The combination of the economic pressures, maturity and limitations of project management and the dynamic nature of the construction industry clients’ requirements has triggered the need for the adoption and implementation of programme management as a de facto means of aligning, coordinating and managing a portfolio of construction projects to deliver benefits that would not be achievable if the projects were managed independently. Despite the benefits achievable in the practice of programme management, the awareness and understanding of its practice in the construction industry remains vague as a result of a lack of clarity and inconsistencies associated with its definitions. To fully understand the core essence of programme management, it is imperative that its quintessential definition, practice and context are clearly understood and documented. This research is based on a pragmatic synthesis of literature review and industrial questionnaire survey which establishes the relationship, similarities and differences between programme management and project management and subsequently draws comparisons of the practices relevant to programmes between programme and non-programme organisations. The research further highlights the implications of unawareness and lack of understanding that can affect the effective implementation and practice of programme management in the UK construction environment.
See Full PDF See Full PDFFor the construction industry to survive the current turbulence in the economic atmosphere, it has the option of integrating new initiatives to march the uncertainties. Programme management is seen as an efficient vehicle to successfully deliver the improvements and changes. However, the implementation of any new system or change initiatives has always been a challenging task; some of these challenges can be faced during the implementation or at practice stage. Programme management is not exempt from such challenges, in order to successfully implement and practice programme management, the knowledge of the major challenges associated to effective implementation and practice should not be left to serendipity or sagacity. Due to the lack of clarity surrounding programme management in the construction industry, the understanding of these major challenges remains vague. To provide a deeper insight into the major challenges to implementation and practice of construction programme management, this paper conducts both a pragmatic and theoretical study by triangulating literature, industrial questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted in the UK construction industry and other programme management sectors to analyse and exploit the knowledge of these challenges for effective implementation and practice of construction programmes. A total of 119 usable questionnaires were received and 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted, analysed and synthesised to provide a broader view on the major challenges and how to effectively implement and practice construction programmes.
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The Government of Botswana is principled to allocate funds to the development of the country by allocating more resources into building and infrastructure construction projects, especially the recently announced programme (Economic Stimulus Package (ESP)) whose objective is to stimulate the economy through a number of targeted projects with the potential to create employment. Furthermore, the government of Botswana under this new initiative has intentions to put substantial amount of resources to be spent on infrastructure projects, but the challenge is that the construction sector is traditionally prone to unethical practices and notorious for its inability to deliver projects on time, to the desired quality and cost overruns quite a norm. These negative attributes of the construction industry are often as a result of a number of challenges, among which are lack of capacity to effectively handle construction projects, contractor poor planning and supervision, lack of professionalism to mention a few. Therefore, it has been realised that the Government of Botswana will continue to put taxpayer’s money in a “bottomless pit” if there are no proper project management methodologies, techniques and tools used for management of building and infrastructure construction projects to deliver positive projects. The aim of the study is to improve management of building and infrastructure construction projects and improvement of their performance. The reason being that almost all of the building and infrastructure major projects such as stadia and others were previously completed behind their original time schedule and with cost overruns effected by various challenges encountered by the Department of Building and Engineering Services. Using a comprehensive literature review and survey questionnaires, the challenges encountered by the Department of Building and Engineering Services were confirmed using the Relative Importance Index methodology to rank the most important challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects. A specific survey was distributed to the DBES technical staff to examine the most significant challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects. Opinions from the DBES technical staff were used to rank the most important challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects using the Relative Importance Index methodology. Data from the collected survey questionnaires was analysed by statistical methods (RII formula) to determine the most important challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects. A relative importance index has been used to identify the relative importance of the challenges got from the comprehensive literature review. The study established that slowness in decision making by clients, incomplete project design, poor site management and supervision by contractors, ineffective project planning and scheduling by contractors and poor communication and coordination between supervising consultants and contractors are the most important challenges leading to schedule delays and costs escalations in building and infrastructure construction projects. On the other hand, lack of relevant training in project management for DBES technical staff, lack of understanding of the role of project management in the organisation, lack of commitment from senior management, lack of defined clear mission for programmes and lack of knowledge to evaluate risks were found to be the major challenges that lead to inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques. Thus, the need to use appropriate project management practices, deliberate for personnel building capacity, commitment from the senior management and prompt decision making, thereby improving projects performance.
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Programme management involves the alignment; coordination and execution of a portfolio of construction projects to achieve certain benefits that are not always possible if the projects are managed individually. Programmes have always been complex in nature, with the potential for intense cross-project integration, conflicting stakeholders and socio-econo-political pressures. Any problems from one project automatically affect others in the programme. With this high level of synergy and integration, programmes require highly skilled and competent managers to ensure that they are operated and delivered successfully. The complexity of programmes, and their roots in project management, brings about pressure for the managers to think and rethink, search and research, and view and review, for skills and competencies that can put them at the top of their demanding jobs. The findings in this research were achieved through a triangulation of literature review, industrial questionnaire survey, and semi-structured interviews conducted with programme management experts. The paper offers a critical review and an analysis of the skills and competencies required by programme managers to effectively discharge their responsibilities. The number of skills and competencies was reduced and categorised using factor analysis for the ease of administration and training by managers and educators.
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The global economic situation is now in a no-one-knows-what-happens-next state, the drivers are impacting on the construction industry into major changes which have never been greater in terms of fierce competition, changes in business models, new technologies, deregulation, cost pressures and complexity. The industry’s requirements to survive the competitive atmosphere are forcing the industry into new and challenging paradigms shifts by adopting more complex initiatives to meet these challenges. Project management is undoubtedly the backbone of the tremendous successes achieved in planning, execution and delivery of many construction projects. The maturity and limitations of project management, however, have triggered the need for more complex initiatives to meet the demands that the UK construction industry is facing. Organisations adopt programme management to achieve benefits that are not possible by employing project management approaches. Programmes by their very nature are highly integrated endeavours which are dynamic, with intense cross-discipline and cross-project integration. There is also a dichotomy in the programme management fraternity where one part believes that programme managers evolve strictly from programme environments. The other faction, however, believes that programme managers attain their positions through career progression as project managers. This paper which is based on an on-going doctoral research documents the findings from the data gathered through semi-structured interviews with 17 programme management team members on, inter alia, the career path of construction programme managers. The paper also documents the implications of the results for individual programme managers, trainers and educators, and those involved in the selection and recruitment of programme managers.
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Programme management is the alignment; coordination and executing a group of related projects to achieve certain benefits that are not always possible if the projects are managed individually. Programmes are always complex in nature with the potential for intense cross-project integration, conflicting stakeholders, econo-socio-political pressure. With a high level of synergy and integration, programme management require essential skills and competencies to efficiently and successfully deliver the anticipated benefits. A total of 119 useable questionnaires were received from the construction industry and analysed using statistical approaches. The research discussed in this paper is based on on-going doctoral research in successful adoption and implementation of programme management in the UK construction industry. The paper documents the definitional issues, critical review of the ranking for the importance and the analysis of the skills and competencies that programme managers require to effectively discharge their responsibilities.
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