3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
10 results
Search Results
Item An investigation of construction professionals’ perceptions of construction managers’ soft skills in complex construction projects in South Africa(2019) Sekhu, Madimetja SolomonPurpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate construction professionals’ perceptions of construction managers’ soft skills in complex construction projects in South Africa. Design/methodology: The survey and interviews were conducted in Gauteng Province (South Africa), which is the economic hub of the country. The study used a concurrent triangulation (mixed method) approach, where both quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied. The questionnaires were based on a list of 23 soft skills and training strategies extracted from previous research papers. The instruments for data collection were survey questionnaires and interviews. Findings: Statistical Package for Social Science Software (SPSS) version 25 was used to perform descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation, and Relative Importance Indices (RII). The findings reveal 15 soft skills that are very important, with mean scores of between 4 and 4.63; and eight important soft skills, with mean scores of between 3 and 95. The overall results indicate that communications skills are considered very important, with a mean score of 4.63. Research limitation: The sample was drawn from a limited number of respondents from construction professionals based in Gauteng Province (South Africa). It would therefore not be appropriate to generalise the effects of the study to other provinces without considering their unique skills in managing complex projects. Practical implications: Understanding project complexity and its contributing factors helps construction professionals and construction managers to understand the challenges, dynamics, and complex nature of the construction industry. This highlights the importance of construction managers’ proficiency in soft skills. Originality/Value: This study proposes a list of soft skills and training needs, and their importance for construction managers in complex projects. The study also emphasises the importance of the ability of construction managers’ soft skills in complex projects. Therefore, construction organisations would be encouraged to look beyond traditional skills-based training.Item Challenges and enablers of green commercial office buildings in South Africa, Gauteng: a focus on cost related factors(2018) Lacovig, LorenzoThere seems to be a general consensus from green building literature that financial related factors are the most influential to investment decisions for stakeholders. Despite this consensus, research continues to focus on multi-disciplinary factors instead of only financial. Such studies have focused on the categorisation of factors into challengers or enablers; however the level of influence was not determined. There is a need to identify and classify the level of influence of financial related factors in terms of investment decision for green commercial buildings to aid in investment decisions. The research aimed to identify, classify and determine the nature and occurrence of cost related factors for green commercial buildings in South Africa, Gauteng throughout the life of the project. A pragmatic philosophy was adopted and mixed methods were used to gather the information and data required to meet the aim of the research. The data was analysed and each cost factor was classified and ranked. The required stakeholders were identified through the use of purposive, convenience and snowball sampling. Data was collected via interviews and questionnaires. Research findings revealed the top five factors categorised as enabling factors and which significantly influenced investment decisions on green commercial projects as: ‘lower operating costs’, ‘water use reduction’, ‘rising energy costs’, ‘higher return on investment’ and ‘increased property value’ respectively. Contrary to literature findings, marketing and environmental factors were also found to influence investment decisions. The operational stage of the project was the most cost intensive while the inception stage the most influential. The small sample data set and respondent constraints on answering the questions could affect the credibility or validity of the findings of this research. Findings conclude that investors in green commercial buildings in South Africa, Gauteng should be mindful of the top five cost factors before investing, they should be aware that the majority of cost saving opportunities lie in the operational stage of the project and should ensure the top five factors are discussed in detail during inception stage of the project. Marketing and environmental factors should be considered during inception stage of the project as they are found to influence investment decisions through tenant’s requirements. This research provides stakeholders with a deeper understanding on how the cost related factors affect green commercial projects. The findings have increased awareness and knowledge amongst professionals, clients and tenants as well as provided a solid baseline study for further research on cost related factors.Item Constraints and enablers of effective knowledge sharing practices of South African construction project managers(2018) Zungu, ZamagedaDue to budget and time constraints, construction projects are fast paced and rely heavily on quick but sound knowledge input and application by the different participants in a project team. This requires accurate information retrieval and management of the social interactions between different project participants through knowledge sharing. Although knowledge sharing between construction project managers working within the same organisation exists, the knowledge sharing practices of construction project managers are ineffective and that has a negative impact on the development of innovative ideas, the way project members deal with changes, cope with crisis, deal with coordination and complex tasks, define plans, and make decisions. The aim of this research report was to examine the factors constraining effective knowledge sharing practices among construction project management colleagues working within the same organization with a view to developing recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the knowledge sharing practices. A quantitative research methodology was applied in the examination of the factors constraining and enabling effective knowledge sharing of South African project management colleagues working within the same organization. The main findings indicate that, the reluctance to share