Assessment of requirements for establishment of a framework to enhance implementation of quality practices in building projects

Quality, in construction projects should be regarded as the fulfillment of expectation of those contributors involved in such projects. Although a significant amount of quality practices have been introduced within the industry, attainment of reasonable levels of quality in construction projects continues to be an ongoing problem. To date, some research into the introduction and improvement of quality practices and stakeholder management has been undertaken, but so far no major studies have been completed that comprehensively examine how greater consideration of stakeholders’ perspectives of quality can be used to contribute to final project quality outcomes. This paper aims to examine the requirements for development of a framework leading to more effective involvement of stakeholders in quality planning and practices thus ultimately contributing to higher quality outcomes for construction projects. Through an extensive literature review it highlights various perceptions of quality, categorizes quality issues with particular focus on benefits and shortcomings and also examines the viewpoints of major stakeholders on project quality. It proposes a set of criteria to be used as a basis for a quality practice improvement framework, which will provide project managers and owners with the required information and strategic direction to achieve their own and their stakeholders’ targets for implementation of quality practices leading to the achievement of improved quality outcomes on future projects.

CSR in forest industry – Case study of reporting and implementation of social responsibility in three international companies

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important topic in forest industries, and other global companies, in recent years. Globalisation, faster information delivery and demand for sustainable development have set new challenges for global companies in their business operations. Also the importance of stakeholder relations, and pressure to become more transparent has increased in the forest industries. Three dimensions of corporate responsibility economic, environmental and social, are often included in the concept of CSR. Global companies mostly claim that these dimensions are equally important. This study analyses CSR in forest industry and has focus on reporting and implementation of social responsibility in three international companies. These case-companies are Stora Enso, SCA and Sappi, and they have different geographical base, product portfolios and therefore present interesting differences about forest industry strategy and CSR. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has created the most known and used reporting framework in CSR reporting. GRI Guidelines have made CSR reporting a uniform function, which can also be measured between companies and different sectors. GRI Guidelines have also made it possible to record and control CSR data in the companies. In recent years the use of GRI Guidelines has increased substantially. Typically CSR reporting on economic and environmental responsibility have been systematic in the global companies and often driven by legistlation and other regulations. However the social responsibility has been less regulated and more difficult to compare. Therefore it has previously been often less focused in the CSR reporting of the global companies. The implementation and use of GRI Guidelines have also increased dialogue on social responsibility issues and stakeholder management in global companies. This study analyses the use of GRI´s framework in the forest industry companies´ CSR reporting. This is a qualitative study and the disclosure of data is empricially analysed using content analysis. Content analysis has been selected as a method for this study because it makes it possible to use different sources of information. The data of this study consists of existing academic literature of CSR, sustainability reports of thecase-companies during 2005-2009, and the semi-structured interviews with company representatives. Different sources provide the possibility to look at specific subject from more than one viewpoint. The results of the study show that all case-companies have relatively common themes in their CSR disclosure, and the differences rise mainly from their product-portfolios, and geographic base. Social impacts to local communities, in the CSR of the companies, were mainly dominated by issues concerning creating wealth to the society and impacting communities through creation of work. The comparability of the CSR reporting, and especially social indicators increased significally from 2007 onwards in all case-companies. Even though the companies claim that three dimensions of CSR economic, environmental and social are equally important economic issues and profit improvement still seem to drive most of the operations in the global companies. Many issues that are covered by laws and regulations are still essentially presented as social responsibility in CSR. However often the unwelcome issues in companies like closing operations are covered just briefly, and without adequate explanation. To make social responsibility equally important in the CSR it would demand more emphasis from all the case-companies. A lot of emphasis should be put especially on the detail and extensiveness of the social reponsibility content in the CSR.

Managing sport in drought-new stakeholders and new governance issues : a case study

Globally, almost every nation is facing some form of water crisis (World Commission on Water 2000). In Australia, the sport and recreation industry is one of the highest consumers of water. Other high water consuming industries (such as agriculture and farming) have been forced to adhere to strict managerial and governance reform due to the water crisis, yet in the sport and recreation industry, such changes are yet to be implemented and fully realised across the sector.

This research examines the impacts of drought and sustainable water management for sport and recreation. Specifically, it provides a case study of sport and recreation provision in a municipality that has already undergone considerable reform due to long-term drought. Sport and recreation use water for purposes such as irrigation of playing fields/pitches, filling swimming pools, stadium amenities and facilities, kitchens, maintenance and cleaning, and clubhouse amenities.

