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Managing construction projects in the United Arab Emirates to gain competitive advantageA tremendous growth has been experienced in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the construction industry. It is also mirrored by the expansion and development of project management tools and techniques. The term project management prevails as a trending topic in the business world due to its vitality in the transformation process and execution of new business opportunities. However, regardless of the increasing importance of project management, still UAE construction industry is facing massive challenges in controlling their assignments since projects continue to fail in very high rate. Therefore aim of this research is to explore how the UAE construction organisations are managing construction projects to enhance competitive advantage. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, qualitative research method was adopted to collect and analyse data. Semi-structured interviews with 65 professionals were used to collect data which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The study concluded that a complex mix of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental forces drives construction project management in the UAE. Therefore, understanding the macro-environmental factors that impact on the UAE construction project management is important. Furthermore, it is noted that understanding drivers is imperative for smooth project implementation. As revealed in the current study, the single most important driver for managing projects in UAE is to improve greater efficiency. In addition, the UAE project management education struggles with challenges such as there are too many knowledge areas in project management, and struggle to provide education to professionals from different background and learning styles. Therefore, the UAE project management training and education should lead to a more active/practical approach. The study concludes that adoption of digital technologies in the UAE construction industry is still at their infancy. Despite of the incremental significance of project management, yet, businesses are confronting encounters in controlling their assignments since projects keep failing in very high rate. A project management competency framework for managing construction projects was developed and validated. It is recommended to explore the level of embeddedness of construction project management between developed and developing countries. This should lead to a generation of benchmark data and best practices in addressing global construction project management issues.
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REVIEW OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE UK CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRYThe construction industry is considered the world over as a major contributor to the high rates of waste generation in developed countries. The negative influence of waste generation on the environment, natural resources, and the profitability of firms puts increasing pressure on the industry to reduce the waste it generates. The pressures to reduce waste are heightened by current trends demanding sustainable management of waste for the purposes of economic, social, and environmental gains. Literature on factors influencing waste management (WM) suggests government legislation is the most critical success factor for ensuring waste is sustainably managed. A review of the literature however indicated that researches holistically investigating the practices of construction firms and the extent to which these practices meet the intended outcomes of government legislation on waste are not present. Thus this research was undertaken to holistically investigate WM practices in the UK construction industry, to identify best practices and the extent to which they meet the intended outcomes of government WM legislation ad policy. The study adopted a multiple case study design to examine WM approaches, strategies and practices at both the corporate and project level within construction companies. Four construction companies who had won awards for their sustainability and environmental performance were purposefully selected to investigate best practice WM. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, passive observations, and documentary analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that the drivers for WM in the construction industry are: economic considerations; company sustainability agenda; company image; client requirements; environmental concerns; government legislation; moral and social demands; industrial benchmarking; environmental concerns; and the requirements of standards. Regarding the influence of legislation, the results revealed that government legislation plays a secondary role in influencing WM as clients are interested in using only compliant firms. Best practices targeting design to reduce waste through standardisation and prefabrication; on-site segregation through multi-skip provision; supply take back schemes; intensified site education; and the use of incentives were identified to lead to improved WM. The results also indicated that company sustainability agenda is the most influential driver for achieving sustainable construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E) WM. The findings highlighted the importance of having a clear vision and structure for WM at the corporate level alongside strategies to be implemented on projects to ensure sustainable WM is achieved. To help construction firms in achieving sustainable WM, which is the ultimate goal of government legislation, a best practice framework has been developed based on the findings from the study and evaluated using semi-structured interviews with selected target participants. The framework presents a coherent and systematic approach for achieving sustainable WM in construction companies by providing a roadmap for instituting measures at both corporate and project levels, taking into account factors that are likely to promote or inhibit the achievement of sustainable WM.
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Knowledge sharing maturity model for Jordanian construction sectorPurpose - This purpose of the paper is to present a maturity model developed to assess Knowledge Sharing (KS) for the Jordanian construction sector. Design/methodology/approach - The research was conducted in three stages. The first stage consisted of the review of literature and documenting variables from the literature that highlight influence on KS in organisations. The second stage was designed for maturity model development by identifying the cultural factors that affect KS in the Jordanian construction sector through questionnaires and interviews. Factor analysis was used to find possible relationships between the cultural variables followed by semi-structured interviews. In the third stage the initial maturity model was refined through another set of semi-structured interviews. Findings – The model presented in the paper includes three levels of maturity. The first level identifies whether the variable barely exists in company’s KS practices. The second level shows the occasional techniques which the company uses to increase KS activities. The final level demonstrates the importance of the variable in affecting KS as being fundamentally ingrained in the company’s vision, mission, strategy and operations. Originality/value - The research has developed a model that can be used to measure the KS in an organisation. Although the model has been applied to the construction industry, it can easily be modified to fit other sectors.
