Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a monetary institute to implement Financing Partnership with its clients in Member Developing Countries (MDC). ADB has to formulate its strategies agenda to respond the need and challenges of world’s dynamics. Lao P.D.R. is a member development country of ADB. Both of Lao government and ADB conduct the FPS together for poverty reduction in many sectors economic through Country Strategy and Greater Mekong Subregion Program (GMS). Presently, the Lao government recognizes that the social developments are required economic growth. The development of infrastructure system, human resources, agriculture and health need financial partner, because of financial term and capacity-building from both government and private. But Lao government officers still have less experience on preparing financial partnerships management. Many projects in Lao P.D.R met with inadequate financial infrastructure. In short, ADB Financing Partnership strategy is the complex process and needs the efficient coordination with partners and clearly articulated execution to lead to the goals. The proper collaboration of ADB and Lao government are provided virtual lesson and it is able to prevent consequent problems and reduce conflict between ADB and Lao government or third party partners.
Mr. Phouthasen Sinthavong made a case study on “The Roles Of Lao Governtment On Adb Implementation Of Financial Partnership Strategy: A Case Study Of Vientiane Urban Infrastructure And Services Project’ which major objective is to find out treatment method for the FPS improvement, when such problems arise. To achieve the study’s major objective, three sub-objectives were needed to (1) to investigate the current strategy on ADB implementation of the FPS approach to encourage Projects or program in Laos; (2) to identify the strength and weakness of applying the FPS under project or program of ADB encouragement; and (3) to propose recommendation on how to improve the implementation of FPS between ADB and Lao Government for project or program encouragement.
He found out that the Lao government promulgated the Law on Local Administration to support urban revenue collection. It was recognized in Law on Local administration and empowered to raise local revenue for provide of urban service. The mechanism operation was slow than target date this affected directly to the implementation of VUDAA on revenue collection. Paralleling with the Law on Local Administration, Local governor issues the decree regarding fees and charges but there still was a need for further refining as to how the fees and charges were assessed and how they will collect. However at the project completion the base fees and charges were insufficient to provide the type of service. However, the project was completed by its main objectives; this is fundamentally the consequence of Lao government support.
He also found out that ADB’s undertook thirteen Review Mission, including the inception Mission and Midterm Review Mission. The Review Mission was the good performance of ADB to monitoring the project implementation. Each Review Mission met the problems and they were solved among the financial partners. This operation should illustrate the sufficient and efficient result to other project. Additionally, there are some weaknesses of ADB implantation on applying the Financial Partnership to the project implementation in Laos. Although the AFD funded component for Capacity Building was undertake within the same office ADB component and the Review Mission proposed that there was close cooperation between VUDAA management and ADB funded component in aspects of the project. The Review Mission also proposed that Review Mission were undertaken by ADB without the involvement of AFD.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
The infrastructure development in Laos, especially Vientiane, requires a great of number capital for investment. The financial partnership with monetary institute is critical way to develop infrastructure for Lao government and it will be accelerator to catalyst the economic growth and reduce the poor among community.
This research aims to investigate the financial partnership between Lao government and Asian Development Bank, which is a monetary to support fund for development in Asia Pacific. How the Financial Partnership be done and its effect after conduction is the main objective to meet in the research. Eventually, the result from displayed that there are many flaws from the implementation of Lao government on involve project implementation and financial partners such as; lack of better liaison initial among financial partner, Low competency of Lao employee, inadequate financial infrastructure in Laos and low of planning and control and equipments. To meet the efficient infrastructure development, Lao government continued to operate the Financial Partners is not only with ADB but also other monetary institutes or the other governments, whom are interested to assist Lao government for country development.
Keywords: financial partnership strategy; financial infrastructure; financial partner; fund; implementation; ADB
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Corporate Social Responsibility In Vietnamese Construction Industry
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a new concept for Vietnamese businesses in general and for construction firms in particular. It has become more familiar in recent years especially after Vietnam has enacted and implemented its “Doi moi” (renovation) policy since 1986 and has been gaining more and more significant economic goals. According to Post et al (2002), “CSR challenges businesses to be accountable for the consequence of their actions affecting the firm’s stakeholders while they pursue traditional economic goals.
