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‘Project performance’ is the metric of delivering project objectives. This research is motivated by levels of project failure and the purpose of the research is to investigate improved project performance. The scientific spectrum is considered; arguing project management as a sub-field of management science based in ‘design science’. Despite research since the 1950s, there is no established community paradigm for project management, illustrated by multiple ‘schools of thought’ failing to stimulate performance improvement. This is investigated with respect to the changing nature of projects and their management; application in numerous industrial sectors, across increasing scope of the product lifecycle (including service projects), and the changing role of project managers as value adding ‘implementers’ rather than status ‘reporters’. Methodology examines the community paradigm and identifies the lack of community paradigm and argues that gap spotting is not appropriate. Conducting research that fills knowledge gaps does not identify underlying issues and reinforces fundamental failings. Underlying assumptions are identified and challenged. Key characteristics are examined in the context of requirements of the community paradigm. The purpose of theory is to describe, explain and predict. Some techniques describe and explain. Few, if any, predict. This locates ‘performance prediction’ as the research issue and suggests it is a missing function for performance improvement. The research focus considers single tasks within a project network. A research model of early stage deviation from plan is developed from the literature on project pathogens and incubation processes. ‘Deviation lifecycle’ as a project function is identified as having no previous evidence in literature. This is developed into a practice model extending the role of failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) and integrating weak signals and tipping point theory to test performance. Case studies examine representative application of the model and build on the previous cases to illustrate potential for practice. The case studies were reviewed by industrial experts. The changing role of project managers to value added implementers implies a need to improve performance. Research found potential to understand and predict early stage deviation and develops the deviation lifecycle and research model. Across the case studies the research model illustrated potential application. Practical implications indicate potential contribution of project management techniques based on prediction rather than traditional reporting. Developing the community paradigm based on design science is discussed as further work. The originality of the research challenges the lack of theoretical foundation for project management by discussion of the community paradigm and proposes design science as a candidate. The work identifies ‘prediction’ as a relevant but missing function from the project management ‘toolbox’, and introduces the concept of the deviation lifecycle and note no previous literature. The research develops an industrial research model that extends the application of FMEA to examine ‘performance’ and integrates weak signals and tipping point analysis to manage the resolution.

There is a strong perception that large infrastructure projects (LIPs) implemented in developing economies fail to meet their original estimations and specifications more than those implemented in developed economies. This situation results in weak infrastructural development in developing economies, which, has been associated with the poor industrial development in these countries. A literature review confirms that LIPs implemented in Nigeria failed to meet their original estimations and specifications more frequently than LIP implemented in countries such as UK or USA. The root causes identified in the review were mostly related to lack of project governance. Thus, a study of six LIP cases implemented in Nigeria was carried out. Data was generated from 30 senior management staff; 5 from each LIP; using interviews and questionnaires and a weak positivist philosophy was used in analysing this data. The analysis focused on identifying three factors; the adherence level to PGPs; the adherence to Project Management (PM) common practices; and impact of external factors on LIPs. The analysis shows that in projects with strong governance there was a tendency to use more project management tools and techniques and they performed better in meeting the original estimations of time, cost and performance against specification. The analysis also indicates that political, economic, socio-cultural and technological (PEST) factors have adverse effect on adherence to PGPs in Nigeria. This indicates that adhering to PGPs can help in improving the outcome of LIPs implemented in Nigeria, if PEST factors are controlled.

