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- Creators: Sullivan, Kenneth
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Description
The price based marketplace has dominated the construction industry. The majority of owners use price based practices of management (expectation and decision making, control, direction, and inspection.) The price based/management and control paradigm has not worked. Clients have now been moving toward the best value environment (hire contractors who know what they are doing, who preplan, and manage and minimize risk and deviation.) Owners are trying to move from client direction and control to hiring an expert and allowing them to do the quality control/risk management. The movement of environments changes the paradigm for the contractors from a reactive to a proactive, from a bureaucratic
on-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based
on-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology.
on-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based
on-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology.
ContributorsPauli, Michele (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
ABSTRACT Facility managers have an important job in today's competitive business world by caring for the backbone of the corporation's capital. Maintaining assets and the support efforts cause facility managers to fight an uphill battle to prove the worth of their organizations. This thesis will discuss the important and flexible use of measurement and leadership reports and the benefits of justifying the work required to maintain or upgrade a facility. The task is streamlined by invoking accountability to subject experts. The facility manager must trust in the ability of his or her work force to get the job done. However, with accountability comes increased risk. Even though accountability may not alleviate total control or cease reactionary actions, facility managers can develop key leadership based reports to reassign accountability and measure subject matter experts while simultaneously reducing reactionary actions leading to increased cost. Identifying and reassigning risk that are not controlled to subject matter experts is imperative for effective facility management leadership and allows facility managers to create an accurate and solid facility management plan, supports the organization's succession plan, and allows the organization to focus on key competencies.
ContributorsTellefsen, Thor (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Over the past couple of decades, quality has been an area of increased focus. Multiple models and approaches have been proposed to measure the quality in the construction industry. This paper focuses on determining the quality of one of the types of roofing systems used in the construction industry, i.e. Sprayed Polyurethane Foam Roofs (SPF roofs). Thirty seven urethane coated SPF roofs that were installed in 2005 / 2006 were visually inspected to measure the percentage of blisters and repairs three times over a period of 4 year, 6 year and 7 year marks. A repairing criteria was established after a 6 year mark based on the data that were reported to contractors as vulnerable roofs. Furthermore, the relation between four possible contributing time of installation factors i.e. contractor, demographics, season, and difficulty (number of penetrations and size of the roof in square feet) that could affect the quality of the roof was determined. Demographics and difficulty did not affect the quality of the roofs whereas the contractor and the season when the roof was installed did affect the quality of the roofs.
ContributorsGajjar, Dhaval (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The goal of this research study was to identify the competencies the Project Manager (PM) will need to respond to the challenges the construction industry faces in 2022 and beyond. The study revealed twenty-one emerging challenges for construction PMs grouped into four primary disruptive forces: workforce demographics, globalization, rapidly evolving technology, and changing organizational structures. The future PM will respond to these emerging challenges using a combination of fourteen competencies. The competencies are grouped into four categories: technical (multi-disciplined, practical understanding of technology), management (keen business insight, understanding of project management, knowledge network building, continuous risk monitoring), cognitive (complex decisions making, emotional maturity, effective communication), and leadership (leveraging diverse thinking, building relationships, engaging others, mentoring, building trust). Popular data collection methods used in project management research, such as surveys and interviews, have received criticism about the differences between stated responses to questions, what respondents say they will do, and revealed preferences, what they actually practice in the workplace. Rather than relying on surveys, this research study utilized information generated from games and exercises bundled into one-day training seminars conducted by Construction Industry Institute (CII) companies for current and upcoming generations of PMs. Educational games and exercises provide participants with the opportunity to apply classroom learning and workplace experience to resolve issues presented in real-world scenarios, providing responses that are more closely aligned with the actual decisions and activities occurring on projects. The future competencies were identified by combining results of the literature review with information from the games and exercises through an iterative cycle of data mining, analysis, and consolidation review sessions with CII members. This competency forecast will be used as a basis for company recruiting and to create tools for professional development programs and project management education at the university level. In addition to the competency forecast, the research identified simulation games and exercises as components of a project management development program in a classroom setting. An instrument that links the emerging challenges with the fourteen competencies and learning tools that facilitate the mastering of these competencies has also been developed.
ContributorsKing, Cynthia Joyce (Author) / Wiezel, Avi (Thesis advisor) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT There has been plenty written on the topic of process management in business. This study focuses more on the need to research and develop a model to establish "balance" in process. Reengineering process and investing capital into current technology does not improve the outcome of process alone. The actual process activity coupled with human interface combined with technology determines the outcome of processes, however they do not indicate whether it is a balanced process or not. Wherein the word balance really means sustainable for long periods of time and easily reproduced by others. This study argues for the need of new research in the topic matter and its affects on company profitability, sustainability over long periods of time and tenure with employee.
ContributorsJeffers, Anthony (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Badger, Bill (Committee member) / Okamura, Patrick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Current information on successful leadership and management practices is contradictory and inconsistent, which makes difficult to understand what successful business practices are and what are not. The purpose of this study is to identify a simple process that quickly and logically identifies consistent and inconsistent leadership and management criteria. The hypothesis proposed is that Information Measurement Theory (IMT) along with the Kashiwagi Solution Model (KSM) is a methodology than can differentiate between accurate and inaccurate principles the initial part of the study about authors in these areas show how information is conflictive, and also served to establish an initial baseline of recommended practices aligned with IMT. The one author that excels in comparison to the rest suits the "Initial Baseline Matrix from Deming" which composes the first model. The second model is denominated the "Full Extended KSM-Matrix" composed of all the LS characteristics found among all authors and IMT. Both models were tested-out for accuracy. The second part of the study was directed to evaluate the perception of individuals on these principles. Two different groups were evaluated, one group of people that had prior training and knowledge of IMT; another group of people without any knowledge of IMT. The results of the survey showed more confusion in the group of people without knowledge to IMT and improved consistency and less variation in the group of people with knowledge in IMT. The third part of the study, the analysis of case studies of success and failure, identified principles as contributors, and categorized them into LS/type "A" characteristics and RS/type "C" characteristics, by applying the KSM. The results validated the initial proposal and led to the conclusion that practices that fall into the LS side of the KSM will lead to success, while practices that fall into the RS of the KSM will lead to failure. The comparison and testing of both models indicated a dominant support of the IMT concepts as contributors to success; while the KSM model has a higher accuracy of prediction.