The general public expects business to be socially responsible, and many companies have responded by making social goals a part of their overall business operations”. There are a lot of studies on CSR of businesses in general and other industries but there are few studies concentrating particularly on CSR in construction industry. Since Vietnam’s concept on CSR is not yet established, Mr. Tran Huong Quang made a study on “Corporate Social Responsibility in Vietnamese Construction Industry”. The main objective of his study is to understand the current status, attitudes and the awareness toward CSR in Vietnamese construction companies through their principles of conduct and evaluating the CSR performance.
His specific objectives are: (1) to understand the attitudes and the awareness of CSR in Vietnamese construction companies; (2) to explore the current status and performance of CSR in construction companies; (3) to find out the influence of other relevant factors to CSR performance in construction companies; and (4) to propose recommendations for CSR performance improvement.
His conclusions based on the result of his study are:
1. Attitude and awareness toward CSR - generally, Vietnamese construction managers have positive attitude toward CSR and good interest in CSR concept. A considerable percentage of managers understand CSR well and can recognize the benefit of CSR while some have bias perception.
2. CSR performance - most organizations have above average CSR performance score which generally come from certain “good characteristic” or objective advantages of construction industry rather than organization’s own efforts.
3. Influence of factors - CSR requires a bunch of indicators to be examined and controlled simultaneously which becomes a burden for every construction companies especially small and medium sized. The research shows that in public companies, there are some CSR indicators with good performance. “Sheer” public companies and similar still play important roles in Vietnamese economy, public equity exist strongly in those companies and the government somehow participates in decision making in those companies. This power is a good advantage for Vietnamese government to initiate many CSR promotion programs.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
During recent years, Vietnam, a developing country, is one of the most rapidly developing economies of the world. Among its objectives, sustainable development is essential. Together with attaining some Millennium Development Goals such as reducing poverty, faster growth, improving quality of education, gender equality…, Vietnam has been delivering more and more effort for its sustainable development.
Today’s heightened interest in the role of businesses in society has been promoted by increased sensitivity to and awareness of environmental and ethical issues. Issues like environmental damage, improper treatment of workers, and faulty production that inconveniences or endangers customers are highlighted in the media. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is closely linked with the principles of Sustainable Development and the wider aim of CSR is to create higher and higher standards of living while preserving the profitability of the corporation.
The Construction industry is a large and diverse component of any economy. Its positive contributions for the social through many deliverables are undeniable. But there are still inadequacies inside the industry which has been criticized by lots of researchers. The author would like to conduct a research based on a case study and a survey to assess the attitudes and the awareness toward CSR in Vietnamese construction companies through their principles of conduct and evaluating the CSR performance. By the way, the author would like to discuss about some suggestion for CSR performance improvement and devote his effort in a hope that it may give a small contribution for enhancing CSR among construction companies in his beloved country.
The general public expects business to be socially responsible, and many companies have responded by making social goals a part of their overall business operations”. There are a lot of studies on CSR of businesses in general and other industries but there are few studies concentrating particularly on CSR in construction industry. Since Vietnam’s concept on CSR is not yet established, Mr. Tran Huong Quang made a study on “Corporate Social Responsibility in Vietnamese Construction Industry”. The main objective of his study is to understand the current status, attitudes and the awareness toward CSR in Vietnamese construction companies through their principles of conduct and evaluating the CSR performance.
His specific objectives are: (1) to understand the attitudes and the awareness of CSR in Vietnamese construction companies; (2) to explore the current status and performance of CSR in construction companies; (3) to find out the influence of other relevant factors to CSR performance in construction companies; and (4) to propose recommendations for CSR performance improvement.
His conclusions based on the result of his study are:
1. Attitude and awareness toward CSR - generally, Vietnamese construction managers have positive attitude toward CSR and good interest in CSR concept. A considerable percentage of managers understand CSR well and can recognize the benefit of CSR while some have bias perception.
2. CSR performance - most organizations have above average CSR performance score which generally come from certain “good characteristic” or objective advantages of construction industry rather than organization’s own efforts.