With rapid changes in the business environment, more acute competition and increasingly demanding clients, organisations in the construction industry have identified innovation as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Innovation provides an important avenue for firms to improve performance while differentiating their products and services. Research has identified a number of factors as influencing innovation in construction organisations. Primarily these include internal factors such as organisational climate, innovation championing, leadership and exogenous influences such as clients, regulations, technology and the economy. The role of senior management in promoting innovation is widely recognised in literature. However, in the construction and project based environment, very few studies have focused on middle management and how their day to day leadership activities impact on innovation and project performance. The purpose of this study was to improve middle management leadership behaviour in order to facilitate innovation and improve project performance in construction professional services firms. Through a combination of qualitative case study, questionnaire surveys and qualitative interviews, the research identified how the leadership behaviour exhibited by middle managers in the work place could enhance innovation and project performance. The study was undertaken in five phases to reflect the five key objectives for the research. The first phase comprised a review of the literature on innovation to identify key internal and external factors influencing innovation and ultimately, project performance. The second phase involved a case study of three different innovative projects to examine the role of middle managers in facilitating the innovations studied. Phase three of the study investigated the relationships among transformational leadership, innovation championing and organisational climate for innovation while examining how they combine to promote innovation and enhance project performance. Phase four involved qualitative validation of the relationship among the constructs examined in phase three and preparation of leadership development resource for middle managers which was subsequently trialed in phase five. Key findings from the study suggest that transformational leadership behaviour exhibited by middle managers influences innovation by developing an environment conducive to innovation which in turn fosters innovation championing behaviour and ultimately, enhances project performance. The study contributes to knowledge and adds to the understanding of the role of middle managers in facilitating innovation and improving project performance. It demonstrates that the bypass effect of transformational leadership is applicable in the project based environment since transformational leadership of middle managers directly influenced project performance, circumventing project managers. In addition, the cascading effect of transformational leadership was confirmed, as championing behaviour and climate for innovation mediated the relationship between transformational leadership of middle managers and project performance. Furthermore, it revealed that the individual dimensions of transformational leadership influenced innovation and project performance differently. The study found that individualised support was the most influential dimension impacting on innovation championing behaviour, climate for innovation and project performance. Articulating vision and fostering the acceptance of group goals both influenced climate for innovation and project performance. High performance expectation, modelling behaviour and intellectual stimulation influenced innovation championing and project performance. Beyond these the study has highlighted the particular actions which constituted each dimension of transformational leadership and how they influenced the performance of project team members. Through this study transformational leadership development resource has been developed to help middle managers cultivate the expected leadership behaviour that could facilitate innovation and improve project performance. The study also identified how transformational leadership behaviour can be engrained in the day to day working practices of middle managers. The study presents a more positive view of middle managerial role in improving organisational performance contrary to previous negative reporting on this constituency and identifies the need for greater recognition for their role. The study recommends that construction professional services firms should support middle managers to develop transformational leadership behaviour and create the kind of environment where innovation becomes a part of the normal daily work practices. In addition the study opens a new avenue for the study of transformational leadership by using both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the impact of the individual dimensions. It recommends that future research adopts the same approach in different contexts to further test the suggested relationships. The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers to give greater attention to incorporating transformational leadership behaviour into the essential set of behavioural competencies managers in the construction industry need to develop beyond their technical skills.

The performance of the UK construction industry has been challenged by a number of major reports (e.g. Egan Report,1999). A survey of Chinese construction practice carried out as part of this research project has shown that many of the problems are shared and that there is a keen interest in China to improve performance. The research has demonstrated the need for a systematic treatment of uncertainty to support decision making in China. The study employed the principles of systems thinking to propose a systemic skeleton: WISDOM. It is an advanced perspective that encapsulates the essence of systems thinking and lays the theoretical foundation for the production of decision support software - JUSTISE. The purpose of the software tool is to facilitate the establishment of new thinking within a management system for Chinese construction practitioners. The purpose is to help construction practitioners manage risk and uncertainty to improve project performance. JUSTISE was born out of PERIMETA and has been designed with many new features and functionalities. The software has been tested by a wide range of users from the Chinese construction industry. The feedback from the application of the software through wisdomcatcher.com was collected to prompt its further development. Through the application of JUSTISE, systems thinking methodology has been delivered to a number of Chinese construction companies. It has been pleasing to find that JUSTISE has worked well in the Chinese industrial environment. People have benefitted from the novel perspective it provides. More importantly it enables people to better understand and deal with uncertainty to improve project performance. JUSTISE is still in its infancy and needs to be improved. The software is an aid in the continuous rethinking of current experience. It embraces a range of fundamental knowledge and enabling technologies to provide systems solutions to complex problems in future engineering practice.