For sports that are heavy users of water for the maintenance of playing fields (such as soccer, Australian Rules football, rugby league, rugby union, grass and clay tennis courts to name a few) the impacts of drought and water restrictions have been severe. Some sports have reported an increase in the risk of injury to participants because of the condition of un-watered playing fields (Sport and Recreation Victoria 2007). Others have been forced to delay or shorten their seasons (Sleeman 2007), or worse still, cancel training and organised competition completely (Connolly and Bell 2007). While the impact of water restrictions has been profound on most sports, there are some sports that are not heavy water users and the impact of drought and water restrictions has been minimal. This problem creates issues and apparent inequities raising the need to further examine water consumption in sport and recreation. The potential outcome that arises is that the future of those sports that cannot conduct their competitions may be disadvantaged, while other sports that do not have such problems may be able to flourish.

Water, and those who control the supply of it, then defines which sports are able to flourish and sustain sport development pathways, compared to those whose survival may be in jeopardy. This research explores the stakeholder management and governance issues that have resulted for sport and recreation in the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) located in Victoria, Australia--a region in long-term water crisis. The supply of sport and recreation facilities in the CoGG (like most municipalities in Australia) is largely the responsibility of the municipal council. The corporation responsible for the supply of water to the municipality is Barwon Water.

Although other sport and recreation facilities exist in the CoGG, the municipal council of CoGG owns and maintains over 120 sporting ovals (including the stadium used by its professional Australian Football League (AFL) team, the Cats), six swimming pools, and three golf courses. The CoGG host their professional AFL team, a range of local, national and international sport events, and provide a wide range of sport and recreation facilities for the community residents.

Eight interviews were conducted in total. Interviews were conducted with representatives from CoGG municipal council (who are responsible for the delivery of sport and recreation services and facilities in Geelong), and representatives from Barwon Water (who are responsible for the ongoing provision and maintenance of sport and recreation services and facilities) through the provision of water. Results show that the ten highest users of water in the municipality are sport and recreation facilitieswhich between them use almost one-third of the city's total water consumption (City of Greater Geelong 2006).

The municipal council is under considerable pressure to find ways to continue to provide sport and recreation opportunities for community members, as well as professional athletes and teams who use these facilities despite water restrictions. After all, these facilities provide benefit to spectators and participants, as well as businesses that rely on visitors to Geelong for sport and recreation events.

Due to such pressures, from 2007, the CoGG and Barwon Water agreed to provide the sport and recreation sector with water allocations rather than to be denied of all water under the water restriction regimes in place in the municipality. During 2007 summer sport season, this allowed the CoGG to keep 16 of its 120 sporting ovals open for participation through allocating all available water to these fields in order to keep them safe and playable. However, CoGG and Barwon Water were required to devise a rating scale to determine which sports (and sport facilities) were to share the allocated water, and which were not. These decisions also had knock on effects through sports. In order to ensure the safety of the playing surfaces, the CoGG and Barwon Water also restricted use of fields to competition only, therefore sport participants were forced to train on local beaches and other parkland areas-transferring issues of safety and public liability to other locations and facilities in the community. Further, it was reported that scheduling of competition seasons and individual matches; as well as the allocation of "home ground" gate receipts and concessions profits were required to be governed by the CoGG and Barwon Water as the competing sports were unable to agree. Perhaps more importantly, the rating scale developed for water allocation also resulted in some sports being rated as ineligible for water and as a result were unable to stage their entire competitions.

Clearly, the water allocation rating scale, and approach taken in this municipality to the continued delivery of sport and recreation has provided a workable solution. However, this study also signals that new stakeholders have entered the arena for the governance of sport. Governance structures in sport and recreation are being impacted as a result of the water crisis.

Those making decisions about which sport and recreation activities and/or facilities will be assisted with water resources are being made by local councils and water corporations. Sport managers are being required to understand existing areas of knowledge (such as turf management) in different ways, to gain knowledge in new areas (such as sustainable water management), and to lobby new stakeholder groups (such as water corporations) in order to secure their futures. The continued existence of some sports is no longer in the hands of governing bodies, but in the hands of local councils, and water corporations.

