Rateb Sweis, Alireza Moarefi, Seyyed-Mahmoud Hoseini-Amiri and Soad Moarefi
The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a survey undertaken to identify and rank factors that are responsible for delay in the schedule of strategic industrial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a survey undertaken to identify and rank factors that are responsible for delay in the schedule of strategic industrial projects in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey covered 40 factors identified by previous literature and modified by 20 project professionals to fit the Iranian industrial culture. These factors were grouped into six major categories. For each category, the Shannon entropy weighting technique was applied.
Findings
The analysis of the 64 returned out of 87 randomly distributed questionnaires revealed that “sanctions” from political group, “cash flow problems” from financial group, “equipment availability and failure” from technical group, “project manager competence” from managerial group, “material procurement” from procurement group and “unqualified workforce” from human resource group were ranked as the highest contributing factors.
Originality/value
The findings of this study are of practical use for project professionals and experts seeking to improve the schedule performance of industrial projects.
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Rateb Sweis, Alireza Moarefi, Mahmood Hosseini Amiri, Soad Moarefi and Rawan Saleh
The international energy agency states that the world’s primary energy needs are expected to grow to 55 per cent until 2030. Therefore, oil and gas industry as the main energy…
Abstract
Purpose
The international energy agency states that the world’s primary energy needs are expected to grow to 55 per cent until 2030. Therefore, oil and gas industry as the main energy source will be more crucial where building or advancing new capacities is required. Because the reports highlight the delay as a recurring problem, thereby, more in-depth investigation to find out the main contributing causes is needed.
Design/methodology/approach
Root cause analysis (RCA) was applied to identify, rank, analysis and categorize the main sources of this problem.
Findings
Based on RCA procedure; Pareto analysis showed that 84.7 per cent of the delay is because: the radar chart indicated no difference in perception of the participants regarding the importance of the root causes, correlation analysis suggested strong relationship among the participants and the cause-and-effect diagram emphasized more on operational, human and equipment categories, which in total account for 51.86 per cent of the delay.
Originality/value
The risk planners of large-scale projects can consider these root causes as the main items to analysis, monitor and control, as they are vitally important for project success.
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Neven Androwis, Rateb J. Sweis, Ali Tarhini, Alireza Moarefi and Mahmood Hosseini Amiri
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between total quality management practices and the organizational performance in the Jordanian construction chemicals…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between total quality management practices and the organizational performance in the Jordanian construction chemicals companies.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research, ten constructs were used to measure TQM practices, whereas six constructs were used to measure the organizational performance. A total of 160 questionnaires were distributed to 28 companies. Of these 131 questionnaires were completed and used for the analysis, representing a response rate of 81.9 percent.
Findings
Analysis has shown that TQM practices positively affect the organizational performance, with a significant value for top management commitment, customer focus, supplier management, process control and continuous improvement.
Research limitations/implications
Results were based on perceptual data provided by participants working in different sectors of the organization, which may not provide a clear picture. It would be appropriate to consider collecting information from several stakeholders such as customers and suppliers. Willingness of respondents and delivering data within time were a big challenge though efforts were made to guarantee the confidentiality of the respondents.
Practical implications
Results from this research points out that TQM is considered as a key-contributing factor to firm’s survival. It also provides empirical support that TQM implementation in manufacturing organizations contributes to the performance and survival of such organizations. This research also provides an understanding of the dynamic role of TQM practices that would help managers pay attention to the fundamental practices that have a direct impact on the firms’ performance. This will help the organizations to dedicate efforts and allocate resources to get the best long-term outcomes and to figure out their strengths and weaknesses to develop and implement a new strategy to enhance their competitive position.
Originality/value
Construction sector in Jordan is a competitive sector. Therefore, quality in such industry is vital. Many companies in Jordan have much interest in implementing TQM practices. However, research efforts related to this field are rare. No research papers investigating the relationship between TQM practices and performance in Jordanian construction chemicals companies have been found. This research, therefore, seeks to examine the relationship between TQM practices and the construction chemicals firms’ performance in Jordan.
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Masoud Ahmadi, Fahimeh Baei, Seyyed-Mahmoud Hosseini-Amiri, Alireza Moarefi, Taghrid S. Suifan and Rateb Sweis
The main purpose of this article is to examine the relationship among the manager's Strategic Intelligence (SI) with Organization Development (OD), and Entrepreneurial Behaviour…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this article is to examine the relationship among the manager's Strategic Intelligence (SI) with Organization Development (OD), and Entrepreneurial Behaviour (EB) in governmental agencies in underdeveloped countries.