3. Influence of factors - CSR requires a bunch of indicators to be examined and controlled simultaneously which becomes a burden for every construction companies especially small and medium sized. The research shows that in public companies, there are some CSR indicators with good performance. “Sheer” public companies and similar still play important roles in Vietnamese economy, public equity exist strongly in those companies and the government somehow participates in decision making in those companies. This power is a good advantage for Vietnamese government to initiate many CSR promotion programs.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
During recent years, Vietnam, a developing country, is one of the most rapidly developing economies of the world. Among its objectives, sustainable development is essential. Together with attaining some Millennium Development Goals such as reducing poverty, faster growth, improving quality of education, gender equality…, Vietnam has been delivering more and more effort for its sustainable development.
Today’s heightened interest in the role of businesses in society has been promoted by increased sensitivity to and awareness of environmental and ethical issues. Issues like environmental damage, improper treatment of workers, and faulty production that inconveniences or endangers customers are highlighted in the media. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is closely linked with the principles of Sustainable Development and the wider aim of CSR is to create higher and higher standards of living while preserving the profitability of the corporation.
The Construction industry is a large and diverse component of any economy. Its positive contributions for the social through many deliverables are undeniable. But there are still inadequacies inside the industry which has been criticized by lots of researchers. The author would like to conduct a research based on a case study and a survey to assess the attitudes and the awareness toward CSR in Vietnamese construction companies through their principles of conduct and evaluating the CSR performance. By the way, the author would like to discuss about some suggestion for CSR performance improvement and devote his effort in a hope that it may give a small contribution for enhancing CSR among construction companies in his beloved country.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Conflict Dynamics in Dam Construction Projects: A Case Study of Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Project, Nepal
In any construction projects, conflicts exist. The bigger the projects are, the more it face many disagreements. Dam construction project involve multidisciplinary teams and interdisciplinary activities. The limited time and physical resources has added the another complexity to the construction process. Different stakeholders have different objectives, perception and priorities. The difference in attitudes often creates conflict (Awakul and Ogunlana, 2002a) and as a result of which most of the projects are set aside at the planning stage whereas others are subject to conflicts during the execution stage causing enormous time and cost overruns.
Mr. Braj Kishor Mahato made a case study on Conflict Dynamics in Dam Construction Projects in Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Project in Nepal which aimed to develop a model for comprehensive and integrated approach of conflict management to manage the conflicts effectively, efficiently and equitably early in a project’s life using system dynamic modeling technique.
His study’s overall objective is to thoroughly understand and develop a simulation model for comprehensive, integrated and proactive approach of conflict management in dam construction project. The model will be helpful for project manager to assess and take proactive measures to manage the conflicts effectively, efficiently and equitably early in a project’s life. However, his study’s three specific objectives are to (1) identify and explore pertinent conflict factors in dam construction projects; (2) develop a model to understand the dynamics of conflict in dam construction project using system dynamics modeling technique; and (3) use the model to derive viable policies for minimization of conflict at construction stage in dam construction projects.
His major conclusions made in this study are as follows:
1. Most interesting fact found from model simulation is intensive public hearing prior to final decision at earlier stage surges conflict forward and minimize overall conflict at later stage.
2. Discloser of project related data to project stakeholder is not only surging conflict forward but also reducing it at construction stage.
3. Intensive public participation at early stage of project will decrease over all interface conflict in project. Public participation and consultation at early stage of project guarantying access to all stakeholders including disclosure of all data, both positive and negative, for public knowledge will reduce the anxiety of local people about the project and establish transparency beyond suspicion which will reduce confrontation at later stage.
4. It may be concluded from the simulation that discrepancy in compensation payment, resettlement and support programs can be minimized by effectively involving project-affected people in formulation and implementation of compensation, resettlement and support program
5. Proper implementation of programs related with resettlement of project affected people (project employment, compensation payment, support programs) will reduce interface conflict at later stage of project.
6. Increasing monitoring and reporting surge interface conflict slightly forward which will give opportunity to project team to take proactive action.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Interface conflict is identified as one of the major problem in dam construction projects. Differences in attitude and interest often create conflict as a result of which many projects are set aside at planning stage whereas others are subject to conflict during execution stage. Conflict in execution stage causes prolonged delay, enormous cost overrun and at worst abandon of project. Proper management of conflict can determine success or failure of a project. Thus it is crucial to identify the root-causes of interface conflict in present and past project to avoid such problems in future. Qualitative data gathered from the case studies, interviews conducted in Nepal and an intensive literature review has helped to develop a system dynamic model to explore and examine full context of interface conflict theoretically and practically in dam construction project. Reference mode approach was used in modeling based on literature and expert views on the typical evolution of key indicators of interface conflict. This study discusses factors that influence development of interface conflict in dam construction project in Nepalese context.
