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Isomorphic pressures are thought to stimulate change and adoption of best practice in risk management (RM). Although this certainly occurs in most industries, it is not occurring in the construction industry. This research investigates institutional isomorphism in the Australian construction industry. In-depth interviews and surveys about the use of current risk tools and techniques (RT&T) by 25 experienced construction project managers (CPMs) were used to examine existing practice. A Delphi survey was conducted to validate these interviews using 11 experienced CPMs. These CPM reconfirmed that coercive and normative pressures created institutional isomorphism and a common approach in managing occupational health and safety (OH&S) risks. In contrast, for other categories of risk, CPMs have decoupled their practice from stipulations in standards by adopting a limited range of predominantly qualitative risk tools and techniques. CPMs, consider it more efficient and effective to rely on accrued experience, teams and external experts because of the unique constraints in construction projects. This research challenges the notion that CPMs are deficient in adopting new paradigms and opens an academic discourse on whether industry-specific project RM standards should be developed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the underlying factors that give rise to the set of sustainability indicators which are used for the implementation of sustainable construction projects and eventually the production of sustainable built assets.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish the purpose of this research, an online questionnaire survey was administered to a sample of 200 experts. By employing the statistical method of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), five distinct dimensions (factors) of stakeholders' attitudes were revealed.FindingsThe findings indicate that the sustainability indicators are based on five underlying factors, namely (1) sustainable competitiveness; (2) stakeholder engagement; (3) sustainable economic growth; (4) social sustainability; and (5) resource conservation and environmental policy.Research limitations/implicationsMore studies would be welcome to verify the underlying factors revealed in this paper.Practical implicationsThe knowledge of the underlying factors enables senior management to maintain a balance of choices during the project management (PM) phase in order to implement and deliver sustainable construction projects. Furthermore, the findings deepen the understanding toward sustainable PM practices by providing insights on its core attributes.Originality/valueAs a theoretical contribution to knowledge, this study enhances the body of knowledge by revealing the underlying factors that give rise to the predefined set of the 82 sustainability indicators which are used to enable sustainable construction projects. In practice, the findings aid senior management in adopting strategies that enhance the delivery of sustainable construction projects.

Sustainable project management practices constantly gain importance over the last years. Relevant indicators constitute a means of leading modern projects to sustainability. Hence, it is necessary ...

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to identify the most impactful delay risks in Australian construction projects, including the associations amongst those risks as well as the project phases in which they are most likely present. The correlation between project and organisational characteristics with the impact of delay risks was also studied.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 118 delayed construction projects in Australia. Data were analysed to rank the most impactful delay risks, their correlation to project and organisational characteristics and project phases where those risks are likely to emerge. Association rule learning was used to capture associations between the delay risks.FindingsThe top five most impactful delay risks in Australia were changes by the owner, slow decisions by the owner, preparation and approval of design drawings, underestimation of project complexity and unrealistic duration imposed to the project, respectively. There is a set of delay risks that are mutually associated with project complexity. In addition, while delay risks associated with resources most likely arise in the execution phase, stakeholder and process-related risks are more smoothly distributed along all the project phases.Originality/valueThis research for the first time investigated the impact of delay risks, associations amongst them and project phases in which they are likely to happen in the Australian context. Also, this research for the first time sheds light on the project phases for the individual project delay risks which aids the project managers to understand where to focus on during each phase of the project.

Despite the existence of previous studies on risks in Public Private Partnership transportation projects, there is still absence of an overall risk catalogue, common terminology and consistent risk structure. This research provides comprehensive risk inventory, harmonious language and taxonomy for risk classification. A systematic literature review was conducted that resulted in 72 recent articles. The Concept-driven and the Grounded theory approaches were combined for the qualitative data analysis. As a result, 86 unique risks were identified and grouped according to the phase of the project life cycle they are likely to occur. As obtained from the analysis, the most frequent risks in literature are ‘low traffic demand’, ‘escalation of operation-maintenance cost’, ‘inflation rate fluctuation’, ‘problems with land acquisition and compensation’, ‘change in laws and regulations’ and ‘interest rate fluctuation’. The proposed terminology and taxonomy appear to be appropriate and provide an overall understanding of risk identification and classification as well as improve the effectiveness of communications for both PPP practitioners and academics in this area. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

PurposeDespite the advent of sophisticated control methods, there are still significant issues regarding late delivery of information technology projects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the common causes of scheduling problems specifically in the information technology projects context.Design/methodology/approachThrough a quantitative research, the importance of those causes, as well as the underpinning factors driving them, is explored. The causes are ranked according to their relative important index, and exploratory factor analysis is employed to reveal underlying dimensions (factors) of these causes.FindingsFrom the analysis, four factors were extracted, namely, “Dataless Newbie,” “Technical Newbie,” “Pragmatic Futurist” and “Optimistic Politician.” These factors explain the different latent conditions that lead to scheduling problems in information technology projects.Practical implicationsThe key contribution of this research is that it enlightens the latent conditions underpinning scheduling problems. Also, the evidence provides that schedule development for information technology projects is impacted by the same causes that impact engineering projects, and that applying a number of mitigation techniques widely used within the engineering area, such as reference class, would, no doubt, not only improve information technology schedules but also reduce the political pressures on the project manager.Originality/valueThis research provides a valuable insight into understanding the underlying factors for poor project estimation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to systematically develop a delay risk terminology and taxonomy. This research also explores two external and internal dimensions of the taxonomy to determine how much the taxonomy as a whole or combinations of its elements are generalisable. Design/methodology/approach Using mixed methods research, this systematic literature review incorporated data from 46 articles to establish delay risk terminology and taxonomy. Qualitative data of the top 10 delay risks identified in each article were coded based on the grounded theory and constant comparative analysis using a three-stage coding approach. Word frequency analysis and cross-tabulation were used to develop the terminology and taxonomy. Association rules within the taxonomy were also explored to define risk paths and to unmask associations among the risks. Findings In total, 26 delay risks were identified and grouped into ten categories to form the risk breakdown structure. The universal delay risks and other delay risks that are more or less depending on the project location were determined. Also, it is realized that delays connected to equipment, sub-contractors and design drawings are highly connected to project planning, finance and owner slow decision making, respectively. Originality/value The established terminology and taxonomy may be used in manual or automated risk management systems as a baseline for delay risk identification, management and communication. In addition, the association rules assist the risk management process by enabling mitigation of a combination of risks together.