ContributorsReynolds, Harry (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
A large section of United States citizens live far away from supermarkets and do not have<br/>an easy way to get to one. This portion of the population lives in an area called a food desert.<br/>Food deserts are geographic areas in which access to affordable, healthy food, such as fresh<br/>produce, is limited or completely nonexistent due to the absence of convenient grocery stores.<br/>Individuals living in food deserts are left to rely on convenience store snacks and fast food for<br/>their meals because they do not have access to a grocery store with fresh produce in their area.<br/>Unhealthy foods also lead to health issues, as people living in food deserts are typically at a<br/>higher risk of diet-related conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.<br/>Harvest, a sustainable farming network, is a smartphone application that teaches and guides<br/>people living in small spaces through the process of growing fresh, nutritious produce in their<br/>own homes. The app will guide users through the entire process of gardening, from seed to<br/>harvest. Harvest would give individuals living in food deserts an opportunity to access fresh<br/>produce that they currently can’t access. An overwhelming response based on our user<br/>discussion and market analysis revealed that our platform was in demand. Development of a<br/>target market, brand guide, and full lifecycle were beneficial during the second semester as<br/>Harvest moved forward. Through the development of a website, social media platform, and<br/>smartphone application, Harvest grew traction for our platform. Our social media accounts saw a<br/>1700% growth rate, and this wider audience was able to provide helpful feedback.
ContributorsBalamut, Hannah (Co-author) / Raimondo, Felix (Co-author) / Tobey, Anna (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Satpathy, Asish (Committee member) / Morrison School of Agribusiness (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
We were driven by the question: what is happening to the popularity of Major League Baseball? In order to answer this question we compared the league structure of Major League Baseball with that of the National Football League. We were able to speak with five former or current members of the respective leagues in order to gain some insight into how the two leagues operate. The main focus of our research was around the payroll structures of the two leagues as well as their revenue sharing policies. In the end, we discovered that Major League Baseball is becoming highly regionalized. The sport is still growing in popularity in terms of revenue and fan involvement, but it is becoming less popular on a national stage. The league is benefitting greatly from factors like the increasing importance of "TiVo proof programming" and a lack of competition. Each league is very different in its own right. While the NFL promotes a perception of competitive balance, Major League Baseball can be plagued by the negative perception it creates surrounding some of its smaller market teams.
ContributorsHeath, Cameron (Co-author) / Linamen, John (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Tech2Learn, a privately owned tutoring company, serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade at its Phoenix location. The company's founding mission "is for every child to build individual competence and confidence in essential skills." It accomplishes this mission by providing a safe, fun, and engaging environment where children feel comfortable learning. In addition to tutoring in traditional subjects such as math and reading, Tech2Learn also offers a dyslexia reading lab, and a High School Placement Test prep course. The goal of this plan is to find a low cost and easy to manage way for Tech2Learn to market its services and encourage referrals. To achieve this goal, I conducted both an external and internal analysis. In order for Tech2Learn to remain competitive in the industry, it must be aware of trends such as the rapidly evolution of teaching technology, new government mandates on curriculum, and parents' desire to be involved in their children's education. While these trends create opportunities for growth, there are also threats that arise. One threat to Tech2Learn is a large number of competitors in the market. The company relies on its strengths of human capital and unique teaching approach to minimize these threats. The tactics and strategies recommended in this plan are intended to reduce the company's weaknesses. Specifically, tactical recommendations target Tech2Learn's digital presence through the creation of a Facebook page, consolidation of company owned web domains, and updating business information on both owned and earned online sites. Additionally, strategic suggestions aim to prepare Tech2Learn for future growth through the implementation of a formal training procedure, consideration of an additional office location, and differentiation through the early adoption of new technologies, such as virtual reality.
ContributorsCunningham, Sinead Bridget (Author) / Ostrom, Amy (Thesis director) / Giles, Bret (Committee member) / Cummings, Deborah (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to convince readers of the benefits of cross-functional collaboration and innovation within the W. P. Carey School of Business. Specifically, cross-functional collaboration is the "innovation" that is being discussed and will be presented. Written from the perspective of a current business student, this thesis incorporates secondary research as well as personal experience to explain why this would benefit the business school at Arizona State University. The research conducted stems from online resources such as the Harvard Business Review, Kai Nexus, Forbes and other websites and explains why the author decided to pursue this topic. Cross-functional collaboration is seen in the everyday workings of the business world and are a utilized by a multitude of successful companies \u2014 Dell, Intel, Amazon, Apple and other similar companies. Therefore, it should be taken advantage of within undergraduate education in order to better prepare students for what they may experience afterwards. In addition, a majority of the paper is dedicated to recommendations for how exactly cross-functional collaboration could be incorporated, as well as examples of successful cross-functional courses and teams. These recommendations will be beneficial to business and general faculty members and can contribute to positive organizational change at the university.
ContributorsThompson, Trevor N (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05