Jobs requiring a capacity for engineering systems thinking (CEST): Selection using an interest inventory

Systems thinking is recognized as a critical ability for engineers who take a leading role in complex projects. Identifying those engineers with better systems‐thinking capabilities is critical in many projects and organizations and enables organizations and project managers to select and place the most suitable engineers for jobs requiring a Capacity for Engineering Systems Thinking (CEST). However, up until now, no tool aimed at assessing individuals' capacity for engineering systems thinking has ever been developed. This paper presents principles for developing an interest questionnaire aimed at selecting engineers for jobs requiring systems thinking as well as preliminary results regarding the tool's reliability and validity.     

The Fama-French model for estimating the cost of equity capital: The impact of real options of investment projects

We use the classic and modified Fama-French models to estimate the cost of capital of stock portfolios listed on selected markets. We compare four highly developed markets (US, EU, Japanese and global) and the Polish market as an alternative investment opportunity and a CEE emerging market. The performance of the applied procedures for estimating the cost of capital for company projects is examined and cost of capital is assessed with and without real option adjustment. We adjust the portfolios’ returns using the firms’ book-to-market ratios and idiosyncratic volatility as option proxies. The variability of cost of capital is evaluated using bootstrap methods. Our study shows a clear difference between bootstrapped distributions of cost of capital for the tested developed market and the Polish market portfolios. Wider confidence intervals of the estimated cost of capital of the studied Polish portfolios may result from political motivations in managing state-controlled companies. Our findings also indicate a clear difference between the cost of capital for tested portfolios with and without option adjustment. The widths of the estimated confidence intervals increase after option adjustment. The highest/lowest values of the cost of capital both with and without option adjustment are found for the US/Japanese market portfolios.     

Project management practice,generic or contextual: A reality check

The purpose of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of project management practice by investigating the use of project management tools and techniques and the levels of support provided by organizations for their use. The study examines both general levels of use and variations among project types and contexts. Many aspects of project management practice are common to most projects in most contexts, while others vary significantly among different types of projects and among projects in different contexts. The purpose of this paper is to present empirical results that show both the common elements and the significant variations. The paper is based on a survey of 750 project management practitioners. The use of tools and techniques is seen here as an indicator of the realities of practice. The study found some aspects of practice to be common across all types of projects and all contexts, but on this background of similar patterns of practice, several statistically significant differences have also been identified. The primary focus of this paper is on these variations in practice.     

建筑工程造价控制及优化措施探析

在建筑工程项目中,严格控制工程造价,可以取得较好的经济效益。要做好建筑工程的造价控制工作,为企业赢得良好的经济效益,必须要求企业内部多方面进行协调与配合。     

New product development projects: The effects of organizational culture

Despite the increasing use of project management within organizations, an attendant poor rate of success among these projects has been observed (Clancy & Stone, 2005; Ives, 2005). Seventy‐five percent of all business transformation projects fail (Collyer, 2000) and only 16% of U.S. IT projects are completed on time and on budget (Peled, 2000). In an attempt to overcome such a high project failure rate, this paper investigates the effects of organizational culture on the performance of particular types of projects: new product development (NPD) projects. Using data from 95 U.S. organizations, the study provides evidence of the significant effects of organizational culture on NPD projects.     

政府投资项目跟踪审计策略探讨

在政府投资项目中实施跟踪审计,有利于合法、合理使用资金,对建设成本进行及时控制,也能够提高投资效益,促进项目管理,减少损失浪费。本文首先分析了加强政府投资项目跟踪审计的必要性,其次,就政府投资项目跟踪审计策略进行了较为深入的探讨,具有一定的参考价值。     

Institutions in building projects: Implications for flexibility and change

Building practice is often studied from a project management perspective, a view that stresses the temporary and unique aspects of the project organizations. However, the organization of building projects, as well as the buildings produced, varies little between projects. This homogeneity suggests that the building sector is subject to strong institutionalization. The findings of a building project case study are used to illustrate the different kinds of institutions in Swedish building. It is concluded that the strong institutions are related to a great need for coordination and communication in complex project organizations. The institutionalization could explain why initiatives generated by individual projects and companies seldom bring about long-term change in building.     

跟踪审计与企业内部工程项目控制

工程项目跟踪审计是控制工程造价,完善项目管理和提高工程投资效益的保障。本文就企业内部对工程项目跟踪审计的保障制度、跟踪环节与审计内容、审计方法进行探讨,从提高建设项目效益和健全内控制度的角度为完善建设项目跟踪审计制度,规范操作程序提供参考。     

Developmental project management in emerging countries

Aid organizations, governments and even citizens in emerging/developing countries have long complained about the efficacy of developmental projects. Given the vast resources being plowed into developmental activities and the dire needs, it is imperative that such projects are cost-effective, finish on time and provide the specified deliverables. Unfortunately, the procedure to guide such projects is not well developed. In this research, we rely on qualitative case study methodology to provide possible insights to project managers. We examined a total of eight cases related to developmental projects in India. Through these cases, we identify five project management components including: project characteristics, external environment, internal project elements, project management process, and project outcomes. The constructs within each element and the relationships amongst them provide guidance to development agencies in terms of project size, project goals, resource availability, infrastructure, stakeholder variance and organizational flexibility. These constructs influence the internal elements of a project including the level of information, complexity and uncertainty/risk. In turn, the internal elements affect the project outcomes of duration, costs, and deliverables. This research provides guidance to agencies in their project management process in terms of team integration and interactions, communication, and networking with local communities and organizations, all of which can influence standard project outcomes (duration, cost and deliverables), while also helping to build reputation to garner additional funding.     