This study reveals that interface conflict at construction stage of project is caused by lack of effective public hearing prior to making final decision, public participation and information disclosure at early stage of project, insufficient education and training program, discrepancy in compensation payment, resettlement and support programs. Public involvement and mutual consultation considering guaranteed access to all stakeholders, public hearing prior to final decision will increase the public acceptance of the project. It will be easier to reach on agreement on conflicting issues when the stakeholders are well informed and empowered. Disclosure of accurate and timely information for public knowledge will reduce the anxiety of local people about the project and establish transparency beyond suspicion.
Discrepancy in compensation payment, resettlement and support programs can be minimized by (i) effectively involving project-affected people in formulation and implementation of compensation and resettlement program (ii) formulating comprehensive and inclusive national policy to resettlement issues in dam construction project. Education, training and support programs to the project-affected people will provide opportunity to restore their livelihood and create positive perception of community about dam project. Study also identified that monitoring and reporting will allow for identifying success stories to be replicated and avoiding the failure, which will ultimately decrease the negative perception of community about dam project. This will reduce interface conflict in future dam construction project.
Mr. Braj Kishor Mahato made a case study on Conflict Dynamics in Dam Construction Projects in Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Project in Nepal which aimed to develop a model for comprehensive and integrated approach of conflict management to manage the conflicts effectively, efficiently and equitably early in a project’s life using system dynamic modeling technique.
His study’s overall objective is to thoroughly understand and develop a simulation model for comprehensive, integrated and proactive approach of conflict management in dam construction project. The model will be helpful for project manager to assess and take proactive measures to manage the conflicts effectively, efficiently and equitably early in a project’s life. However, his study’s three specific objectives are to (1) identify and explore pertinent conflict factors in dam construction projects; (2) develop a model to understand the dynamics of conflict in dam construction project using system dynamics modeling technique; and (3) use the model to derive viable policies for minimization of conflict at construction stage in dam construction projects.
His major conclusions made in this study are as follows:
1. Most interesting fact found from model simulation is intensive public hearing prior to final decision at earlier stage surges conflict forward and minimize overall conflict at later stage.
2. Discloser of project related data to project stakeholder is not only surging conflict forward but also reducing it at construction stage.
3. Intensive public participation at early stage of project will decrease over all interface conflict in project. Public participation and consultation at early stage of project guarantying access to all stakeholders including disclosure of all data, both positive and negative, for public knowledge will reduce the anxiety of local people about the project and establish transparency beyond suspicion which will reduce confrontation at later stage.
4. It may be concluded from the simulation that discrepancy in compensation payment, resettlement and support programs can be minimized by effectively involving project-affected people in formulation and implementation of compensation, resettlement and support program
5. Proper implementation of programs related with resettlement of project affected people (project employment, compensation payment, support programs) will reduce interface conflict at later stage of project.
6. Increasing monitoring and reporting surge interface conflict slightly forward which will give opportunity to project team to take proactive action.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
Interface conflict is identified as one of the major problem in dam construction projects. Differences in attitude and interest often create conflict as a result of which many projects are set aside at planning stage whereas others are subject to conflict during execution stage. Conflict in execution stage causes prolonged delay, enormous cost overrun and at worst abandon of project. Proper management of conflict can determine success or failure of a project. Thus it is crucial to identify the root-causes of interface conflict in present and past project to avoid such problems in future. Qualitative data gathered from the case studies, interviews conducted in Nepal and an intensive literature review has helped to develop a system dynamic model to explore and examine full context of interface conflict theoretically and practically in dam construction project. Reference mode approach was used in modeling based on literature and expert views on the typical evolution of key indicators of interface conflict. This study discusses factors that influence development of interface conflict in dam construction project in Nepalese context.
