Matching Items (10)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Construction Management
- Creators: El Asmar, Mounir
- Creators: Badger, William
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
- Status: Published
Description
The construction industry has accepted the uncertainty that is included with every project that is initiated. Because of the existing uncertainty, best practices with risk management are commonly recommended and educated to industry participants. However, the current status of the construction industry's ability to manage risk was found to be limited, unstructured, and inadequate. Furthermore, many barriers block organizations from implementing and improving risk management practices. A significant barrier with improving risk management methods is the lack of evidence that clearly demonstrates the need to improve risk management practices. Logical explanations of the benefits of risk management doesn't provide the necessary justification or motivation needed for many organizations to dedicate resources towards improving risk management.
Nevertheless, some organizations understand the importance of risk management practices and have begun to measure their risk maturity in order to identify weaknesses and improve risk management practices. Risk maturity measures the organization's ability and perceptions towards risk management. It is possible that many of the barriers to improving risk management would not exist if increased risk maturity was found to have a positive correlation with successful project performance.
The comprehensive hypothesis of the research is that increased risk maturity improves project performance. An exploratory study was conducted on data collected to identify measurable benefits with risk management. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected on 266 construction projects over a seven year period. Multiple statistical analyses were performed on the data and found a positive correlations between risk maturity and project performance. A positive correlations was found between customer satisfaction and contractors risk maturity. Additional findings from the recorded data included the increased ability to predict risks during construction projects within an organization. These findings provide clear reasoning for organizations to devote additional resources in which improve their risk management practices.
Nevertheless, some organizations understand the importance of risk management practices and have begun to measure their risk maturity in order to identify weaknesses and improve risk management practices. Risk maturity measures the organization's ability and perceptions towards risk management. It is possible that many of the barriers to improving risk management would not exist if increased risk maturity was found to have a positive correlation with successful project performance.
The comprehensive hypothesis of the research is that increased risk maturity improves project performance. An exploratory study was conducted on data collected to identify measurable benefits with risk management. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected on 266 construction projects over a seven year period. Multiple statistical analyses were performed on the data and found a positive correlations between risk maturity and project performance. A positive correlations was found between customer satisfaction and contractors risk maturity. Additional findings from the recorded data included the increased ability to predict risks during construction projects within an organization. These findings provide clear reasoning for organizations to devote additional resources in which improve their risk management practices.
ContributorsPerrenoud, Anthony (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth T. (Thesis advisor) / Weizel, Avi (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Owner organizations in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry are presented with a wide variety of project delivery approaches. Implementation of these approaches, while enticing due to their potential to save money, reduce schedule delays, or improve quality, is extremely difficult to accomplish and requires a concerted change management effort. Research in the field of organizational behavior cautions that perhaps more than half of all organizational change efforts fail to accomplish their intended objectives. This study utilizes an action research approach to analyze change message delivery within owner organizations, model owner project team readiness and adoption of change, and identify the most frequently encountered types of resistance from lead project members. The analysis methodology included Spearman's rank order correlation, variable selection testing via three methods of hierarchical linear regression, relative weight analysis, and one-way ANOVA. Key findings from this study include recommendations for communicating the change message within owner organizations, empirical validation of critical predictors for change readiness and change adoption among project teams, and identification of the most frequently encountered resistive behaviors within change implementation in the AEC industry. A key contribution of this research is the recommendation of change management strategies for use by change practitioners.
ContributorsLines, Brian (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Wiezel, Avi (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The current paradigm to addressing the marginal increases in productivity and quality in the construction industry is to embrace new technologies and new programs designed to increase productivity. While both pursuits are justifiable and worthwhile they overlook a crucial element, the human element. If the individuals and teams operating the new technologies or executing the new programs lack all of the necessary skills the efforts are still doomed for, at best, mediocrity. But over the past two decades researchers and practitioners have been exploring and experimenting with a softer set of skills that are producing hard figures showing real improvements in performance.