Fire is the foremost critical event for road tunnels' safety. Therefore, the European Commission introduced the Directive 2004/54/EC for enhancing tunnels' safety since they constitute a key element of the Trans-European Road Network. The Directive has established a common ground for tunnels' safety evaluation providing certain minimum requirements while introducing officially the use of risk assessment. Despite the significant progress, this paper illustrates that further efforts are needed. Through a comparative review of the risk assessment methods, questions about the level of harmonisation of the framework are raised. Moreover, considerable problems are highlighted, like the incorporation of the new trends emerging from the literature or the deficiencies on addressing significant issues of the analysis, such as the risk acceptance criteria and the behaviour of trapped-users. These problems can affect the risk assessment process causing both significant discrepancies and deficiencies at the estimated level of tunnels' safety. Uncovering, thus, the deficiencies and limitations of the methods, this paper contributes to i) the discourse for initiating relevant studies to enhance tunnels’ fire safety in Europe and worldwide, and ii) the harmonisation of risk assessment methods. Keywords: Road tunnel, Safety, Fire, Risk assessment

International audience; Exploring aspects of how innovative methods can truly attain a sustainable society is necessary for the future of our planet. This study focuses on serious games, and how users can increase their understanding of sustainability issues and their familiarity with sustainable development strategies. “Users” of serious games consist of all possible target groups that are interested in attaining knowledge of sustainability through the use of games that are designed for a purpose beyond entertainment, in this case for sustainability education. This paper follows the systematic literature review method to deliver a study of serious games featuring sustainable development practices and policies. In order to provide a thorough analysis of their dynamic features, 77 games were explored in this study. The findings show the growing number of serious games that seek to educate in sustainability and the categorization of these games according to the triple-bottom line of sustainability, giving clarification hints to users wishing to select the relevant tool that offers an understanding of specific sustainability issues. The purpose of such research is to reveal the contribution of serious games as effective tools in facilitating sustainability education and to group them according to their nature and direction in relation to sustainability. Limitations in their effectiveness are also identified and a research agenda for new, relevant serious games is proposed that will enhance holistic knowledge and make it easier to clarify their pedagogical basis. The recipients of the findings will be all those future users and trainers who are interested in accessing sustainability education patterns through the use of serious games. This study will enable them to select the serious game that best serves their needs.

Purpose Despite the fact that extensive studies on public-private partnerships have focused on risk identification and classification, research still lacks concentration on studying the latent structure of risks in build operate transfer (BOT) transportation projects, especially in developing countries. The research was carried out in Vietnam and this paper aims to explore the underlying relationships among risks in the context of BOT transportation projects. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the perception of stakeholders regarding the probability of occurrence and the severity of the impact of risks related to BOT transportation projects. Factor analysis was performed based on a total of 40 risks. Findings Seven risk groups were formed as a result of factor analysis, namely, “projects’ viability and political-regulatory risks”, “macroeconomic risks”, “projects’ feasibility study and market risks”, “financial risks”, “organization/coordination and force majeure risks”, “tolling, contractual, approvals risks” and “media and land expropriation risks”. Originality/value The research contributes to the current body of knowledge by providing deep insight into the structure of risks in BOT transportation projects in Vietnam through exploring the underlying relationships among risks, to form a latent risk structure from practical viewpoints. The findings are beneficial for involved stakeholders and policymakers to set up and propose suitable management strategies and related policies.

PurposeAdverse situations negatively impact project stakeholders’ engagement. Past research has sporadically investigated adverse situations affecting stakeholder engagement but lacks a thorough empirical investigation. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachA web survey was designed to address the knowledge gap of the identification of the impactful adverse situations during multi-stakeholder engagement. The research yielded 144 completed responses from multi-stakeholders engaged in globally distributed ICT projects.FindingsExploratory factor analysis revealed eight factors that underpin 26 adverse situations. The top factors, ranked in terms of importance according to their Relative Importance Index (RII) are: dysfunctional conflicts, dearth of reasoning, glitches in project governance, clash of personalities.Research limitations/implicationsThis research reveals the factors that can impact engagement in the form of meaningful clusters and dimensions and opens-up a future research agenda toward causation and mitigation studies related to adversarial stakeholder engagement. The study focuses on globally distributed ICT projects and has not explored generalizability in other sectors.Practical implicationsThis research enables project managers and stakeholder analysts to get an understanding on the importance of different dimensions of adverse situations in the way stakeholders think, act and emote.Social implicationsAwareness on the potential adversarial stakeholder engagement helps in effectively managing the sustained stakeholder relationships and mental well-being of project stakeholders.Originality/valueThis research contributes to project management practice, as it reveals the underlying factors of adverse situations occurring during multi-stakeholders’ engagement, provides clarity on their components and ranks them in terms of importance for their overall effect on stakeholders’ engagement.

