6,271 research outputs found
Comparing results from two continental geochemical surveys to world soil composition and deriving Predicted Empirical Global Soil (PEGS2) reference values
No full textThe paper comparing results from two continental scale projects carried out on soils of Europe (GEMAS Project) and Australia (NGSA Project) derive Predicetd Empirical Global Soil (PEGS2) reference value
New soil composition data for Europe and Australia: demonstrating comparability, identifying continental-scale processes and learning lessons for global geochemical mapping
No full textThe paper is a comparative study carried on soil covering the entire Europe and Australia territories to demonstrate the comparability of results at continental scale for mapping geochemically entire continent
Information systems project work in a Saudi organisation : an ethnographic study
No full textThis study examines IS project trajectories in a Saudi organisation showing how the project is shaped and re-shaped in day-to-day activities. Three project features are adapted to characterise project phenomena: project complexity, embeddedness and project learning.
Accordingly, the first objective is to investigate project complexities showing how they are dynamically changed due re-defining project properties of goals, methods, deadlines and team relations. The second objective is to understand the interactions between project members and external groups and individual from the surrounding context and how those interactions shape and re-shape local project context. The third objective is to analyse the challenges which bound project members’ knowledgeability.
The research methodology incorporates a self-ethnography over twelve months of participation and observation study of three IS projects in a Saudi organisation. Structuration theory is used to guide the research philosophically and to offer an analytical perspective to understand collected data. Structuration theory is implemented to highlight the dynamic nature of project trajectories taking into consideration that project is not a result of an isolated local context or shaped only according to surrounding organisational procedures: rather project trajectories are results of a series of recursive interactions between the project’s local and surrounding contexts, where project member’s knowledgeability plays a role in informing actions.
This research can be considered as a theoretical contribution to IS project management literature. This study is situated in new project management literature as distinct from dominant traditional project management prescriptions. This study suggests a view of the project phenomenon merging the three separate project features: project complexity, embeddedness and learning. On the methodological level, this study introduces the project phenomenon as an ethnographic object stressing its dynamic and social nature embedded in daily activities. Finally, on the context level, this study contributes towards compensating for the paucity of studies about the context of Saudi Arabia in project management and management studies in general
Supply chain partnership in construction a field study on project team level factors
No full textPeople and their relationship are at the heart of supply chain partnerships, however there is a lack of qualitative studies focusing on how integrated relationships may be developed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct field research to deepen our understanding of team level variables that might help or inhibit a project team to perform in a SCP setting. To guide us in our study, we used a team effectiveness framework. Taking the role as a team coach, the first author conducted field research in four different project teams that were working in a SCP setting for the first time. These teams worked on housing refurbishment projects (2-12M construction costs) initiated by housing associations. All four were delivered through a strategic partnership. We found that SCP project teams are structured differently than conventional project teams. When we look at team level factors, we see that team members need time to understand their role and responsibilities within the project team and to build a shared mental model. The smallest problems in regard of team inputs (i.e. resources) can harm the team’s performance. Trust and psychological safety are important mediators between the input-output relation. Our main conclusion is, if we want supply chain partnerships to work, much more attention should be given to team level variables instead of merely relying on tools and techniques.Management in the Built EnvironmentArchitecture and The Built Environmen
New soil composition data for Europe and Australia: demonstrating comparability, identifying continental-scale processes and learning lessons for global geochemical mapping
No full textAbstract not availableClemens Reimann, Patrice de Caritat ... R. Hoffmann ... M. McLaughlin ... [et. al] [GMAS Project Team, NGSA Project Team
A set of nine principles for distributed-design information storing
No full textThe issues of distributed working are many, with problems relating to information access and information acquisition the most common (Crabtree et al., 1997). Keeping track of project and team information is becoming more complex as design is increasingly being carried out collaboratively by geographically dispersed design teams across different time zones. The literature notes that little prescription or guidance exists on information management for designers (Culley et al., 1999) and Hicks (2007) highlights a relative lack of overall principles for improving information management. Additionally, evidence from earlier studies by the author into ‘How information is stored in distributed design project work’ reinforces the need for guidance, particularly in a distributed context (Grierson, 2008). Distributed information collections were found to be unorganised, contained unclear information and lacked context. Storing and sharing of distributed information was often time consuming and the tools awkward to use. This can lead to poor project progress and can impact directly on the quality and success of project outcomes (Grierson et al., 2004, 2006). This paper seeks to address these issues by presenting the development, implementation and evaluation of a set of Principles and a Framework to support distributed design information storing in the context of a Global Design class. Through both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods the Principles were found to help in a number of ways – with the easy access of information; the structuring and organising of information; the creation of an information strategy; the making of information clear and concise; the supporting of documentation during project work; and the strengthening of team work; all helping teams to work towards project outcomes
ShibboLEAP: seven libraries and a LEAP of faith
No full textMuch of UK Higher and Further Education (HE & FE) has begun to grapple with next-generation access management technology. Many UK developments in this area are underpinned by Shibboleth, which is conceptually simple, but architecturally complex. It is hoped that this article will benefit newcomers to Shibboleth. We offer a brief introduction to Shibboleth technology, in the context of the UK's burgeoning federated access management infrastructure. We go on to describe the ShibboLEAP Project, which saw six University of London institutions implement Shibboleth under the guidance of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The project's background, aims and core findings are summarised, and the detailed project outputs, including case studies of Shibboleth Identity Provider implementation at each participating institution, are introduced. The project deliverables may be of practical assistance to institutions which decide to implement Shibboleth as a step towards federated access management
Project communication: Enhancing the communication practices of a design team to achieve project success