This study reveals that interface conflict at construction stage of project is caused by lack of effective public hearing prior to making final decision, public participation and information disclosure at early stage of project, insufficient education and training program, discrepancy in compensation payment, resettlement and support programs. Public involvement and mutual consultation considering guaranteed access to all stakeholders, public hearing prior to final decision will increase the public acceptance of the project. It will be easier to reach on agreement on conflicting issues when the stakeholders are well informed and empowered. Disclosure of accurate and timely information for public knowledge will reduce the anxiety of local people about the project and establish transparency beyond suspicion.
Discrepancy in compensation payment, resettlement and support programs can be minimized by (i) effectively involving project-affected people in formulation and implementation of compensation and resettlement program (ii) formulating comprehensive and inclusive national policy to resettlement issues in dam construction project. Education, training and support programs to the project-affected people will provide opportunity to restore their livelihood and create positive perception of community about dam project. Study also identified that monitoring and reporting will allow for identifying success stories to be replicated and avoiding the failure, which will ultimately decrease the negative perception of community about dam project. This will reduce interface conflict in future dam construction project.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Safety Rules And Procedures Development And Implementation: A Study On Construction Industries In Thailand
The construction industry is known for its poor safety performance when compared with other industries. According to Mohamed (1999), construction accident contribute to many human tragedies, de-motivate workers, disrupt site activities, delay project progress and negatively affect the overall cost, productivity or even the industry’s reputation.
Many researchers made a lot of studies to find ways in having a concrete safety measures to be applied in the construction firm to minimize these related accidents.
Mr. Andreas Adihartanto made a case study on the “Safety Rules and Procedures Development and Implementation” that Thai Construction firms are now applying. The main objective of his study is to investigate effective ways to manage safety rules and procedures when they have to deal with several types of violations. However, to attain the main objective, several sub-objectives were also proposed in his research to (1) investigate the prevalent safety rules and procedures practices in the construction industry in Thailand; (2) explore the relationship between organizational culture attribute and safety rules and procedures development and implementation; (3) examine the relationship between safety rules and procedures development, implementation and type of worker’s violations; (4) explore the relationship between leadership styles and types of safety rules and procedures violations; and (5) As an initial research to investigate the possibility of the “Peltzman Effect” occurrence in construction safety.
Mr. Adihartanto’s conclusions:
SRP’s practices in the construction industry in Thailand
He found out that there were no significant differences between medium-sized and large-sized construction projects in the way they develop and implement SRPs. Most of the SRP’s development variables were scored as high which indicated that contractor companies in Thailand typically take into accounts all of these variables when they develop their SRPs. However, during the implementation, they do not prefer to provide SRPs in form of writing documents (safety cards, manuals, etc.) to all of the workers, including translating written SRPs to the workers’ native language. Further analysis revealed a predisposition that management exploits these variables merely as of value to protect their back from the workers’ excuses. Regarding the translation of written SRPs, most respondents preferred to utilize interpreters to communicate their safety messages into the workgroups in which commonly they are the head of the groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that workers’ type of violations were occurred in similarity, in which they were ranging from erroneous to routine violations.
Organizational culture and SRP’s development and implementation
His analysis result indicated that neither of the clan nor the hierarchical culture attributes is more superior and effective in the development and implementation of SRPs. Each of these attributes has both positives and negatives. It is suggested therefore, that it is much more important for the management to understand the strengths as well as the weaknesses of particular attributes in their relation to the SRP’s development and implementation in order to make necessary adjustment for their organizational effectiveness.
Safety rules and procedures which were known to be complicated or confusing were adjusted, and it is more likely that they willing to put operatives’ suggestions into the rules development. However, in this kind of organizations, drawbacks are resulted from the management deficiencies in supporting their site operation as apparently, the availability of the SRP’s documents to the workforces and maintenance of safety visual signs were insufficient. Therefore, the decisions are skewed more on the management’s side.
SRP’s development and implementation with the type of worker’s violations
The result came with some SRP’s development and implementation variables that could potentially reduce particular type of violations. Therefore, it should be pointed out that mismanaging some of these variables could potentially promote violations. Although the rest of the variables were not found in contributing to the reduction of any type of violations, it is still suggested that management takes these variables into their Hierarchical Attributes Negatives Positives Operation, technical support deficiency Open-systems approach Bureaucratic approachOrdered, well-arranged Procedural rigidity, over reliance Output maximization, torientedClan Attributes Towards FlexiTowards Centra consideration when developing and implementing their SRPs. Table 5.3 and 5.4 below summarizes the analysis result analysis in which they portrayed the potential of each SRP’s development and implementation variable to reduce particular type of violations.