PurposeThe Built Operate Transfer (BOT) model has been increasingly used in transportation investments in Vietnam. However, there is still an inadequacy of risk management applications in these projects and lack of research in this area. The study aims to improve the success of projects implemented through the BOT model in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachThe study followed a sequential design including interviews and a questionnaire survey to investigate the perception of stakeholders from public and private sector regarding the probability of occurrence and the severity of impact of risks in BOT transportation projects in Vietnam. Quantitative data from the survey was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics to explore the priority of risks as well as the differences in the perception between the public and private sectors.FindingsThe results showed that the top five most significant risks in BOT transportation projects in Vietnam are: (1) problems with land acquisition and compensation, (2) inappropriate location of toll booths, (3) public resistance to pay, (4) high toll rate and (5) lack of cash flow. With the exception of “lack of cash flow,” there were no statistically significant differences in the rankings of individual risks between the public and private sector. In addition, there is a significant positive correlation in the overall rankings of all risks for both sectors.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring the probability of occurrence and the severity of the impact of risks in BOT transportation projects in a developing country like Vietnam which has not been extensively explored yet. Second, it provides an insight into the perception of stakeholders from the public and private sector regarding the level of risks which is very useful for potential stakeholders in making decisions when they intend to participate in such partnerships. Third, it enables the Vietnamese government to establish suitable policies related to such projects. These contributions are very important in improving risk management in PPPs in developing countries.

This study analyses the practical application of risk management tools by project managers in their construction projects. Using a grounded theory approach we applied purposive sampling to select 25 Australian construction project managers to identify tools utilised to analyse risk and tool preferences. Themes were developed though analysis of the in-depth interviews usingQSR-NVivo11. The results indicate that the most common methods are within the look-up and supporting methods categories, followed by the evaluation and scenario methods. There is poor utilisation of statistical methods, due to the uniqueness of projects, the lack of data and time pressure on projects. The results were consistent across project managers; irrespective of project size, type of organisation or experience. However, more experienced project managers rely lesson evaluation tools. The research provides evidence that many of the tools promoted by the risk standards/associations do not seem to reflect current project manager practice. The implication is that more effort should be given to appreciating the risk tools that are appropriate for projects and the importance of transferring and spreading experience among PMs. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Even though recent studies designate that sustainability should be integrated in project management, this integration remains a complex issue. Hence, there is a need to develop a new approach that would assess the organizational sustainability and reveal to what extent sustainable project management practices are effective. The aim of this research is to propose a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis-based method to assess the integration of the sustainability philosophy in large-scale organizations via the utilization of sustainable project management-related indicators. By utilising the proposed approach to compare internal organizational structures, the researchers aim to reveal the sustainability integration level within different business units, in order to allow organizations to make decisions toward sustainable practices. The indicators used in the proposed model are related to key aspects of organizations and they measure how the departments’ staff utilize sustainable project management processes in their construction projects. The case study was conducted in a market-leading design, engineering, and project management consultancy organization. Evaluating organizational sustainability can help organizations target their efforts in certain areas (enhancing sustainable outcomes). It can also facilitate data collection, analysis, and future projections.

Purpose One of the major challenges for any project is to prepare and develop an achievable baseline schedule and thus set the project up for success, rather than failure. The purpose of this paper is to explore and investigate research outputs in one of the major causes, optimism bias, to identify problems with developing baseline schedules and analyse mitigation techniques and their effectiveness recommended by research to minimise the impact of this bias. Design/methodology/approach A systematic quantitative literature review was followed, examining Project Management Journals, documenting the mitigation approaches recommended and then reviewing whether these approaches were validated by research. Findings Optimism bias proved to be widely accepted as a major cause of unrealistic scheduling for projects, and there is a common understanding as to what it is and the effects that it has on original baseline schedules. Based upon this review, the most recommended mitigation method is Flyvbjerg’s “Reference class,” which has been developed based upon Kahneman’s “Outside View”. Both of these mitigation techniques are based upon using an independent third party to review the estimate. However, within the papers reviewed, apart from the engineering projects, there has been no experimental and statistically validated research into the effectiveness of this method. The majority of authors who have published on this topic are based in Europe. Research limitations/implications The short-listed papers for this review referred mainly to non-engineering projects which included information technology focussed ones. Thus, on one hand, empirical research is needed for engineering projects, while on the other hand, the lack of tangible evidence for the effectiveness of methods related to the alleviation of optimism bias issues calls for greater research into the effectiveness of mitigation techniques for not only engineering projects, but for all projects. Originality/value This paper documents the growth within the project management research literature over time on the topic of optimism bias. Specifically, it documents the various methods recommended to mitigate the phenomenon and highlights quantitatively the research undertaken on the subject. Moreover, it introduces paths for further research.

Stakeholder Engagement is considered a salient and ongoing challenge in globally distributed Information Communication Technology (ICT) Projects. This paper explores multifaceted aspects of stakeholder engagement from an ICT Vendor perspective using the empirical case study method. Qualitative data was gathered from two case studies from different ICT vendor organizations. The case studies involved 14 interviews with multistakeholders engaged in globally distributed projects. Qualitative data were analyzed using Nvivo® software and Associative Rules. The findings revealed the key ‘themes of interplay’ that influence stakeholder engagement during adverse situations and ‘antidotes’ to mitigate adverse situations. These findings inform a research model that can explain the phenomenon and contribute to project management practice within the ICT Vendor Community. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Adversarial multi-stakeholder engagement in international ICT projects can bring up adverse or negative situations that can be detrimental to project performance, project outcomes and project actors well-being. Prior studies do indicate the antidotes as remedial strategies or proven practices to address adversarial multi-stakeholder engagement but lack empirical research on investigating the effectiveness of the antidotes in addressing the difficulties in stakeholder engagement. This knowledge gap is addressed using a questionnaire survey involving 144 global ICT professionals. 20 antidotes were ranked using the Relative Importance Index (RII). The top highly effective antidotes are trust building, transformational leadership, single point of contact, stakeholder analysis and interaction planning. The research findings contribute to project stakeholder management practice in providing the general awareness and enablement of the project management community in proactively or reactively deploying the antidotes to avoid or alleviate difficulties during multi-stakeholder engagement. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

