Developing and teaching information systems for construction management students: a perspective in Deakin University

A new unit named Information Systems in Construction was developed and taught for the first time in the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University in Semester 1 2003 for first-year construction management students. This paper reports on key issues that arose during the unit development process and the implementation of teaching activities. Special consideration is given to the learners (first year students), the teaching environment (online teaching and learning), the unit background (information technology and information system), and the discipline (international construction). Several suggestions are outlined for improving the unit development and delivery in the next round.

Knowledge management and its links with quality

Knowledge management is a concept that continues to draw a lot of interest. It is the process of sharing knowledge within an organisation to achieve better performance. It can be utilised by all organisations, many of which may not even be aware they are using the concept nor of its links with Quality management. By implementing an effective KM system increased organisational performance and ultimately a competitive advantage can be obtained - both of which correlate to the philosophy of Quality. This paper raises issues about the relationship between the gathering, storing and sharing of knowledge and the philosophy of continuous improvement with the facilitation of teamwork. It concludes by attempting to encourage further debate and research into the area by suggesting that Knowledge Management may be well the 'catalyst' for the resurgence of Quality Management.

Knowledge management as perceived by quality practitioners

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the relationship between knowledge management and quality management with a particular focus on the role of quality culture. The paper also aims to address the assumption that as knowledge management reaches its maturity, in terms of acceptance as an important part of doing business in the modern world, quality will again become the mantra of successful companies.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 1,000 quality managers from Australian organisations were surveyed for their perspectives on current and future knowledge management and quality management approaches. The questionnaire utilised both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The questionnaire was broken into three sections: respondent profile, current knowledge management and quality management practices, and future predictions for both knowledge management and quality management.

Findings – The key finding of the paper was that organisations would have to embrace a quality culture as a fundamental component of implementing knowledge management in order to compete successfully in such a dynamic business environment. The responses from this survey assist in identifying the relationship between knowledge and quality management, and the importance and future of both knowledge and quality management.

Originality/value – This paper is based upon the assumption that quality is in fact, resurging. It has identified quality culture as the significant link between knowledge management and quality management that leads to successful competitive advantage. Organisations are urged to recognise knowledge management as a vehicle for success not a stand-alone process. It is the first time that such a survey has been designed, and the first time a paper has produced an explanation to the current situation.

Integrated supply chain construction ecosystem management

Agenda 21 may be considered the most significant programme of action influencing environmental policy for the Australian development and construction industry. The industry has remained one of the most rapidly expanding sectors; yet, we have seen the gradual process of exhausting natural resources and irreversible environmental degradation. Even with the introduction of numerous new environmental policies, it remains questionable as to whether real improvements have occurred across the industry. Legislative mechanisms to direct on-site environmental management appear deficient; information flows between participants along the supply chain appear to impact upon environmental management performance; and industry fragmentation remains compounded by ill-defined external, non-contractual supply chain influences that directly impact on contractual systems. Limited research has considered construction supply chain theory and environmental management particularly in reference to policy. The literature highlighted a need to develop a supply chain model which seeks to integrate chain actors and government regulators through holistic information management. The model assumes that fundamental to industry change is statutory control to mandate construction environmental management plans. However, industry change and subsequent environmental management rely upon effective information dissemination. The next stage involves model refinement, investigating barriers and enablers to widespread diffusion of such an innovative integrated environmental management system.

Construction management : new directions

This book brings together, in a single volume, the main management concepts relevant to the construction industry, providing an objective account of the concepts and showing how they interrelate: value management, buildability, benchmarking, total quality management, partnering and alliancing, supply chain management (new for this edition), and re-engineering." "In addition to a new chapter on supply chain management, a new section on strategic alliancing has been added. Text and references have been updated throughout

Construction management : new directions

This book brings together, in a single volume, the main management concepts relevant to the construction industry, providing an objective account of the concepts and showing how they interrelate: value management, buildability, benchmarking, total quality management, partnering and alliancing, supply chain management (new for this edition), and re-engineering." "In addition to a new chapter on supply chain management, a new section on strategic alliancing has been added. Text and references have been updated throughout.