For many years, government backed reports have continued to deplore the poor performance of the construction industry with many projects failing to exceed or live up to the expectations of clients. There is a common belief that the culture of the construction industry is one of the factors that has an impact on its performance. The culture of the construction industry at the project level is often associated with such attributes as fragmentation, antagonism, mistrust, poor communication, short-term mentality, blame culture, casual approaches to recruitment, machismo and sexism. These attributes are in turn associated with project outcomes like litigation, poor health and safety performance, and inferior quality. Whilst such associations are helpful to the extent that they focus attention on the failings of the industry, and point to aspects that need to be improved, they are arbitrary and often based on no more than anecdotal evidence, and as such do not provide a systematic basis for assessing the real impact of culture on performance. This research was thus undertaken to look for empirical evidence of a relationship between cultural orientations and project performance outcomes. Adopting social cognitive theory and defining culture as the unique configuration of solutions – embodied in attitudes, behaviours and conditions – that a construction project organisation and its members adopt in dealing with problems at the project level, a quantitative research methodology was employed in investigating the culture within the project coalition, also referred to in this thesis as the construction project organisation (CPO). CPOs were profiled to determine their cultural orientations. Several project performance indicators were also assessed and the relationships between these performance measures and the cultural orientations were examined. Analysis revealed five principal dimensions of culture along which project organisations differ. These dimensions are workforce orientation, performance orientation, team orientation, client orientation and project orientation. With the exception of performance and client orientation, the other dimensions of culture were found to be significantly associated with project performance outcomes. These associations were modelled using multiple regression, and from these models it can be inferred inter alia that projects with higher workforce orientation have better participant satisfaction and innovation and learning outcomes. Projects with higher team orientation have better participant satisfaction and health & safety and quality outcomes. Likewise projects with higher project orientation have better health & safety and quality outcomes. Although causality cannot be assumed, these findings support the thesis that culture matters. It is therefore recommended that project participants – and in particular contractors, devote more effort and resources towards improving the orientations of their CPOs in respect of the dimensions of culture identified as having significant association with project performance outcomes, particularly workforce, team and project orientations.

This research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between project management and construction project performance. The aim of the research was to evaluate the nature and significance of the relationship between project management process quality (PMPQ) and construction project performance. A review of literature showed that the direct effect of project management factors on project performance has dominated the examination of the relationship between project management critical success factors and project performance. This research departed from this and took a structural model perspective that was intended to shed light on both the direct and indirect effects as well as the individual and collective impact of project management factors on performances. A quality management framework was used to analyse the effect of project management on construction project performance. Although some studies have shown an interest in examining the integration of quality management principles to the project management field, no study has empirically evaluated the relationship between PMPQ, as defined in this research, and construction project performance. The PMPQ model developed was an adaptation of a quality award model and presented as a web of dependence relationships. The main conclusions from the findings was that, while not all postulated relationships were found to be statistically significant, there is a positive relationship between PMPQ and construction project performance. The main implication of the findings was that project management influencing factors should be seen as having both direct and indirect influences as well as individual and collective impact on construction project performance.

Project performance relies upon effective project management. Indeed, project management has been recognized as an important means for making changes in the organisation. Efficiency in project management, obviously, enhances the probability of project success, which consequently helps the organization to achieve its strategic mission and gain competitive advantage. Hence, it is critical that project-based companies, particularly construction companies, understand how they have performed and how they should perform in future. Numerous writers have suggested various ways to evaluate construction company performance as a whole. Yet very few have focused specifically on project management and performance evaluation. In addition, construction project performance assessment has not been extensively investigated in Malaysia. The principal aim of the study is to develop a generic model of project management and performance evaluation for the Malaysian construction industry. Based on the Balanced Scorecard approach, the model incorporates comprehensive measures for project performance by taking into account various stakeholder views and construction industry needs. To support the objective, the study employed three phases of data collection: semi-structured interviews, questionnaire survey and a case study. The interviews and survey offer insight and help to identify performance perspectives and indicators relevant to construction project performance. Meanwhile, the case study provides an empirical investigation of the application of performance assessment in a real-life context. The study suggests the resultant Construction Measurement Performance Assessment (COMPASS) model can be used as a self-assessment management tool to evaluate construction project performance. COMPASS comprises five performance perspectives, namely financial; project customer satisfaction; internal project processes; health, safety and environment; and learning and development. The model has been modified from the BSC concept in order to make it more appropriate for construction projects. The changes include integrating the performance drivers (enablers) and outcome measures (performance results) and re-labelling the perspectives. The performance perspectives have been positioned in circular format to indicate the iterative process that supports the implementation of project performance assessment. Rather than merely seeing these perspectives in a hierarchical cause and effect relationship, the performance perspectives influence one another and need to be reviewed consistently in order to ensure they remain relevant to the changing environment. In addition, the study results indicate the weighting and performance indicators for each of the perspectives, which it is argued can serve as a guideline to direct project performance towards the company's objectives. The findings are basically derived from the contractor 's point of view. Interesting results can be obtained if the study involves other stakeholders such as the clients and consultants in future research. This allows comparative evaluations to be conducted. Besides, it would be valuable to further explore the application of the Balanced Scorecard/COMPASS approach in construction as this would contribute significant benefits to the industry.