One of the key activities for a project manager at the commencement of a new project is to develop an accurate realistic schedule. The development of an accurate schedule sets the project up for success and understanding what estimation techniques work, and more importantly the ones that don't work is key to setting the project up for success. This research reviews eight estimation techniques and provides a statistical insight into which of these techniques is perceived to work by project management practitioners Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Claims are an unavoidable burden for every construction project. They stem from risks that have unfortunately been realized in a project and how they will be pursued is up to company strategy, operational particularities and managers' skills and experience. Claims, in general, have an adverse effect on a project's supply chain by compromising actors' relationships, project implementation and project outcomes. It is imperative that all contractors follow a well-designed claims management strategy that is guided by well-defined and accurately documented operational processes outlined in detail. Process models related to claims management are scarcely found in the literature. These models are evaluated and a new process reference model, that attempts to improve the claims management process and rectify the identified shortcomings of existing models, such as a lack of transactions between the contractor and other supply chain actors, is proposed. In doing so, a number of process models are created. The objective of this paper is to prescribe the claims management process as an integral process to the supply chain of a construction project in an effort to raise awareness of this relationship and provide a holistic view to claims management through a supply chain management lens. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Sustainability concepts showcase significant value in construction projects. The discipline of project management is also integrating sustainability issues into its approaches. Under this notion, this study explores the integration of sustainability indicators into project management practices of construction projects. Current literature discloses many indicators/key factors as contributing towards the sustainability success of construction projects. However, the lack of an all-encompassing categorization creates difficulties in directing project managers towards their proper utilization. This paper aims to contribute towards the holistic view of sustainability in project management, especially for construction projects. A systematic literature review was conducted towards the understanding of the key topics and the findings were validated through semi-structured interviews. Eighty-two (82) sustainability indicators related to project management practices in construction projects were finally identified. Their categorization into economic, environmental and social/management sustainability indicators was completed through semi-structured interviews with construction experts and via previous literature analysis. The economic related indicators finalized in 27; 18 for the environmental dimension and 37 indicators were included in the social/management dimension. This study contributes to research on sustainable project management for construction projects in two main ways: (1) it provides a holistic view of sustainable project management indicators, covering the full spectrum of the triple constraint (TBL); (2) it offers the possibility for practitioners to choose the right mix of indicators, depending on the sustainability focus they want to provide in their projects.

The importance of knowledge transfer or mentoring as a way to pass tacit knowledge (experience) across generations is discussed widely. Within project management this tends to rely on proximity and mutual exchange. The sender/receiver approaches used to transfer learning from one project to another is inhibited by the context of the projects, and the lack of time, which may obscure its relevance or purpose. There is concern that the knowledge captured in the minds of senior project managers is not being passed on to the next generation. Conversely it may be that much of the knowledge senior project managers have is obsolete or has been superseded by new methods and systems. This study used a grounded theory approach when interviewing 25 construction project managers from Australia on the management of project risk. Experience accumulated over time was considered by almost all interviewees to be the most important way of accumulating knowledge. Methods such as lessons learnt and close off reports are poorly used; most tacit knowledge is transferred through mentoring with very limited use of technology in this process. Changing construction technology did not concern the PMs as they perceived their job as managing processes and their role being flexible enough to adapt to change. From an industry perspective this lack of concern with the sharing of tacit knowledge and the lack of effective systems to capture it is going to be detrimental for its future. Project managers tended to still rely on traditional and the often poorly utilized methods such as lessons learnt and mentoring to capture this knowledge. Using this information, the study examines the key issues around knowledge management in project organizations and possible avenues for capturing tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge will potentially be lost unless better systems are developed. This paper questions how Building Information Modelling, IT systems and the more visually based techniques such as pod casting, 3D photography, time-lapse cameras, web-based methods can to be used to accumulate and enable more effective knowledge transfer. The conclusion derived is that experience accumulated to generate tacit knowledge is essential for the successful management of future projects.

The trans-European road network (TERN) was defined to improve EUs road network guarantee users a high and uniform level of safety. TERNs tunnels must be designed to serve these purposes. To this respect, the EU introduced the Directive 2004/54/EC. The Directive imposed minimum infrastructure and equipment requirements for all TERNs tunnels attributing high importance to risk assessment method. This paper illustrates that the variety of the methods adopted by each member state do not guarantee the same level of safety for all TERNs tunnels. Presenting the general principles of EU methods, two methods, which share a high degree of similarity, are used to study the same fire accident at the same tunnel. The differences occurred in the estimated level of safety raises skepticism, as the tunnel has different safety level depending on the method and national policies used. The outcome illustrates the need to improve policy formulation on this matter. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

International audience; In a bidding process, the bidder must define and evaluate potential offers in order to propose the most suitable one to the potential customer. Proposing attractive but also realistic offers to various potential customers is a key factor for the bidder to stay competitive. In order to achieve this, the bidder needs to be very sure about the technical specifications and the constructability of the proposal. However, performing a detailed design is resource and time-consuming. This article proposes the foundation of a new framework which can help bidders to define the right offer: (i) in the context of a non-routine design process, while avoiding a detailed design and (ii) taking into account two new indicators that reflect the bidder’s confidence that they can meet the commitments once the offer is accepted. The first indicator (OCS) characterises the Overall Confidence in the technical System, while the second one (OCP) gives the Overall Confidence in the delivery Process. Both OCS and OCP are based firstly on two factual objective indicators, Technology Readiness Level (TRL) for OCS and Activity Feasibility Level (AFL) for OCP, and secondly on two human-based subjective indicators, Confidence In System (CIS) for the OCS and Confidence In Process for the OCP. An illustrative application shows how this framework can really help bidders define an offer, while avoiding detailed design and enable them to evaluate the confidence level in each potential offer.