ContributorsMischung, Joshua (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth T. (Thesis advisor) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Wiezel, Avi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The discipline of continuing professional development (CPD) is well defined and established within a variety of industries, such as medical, legal, and financial. The built environment is a less defined and mature industry with respect to educational pathways and professional education, with no uniform structure. Occupational licensing, such as registered nurses, certified professional accountants, and others are well known within both their industries and the public. Additionally, occupational core-competencies are well established. Planning is a core skill set within the built environment and construction management. Definitions of the term “planning” vary quite broadly across the built environment, but generally includes activities such as risk identification, scope identification, and scheduling. Understanding how professionals in the built environment learn to plan is critical to meeting CPD needs for planning skills and the ability of a professional to “plan” effectively. Many planning tools and software have been developed, but often rely on an individual professional’s personal experiences and abilities. Limited literature in the field of professional education in the built environment has left a gap on the topic of how to train professionals in planning competencies. Survey results indicate that current training is not meeting the expectations of professionals, as only 16 percent of professionals are trained how to plan using their preferred method of learning. While on-the-job training is the primary format, the most preferred format is internal company training, but only 54 percent of companies provide this format. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were conducted and revealed that organizations with internal training programs have higher employee satisfaction with their organization’s planning process. Further, organizations with internal training programs are seen as having a more formal internal planning process. Research is needed to develop CPD within construction management and provide the foundation upon which a professional education structure can be created. An andragogically-centered schema for a heuristic approach to construction CPD is developed and tested on a seminar for pre-project planning. The full instructional design of the seminar using the model is disclosed and seminar results showed positive results and participants achieved high levels of learning.
ContributorsHurtado, Kristen (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Wiezel, Avi (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The built environment is responsible for a significant portion of global waste generation.
Construction and demolition (C&D) waste requires significant landfill areas and costs
billions of dollars. New business models that reduce this waste may prove to be financially
beneficial and generally more sustainable. One such model is referred to as the “Circular
Economy” (CE), which promotes the efficient use of materials to minimize waste
generation and raw material consumption. CE is achieved by maximizing the life of
materials and components and by reclaiming the typically wasted value at the end of their
life. This thesis identifies the potential opportunities for using CE in the built environment.
It first calculates the magnitude of C&D waste and its main streams, highlights the top
C&D materials based on weight and value using data from various regions, identifies the
top C&D materials’ current recycling and reuse rates, and finally estimates a potential
financial benefit of $3.7 billion from redirecting C&D waste using the CE concept in the
United States.
ContributorsAldaaja, Mohammad (Author) / El Asmar, Mounir (Thesis advisor) / Buch, Rajesh (Committee member) / Kaloush, Kamil (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Sustainable Materials Management and Circular Economy are both frameworks for considering the way we interact with the world's resources. Different organizations and institutions across the world have adopted one philosophy or the other. To some, there seems to be little overlap of the two, and to others, they are perceived as being interchangeable. This paper evaluates Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) and Circular Economy (CE) individually and in comparison to see how truly different these frameworks are from one another. This comparison is then extended into a theoretical walk-through of an SMM treatment of concrete pavement in contrast with a CE treatment. With concrete being a ubiquitous in the world's buildings and roads, as well as being a major constituent of Construction & Demolition waste generated, its analysis is applicable to a significant portion of the world's material flow. The ultimate test of differentiation between SMM and CE would ask: 1) If SMM principles guided action, would the outcomes be aligned with or at odds with CE principles? and conversely 2) If CE principles guided action, would the outcomes be aligned with or at odds with SMM principles? Using concrete pavement as an example, this paper seeks to determine whether or not Sustainable Materials Management and Circular Economy are simply different roads leading to the same destination.
ContributorsAbdul-Quadir, Anisa (Author) / Kelman, Candice (Thesis director) / Buch, Rajesh (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Public construction projects in Saudi Arabia have been experiencing performance issues for the past 30 years. There have been many research efforts and publications identifying the problem and potential causes, however, there have been minimal efforts identifying how to mitigate the problem and testing to validate proposed solutions. A literature search has shown that the academic research has had minimal impact in assisting the construction industry to improve its performance. This dissertation aimed to evaluate the impact of construction management research in Saudi construction industry (SCI), and to investigate barriers that hinder the diffusion of implementing the research outcomes in the construction sector in order to develop a research roadmap to bridge the gap between academic research and practice, using the experience of other organizations that have a successful experience in developing the impact of construction management research in the construction industry. In order to achieve the aim of the study, five main objectives were set up which are: evaluate the impact of construction management research in SCI, identify the barriers that affect the implementation of construction management research in SCI, develop a research roadmap to bridge the gap between the research and practice, validating the proposed solution, and proposed implementation plan and review the result from the implementation. A literature research was performed, using 5 academic databases, identifying the impact that R&D has had on the SCI. A questionnaire was also created surveying both researchers and industry professionals. The results show evidence that the current R&D process in Saudi Arabia is not helping the SCI to increase their performance, and needs to be improved. This study provides a potential solution, and an action plan that mirrors one of the most successful research and development programs in the construction industry in the world [+1915 tests, six different countries, 31 states in the U.S. and 98% customer satisfaction]. The solution proposed in this dissertation is unique to the strengths and weaknesses of the research and development programs at universities and research centers in Saudi Arabia. This study is the first study of its kind in Saudi Arabia.
