1,720,958 research outputs found
Incentive issues in the South African construction industry: Preliminary findings from project stakeholders
No full textEnglish: Incentives are regarded as motivational tools which can be used to propel
construction workforces to achieve project objectives. This article contributes to
the existing body of knowledge by evaluating the current practices of incentive
mechanisms in the South African construction industry and identifying the
challenges confronting the use of incentives. The study adopts both qualitative
and quantitative methods for data collection. For the quantitative approach, a
total number of 52 project stakeholders practising in Gauteng participated in the
survey by completing the structured questionnaire. The questionnaire survey is
used to obtain information from respondents, in order to assess their perceptions
on the impact of current practices of incentives on work productivity and the
construction industry. For the qualitative approach, personal interviews were
conducted with selected respondents to clarify their answers.
The findings reveal ‘unattainable project goals’, ‘poor communication
processes’, and ‘inappropriate contractual arrangement’ as the most significant
challenges confronting the use of incentives in the South African construction
industry. The findings reported in this article show problems frustrating the
absolute absorption of incentives in the industry, and also contribute to
redesigning the incentive plan so as to improve project performance.Afrikaans: Aansporingsmaatreëls word as motiveringswerktuig beskou wat gebruik kan
word om die werkerskorps aan te spoor om sodoende prestasiedoelwitte te
bereik. Hierdie artikel dra by tot die kennisgebied deur huidige praktyke van
aansporingsmeganismes in die Suid-Afrikaanse konstruksiebedryf te evalueer
asook die uitdagings wat met die gebruik van aansporingsmaatreëls gepaard
gaan. Die studie maak gebruik van beide kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe
metodes vir data-insamelingdoeleindes. Vir die kwalitatiewe benadering het
‘n totaal van 52 projekbelanghebbendes, wat in Gauteng praktiseer, aan die opname deelgeneem deur die gestruktureerde vraelys te voltooi. Die
vraelysopname is gebruik om inligting van respondente te bekom om sodoende
hul waarneming oor die impak van huidige praktyke van aansporingsmaatreëls
op produktiwiteit van arbeid en die konstruksiebedryf te toets. Vir die
kwalitatiewe benadering is persoonlike onderhoude gevoer met sommige van
die respondente om antwoorde te verklaar.
Die bevindinge toon “onbereikbare projekdoelwitte”, “swak kommunikasieprosesse”
en “nie-toepaslike kontraktuele ooreenkomste” as die belangrikste
uitdagings waarmee die aansporingskwessies in die Suid-Afrikaanse
konstruksiebedryf te make het. Die bevindinge wat in hierdie artikel uitgelig
word, dui op probleme wat ondervind word met die volkome aanvaarding en
dwarsboming van aansporingsmaatreëls in die bedryf. Verder dra die artikel
ook by tot ‘n nuwe benadering vir die herontwerp van die aansporingsplan om
projekprestasie te verbeter.Publisher's versio
Procurement Planning Improvement Strategies and Challenges in Construction Project Delivery within the Public Tertiary Education Sector
No full textThe tertiary education sector projects are increasingly plagued by delay and budget blow-out, resulting in persistent cost and time overruns. The study investigates the influence of procurement planning improvement strategies and challenges in construction project delivery in the public tertiary sector. Data was collected from a random sample of 517 stakeholders in Rivers and Akwa Ibom State and analyzed using Mean Item Scores (MIS) and structural equation modeling (SEM). The research findings reveal that the procurement planning strategies with the most critical effect are improving the institutional framework, incorporating sustainability into procurement planning, and monitoring and evaluating procurement performance. The factors with high effect inhibiting procurement planning were identified as inadequate institutional framework/policy/regulation, poor supplier relationship management, and ineffective procurement regulation. The results of the path diagram indicate that implementing the procurement planning improvement strategies policy produces a perfect correlation (r = 1.00; very high) with challenges inhibiting effective procurement planning. This implies that the validated strategies could comprehensively and holistically mitigate the archetypes of challenges inhibiting procurement planning in the tertiary education sector in Akwa Ibom and Rivers State. The study concludes that non-compliance with procurement procedures can lead to delays, cost overruns, and poor project outcomes, therefore, procurement laws and procedures should be enforced. Therefore, this provides practical implications for policymakers on the need for institutional reforms and compliance within tertiary institutions. The study recommends that stakeholders develop risk management plans, conduct long-term dialed needs assessments, and embrace digital technologies such as e-procurement to improve procurement planning
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Assessing the use of ICT systems and their impact on construction project performance in the Nigerian construction industry
No full textPurposeThe use of information and communication technology (ICT) for business processes has witnessed exponential growth over the past two decades. This paper aims to explore the level of use of ICT infrastructure in the Nigerian construction industry and analyse the implications for construction management practice.Design/methodology/approachUsing quantitative questionnaire survey, data from 148 respondents were analysed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics as well as multiple regression analysis.FindingsFindings establish project managers, site managers and quantity surveyors as the primary users of ICT with regards to the variety of ICT devices in the Nigerian construction industry, while the foremen are the least users. Besides, word processing/accounting systems, electronic communication systems and project management systems are the three top rated in terms of frequency of use, while quality as well as cost impacts of ICT infrastructure use are established as the most important factors contributing to overall project performance.Originality/valueThe study establishes causal relationships between ICT infrastructure use and project performance within the context of Nigeria’s construction industry
Effect of Organisational Justice in Motivating Construction Workforce Towards Improved Work Productivity
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