Construction Project Management - Essay Example

? International projects. An analysis of about six construction projects which take place in two countries. Research International projects. An analysis of about six construction projects which take place in two countries. Synopsis Even though principles of project management are the same in all nations throughout the world, certain aspects, which may be specific to the nations, may affect projects in different nations differently. Other than the typical constrains of project management such as time, cost and scope, certain aspects such as national culture among others may affect progress of projects in various nations. Therefore, in order that projects are completed successfully (that is they are completed within the scheduled period of time, within the budget, and within the stipulated project cost), it is important that the various aspects (which may be specific to nations in which these construction projects are intended to be executed or may be specific to the company undertaking the project) are integrated while planning for these projects. Otherwise chances are high that if only the typical constrains of project management are considered, projects may not meet they objectives with these constrains. The problem becomes worse when a project is jointly undertaken by two nations. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to analyze not more than six construction projects undertaken in two nations in order to identify factors that may be affecting these projects, and how they are managed. Aims and Objectives The main aim or objective of this dissertation is as stated below: i. To investigate how politics may affect construction project jointly undertaken by two nations. Search Strategy In order to find the various literatures related to the research topic (International projects. An analysis of about six construction projects which take place in two countries), a search strategy was developed. The search strategy involved the following steps: First, the various keywords and key word phrases were identified. After identification of the key words and keyword phrases, they were searched through the leading search engines and academic library databases. Examples of the search engines use and libraries used in finding the literatures related to this research topic are: Google Search Engine, Emrald Library Database, Proquest Library Database, Glion Library Database, and EBSCO Library Database among others. The keywords and/or keyword phrases used in this search include: Culture and project management, Factors affecting project management, Organization culture and project management, politics and construction, construction projects jointly undertaken, and multinational construction projects. After the search engine displayed result, only relevant materials were selected since not all the materials from the search results were helpful. For example, only materials that integrated culture with project management were selected, and more emphasis was given to those materials relating culture with construction projects. It is important to note that Google search engine was used mainly to search for construction projects being undertaken or those that have been completed, and are being affected by culture or were affected by culture (including organization culture). The other search engines (in this case Library databases) were used to search for the connection between construction project management and culture. These were related to the identified construction projects in order to identify the how organization culture normally affect project management. Literature Review Justification of use of non-peer reviewed sources Before proceeding to the literature review it is important to mention that some sources used in this section are not peer reviewed. This due to the fact finding six projects jointly undertaken by two nations in peer reviewed articles is a great challenge. The non-peer reviewed sources used in this section of the paper are mainly web sources. Politics affects everything in all nations, management of multinational construction projects included. Normally, managing projects being undertaken by more than one nation is amongst the most challenging aspects to project managers (Bryson 2003). This is mainly due to political and cultural differences between the nations that have resolved to undertake a project jointly. There are many projects that have been undertaken jointly by two nations; some of these projects were completed successfully (but not without challenges unless possible challenges were addressed in the planning phase of the project). Some of these projects are previewed briefly in the preceding paragraphs. One of the multinational project that has been hampered by political difference is the construction of an oil pipeline between two African Nations (Southern and Kenya). The project was launched in February 2012, and up-to date (April 2013) construction has not commenced. According to Laessing (2013), since the launching of the project in February 2012, there has been unwillingness for cooperation between the nations. Laessing (2013) further explains that no deal had been reached regardless of the fact that it was launched in 2012. According to Forkenbrock (2004), politics play important roles in project implementation and proces. If the governments between the nations involved in the construction are not comitted towards releasing funds as well as providing necessary support as of the case of the Kenya-Southern Sudan pipeline project. Another project that was hampered by political differences between the nations was the construction of Oresund Bridge (the bridge connects Denmark and Sweden). Oresund Bridge is a 16 km (the world’s longest bridge), and was completed in 2000 after taking 5 years of construction. According to Olshov (2000), this multinational project was completed within schedule and to budget. Just any other project involving two nations, this project was subject to political and social problems for example the project was nearly stopped by the environmentalists. Further according to Nissen (2000), all the political factors that could have hampered the management of this project were taken care of during the design and planning stage of the project, and that why it was completed within the project management constrains (time, cost and quality). Other than the above mentioned two projects, the Mexico Border Fence was another construction