No full textResearchers in the past have shown that communication is integral to successful results in a project's design phase. This is said so as there are multiple professionals from diverse backgrounds who come together to prepare a project's design. Consequently, communication between these professionals becomes a key component as it is the way they share project information apart from sharing their knowledge and thoughts at this stage. However, the relationship between communication and project success is not well defined, particularly the understanding of the barrier and drivers of communication in a design team seems obscure. Thus, this research builds on this theme and tries to understand project communication in detail. By examining the communication practices of a design team through the lens of literature, this study aims to describe how communication affects the project outcome and specify ways to improve it. To fulfill this objective, this research is divided into three parts. In part A, the literature is reviewed to gain insights and reflect on the attributes that describe the communication of a design team and explain the influence of these attributes on project success. In part B, a document review is done to analyze the documents produced by a design team that provide guidelines for the team's communication practices for project success. In part C, semi-structured interviews are conducted to obtain empirical data explaining the communication practices followed by the team while working on a project. Following this, the results obtained from the three parts are compared, which helps identify the gaps in literature and the guidelines contained in the documents on the communication practices to be used by the team.The results of this study suggest that communication is the central aspect that controls the functioning of the team. Communication practices impacts the team's collaboration, coordination, project performance, and quality of the work produced by the team. The impact of communication practices on these aspects of a project is categorized under two categories: drivers and barriers of communication. Based on these, recommendations for improving communication practices and mitigating barriers to project success are made and validated with experts. The study concludes with discussions on how adapting lean principles can bring many benefits to a team in the form of focus in meetings, minimizing transaction time of sharing information and developing a feedback culture. Also, these discussions describe that when working on a complex project, using a recommendation framed in this research; a team can mitigate various challenges associated with groupthink.Civil Engineering | Construction Management and Engineerin
Key factors in team collaboration: A qualitative study to determine the team effectiveness of an inter-organisational, international project based integrated design team
No full textAim: The aim of this thesis is to investigate team effectiveness in the field of construction. With this study, influential factors on team collaboration between different companies and within teams will be defined. By defining these factors, project managers of comparable project-based integrated design teams can improve the team collaboration within the project team and with that optimize their team’s effectiveness. The research focuses on a big complex building project, which will be used as a transportation hub, in the Netherlands. Research question: What are key factors which influence team collaboration of a project-based integrated design team in context of a large-scale complex building project, influenced by fast growth, different cultures and a changing scope? Methodology: The factors are explored by conducting a single case study research. The starting point was a literature study towards team effectiveness. The outcome of this study was used as input for the case study research. The case study was used to collect data, the data was generated by conducting semistructured interviews. After these interviews were conducted, observations, off the record conversations and inspection of restricted documents were used to discuss and validate conclusions. Findings: The literature research concluded in the backbone of this research. The IMOI model of Ilgen et al. (2005), structure the inputs, mediators and outcomes of the team’s effectiveness. The model is used to determine different factors that could influence the team collaboration. The case study research determined three events which are important for the further course of the project. Due to a lack of management during these events, the client in combination with leading members of the team had to overrule the management layer. The events; assembling the team, collaboration during the project and involving team members have to be managed with both organizational and interpersonal skills. Limitations of the research: It is a qualitative research; therefore, the research is always subject to biased opinions and interpretations of the data. Besides that, the research is conducted on only one case and therefore not automatically representative for all comparable cases. However, the factors resulting from this study need to be kept in mind, due to the fact that it will always be factors that influence the team collaboration, not said that they have to be the most influential for every comparable project-based integrated design team. Practical implications: The research addresses factors that affect the team collaboration of a project-based integrated design team. These factors should be taken into account when starting a comparable project team. Even though the case study of this research concluded with these factors, it is not excluded that there are more factors that influence the team collaboration of a project-based integrated design team. Therefore, more studies should be conducted in this area of research. Scientific relevance: There are a lot of studies conducted towards the team effectiveness of composed teams, however, more research is needed to define the factors that influence the team collaboration of a projectbased team. This research could be used as a starting point for further research, while it is one of the first studies conducted on a project-based team of this size and complexity, subjected to designing a big complex building project. Keywords: Project-based integrated design team, team collaboration, team effectiveness, project management, IMOI framework.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environmen
Organically Integrated Project Delivery of a Mission-Driven Team: An exploratory study on managing the MOR Team TU Delft during the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019
No full textThis master thesis investigated the coordination aspects of the MOR Team TU Delft, a volunteer-students based team, that produced an AEC project for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 (SDE19) competition. With a closer look at the aspects of organisation, motivation, and mission, this researched provides an objective account of the characteristics and functions of coordination that aided this team in producing an award-winning project. It is thanks to the study of the available documents, the personal notes of the author, and the interviews with some key members of the team that this research highlighted how a mission-driven team developed an experimental attitude toward an Organically Integrated Project Delivery. The organisational and coordination aspects of Solar Decathlon teams it is not yet a widespread area of research; therefore, this master thesis conducted an exploratory case study that followed an inductive approach. Among the results mentioned above, this work highlighted how the study of volunteer-students based teams, competing in the various Solar Decathlons, can become an exciting area of study for management practices within AEC projects. The peculiarities of these projects have the potential to provide tangible and comparable results in the study of design and construction management. It is thanks to these considerations that this research asks for the development of further studies, with the effects of both further validating the results here presented and to further expand the body of knowledge on this typology of projects.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environmen
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