Design/methodology/approach
To fulfill the purpose of this study, 274 staff were selected from a population of 480 based on stratified sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistics (including the measurement methods, KMO, Bartlett, Durbin–Watson, and path analysis tests) were performed by using SPSS22 software and Lisrel 8.5.
Findings
Based on the results of the analysis, there is a positive significant relationship between the manager's SI and organizational development. Moreover, there is a positive significant relationship between the manager's SI and entrepreneurial behavior. However, examining the moderator variables including demographic characteristics revealed that the demographic characteristics have no effect on the manager's SI–OD relationship and manager's SI–EB relationship. Only gender influences the manager's SI–EB relationship.
Practical implications
This research proposes a model of the relevant internal variables that have a positive effect on the organization's development and growth. The model is intended to help organizations gain competitive advantage and opportunity by improving the internal factors (managers' SI and entrepreneurial behavior of managers and staff) for the development and survival.
Originality/value
This study proposed a model of manager's SU, OD and Entrepreneurial Behavior in organizations based on data collected from underdeveloped countries. Also, the result of this study could be used by startup and entrepreneurial companies around the world.
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Rateb Jalil Sweis, Rawan Ali Saleh, Yousra Sharaireh and Alireza Moarefi
The purpose of this paper is to compare the job satisfaction levels between International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare the job satisfaction levels between International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified project-based companies in Jordan, for project managers (PMs) and project team members (consultants, engineers and architects).
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample consists of individuals from the aforementioned four roles of ISO 9001-certified and non-ISO 9001-certified companies. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data from 57 companies. In total, 72 valid questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 92.98 percent. The data obtained were statistically analyzed, and then the independent t-test was used to test the study hypotheses.
Findings
The results revealed that ISO 9001-certified companies experience higher job satisfaction level for the four roles compared to non-ISO 9001-certified companies. Between the two samples, it was noted that there is a significant difference in the PMs’, consultants’ and engineers’ satisfaction with co-workers and without any remarkable difference in the specific satisfaction. No significant difference between the two samples in general satisfaction was found for PMs and engineers. Finally, no significant difference was found in three satisfaction elements for architects.
Research limitations/implications
Understanding the linkage between being ISO 9001-certified company and project members’ job satisfaction can provide a new strategic direction for project-based companies’ performance management that can help in achieving superior work outcomes. A small sample size is considered the main limitation of this study.
Originality/value
This study attempts to fill the knowledge gap that is rarely investigated in the literature, i.e. the link between being ISO 9001-certified company and the level of project members’ job satisfaction.
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Vahid Rooholelm and Abbas Sheikh Aboumasoudi
Almost all projects in the world are delayed, and sometimes even lead to the full bankruptcy of their beneficiaries. These delays can be calculated using techniques, but most…
Abstract
Purpose
Almost all projects in the world are delayed, and sometimes even lead to the full bankruptcy of their beneficiaries. These delays can be calculated using techniques, but most importantly, there must be a fair and realistic division of delays between project beneficiaries. The most valid delay calculation techniques belong to the SCL Global Protocol, but they also have significant drawbacks, such as these: (1) They do not have the capability to prevent project delays (Delay Risk Management); (2) The protocol identifies and introduces any delays in activities with a ratio of one to one as a delay (Effective Delay); (3) It also does not offer the capability to share delays between stakeholders, which is a huge weakness. Floating in the base schedule activities is one of the cost control tools of projects, but it can hide project delays. In this paper, the researchers believe that the floating ownership belongs to the project and not belong to the stakeholders. This is the main tool for analyzing and sharing delays in this research.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology adopted included an extensive literature review, expert interviews, use of questionnaire and designing three innovative linked together models by researchers.
Findings
In this research, an integrated technique is introduced which has the following capabilities; delay risk control, result-based delay analysis and stakeholders delay sharing. This technique with an incursive and defensive approach implements claims management principles and calculates, respectively, non-attributable and attributable delays for each beneficiary.
Originality/value
This creativity led to the introduction of the Incursive and Defensive (In-De) technique; in the SCL protocol techniques, none of these capabilities exist.