Risks play a significant part in decision making and may affect the performance of a project. If they are not dealt with sensibly, they may cause cost overruns, delays on schedule and even poor quality. The main aims of this study were to collect information to allow the critical risks causing construction delay and cost overrun in building projects in Indonesia to be determined using a new risk assessment approach and to analyse the impacts of perceived project risk on project performance using a path model. Risk factors were identified through an intensive literature review and a total of 30 risk factors were identified and found to fall easily into four major categories. A preliminary questionnaire was designed and respondents in interviews conducted in Indonesia ranked the risk factors in order of their importance. The intention was to produce a manageable list of four critical risks in each category or sixteen risks across all categories. The sixteen risk factors were then used on a multi-project survey to calculate project risk indices. The main survey was predominantly based on interviews with project managers using structured and open-ended questionnaires. A total of 22 building projects under construction were surveyed. The respondents were asked to assess the probability that risks would occur and estimate the impact if the risks did occur using a five point scale. The project managers were also requested to assess the relative importance of each risk using pair-wise comparisons. From this information, a risk index for each project was calculated. It was found that the most critical risks affecting cost overrun and delay perceived by the building contractors were: high inflation/increased material price, design change by owner, defective design, weather conditions, delayed payments on contracts and defective construction work. A common theme amongst the critical risks identified appears to be that they cannot be controlled or managed by the contractors.

Projects are important to industry, but project performance continually disappoints stakeholder expectations. Organizations react to this performance problem in many ways, and purchase consultancy, training, methods and tools as possible solutions. There is no published evidence that any of these solutions are consistently successful in improving project performance. This thesis answers the question, "What can be done to improve project management practices, and thus project performance?", by demonstrating that a novel form of continuous action research can contribute such evidence. First, a community of practice was formed from practitioners with major corporations interested in answering the question, and commercially motivated to implement changes. A programme was developed that centred around project management but linked to project and corporate performance and success. A well-resourced support structure was established to administer the programme, facilitate dialogue, hold confidential data securely, and provide data analysis. Members provided data for the anonymous databases about their practices and about specific project results, and first-hand case studies for discussion at workshops. They discovered, shared and created both tacit and explicit knowledge through the formal programme and through informal contact. Secondly, the thinking of practitioners, theorists and researchers was challenged. The literature on project management was found to reveal an unbalanced worldview that lacked coherent underlying theory. The literature on theory was found not to distinguish adequately between one-off "discrete" projects and the ongoing continuous operations of an organization. The academy's "paradigm wars" were found to have discouraged the creation of an appropriate research methodology. Thirdly, different pieces of research using the community's data showed that some practices (notably aspects of risk management) lead to superior performance independently of context, while others appear to be context dependent. No companies were found to have all the answers, and each member of the community has been able to learn from others.

