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The Institutional Field Of Learning From Project-Related Failures – Opportunities and Challenges.
Get PDFLearning from past project failures presents opportunities for firms working within the construction sector to ‘build back wiser’ because, if lessons from these experiences are absorbed, they offer benefits such as mitigation against future failures, and enable the development of resilient project teams. However, instead of using sector-wide perspectives for organisational learning, Project-Based Organisation (PBOs) typically implement internal technological and strategic mechanisms in both learning and project management. Additionally, little attention is given to the institutional context within the sector. Hence, this study focuses on how learning within a PBO is influenced by the external environment by adopting an Institutional theory perspective. Via exploratory research, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 UK construction industry professionals and then analysed using thematic analysis. Findings reveal that there exists an institutional field of learning within which PBOs operate based on interactions with their external environment. These include: regulatory pillar-related organisations – such as government bodies, and regulatory bodies (e.g., the Health and Safety Executive); Normative pillar-related organisations (professional bodies such as APM and CIOB), and; cultural-cognitive pillar-related organisations (such as peer PBOs, suppliers and the wider supply chain). The study contends that each of these pillars offer lessons for the sector. Findings further reveal that cross organisational learning is hampered mostly by competition and fragmentation. Hence, to ‘build back wiser’ it is important that the sector brings together the identified institutional field members to better learn from project-related failures. Thus, PBOs need to build better institutional networks by viewing other organisations within the institutional field as sources of knowledge and embracing collaboration instead of competition
Review: Solved: how the world’s great cities are solving the climate crisis by David Miller
No full textThis new, paperback edition of Solved by David Miller is a re-issue of the original published in 2020, with an additional chapter updating the reader on the urgency for cities to contribute to tackling climate change. Miller’s argument rests, essentially, on the theory of incremental gains. That is, when multiple small improvements are made in an iterative manner, big outcomes are the result. Simply put, it comes down to: Get on with what you can now and don’t wait for an all-encompassing solution that everyone agrees with. The planet is burning. Demonstrating that we can all play our part is the compelling argument of the book
One Could Not Have Survived Communism Without a Grandmother: Eating Stinging Nettles in 1980s Romania
Get PDFThis reflection centers on the author’s grandmother’s cookbook as a catalyst for interrogating the incomplete memories of growing up in Romania in the 1980s during the ‘golden decade’ of Communism. During these times, oppressive policies restricted people’s access to food and punished those who tried to eat outside the scope of the regime. Yet, through my grandmother’s cooking of dishes such as sauteed stinging nettles, which is the focus of this reflection, my memories of that decade are of delicious, tasty, and nutritious meals, the best she ever ate. The reflection asks difficult questions around pleasure during oppressive times, as well as about the impossibility of recreating such a dish outside of its own history
Female Garment Workers in Bangladesh Facing Human Rights Violation; A Search to Find the Root Causes
Get PDFAmong the most important productive sectors of Bangladesh is the garment industry. The total contribution of the garment industries to the national foreign exchange earnings is 83%. Though the garment sector has created substantial employment for female workers, female workers face numerous human rights violations at the workplace including sexual harassment, forced labor, maltreatment of supervisors, maternity leave problems, safety problem, and health problem etc. This qualitative study gathered data from male and female garment workers, as well as from senior managers and owners, and experts from NGOs and from universities. This study revealed social-cultural, economic, structural and organizational causes behind human rights violations of female garment workers. Some of the causes are deficiency of education, fear of losing employment through complaining, lack of awareness and government oversight, weakness of the National Human Rights Commission and human rights organizations, unwillingness of owners to face the issue, poverty, and entrenched patriarchy
Designing a Training Program for the Civil Justice Network: Lower Northern Thailand
Get PDFSince 2022, the Thai government has been establishing community justice centers nationwide. The Civil Justice Network (CJN) has played a crucial role in facilitating justice in every sub-district throughout the country. However, practical challenges have revealed limitations in the knowledge and skills of CJNs. This article aimed to develop training program guidelines for CJNs in Thailand\u27s Lower Northern Region. The research applied the Action Research (AR) model through a participatory appraisal approach to assess CJNs\u27 actual needs across five provinces. Initially, 400 CJNs were selected via simple random sampling, with 200 chosen for subsequent training. The resulting program, shaped by research, experimentation, and evaluation, recommends national implementations for all CJNs. Specifically, integrating knowledge and skills related to the principles of Restorative Justice, Human Rights, and Conflict Resolution through Peaceful Means will further enhance the effectiveness of the CJN\u27s work