Purpose Public sector projects still fail to meet delivery expectations, and the lack of significant project management experience in the Australian public service (APS) has been identified as a contributing factor. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of competencies required for delivering public sector projects, as well as challenges faced by the project managers when operating in a public context. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used to enlighten the social and operating construct in APS. In parallel, a quantitative survey was used to determine the relative importance of various competencies to effective project delivery. Findings The research concludes that communication, accountability, business alignment, scope and deliverables, change, and project and program orientation are the most important competencies in APS project delivery. Furthermore, there is evidence that the operating environment acts as a barrier to successful project delivery, noting that it does not let project management practice deploy its full potential for increased effectiveness and efficiency. Practical implications The research findings noted that the specific needs, values and functions of project management in the APS are not well defined, and therefore there were limited criteria against which public sector project management competencies could be designed and measured. Originality/value This empirical research contributes to the open dialogue of improving efficiency in project management within the APS context. The findings point to the conflict between the operational nature of APS agencies and their project activities, and how they struggle to define themselves as project organizations rather than lack of appreciation to individual competencies.

International audience; Nowadays, in customer/supplier relationship, suppliers have to define and evaluate some offers based on customers' requirements and company's skills. This offer definition implies more and more some design activities for both technical solution and its delivery process. In the context of Engineering-To-Order, design and engineering activities are more important, the uncertainties on offer characteristics is rather high and therefore, suppliers bid on the calls for tender depending on their feelings. In order to provide suppliers with metrics that enable him/her to know about the confidence level of an offer, we propose a knowledge based model that includes four original metrics to characterize the confidence level of an offer. The offer overall confidence relies on four indicators: (i) two objectives ones based on Technology Readiness Level and Activity Risk Level, and (ii) two subjective ones based on the supplier's skills and risks aversion. The knowledge-based model for offer definition, offer assessment and offer confidences is based on a constraint satisfaction problem.

Stress is a recognised feature of the project managers’ life. Projects are becoming more complex with the uncertainty in the system contributing to the lack of control and added stress. This study explores a microcosm of 25 project managers in the South Australian construction industry, their perceived level of uncertainty and stress. The project managers interviewed provide their views on what their key stressors were and the mechanisms they use to manage effectively their stress. The results showed that structural, technical and directional complexity of projects was high, but this did not always convert into more stress for the project managers. The results indicate that stressors like the lack of resources; lack of control and increasing accountability were project managers’ primary concerns. Coping strategies included optimism, applying emotional intelligence and active planning strategies. In addition, they reduced their stress by working with good teams, using theirs and their team's experience, implementing sound systems and processes and effectively researching and gathering information. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

With a view to enhance the safety of the road transport system, it is crucial to focus primarily on its key elements, one of which is tunnels. The significance of tunnels is based on an endogenous problem, which is the severity of accidents that may occur. Several studies and aftermaths from disastrous accidents have shown that correct users' behaviour may smooth the adverse outcomes of a potential accident. Therefore, information campaigns are requested to be conducted. Before designing such a campaign, it is vital to have explored users' current state of knowledge on the issue. This paper presents an internetmediated questionnaire survey conducted in Greece aiming to explore road tunnel users' awareness and to identify potential knowledge gaps that should be managed for the upcoming information campaigns. The results revealed that users have several misconceptions concerning the recommended behaviour both in normal and critical situations. Taking into account that users consist in the cornerstone of tunnel safety parameters, it is important to note that even a little improvement on their performance may greatly benefit the overall safety of the system. Hence, aspects highlighted in this paper could be taken into consideration by the upcoming information campaigns on the issue. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The paper is focusing on road tunnel safety and builds upon the Directive 2004/54/EC launched by the European Commission; the latter sets basic requirements and suggests the implementation of risk assessment in several tunnel cases apart from technical measures imposed on the basis of tunnel structural and operational characteristics. Sincethe EU Directive does not indicate the method for performing risk assessment, a wide range of methods have been proposed, most of them based on quantitative risk assessment (QRA). Although the majority of current road tunnel QRAs assess physical aspects of the tunnel system and consider several hazards concerning the transportation of dangerous goods through a tunnel, they do not take into account, sufficiently, several organizational and human-related factors that can greatly affect the overall safety level of these critical infrastructures. To cope with this limitation this paper proposes a fuzzy logic system based on CREAM method for human reliability analysis (Hollnagel,1998) in order to provide more sophisticated estimations of the tunnel operator’s performance in safety critical situations. It is deduced that a human reliability analysis component to analyze operator performance, like the fuzzysystem proposed here, is important for risk analysts. Consideration of organizational and human factors will enhancerisk analysts’ studies and highlight the uncertainty related to human performance variability. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The paper deals with a class of problems often met in modern project management under the term "resource leveling optimization problems". The problems of this kind refer to the optimal allocation of available resources in a candidate project and have emerged, as the result of the even increasing needs of project managers in facing project complexity, controlling related budgeting and finances and managing the construction production line. For the effective resolution of resource leveling optimization problems, the use of nature inspired intelligent methodologies is proposed. Traditional approaches, such as exhaustive or greedy search methodologies, often fail to provide near-optimum solutions in a short amount of time, whereas the proposed intelligent approaches manage to timely achieve high quality near-optimal solutions. In the paper, extensive experimental results are presented, based on available data collections existing in literature for a number of known benchmark project management problems. The comparative analysis of three different intelligent metaheuristics, shows that a hybrid nature inspired intelligent approach, combining ant colony optimization and genetic algorithms, proves to be the most effective approach in the majority of benchmark problems and special decision making settings tested. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Δημοσίευση σε επιστημονικό περιοδικό Summarization: The evolution of accident causation models indicates a shift from the representation of sequences of events to the dynamic analysis of the whole system (i.e. systemic approaches). Respectively, the evolution of safety assessment methods reveals a gradual shift from a search for single immediate causes to a recognition of multiple causes such as organizational and management breakdowns. Following this line of thought, system and control-theoretic accident analysis methods (i.e. STAMP) have been proposed that view safety as a control problem in enforcing safety constraints. In parallel, other models with an organizational cybernetic perspective (i.e. the Viable System Model) have revealed system vulnerabilities and degradations that may lead to loss of control or flaws in control. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between these two parallel trends in systemic safety approaches. In particular, the STAMP model has been enhanced with patterns of organizational breakdowns that may account for the observed flaws in enforcing constraints. As a result, a STAMP–VSM joint framework has been proposed that helps to identify control flaws and trace their distant causes into the breakdown of organizational processes. To illustrate the applicability of this framework in proactive safety assessments, a case study of maintaining safety in a road tunnel organization is thoroughly presented. Παρουσιάστηκε στο: Safety Science