Clearly, any of the solutions implemented as discussed above, require multiple stakeholders to interact, and to reach agreement in order to assist in sustainable management of water in sport and recreation. In this sense, the management of water in sport (and all other industries) is more than a rational decision about policy, legislation, restrictions and resource allocations. It is a social and political process requiring scholarly attention for practical solutions.

Enron's Dabhol power project in India

In the early nineties, Enron USA went to India to set up a $3 billion power plant at the express invitation of the then Indian government. The process and incidents associated with the setting up of the Dabhol Power Company are highly relevant, even in current times, for companies who intend to set up operations in India. The case is a good example of the strategic importance of ethical corporate decision-making and good stakeholder management practices as an inherent part of a company's culture. If a company lacks this understanding, then it is likely to experience stakeholder opposition and stakeholder management disasters that can ultimately have a serious impact on the company's success.

Ecological conscious consumer behaviors in sport

The present study evaluated the influence of demographic and predictor variables on ecological conscious consumer behaviors (ECCB) of sport consumers. Seventy-five consumer responses on age, gender, and education level were collected alongside responses to the perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and environmental concern (EC) measures. Results indicated age, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and environmental concern (EC) were significant predictors of ecological conscious consumer behaviors (ECCB). Future research suggestions, managerial and research implications were presented.

Event effectiveness : analysing the perceptions of key stakeholders of the Lexmark Indy 300/champ car event, Gold Coast.

The present study assessed the perceptions of the Lexmark Indy 300/Champ Car Event’s key stakeholders namely, spectators, volunteers and paid workers, as part of an evaluation tool for its managers. We developed a model, which included visible, interaction and management elements that we proposed influenced the perceptions and experiences of stakeholders relating to the event effectiveness, strengths, weaknesses and improvements. Specifically, we used a modified version of Preble’s (2005) six-step multi-stakeholder assessment approach to examining the perceived overall effectiveness of the event. Fifty stakeholder interviews were conducted on-site and their opinions were content analysed. The key findings of the study were that the majority of the stakeholders perceived the event to be effective. Spectators perceived the strengths to be interaction components, and weaknesses and improvements to be visible elements such as track layout. Volunteers perceived strengths to be management related, but also noted that these were weaknesses and needed improvement. Lastly, Paid workers perceived interaction elements to be both strengths and weaknesses, and suggested that management elements could be improved. Important implications for similar motoring events were suggested.

Apprehending business and society

This paper claims to make a contribution by addressing a significant number of epistemological, theoretical and methodological problems in the business and society literature. We identify six sets of potential influences promoting corporate social responsibility. The private sector encompasses intra-organisational obligations and pressures from competitors, investors and consumers. Governmental and non-governmental organisations exert regulatory pressures. Calling upon radical institutional theory, we address each set with respect to its conceptual arguments, its empirical salience in terms of the latest relevant research, and our considered opinion regarding its prospects to be a significant factor in promoting outcomes consistent with social welfare. The conclusion addresses their combined potential to put capitalism on a firmly sustainable track, or whether they amount to an ideological distraction from capitalist pathologies. A call is made for fresh imaginings of the discourse.

The transnational corporation, corporate social responsibility and the 'outsourcing' debate

Current popular debates in the United States and Australia on the topics of 'jobless recoveries' and the 'outsourcing' of skilled IT jobs to India (most conspicuously) evidence a confusion as to the institutional role of the business firm and its obligations to the broader stakeholder community, as well as to the more specific differences between outsourcing and the spatial restructuring of corporate value-chains. This paper will take up several issues in the hope of clarifying this confusion, including the essential nature of the business firm as an economic, political and social institution; the possibilities for social responsibility and stakeholder management in large internationalised firms; and the critical distinctions between domestic and international outsourcing and spatial restructuring. Data from the 'outsourcing' debate will be referenced to illustrate the differing logics/rationalities of relevant stakeholder groups.

