducted on the sample of 340 Chinese and Croatian students using an online survey. The results have shown that in several time management activities there are statistically significant differences between Chinese and Croatian students. The results also indicate that the Croatian respondents are better at setting goals, determining priorities and performing tasks by priority, while Chinese students delegate tasks and determine and eliminate time wasting activities more often than their Croatian counterparts do. On the other hand, Croatian students waste more time on activities such as conducting tasks of small importance and fun activities of no relevance (e.g. “surfing” the Internet, private telephone conversations, chatting, etc.), while Chinese students are in the forefront with regard to ineffective and supernumerary meetings and overly long and supernumerary phone conversations.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4455
Author(s):  
Thao Thi Phuong Bui ◽  
Suzanne Wilkinson ◽  
Niluka Domingo ◽  
Casimir MacGregor

In the light of climate change, the drive for zero carbon buildings is known as one response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within New Zealand, research on climate change mitigation and environmental impacts of buildings has received renewed attention. However, there has been no detailed investigation of zero carbon building practices. This paper undertakes an exploratory study through the use of semi-structured interviews with government representatives and construction industry experts to examine how the New Zealand construction industry plans and implements zero carbon buildings. The results show that New Zealand’s construction industry is in the early stage of transiting to a net-zero carbon built environment. Key actions to date are focused on devising a way for the industry to develop and deliver zero carbon building projects. Central and local governments play a leading role in driving zero carbon initiatives. Leading construction firms intend to maximise the carbon reduction in building projects by developing a roadmap to achieve the carbon target by 2050 and rethinking the way of designing and constructing buildings. The research results provide an insight into the initial practices and policy implications for the uptake of zero carbon buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand.


2014 ◽  
Vol 666 ◽  
pp. 363-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baharum Zirawani ◽  
M. Ngadiman Salihin ◽  
H. Mustaffa Noorfa

The construction industry has many underlying causes of uncertainty that impact on late delivery of project completion's performance as well as in time management. Most of researchers proposed a modelling and simulation techniques to solve these uncertainties problem nevertheless not tackling the uncertainty in environmental issues (EI). Yet, the environmental issues were also leading significant deviations for project completion performance, which means it is important to be studied. Therefore, the comprehensive sturvey is discussed in this paper in purpose to develop the uncertainty modeling model on late delivery in environmental issues. The development of conceptual model through a comprehensive survey involving piping's construction industry for water supply company with multi-project construction environment is developed to show the relationship for each cause and affects that underlying uncertainty on late project delivery in environmental issues. Further research is to verify and validate the conceptual model as has been analyzed through fractional factorial design with ANOVA, through the development of uncertainty model via modeling and simulation using MATLAB.


Author(s):  
T. Hailikari ◽  
N. Katajavuori ◽  
H. Asikainen

AbstractProcrastination is consistently viewed as problematic to academic success and students’ general well-being. There are prevailing questions regarding the underlying and maintaining mechanisms of procrastination which are yet to be learnt. The aim of the present study was to combine different ways to explain procrastination and explore how students’ time and effort management skills, psychological flexibility and academic self-efficacy are connected to procrastination as they have been commonly addressed separately in previous studies. The data were collected from 135 students who participated in a voluntary time management and well-being course in autumn 2019. The results showed that students’ ability to organize their time and effort has the strongest association with procrastination out of the variables included in the study. Psychological flexibility also has a strong individual role in explaining procrastination along with time and effort management skills. Surprisingly, academic self-efficacy did not have a direct association with procrastination. Interestingly, our findings further suggest that time and effort management and psychological flexibility are closely related and appear to go hand in hand and, thus, both need to be considered when the aim is to reduce procrastination. The implications of the findings are further discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Rawson

Abstract St John has been providing service in New Zealand for nearly 140 years since its arrival. It has now close to 4000 staff and nearly 20000 Members and over 8500 volunteers. In New Zealand the major work of St John is its Ambulance service providing front line first responders to crash, medical emergency and other life-threatening situations. St John New Zealand also provides a number of 'Community Health' initiatives focused on strengthening communities and prevention. In recent years St John has recognised that they have not engaged well with Indigenous communities and that their organisation in New Zealand must become skilled and relevant in addressing the needs of the Indigenous people of New Zealand, as they suffer the greater burden of disease and illness than any other population in the country. St John NZ Community and Health Services are embarking on a process of transformation through re-orienting its culture and practice by adopting Public Health approaches and an equity lens over all its programmes. They also have committed to understanding and using Indigenous knowledge to support this re-orientation to most effectively engage and implement programmes that will reduce Indigenous health inequities. This presentation will describe the process by which they will be implementing their strategy for change and highlight best practice for working with Indigenous communities. Key messages Indigenous Knowledge is key to addressing Indigenous Health inequities. Mainstream Public Health can learn from Indigenous Public Health approaches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-232
Author(s):  
Craig Hochbein ◽  
Abby Mahone ◽  
Sara Vanderbeck

PurposeTo advance the study of principal time use (PTU), the purpose of this study is to report findings from a systematic review of PTU research. In addition to identifying common findings, this study also examined the supporting evidence and methodologies of PTU studies. From this dual approach, this study specified the evidence that supports claims about PTU, as well as identified areas requiring future examination.Design/methodology/approachA systematic reference review process considered 5,746 potential PTU manuscripts. The inclusion criteria identified 55 studies published between 1920 and 2015. This review synthesized data pertaining to the methodologies and findings of PTU research.FindingsFindings from studies conducted across decades indicated that principals worked extensive hours. Moreover, the workdays of principals consisted of brief and unrelated activities, most often focused on noninstructional tasks. Contrary to common hypotheses, studies indicated that PTU dedicated to administrative tasks exhibited positive correlations with educational outcomes. However, claims about PTU have been derived from samples overrepresented by large urban school districts and limited periods of observation.Practical implicationsFuture studies should implement diversified sampling strategies and extended observation periods. For principal preparation programs, the results indicated an opportunity for increased instruction on time management skills.Originality/valueThis systematic review identifies the overlooked history of the research and specifies the evidence that supports common claims about PTU, which provides empirically derived guidance for future PTU studies.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Miertschin ◽  
Carole Goodson ◽  
Barbara Stewart

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