Globally distributed Information and Communication Technology (ICT)projects, typically engage multistakeholders coming from diverse multicultural backgrounds, with varied interests and collaborating across remote geographical locations using different technologies. This is viewed as a significant challenge and of strategic importance in the face of stakeholder adversities. This paper builds on scientific findings in an integrated approach to analyse the stakeholder engagement in globally distributed ICT projects in line with underlying aspects of people, organisation and business environment. The interplays, adversities and strategies in engaging multistakeholders are explored and a research model is conceptualised to showcase the multifaceted constructs, related to people, organisation and business environment that can be combined to create numerous 'Themes of Interplay' which can affect several stakeholder adversities and the relevant strategies needed to mitigate such stakeholder adversities. The research focal points are highlighted and an agenda for future research is proposed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Project complexity has been extensively explored in the literature because of its contribution towards the failure of major projects in terms of cost and time overruns. Focusing on the interface of Project Complexity and Interdependency Model ling of Project Risks, we propose a new process that aids capturing interdependency between project complexity, complexity induced risks and project objectives. The proposed modelling approach is grounded in the theoretical framework of Expected Utility Theory and Bayesian Belief Networks. We consider the decision problem of identifying critical risks and selecting optimal risk mitigation strategies at the commencement stage of a project, taking into account the utility function of the decision maker with regard to the importance of project objectives and holistic interaction between project complexity and risk. The proposed process is supported by empirical research that was conducted in the construction industry in order to explore the current practices of managing project compl exity and the associated risks. The experts interviewed acknowledged the contribution of the proposed process to the understanding of complex dynamics between project complexity attributes and risks. Application of the proposed process is illustrated through a simulation study.

Road tunnels, as any large civil infrastructure, must be designed taking into account all hazards in order to sustain an acceptable level of safety in the course of public servicing. Therefore, road tunnel management is oriented at protecting tunnels from fires, because such events fit into the general disaster management area due to their impacts on transportation systems. After the horrendous accidents that arose in Europe at the end of the 90s, e.g. Mont Blanc, the new legislation integrated risk assessment in order to enhance the process of ensuring a minimum level of safety in all road tunnels of the trans-European network. However, the variety of risk assessment methods, each Member State adopted, does not guarantee the same level of safety in all road tunnels. This paper aims to showcase this fact through a deductive approach by implementing two assessment methods in the same tunnel fulfilling Directive 2004/54/EC’s requirements. These methods are the Greek and the French one, which beyond their common points, also bear interesting differences. Having compared the theoretical part, a fire scenario is investigated with the aid of the software Camatt 2.0. The results indicate that even a small difference in a standardized parameter of the method is capable of evaluating the same tunnel differently in regard to safety. One would expect that since the trans-European network is regarded as a common infrastructure, a common approach would also be established in risk assessment so that authorities and safety analysts of different Member States would come up wi th the same results. This paper contributes in raising this issue and creating momentum for the beginning of relevant initiatives.