knowledge, the lack of affiliation and time limitations are the knowledge sharing constraints faced by most construction project managers. Conversely, the findings also reveal that the allocation of time (in the form of organisational systems), team member relationships, and sense of self-worth would equally motivate the sharing of knowledge. Main conclusions indicate that companies need to formalise the knowledge sharing process through structured mentorship programmes and facilitate team building activities.Item Challenges faced by professional construction project managers in South Africa in complying with their professional code of conduct(2018) Kamanda, Learnmore TatendaEmpirical evidence has revealed prevalence of unethical practices in the Construction industry. These malpractices results in project failures. On the contrary, successful delivery of construction and infrastructure projects brings physical development which promotes economic growth and improves the country’s Gross domestic product. For that reason, professional codes of conduct are established as a deterrent to unethical behaviour. The debate whether the adoption of professional codes of conduct bear improved results remains ongoing. Although literature has identified non-compliance to the codes of conduct as one of the factors leading to such malpractices, little is known about challenges facing construction professionals in complying with their code of conduct. This study answered the question, “what challenges do construction project managers in South Africa face in complying with their code of conduct?” Interpretivism research philosophy and an inductive approach to theory development was adopted. The investigation is conducted to study professional construction project managers registered with SACPCMP in the category of professional construction managers and professional construction project managers. A systematic review of the SACPCMP code of conduct identified 39 obligations imposed on professional construction project managers by their code of conduct. An internet based questionnaire survey was used to examine the extent of compliance with these 39 professional obligations, followed by semi structured face to face individual interviews to identify challenges. The interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis technique. Results of the questionnaire survey showed that 76% of the participants fully comply with all 39 obligations. 12 out of the 72 respondents of the questionnaire survey admitted to being non compliant to certain obligations of their code of conduct. 10 out of 72 respondents did not respond to certain obligations. 10 out of the 12 respondents who admitted to being non-compliant participated in the face to face semi structured interviews. The findings of the semi structured interviews revealed the following challenges, obedience to authority, peer pressure, low moral awareness, time constraints, breach of confidence, act of kindness and socio political pressure.Item Exploring improvements of a continuous improvement capability assessment model at a petro-chemical company(2016) Tsatsire, JamesThe purpose of the research was to identify improvements which can be made to the Continuous Improvement (CI) capability assessment model applied at a petro-chemical company in order to improve capability assessment results. The study was conducted in Mpumalanga at a subsidiary of an international integrated energy and chemical company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. To achieve the purpose of the research, the study was conducted in 5 stages namely: (1) developing a theoretical framework for Continuous Improvement (CI) capability assessment from the literature. This was achieved by reviewing the concept of CI and CI capability assessment, and it resulted in the identification of thirteen CI enablers and twenty-six enabler assessment areas which contribute to building an inclusive CI process. (2) Assessing the importance of CI enabler assessment areas identified through the theoretical framework, by means of statistical analysis of the data from a survey at the petro-chemical company. A survey was carried out to assist the researcher in identifying the key assessment areas from the twenty-six that were identified. Results indicated that all the twenty-six assessment areas are critical, (3) using the theoretical framework and results of the survey to identify gaps, which exist within the current Continuous Improvement assessment model, (4) determining what improvements need to be made to the current CI model based on the results of the gap analysis and (5) making recommendations on how to improve the CI model to the petro-chemical company. The results of the gap analysis indicated that, (1) six enablers were adequately assessed; (2) two enablers had missing assessment areas as part of the assessment and (3) five enablers were not assessed by the petro-chemical company model. Thus in order to improve the company’s assessment results it was recommended that the identified missing CI enablers and CI key assessment areas should be incorporated into the company model.Item Implementation of e-procurement by the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development and its impact on the development of small and medium construction firms(2017) Sithole, Ronald AlfredE-procurement has been implemented globally with the aim of optimising efficiency and effectiveness within procurement processes of organisations and has become one of the preferred systems for the acquisition of goods, works and services. In recent years, e-procurement processes have been widely adopted and their application has been the norm in many organisations’ procurement processes. However, while e-procurement presents some significant opportunities, a set of challenges has emerged with the implementation of e-procurement. For example, in the South African context, small and medium construction firms (SMCFs) that do not have access to technological infrastructure are often not able to participate fully in the e-procurement transactions. In that regard, the implementation of e-procurement by the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID), a public sector organisation within the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and its impact on the development of SMCFs was investigated in this study. This was done to ascertain the extent of e-procurement implementation and the experiences of SMCFs, benefits and challenges associated with this in the study area. In order to address the research question, the research design adopted involved a detailed examination of the e-procurement methodologies used by the GDID in its procurement for infrastructure projects. This was done through the utilisation of questionnaires. 