Chimay J. Anumba, Catherine Baugh and Malik M.A. Khalfan
The construction industry is plagued by fragmentation of the functions carried out by the various disciplines involved in a project, particularly between the design and…
Abstract
The construction industry is plagued by fragmentation of the functions carried out by the various disciplines involved in a project, particularly between the design and construction teams. Concurrent engineering (CE) is seen as a possible means of overcoming this problem. However, for the use of CE to produce the desired benefits, various issues have to be addressed, one of which is the use of appropriate organisational structures. To this effect, this paper explores organisational structures for the implementation of CE in the construction industry. It does so by first reviewing the main principles of, and issues concerning, CE and organisational structures, and by examining the structures which have been proposed for CE by researchers and those which have been used by manufacturing companies in their implementation of CE. By taking into account the peculiarities of the construction industry, this information is used, in conjunction with the results of case studies of companies within the industry, to suggest suitable types of corporate and project level organisational structures to support CE.
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This study draws parallels between the Major and Johnson eras to reclaim a discursive space beyond the media and political battlefields to examine long-term systemic failure of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study draws parallels between the Major and Johnson eras to reclaim a discursive space beyond the media and political battlefields to examine long-term systemic failure of government PR.
Design/methodology/approach
As part of a wider study into government communications from 1979 to date, this paper draws on evidence from government archives from the 1990s, as well as contemporary accounts, official documents, media accounts, memoirs and biographies, to examine the PR record of two Conservative administrations divided by three decades.
Findings
News management during the Major premiership is worth serious scrutiny, not just as an interlude between two media-friendly Prime Ministers, Thatcher and Blair, but in comparison to Boris Johnson's struggle to contain the news narrative between 2019 and 2022. Both administrations experienced terminal reputational crises during their closing years but their means of managing the news were counter-productive and damaging to public trust (65).
Practical implications
Does this failure in public communication illustrate a systemic dysfunction in government-media relations and, if so, what is the role of government PR in these circumstances?
Originality/value
This article uses a comparison between fixed and moving variables associated with two very different administrations to identify the causes of ongoing systemic failure in government communication.
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Catherine Lombardozzi and Andrea Casey
This study of the impact of relationships on the development of practice competence in new graduates entering the workforce aims to contribute to the understanding of relational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study of the impact of relationships on the development of practice competence in new graduates entering the workforce aims to contribute to the understanding of relational learning activities and enrich the knowledge about the overall process of learning practice skill.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used a qualitative interview methodology with thematic data analysis.
Findings
Findings revealed that the process of learning through relationships involved an iterative interplay between specific developer‐led teaching activities, learner‐led activities in interaction with others, and learner action and cognitive processing.
Originality/value
A model for the process of learning through relationships specifically for new graduates who have academic backgrounds in their fields of practice is proposed.
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This paper aims to demonstrate that virtual project management can be based on a common spirit and mutual trust to achieve project objectives, rather than the use of modern…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate that virtual project management can be based on a common spirit and mutual trust to achieve project objectives, rather than the use of modern electronic devices to lower communication costs.
Design/methodology/approach
Evidence from the eighteenth-century files of Academies of Science and from astronomical literature is used to characterize the projects and to show how major elements of project management (such as identification of benefits to stakeholders, management of uncertainties, communication and data aggregation across related projects) were applied.
Findings
The analysis shows how the initiative to better measure the Astronomical Unit defined a megaproject, and how this was broken down at local Academies of Science into major projects or programs. This, in turn, resulted in individual expeditions. It demonstrates that innovations arose from the projects, and that learning from earlier expeditions resulted in the final success of the megaproject.
Research limitations/implications
The literature used was not written to demonstrate project management. In this respect, both the original sources and the later reports may lack information with respect to the present topic. Today’s project management might learn from the study that coordination and communication can greatly benefit from a joint vision of the project if based on a common spirit and mutual trust.
Practical implications
Present day project management might benefit from the finding that common values reduce communication costs in a similar way as recent electronic communication devices.
Originality/value
The author believes that this is the first paper to analyze the Venus transit projects from the project management perspective. This was a complex and global megaproject. The approaches taken to achieve the objectives relevant to different stakeholders provide lessons for today’s management of megaprojects.
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Jeffrey Muldoon and Daniel B. Marin
This paper proposes to explore the circumstances of the word management's entry into English usage, to deepen understanding of this neglected chapter in management history, and to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes to explore the circumstances of the word management's entry into English usage, to deepen understanding of this neglected chapter in management history, and to urge further historical research into seminal management terms and concepts. It also aims to offer a brief explanation of John Florio's role in the introduction of management into English and of that of the Italian Renaissance's influence in England.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper's guiding theoretical premise is historian Daniel Rodgers' observation that concepts in government and business often pass from one country to another through “cross fertilization,” effected by the movements and offices of highly connected, cosmopolitan individuals. The sources for this exploration include Florio's World of Words, histories of Florio's circumstances and of the Italian Renaissance, and Evans' edition of La pratica della mercatura (ca 1340) by Francesco Balducci Pegolotti of the fourteenth century Florentine banking firm of Bardi.
Findings
The exploration's findings reinforce Rodgers's account of the spread of government and business concepts and rediscovers a vital link between business practice and humanistic studies.
Research limitations/implications
Modern business education, e.g. in its frequent omission of a foreign language requirement in business college curricula, tends to obscure this linkage, now critical in our global economy. The implication is that this linkage should be revived.
Originality/value
Deeper knowledge of the Italian Renaissance roots of management and of the business practices it denoted brings new light to the interplay between humanistic studies associated with the Italian Renaissance and Renaissance business practices in an international context. Accordingly, the authors believe that this exploration turns a page, albeit the first page, of a neglected chapter in the history of management thought and practice.