The engineering and construction companies working in the oil and gas industry treat lessons learnt as secrets of the trade. Therefore, they rarely publish relevant registers for professional or educational purposes. The aim of this research is the investigation of current issues in the oil and gas industry through capitalising on experience coming from practitioners (lessons learnt). The research tool comprises a semi-structured questionnaire that was built around the project management subject groups as these are described in the ISO21500 standard: Guidance on Project Management as well as the PMBOK. Nine Australian oil and gas project managers with experience ranging from 10 to 20 years, were interviewed, and their personal experiences were investigated through cluster analysis. Relevant ideas among interviewees were grouped together forming captured lessons learnt that are presented under four overarching themes, namely a) Integration and Quality, b) Human Resources, Communications and Stakeholders, c) Risk and d) Procurement, Scope, Time and Cost. In conclusion, this empirical research presents a particular insight to the Australian oil and gas construction projects and extends the limited repository of scholarly publications for lessons learnt from this particular industry. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Tunnels have improved the connection of regions within the European Commission (EC) and have been used lately as a catalyst for economic development of previously isolated regions. However, the increasing number of these important infrastructures is raising upfront an endogenous problem, which is the severity of accidents that may occur. These risks have much greater impact when heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) or dangerous goods (DGs) are involved in the accident. As a result, the EC launched the EC Directive 2004/54/EC. In order to achieve a minimum acceptable level of safety, the EC Directive 2004/54/EC suggests, apart from the measures imposed based on tunnel characteristics, the implementation of a risk analysis in cases such as the opening of the road tunnel to DGs. The most widely accepted method for such quantitative risk analysis (QRA) is the OECD/PIARC QRA Model. This research exploits the QRA Model to perform a QRA for five illustrative cases in order to explore the sufficiency of the minimum tunnel safety measures imposed by the Directive when transportation of HGVs and DGs is allowed through the tunnel. The research concludes that, at least for tunnels with marginal values of the EC Directive classes for length and traffic, the risk exposure (F/N curves) lays over the acceptable safety limits of ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) models. Thus, the manager of the tunnel should take seriously into account the provision of the Directive for further risk analysis and consider more safety measures as well as take into account the risk associated with the alternative routes.

PurposeEvaluating and selecting the best among the offers provided by various suppliers is a complex problem that takes into account both tangible and intangible criteria, which incorporate interdependencies and feedback. The decision making is aggravated by the complexity of supply chain relationships and enterprise strategies especially within enterprise clusters. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive method for the evaluation and selection of suppliers' offers in parapharmaceutical industry clusters.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed approach consists of two parts. The former is the comprehension of the supply chain processes within the parapharmaceutical industry in Greece, and the latter is the use of an analytic network process (ANP)‐based method for the selection of the best offer.FindingsThe proposed approach enables the decision maker to visualize the impact of various criteria on the final outcome and documents the evaluation results in such a way that they can be communicated to various stakeholders. The results indicate that quality‐related issues dominate the decision‐making process in the parapharmaceutical industry.Research limitations/implicationsThe outcome of the model depends highly on the inputs provided by the decision maker. Moreover, the ANP method is computational intensive, but this limitation can be alleviated by appropriate software tools.Originality/valueThe proposed framework is considered to be an innovative approach for the parapharmaceutical industry as well as enterprise clusters. The criteria set here may be used for nearly every similar industry consisting of active clusters (for example, the apparel industry).

Project complexity has been extensively explored in the literature because of its major contribution towards the failure of major projects in terms of cost and time overruns. Researchers have identified important factors that contribute to the project complexity and validated their findings through case studies. Few studies have even focused on developing tools for evaluating the project complexity. However, existing research has not explored an important aspect of linking project complexity to different types of project and supply chain risks. We propose a framework for establishing risk paths across project complexity elements, project and supply chain risks, and resulting consequences. Project complexity elements are the knowns at the commencement stage of a project whereas project and supply chain risks are the uncertainties that might realize within the life cycle of the project. We demonstrate application of our proposed framework through a simple simulation example using Bayesian Belief Network. The method can be an important contribution to the literature and beneficial to the practitioners in terms of introducing a new perspective of investigating causal paths of interacting project complexity elements and risks. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Business endeavours have transformed to project based efforts for many years now. Most companies usually operate more than one project. Day by day risk management is earning ‘credits of appreciation’ even in the very competitive, project-based operating environment. The aim of this paper is to attempt a presentation of basic risk management tools along with their key features. Although other qualitative risk analysis tools exist, this paper presents only those with explicit quantitative analysis capabilities. Sixteen software tools have been indicated and ranked in terms of the features available. Indicative results of one of those tools are presented using a short case study. The study demonstrates that the use of appropriate software tools may enhance project-related operations and reduce costs, especially when the user is an SME.

This paper aims to explore the purchasing function on behalf of the provider, when the purchasing takes the form of a request for proposals (RfP) from the client. A methodology for handling the bidding process is presented, illustrated by a case study from the IT sector. The proposed methodology places risk as a factor for the selection of the best and final offer of the provider in addition to the traditional decision factors: delivery time, product cost and performance. The method is supported by a structured corporate memory and a decision support system based on the analytical hierarchy process.

In today's rapidly evolving management world, the scheduling of multiple projects where each one's execution depends on another's successful completion, is of great importance. This paper presents a hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm composed of an external Genetic Algorithm (GA) and an encapsulated Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm for the flexible resource constrained multi-project scheduling problem (MPFRCPSP). The proposed idea is grounded on the concept of prioritizing the sub-projects' scheduling based on: a) the number of external (to other sub-projects) relations and b) the resource requirements as compared to the resource shortage for each resource type and each sub-project. The implementationuses the Genetic Algorithm to deal with the classification and prioritization of the projects to be scheduled and the inner ACO algorithm, to perform the activity list optimization for each project. The proposed method was validated using a consistent number of PSP Lib[l] data sets.