10 GDID officials chosen through the utilisation of a combination of the stratified random and purposive sampling methods, participated on the research. Secondly, to ascertain the impact of e-procurement implementation on the development of SMCFs, 250 SMCFs within the GDID supplier database were emailed questionnaires to obtain information regarding their experience, benefits realised and the inhibiting factors associated with their participation in e-procurement. The 250 SMCFs were selected through purposive sampling method were selected on the basis that they participated in the procurement of infrastructure projects implemented by GDID in the previous three financial years which are 2014/15; 2015/16 and 2016/17. Twenty-seven of the 250 SMCFs responded. The e-procurement methodologies used by the GDID were found to be e-notification, partial e-tendering, e-contract award, e-contract management and e-maintenance, repairs and operations (e-MRO). There was no single integrated e-procurement system used for carrying out all the e-procurement activities. E-notifications were done through the notification of tender opportunities for infrastructure projects through the Government Tender Bulletin, Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) website, Department of National Treasury e-tenders’ portal and the Lead-2-Business website. Partial e-tendering is carried out through the Department of National Treasury e-tenders portal. E-contract award was done through sending of award letters to service providers as email attachments. E-contract management is done through the utilisation of Oracles’ Primavera P6 and Unifier software and Microsoft Project and emails for normal formal communication and circulation of instructions and project reports. E-MRO was done through the emaintenance software developed by GDID. It was also found that only around 33.3% of the 27 SMCFs that responded were able to fully engage with all the 5 major eprocurement methodologies, excluding e-MRO implemented by the GDID. The remaining SMCFs still relied on the utilisation of a combination of both electronic and paper based systems. The main impact of e-procurement on the development of SMCFs was found to be both positive and negative. On the positive side, it increased profitability through cost saving benefits and reduction in time required for transactions, increased their market access (as they are able to view more tender opportunities), made transactions faster, increased production rate on site (through reduction in the time spent on tendering, thus releasing more time for managing projects on site), and safer storage and back-up of information for reference purposes and benchmarking of other projects, as well as, for dispute resolution. The main disadvantages were found to be high capital cost of procuring and installing Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) infrastructure, the lack of resources, unreliable power supply, security risk and the lack of infrastructure and the non-compatibility of different software packages and application (interoperability challenge). The study confirms that the use of e-procurement by the GDID is still evolving and is yet to be fully implemented in a way that guarantees its full potential and benefits. It also confirms that e-procurement impacts both positively and negatively on the development of SMCFs, and that the systems need to be carefully designed and applied in order to ensure the growth, inclusiveness, sustainability and development of SMCFs in South Africa.Item Evaluation of disaster risk management in flood prone areas: a case study of Bramfischerville(2017) Mkhulisa, Nhlanhla Nsizwa PatrickThroughout the 21st century, floods have caused major disasters in urban areas worldwide and especially in Africa. Several factors influence the ability of government to manage flood disasters through the phases of, preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery at a local level. The vulnerability of poor communities to flood disasters exacerbates the impact of the flooding on their livelihoods. The inability of governments to communicate effectively with communities about preparedness strategies for flood mitigation has resulted in much damage in urban areas. The study used semi-structured interviews with Disaster Management officials and community members involved in flooding to evaluate the Disaster Risk Management in Bramfischerville. The fieldwork took place in Bramfischerville that was affected by the 2009 floods. The research revealed that the 2009 Bramfischerville floods were caused by heavy rains, the building of RDP housing on a floodplain and ineffective implementation of Disaster Management strategies by the CoJ. This research argues that in order to understand flood disasters, cooperation between all stakeholders involved in Disaster Management is vital in knowledge accumulation. The 2009 floods had negatively impacted the livelihoods of people in Bramfischerville. Their houses were damaged and they had difficulty traveling to work and school. In this view, the costs associated with floods are continuously being a debt for the people living in Bramfischerville. This research found that the disjuncture between the community and the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) officials exacerbates the negative impacts floods have on people’s livelihoods in Bramfischerville.Item Investigating the role of on-site learning in the optimisation of craft gang's productivity in the construction industry(2017) Ugulu, Rex AsibuoduThis research investigates how on-site craft gangs adapt to the production environment on-site and how on-site learning is affected by prior learning in orders to optimise productivity. To achieve the aim of the study, previous experience of construction production process of craft gangs, site supervisors and the project managers working in Nigerian construction firms was evaluated. The researcher employed a mixed method research approach utilising qualitative and quantitative approaches. The research strategies used in this investigation included interviews and observation method. A face-to-face semi-structured interviews of (15) participants comprising of craft gangs, site supervisors and the project managers was used in the qualitative method of the data collection to explore the project specific constraints and the response mechanism used to resolve the various constraints. A standard observation data form was used in all the observed seven (7) gang’s blockwork craft gangs on the construction site. The interview transcript results collected were analysed using content analysis, an objective and systematic form of data analysis applicable to analysing interview data. In the application of the learning curve model to the blockwork craft gang’s, the straight-line model was used in the preliminary analysis of the application of learning curve theory to blockwork craft gang’s. In this study, the ordinary least squares technique, frequently referred to as linear regression was used for the data analysis. 