Power and politics in a system implementation

The central concern of this study is to identify the role of power and politics in systems implementation. The current literature on systems implementation is typically divided into two areas, process modelling and factor based studies. Process modelling classifies the implementation into a linear process, whereas factor based studies have argued that in order to ‘successfully’ implement a system, particular critical factors are required. This literature misses the complexities involved in systems implementation through the human factors and political nature of systems implementation and is simplistic in its nature and essentially de-contextualises the implementation process. Literature has investigated some aspects of human factors in systems implementation. However, it is believed that these studies have taken a simplistic view of power and politics. It is argued in this thesis that human factors in systems implementation are constantly changing and essentially operating in a dynamic relationship affecting the implementation process. The concept of power relations, as proposed by Foucault (1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982), have been utilised in order to identify the dynamic nature of power and politics. Foucault (1978) argued that power is a dynamic set of relationships constantly changing from one point in time to the next. It is this recognition that is lacking from information systems. Furthermore, these power relations are created through the use of discourse. Discourse represents meaning and social relationships, forming both subjectivity and power relations. Discourses are also the practices of talk, text and argument that continuously form that which actors speak. A post-structuralist view of power as both an obvious and hidden concept has provided the researcher a lens through which the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system can be observed. The framework aimed to identify the obvious process of system selection implementation, and then deconstruct that process to expose the hegemonic nature of policy, the reproduction of organisational culture, the emancipation within discourse, and the nature of resistance and power relations. A critical case study of the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system at the University of Australia was presented providing an in-depth investigation of the implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system, spanning five years. This critical case study was analysed using social dramas to distinguish between the front stage issues of power and the hidden discourses underpinning the front stage dramas. The enterprise-wide learning management system implemented in the University of Australia in 2003 is a system which enables academic staff to manage learners, the students, by keeping track of their progress and performance across all types of training activities. Through telling the story of the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system at the University of Australia discourses emerged. The key findings from this study have indicated that the system selection and implementation works at two levels. The low level is the selection and implementation process, which operates for the period of the project. The high level is the arena of power and politics, which runs simultaneously to the selection and implementation process. Challenges for power are acted out in the front stage, or public forums between various actors. The social dramas, as they have been described here, are superfluous to the discourse underpinning the front stage. It is the discourse that remains the same throughout the system selection and implementation process, but it is through various social dramas that reflect those discourses. Furthermore, the enactment of policy legitimises power and establishes the discourse, limiting resistance. Additionally, this research has identified the role of the ‘State’ and its influence at the organisational level, which had been previously suggested in education literature (Ball, 1990).

Occupational health and safety management systems : system types and effectiveness

The aim of this thesis is to develop a framework to evaluate the relative performance of different types of health and safety management system. This objective is an analytical one, but it stems from a policy issue of public importance. Over the past decade Australia, like other countries, has seen the emergence and growth of interest in developing health and safety management systems. But are they all the same, and if not, do they differ in their effectiveness? The thesis does not seek to give a definitive answer to these questions. Given the novelty of the phenomenon and the lack of research on this subject, the research is exploratory. An hypothesis about the effectiveness of different health and safety management systems is developed rather than tested. The thesis proceeds by first defining health and safety management systems as a combination of the planning and review, the management arrangements, the consultative arrangements and the specific program elements that work together in an integrated way to improve health and safety performance. A research procedure is described involving twenty exploratory case studies. The thesis then - develops - from the literature and the case study research - an analytical framework to evaluate the performance of different health and safety management systems. That framework has two parts. First is a typology of health and safety management systems. This is constructed from two distinctions - between 'safe place' and 'safe person' approaches to health and safety; and between 'innovative' and traditional' management methods and structures. These distinctions yield four types of system. The typology was applied to the case studies which yielded a reasonable fit in most instances. The second part of the framework is a 'process evaluation' technique akin to Quality standards. Derived from the Victorian SafetyMAP audit criteria, the "e;process evaluation tool "e; is preferred to traditional outcome measures such as incident or claim rates. Using this measure, the twenty case study enterprises were classified as above average, average or below average in performance. These results correlated poorly with traditional incident trend and benchmark measures. The two elements of the framework are then combined to explore the relationship between the different types of system and their performance. Evidence from the twenty case studies showed a tendency for innovative/safe place firms to perform better than traditional/safe person firms. This finding can form the basis for a hypothesis that may be subject to statistical testing on a generalisable sample. In addition five 'best practice' cases were selected and subjected to a cross case analysis to search for common characteristics that might explain their performance. This analysis suggests the importance of a number of factors: senior managers who drive health and safety change and mobilise all possible resources in the pursuit of change; health and safety representatives who work with managers in a 'joint regulatory relationship' across system activities; the involvement of employees more generally, but not as a substitute for action by managers and health and safety representatives; a comprehensive approach to elimination of all hazards; and the introduction of innovative programs to continually improve systems and facilitate employee involvement in health and safety.

Integrated system for high quality water recovery and wastewater treatment

This thesis unveils an integrated system that once applied, could standardise and simplify the processes used for high quality water recovery and wastewater treatment. It forsees lower prices of desalinated and recovered water, in a streamlined and more efficient water industry, by departing from today's thinking of conventional wastewater treatment.

Water quality modelling of the Barwon Water Supply System

An existing computer model (QUAL2E) was adapted to simulate the flow and water quality of the Barwon Water Supply System, the major water supply system for Geelong. Various water quality parameters were modelled and options reviewed for improving the water quality in this System.

Coordinated energy management of vehicle air conditioning system

Whilst air conditioning systems increase thermal comfortableness in vehicles, they also raise the energy consumption of vehicles. Achieving thermal comfort in an energy-efficient way is a difficult task requiring good coordination between engine and the air conditioning system. This paper presents a coordinated energy management system to reduce the energy consumption of the vehicle air conditioning system while maintaining the thermal comfortableness. The system coordinates and manages the operation of evaporator, blower, and fresh air and recirculation gates to provide the desired comfort temperature and indoor air quality, under the various ambient and vehicle conditions, the energy consumption can then be optimized. Three simulations of the developed coordinated energy management system are performed to demonstrate its energy saving capacity.