新形势下建筑工程造价管理研究

国际地位的提高使得我国的社会经济进入了崭新的发展阶段,行业所处的国际国内市场都发生了显著的变化,尤其是建筑行业的发展迅猛,每年都为国家贡献了巨大的产值.但建筑工程项目中,造价管理关乎项目效益,新形势下的工程造价管理不能再局限在传统的造价管理理念和模式下,必须要紧跟行业现代化发展的要求,提高项目效益.基于此,本文重点研究...     

Hybrid decision model for information project selection

Information project selection is an important and recurring activity in many organizations. Establishing a systematic project selection model thus is important for organizations. However, information system project selection is made difficult by the need to consider numerous quantitative and qualitative factors, such as business goals, benefits, project risks and limitations in available resources. This study proposes a hybrid measurement model for evaluating the overall effects of information projects. The selection model generates critical, quantitative and qualitative indicators to help managers realize the advantages/disadvantages of operational conditions. This hybrid selection model not only accelerates project evaluation and selection, but also helps organizations optimize project selection and thus achieve sustainable development.     

浅谈建筑工程造价管理

建筑工程工程造价管理是建设工程的重要组成部分,工程造价管理的目标就是利用管理合理的确定造价和有利的控制造价。建设工程的最终目的是盈利,而工程造价管理直接关系到施工企业的命脉。本文就如何加强建筑工程的造价管理谈几点体会和建议。     

水运工程测绘新技术应用回顾与展望

水路交通是新时期货物及人员运输的新方法,其显著改善了传统交通运输模式的不足,有效控制了交通运输的成本耗资。水运工程建设需要投入大量的成本资金,一旦其施工质量不符合工程图纸规划的标准,便会造成基础设施失去原有的功能。因此,水运工程测量引入高科技,提高了项目前期规划的合理性,方便勘测人员获取实用的工程信息。     

基于人工神经网络的非标产品制造成本估算研究

大型和形状复杂的非标产品的生产成本,是很难估算的。目前采用的人工方法估算的误差较大。当成本估算用于招标目的时,这样的误差将产生不利的后果。成本高估承担的风险,是使公司缺乏竞争力,失去客户,而低估了成本,赢得了合同,但招致财务的损失。因此,一个精确的产品生产成本估算方法,对项目管理而言至关重要。本文应用神经网络建立的参数模型,针对大型和形状复杂的非标产品的生产成本估算和目前采用的手动估算相比,精确度有了很大提高。     

Formal and Informal Practices of Knowledge Sharing Between Project Teams and Enacted Cultural Characteristics

This article investigates the process of knowledge sharing between project teams and uses a case study approach. This is especially relevant, as organizations face both the needs for separating work into projects and integrating knowledge created in projects into the organization. The results provided by the analysis technique of GABEK^® indicate that, although projects create boundaries, employees and project team leaders use formal mechanisms and develop informal practices for knowledge sharing between project teams. Furthermore, the article identifies organizational cultural characteristics enacted in these practices that can stimulate the discussion in “knowledge culture research” regarding the relationship of organizational cultural characteristics and (specific) knowledge processes.     

施工企业工程量清单计价模式下工程造价的控制

施工企业在进行工程造价管理时,对于工程量清单计价模式,要有效的提高对于造价的控制能力,提高工程资金投入的使用效益,是现阶段工程造价管理工作的重要方式。本文对于施工企业工程量清单计价模式下工程造价控制的相关问题进行了分析与探讨。     

Coordination artifacts in Agile Software Development

Agile Software Development is characterized by collaborative social interactions and fast-paced and iterative changes in project requirements. Much of the extant Agile development literature focuses on team and organizational aspects of Agile development projects. However, coordination mechanisms used within Agile projects have received less attention. Particularly, existing research lacks a discussion on how artifacts are applied in Agile software development to support project coordination, and how their potential for information richness and mutability impact their ability to support coordination.To address these issues, we conducted a case study of an Agile development project that involved customer and vendor organizations. Our case follows the interactions between the two organizations, identifies the different types of artifacts that they utilized to coordinate their joint activities throughout the various phases of the project, and traces the enactment of these artifacts' informational potential.Our study reveals that the organizations applied four different types of coordination artifacts - Foundational, Projective, Exposition and Indicative artifacts – to address different coordination challenges that arose throughout the project. The four types of artifacts were characterized by varying levels of information richness and mutability, which were shaped to support the Agile activities within which they were used.Our study enriches the understanding of the role of coordination artifacts in Agile projects, provides insights on the informational potential of the artifacts, and highlights some of the pitfalls than can result from misunderstanding object use.     

浅析工程概预算编制对工程造价的影响

为提高公司对建筑的投资收益,使基础建设至今仍能够有效地发挥出其最大的效益,需要通过必要的科学合理的方法来进行控制。论文介绍了工程概预算的概念与当前建筑工程中存在的一些问题,主要通过分析这些问题来说明工程概预算的重要性,进而在工程造价的源头上进行控制,表明工程概预算对工程造价的影响。     

浅述影响企业施工总承包项目工程造价的若干因素

随着我国和国际惯例不断的接轨,很多具备全面能力、基础扎实、人才素质高的企业都乐于进行工程总承包,从而获得更多的利益。但是,总承包的工程造价是承包企业能否获得最终效益的关键,从发包、施工一直到结算等全过程都要进行合理的预算。在这些过程中要注意每一环节的工程造价,并结合本企业实际情况,为社会提供物美价廉的产品,在降低造价并保证质量的同时完成工程,最终取得最大收益。