In the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction fraternities, it is believed that effective design-management functions conducted during the early stages of a project have a significantly greater effect on project success than efforts taken during the actual project implementation. The quest for improvements in project performance is now moving from the site to the office, and the integration of proliferated construction design-management systems is therefore heralded as a possible means of improving efficiency in the industry. However, earlier attempts to integrate application software in design-management, just linked systems but ignored the flaws in the processes which include lack of consideration of the participants requirements, the type of information needed, as well as the means to co-ordinate and communicate information within the design-management domain. Furthermore, these systems have been developed to mirror the proliferation of complex and fragmented functions, disparate processes, and sub-processes characterised of the UK construction industry. Other shortcomings of the processes in construction include wasteful activities, duplication of functions, rework and the "rediscovery" of information, which make the sharing of common information in this domain very difficult. Currently, the use of object models to co-ordinate and communicate information is heralded as the new approach to support information sharing in construction. However, the separate views and interests of professionals in design-management lead each participant to investigate and communicate with others by using alternative or separate models for each discipline. Interpreting, extracting and re-entering the relevant information from one discipline to another and from one medium to another can be error prone, and also time consuming. This research is therefore focused on the development of a rational integrated framework for design-management activities, where a developed Unified Classification Scheme is super-imposed on object models to facilitate co-ordination and communication of information in the processes. The prerequisite of this approach, is the use of Business Process Re-engineering Methodology to tackle the arbitrariness in design-management processes, which militate against integration. As a means of demonstrating convincingly the rational integration concept, the research further develops an integrated framework and architecture, using suitable software packages such as MicroStation and a Triforma object-based project modelling add-on module to generate the design information. This information was aggregated into planning elements and then into bill items, where MS Access was used as the DBMS server in a Window NT environment. The evaluation of every facet of the integrated framework as well as the developed Unified Classification Scheme to co-ordinate and communicate information across disciplines in design-management was carried out on a live project which took the form of pilot studies and a case study. In addition to combining the use of a developed innovative framework with the interaction between processes and data to remove the identified flaws in design-management, the approach has also provided the means for the innovated processes to reflect the product generated. Apart from improving the productivity of design-management processes, the use of the cross-fertilisation between the developed Unified Classification Scheme and object models provided the means to achieve a more co-ordinated and effective communication of information across disciplines in design-management. It also provided consistent, speedy and efficient information management in this domain.

This research concerns a quantitative examination of the causal effects of the antecedents of project performance. Congruous with a multivariate perspective, project performance has been conceived as a function of the external and site environments, the project site organisation-and-management and site personnel. The conception has culminated in a postulated partial causal model grounded on a priori conceptual-theoretical considerations. Verification of the causal model demands the testing of a network of eleven causal hypotheses using the path analytical technique. Mixed results have emerged with six causal hypotheses supported, one partially supported and the remaining four unsupported by data. The implications on policy decision making by site management have been considered. The assertion is that manipulative actions on the site integrative mechanism, on-the-spot task structuring and perceived site environmental uncertainty, conducted within a synergistical framework, would impart a cumulative promotory effect on project performance.

This research study empirically tests: 1) the relationship(s) between stakeholder characteristics and project performance; 2) the mediating effect of effective stakeholder management strategies on the aforementioned relationship(s); and 3) the moderating effect of project complexity on the relationship(s) between effective stakeholder management strategies and project performance. To achieve the study’s objectives, a research model was proposed comprising four main components, namely stakeholder characteristics, effective stakeholder management, project performance and project complexity. These components were linked by 20 proposed hypotheses that were established according to assumed theoretical relationships. To validate the research model and test the proposed hypotheses, a quantitative research method was adopted. A series of multivariate statistical approaches were employed for the data, which were collected from 136 project managers and project management team members across diverse fields in more than 20 countries. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify factor structures that represented each underlying construct. Legitimate behaviour, supportive behaviour and opposing behaviour were identified as underlying factors of stakeholder power. Similarly, the agile response to change construct had two (internal and external agile response to change) underlying factors that represented the ability to respond to internal and external changes, respectively. Finally, quantitative and qualitative performance were revealed as underlying factors of project performance. Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted to validate the results obtained from the exploratory factor analysis results. Structural equation modelling was then applied to test the hypotheses for the structural models. A number of key findings have emerged from the current study. Stakeholder characteristics have been proven to affect project performance. For instance, both legitimate behaviour and stakeholder interests negatively affect the ability to achieve quantitative project performance measures (i.e., schedule and budget), while opposing behaviour negatively affects both quantitative and qualitative project performance measures. Opposing behaviour negatively affects qualitative project performance, and the negative effect of opposing behaviour on qualitative project performance is mediated by either effective stakeholder management, internal agile response to change or strategic project flexibility. In particular, strategic project flexibility and effective stakeholder management fully mediate the negative effect of opposing behaviour and qualitative project performance. These findings indicate that the negative effect of opposing behaviour on qualitative project performance can be eliminated by implementing strategic project flexibility only or all three strategies together. Among the effective stakeholder management constructs, internal agile response to change was found to be the most influential factor for project performance; it positively affects both quantitative and qualitative project performance. Unfortunately, project complexity negatively moderates the positive effect of internal agile response to change on quantitative project performance. However, the positive effects of internal agile response to change, strategic project flexibility and effective engagement on qualitative project performance remain constant under the different levels of project complexity. The findings that emerged from the current study and its recommendations contribute to expanding the knowledge of stakeholder management in the context of complex projects in diverse industries, and they provide practical contributions to enable managers to successfully manage projects. Further, the results provide strong and empirical evidence for project managers, who may benefit from the results by diagnosing and improving their management skills and enhancing their stakeholder management to improve success rates in the context of complex projects. It should be noted that the findings could be applied to projects in general as well as in the context of complex projects.