Australian construction SME : management implication of TQM implementation

SME play a major role in the economies and TQM is important in construction industry. The aim of this paper is to investigate, via extensive literature reviews, the management implication of Australian construction SME implementing TQM. In summary, there are four management perspectives: construction management, knowledge management, supply chain management and marketing management to enhance competitive advantage that may favour commercial viability. One can reasonably conclude that the quality improvements will greatly help to create long term commercial advantages.

Improving assessment management using tools

This paper firstly explains the importance of assessment management, then introduces two assessment tools currently used in the School of Information Technology at Deakin University. A comparison of assignment marking was conducted after collecting test data from three sets of assignments. The importance of providing detailed marking guides and personalized comments is emphasized and future possible extension to the tools is also discussed at the end of this paper.

Estilo Gerencial no IRD/CNEN: Possibilidades de Contribuição para a Implantação e Implementação do NBR ISO 9000

This study investigates in the National Commission of Nuclear Energy the Institute of Radiation Protection and Dosimetry in terms of perceptions, actions, and posture of the administrative agents which could facilitate the engagement of the employees of that public organization in the TQM implantation, based on NBR ISO 9000. The central question of this research is: which characteristics of the administrative actions and sense of the managerial posture manifested in the implantation, implementation and maintenance for the achievement of objectives and goals of the Quality System-ISO 9000, could contribute to engage the IRD professionals in the process? The research finds prevalence of the Quality technical knowledge over the attention on professionals' managerial posture, identifies a lack in that Norm about how to deal with its administrative requirements in practical terms, driving the researcher to look for support especially in Deming to face the critical reading of that organizational context. The field research was conceived under the paradigm of constructivism, facilitating the description of beliefs, perceptions, feelings and values manifested in the employees discourses, actions and re-actions to establish relations between Quality theory and that concrete reality. A phenomenologic approach, only as a complementary level, was sufficient to favor the researcher insertion in that institution where he is still working, but in the new and contingent role of researcher. To apprehend the organization managerial stile, to comprehend beyond its characteristics and to grasp the orientation of the managerial posture in terms of possibilities for Quality implementation were the core of this study. The TQM theory was interpreted as a living philosophy, an administrative posture the meaning of which is a permanent Quality improvement in the CNEN/IRD management processes in its internal and external organizational relations. The procedural nature of the CNEN/IRD public service legal regime, political implications and performance evaluation which reveals only partially the organizational reality should not obstruct the Institute drive to assume the spirit of serving the public as a Quality management philosophic commitment. Conclusions show some progress reorienting initiatives in organizational management taking place in three different levels: operational, toward the employees' expectations of values and organizational processes integration; HR administration, in search of better communication; strategic, through expectations on a possible visionary leadership". Finally, at the academic level, the perception that future studies in search of the establishment of relationships between TQM and the organization culture can favor new progress."

Organizational design as an enabler for innovation: evidence from a German Mechanical Engineering Company

Over the past two decades there has been a profusion of empirical studies of organizational design and its relationship to efficiency, productivity and flexibility of an organization. In parallel, there has been a wide range of studies about innovation management in different kind of industries and firms. However, with some exceptions, the organizational and innovation management bodies of literature tend to examine the issues of organizational design and innovation management individually, mainly in the context of large firms operating at the technological frontier. There seems to be a scarcity of empirical studies that bring together organizational design and innovation and examine them empirically and over time in the context of small and medium sized enterprises. This dissertation seeks to provide a small contribution in that direction. This dissertation examines the dynamic relationship between organizational design and innovation. This relationship is examined on the basis of a single-case design in a medium sized mechanical engineering company in Germany. The covered time period ranges from 1958 until 2009, although the actual focus falls on the recent past. This dissertation draws on first-hand qualitative empirical evidence gathered through extensive field work. The main findings are: 1. There is always a bundle of organizational dimensions which impacts innovation. These main organizational design dimensions are: (1) Strategy & Leadership, (2) Resources & Capabilities, (3) Structure, (4) Culture, (5) Networks & Partnerships, (6) Processes and (7) Knowledge Management. However, the importance of the different organizational design dimensions changes over time. While for example for the production of simple, standardized parts, a simple organizational design was appropriate, the company needed to have a more advanced organizational design in order to be able to produce customized, complex parts with high quality. Hence the technological maturity of a company is related to its organizational maturity. 2. The introduction of innovations of the analyzed company were highly dependent on organizational conditions which enabled their introduction. The results of the long term case study show, that some innovations would not have been introduced successfully if the organizational elements like for example training and qualification, the build of network and partnerships or the acquisition of appropriate resources and capabilities, were not in place. Hence it can be concluded, that organizational design is an enabling factor for innovation. These findings contribute to advance our understanding of the complex relationship between organizational design and innovation. This highlights the growing importance of a comprehensive, innovation stimulating organizational design of companies. The results suggest to managers that innovation is not only dependent on a single organizational factor but on the appropriate, comprehensive design of the organization. Hence manager should consider to review regularly the design of their organizations in order to maintain a innovation stimulating environment.