0.05% significance level was used as a satisfactory degree of the inferences in the observation part of this study. Blockwork craft gang’s observed at the site shows approximately an overall average learning of 94.21%, resulting in 5.79% improvement in blockwork gang’s productivity. In addition, substantial impact on productivity of blockwork construction was achieved in wall construction. This research work is fundamental in construction management by way of developing an understanding into the changing aspects of on-site blockwork craft gangs learning and its impact on productivity. The repetitive nature of blockwork activities has an important influence on the optimisation of productivity. Construction craft gangs productivity constraints and response mechanism generated in this study provides a methodological instrument for addressing the major constraints influencing craft gangs productivity. This instrument will also permit future research on the project specific constraints and the response mechanisms used to resolve the constraints.Item The influence of public participation in the development of a construction phase Environmental Management Plan following EIA: a case study of the Gautrain rail link(2017) Mofokeng, Nondumiso Nomonde RadebeThe Gautrain Rapid Rail Link project is one of the biggest transport projects undertaken in South Africa. One of the unique features of this project was the manner in which public participation was conducted. There were two stages of public participation, one for the EIA process and the other for the EMP process. The research undertaken sought to study the influence of public participation on the development of mitigation measures in an EMP following EIA. The aim of the research project was to assess how the mitigation of environmental impacts, developed for an EMP during the construction phase, were affected by public participation, using the Gautrain Rail Link as a case study. When the comments were classified according to how they related to the different mitigation management plans it was found that the issues most commented on were those pertaining to public consultation and disclosure, noise vibration, visual/aesthetics, working hours, surface water, traffic as well as construction sites. Approximately 7% of the comments made by IAPs could be linked to specific changes to DFEMPs. Approximately 4% of the changes suggested by IAPs were rejected by Bombela. Prior to changes being made the DFEMP 2 had 238 targets; by the end on DFEMP5 the number of targets was 217 which reflected an 8.8% reduction. Prior to changes being made the DFEMP 2 had 789 method statements; by the end on DFEMP5 the number of method statements was 845 which reflected a 7.1% increase. These changes were mostly due to some of the targets being replaced by a “No complaints from the public” target and then the shifting of the previous targets into method statements. There was a change in the overall approach of mitigation targets to what could be viewed as more ‘people-orientated’ as opposed to mitigation that aimed to prevent adverse impacts to the environment. This was evident in the change of targets focusing on having no complaints from the public as opposed to setting targets that related to standards and specific environmental conditions. It was also found that the public input at the EMP stage could not have altered the mitigation strategy significantly but could have likely assisted in improving and refining the mitigation measures that had been selected. Public preference on the mitigation strategies applied was observed in the research as was the “Not In My Back Yard” phenomenon where the IAPs were more concerned with the impacts that directly affected their everyday lives and not the natural environment as a whole. It was noted that the input from the public resulted in valuable information being added and improved decision-making. It was found that the Independent Auditor’s comments resulted in the most evident changes in the DFEMPs. The public input process was able to highlight the feasibility and practicality of the targets set in the DFEMPs. It also gave IAPs an opportunity to voice their opinion on socioeconomic issues that they would otherwise not have been able to raise. A drawback from the public participation process was that the comments made by the IAPs were often repetitive which led to generic responses being given and also increased the likelihood of both IAP and developer participation fatigue. There was an agreement by all the interview participants for the need to EMP to be developed as continuous documents through the different phases of the project. Overall, the case study could add valuable input to the environmental management body of knowledge in South Africa.Item Employers' and graduates perception survey on employability and graduateness: products of the School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand(2015-05-14) Mtebula, Celiwe TatiIn 2009 an article titled “Crisis hits another WITS department” appeared in the Business Day newspaper. The article was based on the results that came from an internal quality review performed by the university on the School of Construction Economics and Management. The issues pertaining to the article were that the school was experiencing a shortage in staff that led to the deterioration of standards and the quality of graduates in the year 2008 and 2009. The School of Construction Economics and Management is a major source of young professionals into the built environment, which is important for the country’s ability to deliver infrastructure projects. This research examines the graduateness and employability of graduates that were produced from the school in the period between 2008 and 2011. Questionnaires were sent out to graduates and employers in order to find out what the perceptions were of both the concept of graduateness and employability. The key findings were that whilst the graduates said that they were ready for employment after completion of their respective degrees, the employers said that graduates did not have sufficient experience to enter the working world. Thus it is clear a gap certainly exists between the perceptions of graduates and employers. It was concluded that an effort must be made between the different stakeholders to breach this gap.