Abstract: In contemporary construction environments, construction companies measure their performance against a set of predefined performance indicators. These performance indicators are governed by the ability of the company to maintain necessary sets of “competencies” that empower the successful execution of construction projects. Competencies in general are difficult to define and measure due to the multidimensional and subjective nature of their assessment. Additionally, there is little consensus on the performance indicators that capture the different critical aspects of how well a construction project is performing. This thesis expands the body of knowledge on project competencies and performance by demonstrating the power of fuzzy logic combined with other artificial intelligence modeling (i.e., neural networks) in developing a model capable of identifying the relationship between the different project competencies and project performance on construction projects. First, this research identifies 41 project competencies with a total of 248 criteria for evaluating the different project competencies. Appropriate measurement scales are developed for the different project competencies’ evaluation criteria. This research also identifies seven performance categories with 46 key project performance indicators. Second, a systematic framework and methodology are developed to measure project competencies and project key performance indicators on construction projects. Finally, several state of the art techniques are developed and applied to model the relationship between project competencies and project performance namely: 1) a new prioritized aggregation method, 2) a dimensionality reduction technique, and 3) a fuzzy hybrid intelligent model incorporating fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks. The new prioritized aggregation method is developed in this research to consider the prioritized relationship between criteria pertaining to the different project competencies. This prioritized aggregation method is developed for both crisp and fuzzy environments. Then, a dimensionality reduction technique, through the application of feature extraction, is applied to reduce the dimensionality of the model input (i.e., project competencies) and enhance its capability in providing more accurate outputs (i.e., key project performance indicators). Finally, granular AND/OR fuzzy neural networks are constructed using fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks to identify and map the relationship between the different project competencies and project key performance indicators. Data collected from seven construction projects are used to train and test the developed granular AND/OR fuzzy neural networks. This thesis contributes to the current body of knowledge in project competencies and performance by establishing a standardized framework and methodology for evaluating the impact of construction project competencies on key project performance indicators. Furthermore, this thesis applies advanced modeling techniques through the application of fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks to identify and model the relationship between project competencies and project key performance indicators.

The successful delivery of large complex infrastructure projects continues to challenge the civil engineering profession, with a predominance of projects delivered late and over budget. Many researchers have investigated methods and means of improving the less-than-satisfactory record of the execution of these projects. One recent research direction suggests that improvements in project delivery may not be realized until the project setting is understood from the as-lived perspective of the participants. Following this direction, the research described in this dissertation explores the personal and interpersonal dynamics operating within projects, treating them as complex social processes. The social dimensions explored in this study involve team leaders and staff engineers in a matriced organization handling a large urban design-build infrastructure project. The interactions among the participants within and across units and levels had both positive and negative impacts. The data for this exploratory case study comes from semi-structured interviews and online surveys collected at three points over eleven months when the project was in the design phase. Interviews were conducted with a limited number of individuals; the survey was collected from the larger engineering organization. From the interview data, issues which impacted project delivery were identified as the relationship with supervision, the availability of information, an understanding of the larger project context, and the response to project constraints. The survey data was used primarily to understand the social dimensions affecting two engineering disciplines, one that performed well and one that performed poorly. Issues that aligned with the performance differences included frequency of contact with supervision, the ability to make decisions, and effective use of time available to complete design tasks. Data from the two modes of investigation demonstrated strong triangulation. Recommendations for both academia and industry are provided.