Sweet Grief
Get PDFSweet Grief is an autobiographical, experimental and fragmented account of the writer’s final months with her father. The narrative is centred around a shared food ritual—eating millefeuille—which becomes almost impossible after her father experiences a stroke. The piece is anchored by the human need to swallow. It draws together food, family, memory, grief, love, a global pandemic and the impact of bureaucratic decision-making. This reflection is multi-layered, like the millefeuille. Her father’s stroke occurred during the COVID pandemic when Western Australia effectively closed its border for 697 days, requiring the author to quarantine, twice. It explores the ‘messy’ emotions around food when a loved one must learn to swallow again and portrays the way in which food plays a ‘sticky’ role in familial relationships
History, Fiction and Trauma: Unveiling the Unspeakable in the Novel Amu
Get PDFPost-independent India has witnessed several horrific incidents of communal violence. The largest communal riot happened in the year 1984, in the capital city of New Delhi. But after the occurrence of the Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984, there was silence surrounding the incident. The silence was primarily caused by the trauma inflicted from the incident. There are reasons to believe that the silence was politically motivated too. However, the role fictional writings have played in communicating the traumatic memory of the incident was significant. This paper studies the novel Amu written by Shonali Bose to understand the representation of traumatic memory of the community. The paper attempts to problematize the decades-long silence surrounding the incident and the novel’s role along with other similar fictional accounts in unravelling the truth of the incident
Cosmopolitan Paradox? The Labour Market Experiences of Newcomer Skilled Workers
Get PDFCanada’s national narratives gesture to cosmopolitan ideals by celebrating the country as open and inclusive through the working of its immigration policy. Indeed, it has been suggested that Canada may be oriented toward a form of ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’. This vision stands at odds with the experiences of skilled migrants who often encounter hurdles in the labour market. In this paper, we probe the ‘cosmopolitan paradox’ and its implications. Through a qualitative case study of 36 skilled newcomers, we document their experiences as they attempt to enter the labour market encountering barriers that reassert national frames and ‘Canadian standards’. We argue that if Canada is to live up to the promise of a cosmopolitan ideal, the stratifications and exclusions that mark the lives of newcomers need to be addressed. It is not enough to attract increasing numbers of immigrants if they cannot become full members of the Canadian national community
Modelling the Governance of Reconstruction after a Mining Disaster in Brumadinho, Brazil
Get PDFThe present study aims to analyze the relationships between actors from civil society, the State and the private sector, in the dynamics of reconstruction of the territory after the environmental disaster caused by the rupture of the tailings dam of the mining company Vale S.A in the Córrego do Feijão mine, in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, on January 25, 2019. This study is characterized by being an empirical, quantitative research, which aimed to evaluate a theoretical model for the reconstruction of the territory of Brumadinho in the post-environmental disaster scenario. The tested hypotheses show that if the actors responsible for the reconstruction were dedicated to taking more just actions and aimed at meeting the real needs of the territories, in order to improve the pessimistic scenario identified, better results could be found in the final analysis. This reflects the current image of mining, demonstrating that the actions currently carried out are not aligned with the principles of sustainability
Challenges in Implementation of 7D-BIM for Infrastructure Asset Management: A Systematic Review
Get PDFInfrastructure Asset Management (InfraAM)/Facilities Management (FM) representing operation and maintenance (O&M) phase, accounts for a substantial portion (85%) of project’s total cost, and hence, there is urgent need to invest in technology for infrastructure maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation. This can be done by implementing digital technologies, like Building Information Modeling (BIM), that can help in 3D visualization, 4D scheduling, 5D costing, 6D sustainability, and 7D O&M throughout service life of project. But, BIM’s implementation during O&M faces various challenges and in order to understand those challenges, a systematic literature review (SLR) through PRISMA technique was conducted using 89 peer-reviewed papers from three databases and quantitative and qualitative analysis were performed. The literature revealed various critical challenges (CCs) and success factors (SFs) that influences BIM implementation in O&M phase, but lacks interrelationship between them. Hence, the current study linked various CCs and SFs through a theoretical approach. The study found that role of government and contractual frameworks can help to eliminate most of the challenges. This novel approach could provide significant contributions by helping practitioners and policymakers to understand connections between CCs and role of SFs as potential solutions for enhancing 7D-BIM implementation.
 
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