In practice most organisational decisions are made by groups that bring into the problem multiple perspectives, both complementary and contradictory. When having a group of decision makers, usually individuals' preferences are either led to consensus or are aggregated with the use of some function like the median, the arithmetic or geometric mean. We focus in the second case, where individual's preferences need to be aggregated. Our approach is based on the fact that when two decision makers are asked to give their preference between a pair of criteria using a specific scale, it is possible that they will give slightly different answers, even when they actually have the same opinion. This difference will not affect the case of a single decision maker, as it will be consistent throughout the whole process. However, it can affect a group decision when the values will be used as an input for the aggregation function. A novel approach is presented that enhances group decision making through a group calibration process. The proposed process adjusts individuals' preferences based on their answers on a set of standardized questions prior to the aggregation phase. The method focuses The whole concept is applied to the group analytical network process method and it is illustrated through a telecommunications project case. The decision under examination concerns the selection of the right place for deploying a new telecom service of a multinational-based telecommunications company where a group of geographically dispersed decision makers form an ad-hoc virtual team in order to select the location for a new technical support centre. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The modern supply chains are based on extended organization networks across different businesses and Industries. The uncertainty in these networks becomes a great concern for the management of the chain in a holistic approach. Several studies provide a wide list of risk management strategies and the general strategies for risk management in the supply chain. However, the way that risks should be prioritized, analyzed, treated and followed, is rarely discussed at an operational level. In light of this gap, this paper proposes a simple method supported by a software tool, on how to manage the risks that can lead to the supply chain's disruption at an operational level. The method is 'borrowed' by the project management discipline and the way that they manage risks. The main steps of the method cover: a) the identification of the risks related to each echelon of the supply chain, b) the classification of risks c) the analysis and ranking of risks d) the treatment strategies, and e) the follow up of risks. The steps of the method are supported by the proposed software tool Refereed/Peer-reviewed

ProMES (ProMES software is freely provided for academic purposes and can be downloaded from: simor.mech.ntua.gr/Kirytopoulos/promes.asp) fills the gap of educational software in training on basic tools of project management. It offers aid to trainees in project management positions or courses to understand how CPM, PERT, and RACI are used and enhances conditions for the acquisition of the required knowledge based on pedagogical approaches. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 21: 46–59, 2013

After the tremendous accidents in European road tunnels over the past decade, many risk assessment methods have been proposed worldwide, most of them based on Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA). Although QRAs are helpful to address physical aspects and facilities of tunnels, current approaches in the road tunnel field have limitations to model organizational aspects, software behavior and the adaptation of the tunnel system over time. This paper reviews the aforementioned limitations and highlights the need to enhance the safety assessment process of these critical infrastructures with a complementary approach that links the organizational factors to the operational and technical issues, analyze software behavior and models the dynamics of the tunnel system. To achieve this objective, this paper examines the scope for introducing a safety assessment method which is based on the systems thinking paradigm and draws upon the STAMP model. The method proposed is demonstrated through a case study of a tunnel ventilation system and the results show that it has the potential to identify scenarios that encompass both the technical system and the organizational structure. However, since the method does not provide quantitative estimations of risk, it is recommended to be used as a complementary approach to the traditional risk assessments rather than as an alternative. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The aim of this paper is to provide an effective method for schedule reengineering and optimisation through knowledge acquisition and corporate memory creation. The core problem of schedule development is about defining the right activities for inclusion in the schedule, their duration and the right dependencies among project activities. It is shown here that project-oriented organisations specialised in certain domains can have highly accurate project schedules and thus improved efficiency by exploiting past experience. The first part of the proposed method consists of monitoring all the existing processes related to the projects execution and the corresponding knowledge acquisition through monitoring project results. The second part handles the creation of a corporate memory in the form of a set of schedule prototypes, along with all the needed processes for future projects execution. The paper is illustrated with a case study concerning the implementation of the method on the construction sector Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The road tunnels safety is an emergent property of the whole tunnel system, thus, a systemic accident model can better conceptualize the risk picture in these infrastructures. In this paper, the Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) which has been recently proposed by Leveson is introduced in the road tunnels hazard analysis process through a case study example. (6 pages)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the requirements for assuring the managerial capability of organisations implementing projects of public interest. It presents the case of Greece, and the family of newly developed set of standards concerning the managerial maturity of public organisations and the management of projects funded by European Union support frameworks.Design/methodology/approachUsing the case study approach, the paper presents the current status in Greek public administration concerning project management. Further, it presents how the new set of standards improves public management and public organization maturity for managing projects.FindingsThe paper presents the problems faced and the drawbacks encountered from the management of large programmes and projects from public bodies in Greece. Further, it presents the structure of a system for assuring managerial capability (SAMC) in Project Management and how its application can improve management efficiency and effectiveness.Originality/valueThe paper presents a newly developed SAMC in project management that can be applied to public bodies and organisations managing projects. This system has been adopted by Hellenic Organization for Standardization as the new standard ELOT‐1429:2008.

Tunnels are regarded as one of the most important infrastructures in Europe, as they may improve the connection of regions and aid economic development through facilitating the transportation of people and goods. In order to achieve a minimum acceptable level of safety, the EC issued Directive 2004/54/EC, which describes specific safety measures that have to be taken for all road tunnels in the trans-European road network. In parallel, there are several qualitative or quantitative methods for measuring road tunnel safety, while the method that seems to be the most accepted by administrative authorities for quantitative risk analysis is the OECD/PIARC QRA Model (QRAM), which has been developed by INERIS, WS-Atkins and the Institute for Risk Research. QRAM is based on engineering software that aids quantitatively assessment of the societal risk due to transporting goods and dangerous goods with Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) through road tunnels. The aim of this paper is to expose the effectiveness of the measures imposed by the EC in Greek road tunnels. A typical road tunnel, as designed and implemented after Directive 2004/54/EC, is compared to the same tunnel as if it was developed before the Directive was put into action. The comparison is made on the basis of the societal risk existing in the two cases. The conclusion of the paper, based on the outcome of the risk analysis with the QRAM method, is that the safety of Greek Tunnels is significantly improved due to the implementation of the measures imposed by the EC Directive 2004/54/EC.