A critical review of relations between corporate responsibility research and practice

This essay identifies epistemological, theoretical and methodological problems in a potentially influential subset of the interdisciplinary corporate responsibility literature, that which appears in the management literature. The received conceptualization of stakeholder analysis is criticised by identifying six sets of factors conventionally considered as promoting social responsibilities in the firm: inter-organizational factors, economic competitors, institutional investors, end-consumers, government regulators and non-governmental organizations. Each is addressed on conceptual grounds, its empirical salience in terms of the latest relevant research and prospects to be a significant factor in promoting outcomes consistent with social welfare. Despite obvious antagonistic relations between organization-centred economic objectives and extra-organizational-directed social considerations, the huge body of research we address drifts in a disengaged Sargasso Sea. The essay argues for appropriate directions for continuing business ethics/responsibility/corporate citizenship research, suggesting certain sociological works on moral leadership, moral courage, and academic leadership.

The Panama canal expansion mega project : a case study and stakeholder´s analysis

As globalization increases integration, a new playing field is emerging which is driving the need for operational efficiencies and alignment of complementary capabilities among countries to build sustainable models and integrated offerings. As demands increase, companies are turning to effective project management as means to control operations and countries are increasing the amount of mega projects to boost their competitiveness and global footprint. Given the scale, complexity, political nature, multicultural makeup, and high level of visibility; mega projects rely on successful stakeholder management to effectively manage its operational, tactical, and strategic levels to execute their mission. This paper examines the success drivers of mega projects and presents an in depth stakeholder assessment of the Panama Canal Expansion mega project to identify the perceived value to its stakeholder community. The stakeholder categories include: the Panama Canal Authority, subcontractors executing the expansion project, customers of the canal in Panama and U.S., as well as the communities surrounding the Panama Canal and ports in the U.S. East Coast. The conclusion of this paper captures the relationship between the effective stakeholder engagement from the Panama Canal Authority, the perceived value of the Panamanian stakeholders, and compares it to U.S. based mega projects being executed simultaneously to allow the U.S. East Coast ports to accommodate increased cargo volumes.

800x600 Apoio de residentes ao processo de gestão de projetos turisticos ambientais: um estudo do vale dos dinossauros em sousa/PB

This study aimed to analyse the factors that can contribute to the support of residents in the process of management of environmental tourism projects. The importance of reflecting on the municipal planning, including the management of stakeholders, is justified by changes in economic and social values of local communities, the concern with their space and quality of life. Thus, the support of the dwellers to the management process of an attractive allows motivate and prioritize the opinion of this community, strengthening social groups and integrating them into projects and local actions. The study was described as descriptive, exploratory and quantitative. As the analysis model. They were used the research variables done by Nunkoo and Ramkissoon (2012), as a way to assess the support of local dwellers on the development of Revitalization project of Monumento Natural Vale dos Dinossauros, in the management of environmental tourist destination, in Sousa/PB. Results show the relationship among the dimensions, confidence in government agencies, benefits and costs occasioned by tourism development in the attractive as influencers support elements of the deweller. Thus, it is intended to corroborate to the inclusion of stakeholdersin the planning process in the development of tourism in this location in order to involve them in decision making about planning and management of tourism in the city, with a view to sustainable local development

Fatores capazes de influenciar o apoio dos residentes ao desenvolvimento do turismo religioso em Santa Cruz - RN

This study is about the primary stakeholder management - the resident community, given its participation and support for the development of tourism in touristic destinations. It has as a general aim to analyze the factors that are capable to influence the residents‟ support to the development of religious tourism in Santa Cruz, RN, and the existing interrelationships between factors. In order to achieve this objective, it was necessary to use exploratory and descriptive research, followed by a quantitative approach through questionnaires with 422 residents of Santa Cruz -RN. The study was based on the variables relationship model proposed by Nunkoo and Ramkissoon (2012), it was also used the technique of Structural Equation Modeling - SEM, aiming to explain the relationships between the constructs studied. The results found on the survey suggest that the more residents realize the benefits generated by tourism, as well as trust in government actors in charge of tourism development, the more there will be a propensity to support the development of religious tourism. This result is similar to the one found in the study of Nunkoo and Ramkissoon (2012). We conclude that the structural model that best represents the reality of Santa Cruz -RN is composed of the factors: benefits, costs, and confidence in governmental actors, which are able to influence the support of Santa Cruz‟s residents for the development of religious tourism. It is also noteworthy that it was found a highly significant connection between the factors benefits perceived from tourism and confidence in governmental actors and between both of them, the political support for tourism

The Web KnowARR Framework: Orchestrating Computational Intelligence with Graph Databases