The failure rate of information systems development (ISD) projects continues to pose a big challenge for organizations. The success rate of ISD projects is less then forty percent. Factors such as disagreements and miscommunications among project manager and team members, poor monitoring and intermediary problems contribute to project failure. Agency theory and leader member exchange (LMX) theories offer potential explanations for project failure. In particular, three monitoring strategies - control strategy, decision rights, and influence tactics were found to be effective in promoting project success. LMX theorists suggest that achieving congruence between the manager and subordinate regarding each other actions and values may increase chance of project success. Specifically, two types of congruence - communicational congruence and perceptual congruence are suggested. Thus integrating the views from both agency and LMX theories this study develops a congruence framework to examine congruence with respect to the three monitoring strategies. Prior research notes that ISD projects suffer from intermediary problems which if addressed can enhance project performance. Thus an intermediate outcome variable, control loss, is developed to capture the problems occurring during the project lifetime. The emphasis is laid on three dimensions - people, processes and resources. The hypotheses are developed concerning the impact of achieving congruence between the project manager and team members on control loss. A total of 113 matched-pair survey responses are collected from project managers and team members associated with ISD projects. This sample represents a variety of organizations, industries, and project types. Polynomial regression analysis and response surface graphs are used to test the proposed hypotheses. The study contributes to the understanding of the information systems project management by providing insights to promote ISD project success. It offers an outcome variable control loss which can be used to capture the problems occurring during the project lifetime. The three dimensions - people, processes and resources can be used as levers to manipulate project progress and ensure the project is on the right track. It further contributes by integrating complementary theories to get a robust understanding of the exchange relationship. The communicational and perceptual congruencies can be used to deal with challenges such as high uncertainty presented by the diverse and aversive work environment. Finally, the two types of congruencies can be used to influence stakeholder behaviors in order to enhance effectiveness of monitoring strategies.

The viability of energy mineral resources (EMR) construction projects is contingent upon the state of the world economic climate. Oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada exemplify large EMR projects that are highly sensitive to fluctuations in the world market. Alberta EMR projects are constrained by high fixed production costs and are also widely recognized as one of the most challenging construction projects to successfully deliver due to impacts from extreme weather conditions, remote locations and issues with labor availability amongst others. As indicated in many studies, these hardships strain the industry’s ability to execute work efficiently, resulting in declining productivity and mounting cost and schedule overruns. Therefore, to enhance the competitiveness of Alberta EMR projects, project teams are targeting effective management strategies to enhance project performance and productivity by countering the uniquely challenging environment in Alberta. The main purpose of this research is to develop industry wide benchmarking tailored to the specific constraints and challenges of Alberta. Results support quantitative assessments and identify the root causes of project performance and ineffective field productivity problems in the heavy industry sector capital projects. Customized metrics produced from the data collected through a web-based survey instrument were used to quantitatively assess project performance in the following dimensions: cost, schedule, change, rework, safety, engineering and construction productivity and construction practices. The system enables the industry to measure project performance more accurately, get meaningful comparisons, while establishing credible norms specific to Alberta projects. Data analysis to identify the root cause of performance problems was conducted. The analysis of Alberta projects substantiated lessons of previous studies to create an improved awareness of the abilities of Alberta-based companies to manage their unique projects. This investigation also compared Alberta- based projects with U.S. projects to point out the differences in project process and management strategies under different environments. The relative impact of factors affecting construction productivity were identified and validated by the input from industry experts. The findings help improve the work processes used by companies developing projects in Alberta.