project undertaken two nations which was affected by politics (Mexico and United States of America). According to Meierotto (2011), the fence was built in order to prevent the illegal migrating from crossing to United Sates and vise-versa. It was also meant to prevent smuggling of drugs between the two nations. Meierotto (2011) explained that this multinational project was marred with several political problems. For example, Mexico government was feeling that building of the fence was a way of discriminating its citizens, and therefore was unwilling to support the project (Meierotto 2011). This situation gave the project managers a lot headache since projects should always be completed within schedule, within budget, and to the expected quality. Another project that was undertaken by two nations was the Upgrading of Pacific Highway. This was a joint project between New Zealand and Australia, was intended at improving conditions of road that was connecting Queensland and Hex ham. According to Albanase (2009), the two governments were committed to the multinational project, and potential political issues that may be associated with the project were dealt with in the planning and designing face of the project. This is one of the projects being undertaken by the two nations, and was a success. According to Albanase (2009), the managers of this project had minimal politics related projects, and the project was a success. Other than the Sudan-Kenya oil pipeline project, Mexico Border Fence project, Upgrading of Pacific Highway, and Oresund Bridge multinational project, another construction project that was carried out between two nations is the Channel Tunnel multinational Project. The project was intended to connect England with France through a tunnel. The multinational project was commenced in 1988 and was completed and opened to the public in 1994 (Fairweather 2008). Accordinhg to Genus (1994), regardless of the fact that the two nations were committed towards completion of the project, it was marred with a lot of problems; these problems were related to contacting, trust as well as development of the project. The contracting problems were as a result of politics and cultural differences between the two nations. These were solved and the project was back on track regardless of the delays (Genus, 1994). Also, there is a multinational project that has been proposed; this proposed multinational project will involve construction of tunnel from Russia to Alaska. According to Moses (2012), this project is still in the initiation and planning face, and has not commenced. In order that the problems associated with multinational projects are avoided, it is important that all aspects including national culture and politics are included in the planning and designing phase of the project. Otherwise, the multinational project may be affected by these undue problems just as other projects have been affected. Conclusion Other than the typical constrains of managing construction projects such as time, cost and scope, there exist a number of factors (both external and internal) that may inhibit successful completion of construction projects however how well a construction Manager may be. The problem may become worse while managing projects that are jointly undertaken by two nations. Some of these factors may include construction projects being undertaken by two nations are: politics between the involved nations, cultural differences, and national culture. A number of projects have been hampered by these factors while others have been completed. Completion of some of these projects has been after overcoming challenges while other projects have even failed to commence due to political interests and differences. Among the projects that have been hampered by politics are South-Sudan- Kenya oil pipeline project (Not yet commenced due to politics), the Mexico Fence Border project, and Channel Tunnel Project among others. Amongst the ones that have been completed with schedule, budget and scope are: Upgrading of Pacific Highway project and Oresund Bridge project among others. The success of these projects is a result of including and solving the various internal and external factors that may be associated with the projects in the designing and planning face. Therefore, in order that projects are completed successfully (that is they are completed within the scheduled period of time, within the budget, and within the stipulated project cost), it is important that the various aspects (which may be specific to nations in which these construction projects are intended to be executed or may be specific to the company undertaking the project) are integrated while planning for these projects. References Albanase, A., 2009. Pacific Highway Upgrade Project. Queensland: Australian Government Nation Building Program. Bryson, J., 2003. CRITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MAJOR PROJECTS. Strategic Management Journal, 14(5), p. 319. Couch, J., Malone, K., & Armstrong, R., 2011. Politics and Pavement: An Examination of the Allocation of Alabama Highway Construction and Maintenance Dollars. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(3), pp. 11-16. Fairweather, V. (2008). The Channel Tunnel: Larger than life, and late. Civil Engineering, 64(5), p. 42. Forkenbrock, D., 2004. Mega-Projects: The Changing Politics of Urban Public Investment/Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition. American Planning Association. Journal of the American Planning Association, 70(2), pp. 229-230. Genus, A., 1994. Unstructuring incompetence: Problems of contracting, trust and the development of the channel tunnel. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 9(4), pp. 419-436. Laessing, U., 2013. South Sudan pushes for completion of the Juba-Lamu pipeline . [online] Available at: Reuters: [Accesed April 20, 2013] Marzouk, M., 2009. A framework for estimating negotiation amounts in construction projects. Construction Innovation, 9(2), pp. 133-148. Meierotto, L., 2011. he Blame Game on the Border: Perceptions of Environmental Degradation on the United States-Mexico Border. Human Organization, 71(1), pp. 11-21. Moses, T., 2012. Proposed Russia to Alaska tunnel. Civil Engineering, 70(5), pp. 55-77. Nissen, J., 2000. The Oresund Bridge completion. The Arup Journal, 3(2000), pp. 112-116. Olshov, A., 2000. Sweden-Denmark bridge sets Oresund buzzing. Unitas, 72(3), pp. 31-35. SPIKE, J., 2000. US-MEXICO BORDER FENCE. CALIFORNIA. Read More