This chapter presents fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) as a vehicle for Web knowledge aggregation, representation, and reasoning. The corresponding Web KnowARR framework incorporates findings from fuzzy logic. To this end, a first emphasis is particularly on the Web KnowARR framework along with a stakeholder management use case to illustrate the framework’s usefulness as a second focal point. This management form is to help projects to acceptance and assertiveness where claims for company decisions are actively involved in the management process. Stakeholder maps visually (re-) present these claims. On one hand, they resort to non-public content and on the other they resort to content that is available to the public (mostly on the Web). The Semantic Web offers opportunities not only to present public content descriptively but also to show relationships. The proposed framework can serve as the basis for the public content of stakeholder maps.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS IN NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY: A PROJECT GOVERNANCE PERSPECTIVE

The universities rely on the Information Technology (IT) projects to support and enhance their core strategic objectives of teaching, research, and administration. The researcher’s literature review found that the level of IT funding and resources in the universities is not adequate to meet the IT demands. The universities received more IT project requests than they could execute. As such, universities must selectively fund the IT projects. The objectives of the IT projects in the universities vary. An IT project which benefits the teaching functions may not benefit the administrative functions. As such, the selection of an IT project is challenging in the universities. To aid with the IT decision making, many universities in the United States of America (USA) have formed the IT Governance (ITG) processes. ITG is an IT decision making and accountability framework whose purpose is to align the IT efforts in an organization with its strategic objectives, realize the value of the IT investments, meet the expected performance criteria, and manage the risks and the resources (Weil & Ross, 2004). ITG in the universities is relatively new, and it is not well known how the ITG processes are aiding the nonprofit universities in selecting the right IT projects, and managing the performance of these IT projects. This research adds to the body of knowledge regarding the IT project selection under the governance structure, the maturity of the IT projects, and the IT project performance in the nonprofit universities. The case study research methodology was chosen for this exploratory research. The convenience sampling was done to choose the cases from two large, research universities with decentralized colleges, and two small, centralized universities. The data were collected on nine IT projects from these four universities using the interviews and the university documents. The multi-case analysis was complemented by the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to systematically analyze how the IT conditions lead to an outcome. This research found that the IT projects were selected in the centralized universities in a more informed manner. ITG was more authoritative in the small centralized universities; the ITG committees were formed by including the key decision makers, the decision-making roles, and responsibilities were better defined, and the frequency of ITG communication was higher. In the centralized universities, the business units and colleges brought the IT requests to ITG committees; which in turn prioritized the IT requests and allocated the funds and the resources to the IT projects. ITG committee members in the centralized universities had a higher awareness of the university-wide IT needs, and the IT projects tended to align with the strategic objectives. On the other hand, the decentralized colleges and business units in the large universities were influential and often bypassed the ITG processes. The decentralized units often chose the “pet” IT projects, and executed them within a silo, without bringing them to the attention of the ITG committees. While these IT projects met the departmental objectives, they did not always align with the university’s strategic objectives. This research found that the IT project maturity in the university could be increased by following the project management methodologies. The IT project management maturity was found higher in the IT projects executed by the centralized university, where a full-time project manager was assigned to manage the project, and the project manager had a higher expertise in the project management. The IT project executed under the guidance of the Project Management Office (PMO) has exhibited a higher project management maturity, as the PMO set the standards and controls for the project. The IT projects managed by the decentralized colleges by a part-time project manager with lower project management expertise have exhibited a lower project management maturity. The IT projects in the decentralized colleges were often managed by the business, or technical leads, who often lacked the project management expertise. This research found that higher the IT project management maturity, the better is the project performance. The IT projects with a higher maturity had a lower project delay, lower number of missed requirements, and lower number of IT system errors. This research found that the quality of IT decision in the university could be improved by centralizing the IT decision-making processes. The IT project management maturity could be improved by following the project management methodologies. The stakeholder management and communication were found critical for the success of the IT projects in the university. It is hoped that the findings from this research would help the university leaders make the strategic IT decisions, and the university’s IT project managers make the IT project decisions.

Recruiting and maintaining SME involvement when designing voluntary inter-organisational IS

This research investigates government experiences maintaining small and medium enterprise (SME) involvement when designing voluntary inter-organisational information systems (VIOIS). It proposes a novel combination of stakeholder management and diffusion of innovation perspectives to help governments identify industry-specific change agents, communication channels and VIOIS design approaches leading to effective SME involvement.