ContributorsAlhammadi, Yasir (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis advisor) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Project teams expend substantial effort to develop scope definition during the front end planning phase of large, complex projects, but oftentimes neglect to sufficiently plan for small projects. An industry survey administered by the author showed that small projects make up approximately half of all projects in the infrastructure construction sector (by count), the planning of these projects varies greatly, and that a consistent definition of “small infrastructure project” did not exist. This dissertation summarizes the motivations and efforts of Construction Industry Institute (CII) Research Team 314a to develop a non-proprietary front end planning tool specifically for small infrastructure projects, namely the Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI) for Small Infrastructure Projects. The author was a member of CII Research Team 314a, who was tasked with developing the tool in September 2015. The author, together with the research team, scrutinized and adapted an existing infrastructure-focused FEP tool, the PDRI for Infrastructure Projects, and other resources to develop a set of 40 specific elements relevant to the planning of small infrastructure projects. The author along with the research team supported the facilitation of seven separate industry workshops where 71 industry professionals evaluated the element descriptions and provided element prioritization data that was statistically analyzed and used to develop a corresponding weighted score sheet. The tool was tested on 76 completed and in-progress projects, the analysis of which showed that small infrastructure projects with greater scope definition (based on the tool’s scoring scheme) outperformed projects with lesser scope definition regarding cost performance, schedule performance, change performance, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. Moreover, the author found that users of the tool on in-progress projects agreed that the tool added value to their projects in a timeframe and manner consistent with their needs, and that they would continue using the tool in the future. The author also conducted qualitative and quantitative similarities and differences between PDRI – Infrastructure and PDRI – Small Infrastructure Projects in support of improved planning efforts for both types of projects. Finally, the author piloted a case study that introduced the PDRI into an introductory construction management course to enhance students’ learning experience.
ContributorsElZomor, Mohamed A (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis advisor) / Gibson, Jr., G. Edward (Committee member) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
During the rapid growth of infrastructure projects globally, countries pay high environmental and social costs as a result of the impacts caused from utilizing the traditional open-cut utility installation method that still widely being used in Egypt. For that, it was essential to have alternatives to reduce these environmental impacts and social costs; however, there are some obstacles that prevent the implementation and the realization of these alternatives.This research is conducted mainly to evaluate the environmental impacts of open-cut excavation vs. trenchless technology in Egypt, through two main methodologies. Firstly, a field survey that aims to measure knowledge of people working in the Egyptian construction industry of trenchless technology, and the harms caused from keeping utilizing open-cut for installing all kinds of underground utilities. In addition to investigating the reasons behind not relying on trenchless technology as a safe alternative for open-cut in Egypt.
Furthermore, in order to compare the greenhouse gases emissions resulted from both open-cut vs trenchless technology, a real case study is applied quantifying the amounts of the resulted greenhouse gases from each method. The results show that greenhouse gases emissions generated from open-cut were extremely higher than that of horizontal directional drilling as a trenchless installation method.
ContributorsKhedr, Ahmed Mossad Saeed Hafez (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel (Thesis advisor) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The construction industry has struggled with a disappointing safety record, with workers often failing to identify hazards on construction sites. While virtual reality (VR) training has shown promise in improving hazard recognition skills, it is essential to address not only the ability to identify hazards but also the factors influencing workers' decision to report them. Research has revealed that workers often fail to recognize hazards when they perceive them as low-risk, leading to unreported hazards and persistent safety risks. Anticipatory emotions play a crucial role in driving risk aversion, but construction novices lack the emotional experiences necessary for developing such anticipatory emotions. Consequently, they may engage in careless and risk-friendly behavior. To address this issue, hazard recognition training should incorporate immersive and emotionally arousing VR experiences. This dissertation focuses on the development of emotionally arousing and realistic construction-specific simulations to assess their impact on construction novices. The research explores the aspects of a simulation that facilitate emotional arousal and identifies features that enhance the sense of presence for construction practitioners within a virtual construction environment. Subsequently, the developed VR experience is tested on construction novices. The results indicate that the VR experience, based on the findings of this research, effectively elicits significant arousal in participants, as evidenced by galvanic skin response (GSR) data. Thematic analysis of participant feedback further supports the physiological data, with participants reporting a realistic and emotional experience that immersed them in hazardous conditions on a construction site. Ultimately, this research contributes by identifying the crucial aspects necessary for developing construction-specific VR experiences that elicit arousal from participants, ensuring an immersive and emotionally engaging hazard recognition training. By incorporating such training methods, the construction industry can improve workers' hazard identification and reporting behaviors, thereby enhancing overall safety in construction sites.
ContributorsPatil, Karan Ravindra (Author) / Ayer, Steven K. (Thesis advisor) / Hallowell, Matthew R. (Committee member) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Bhandari, Siddharth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023