Leadership styles and type of worker’s violations
The result signifies the need for the Safety Officers to carefully understand the impact of their leadership behaviors. It is suggested that emphasize should have been taken to minimize the negative effect of the leadership styles rather than to reduce them. Based from the observations on-site combined with the analyses results, the researcher postulated that the problem largely relies on the workers’ perception. Thus, safety trainings were suggested to address this problem, particularly to take bigger portion in correcting workers’ perception.
5. The Peltzman Effect
In terms of workers’ activeness in safety programs participation, this study did not identify the presence of Peltzman Effect. However, further studies are suggested to investigate this phenomenon from different angle.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to identify problems associated with the development and implementation of safety rules and procedures (SRPs) to ensure worker’s compliance and to give an insight of effective solutions to overcome these problems. The discussions were broadened to identify the influence of organizational culture to the SRP’s development and implementation, the potential of leadership styles in handling particular type of violations and the possibility of the Peltzman Effect occurrence in the construction industry.
The result revealed that several SRP’s development and implementation variables have a great potential in reducing particular type of violations. Therefore, management should be aware that mismanaging these variables could potentially promote violations. In general, the finding suggested that SRP’s should be: (i) developed following project risks assessment, (ii) designed so that it will not over restricted individuals working efficiency, and (iii) designed considering operational difficulties. As well, during the implementation, SRP’s should be: (a) available to all of the workforces, (b) implemented alongside with varieties of safety trainings, and (c) enforced by providing wide ranging of PPE or any other resources necessary to do the job safely.
Furthermore, the findings also suggested the need for the management to understand the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the particular organizational culture attributes in their relation to the SRP’s development and implementation in order to make necessary adjustments for their organizational effectiveness. It is also suggested the need for the Safety Officers to carefully understanding the impact of their leadership behaviors. At last, in terms of worker’s activeness in safety programs participation, this study did not identify the presence of the Peltzman Effect.
Many researchers made a lot of studies to find ways in having a concrete safety measures to be applied in the construction firm to minimize these related accidents.
Mr. Andreas Adihartanto made a case study on the “Safety Rules and Procedures Development and Implementation” that Thai Construction firms are now applying. The main objective of his study is to investigate effective ways to manage safety rules and procedures when they have to deal with several types of violations. However, to attain the main objective, several sub-objectives were also proposed in his research to (1) investigate the prevalent safety rules and procedures practices in the construction industry in Thailand; (2) explore the relationship between organizational culture attribute and safety rules and procedures development and implementation; (3) examine the relationship between safety rules and procedures development, implementation and type of worker’s violations; (4) explore the relationship between leadership styles and types of safety rules and procedures violations; and (5) As an initial research to investigate the possibility of the “Peltzman Effect” occurrence in construction safety.
Mr. Adihartanto’s conclusions:
SRP’s practices in the construction industry in Thailand
He found out that there were no significant differences between medium-sized and large-sized construction projects in the way they develop and implement SRPs. Most of the SRP’s development variables were scored as high which indicated that contractor companies in Thailand typically take into accounts all of these variables when they develop their SRPs. However, during the implementation, they do not prefer to provide SRPs in form of writing documents (safety cards, manuals, etc.) to all of the workers, including translating written SRPs to the workers’ native language. Further analysis revealed a predisposition that management exploits these variables merely as of value to protect their back from the workers’ excuses. Regarding the translation of written SRPs, most respondents preferred to utilize interpreters to communicate their safety messages into the workgroups in which commonly they are the head of the groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that workers’ type of violations were occurred in similarity, in which they were ranging from erroneous to routine violations.
Organizational culture and SRP’s development and implementation
His analysis result indicated that neither of the clan nor the hierarchical culture attributes is more superior and effective in the development and implementation of SRPs. Each of these attributes has both positives and negatives. It is suggested therefore, that it is much more important for the management to understand the strengths as well as the weaknesses of particular attributes in their relation to the SRP’s development and implementation in order to make necessary adjustment for their organizational effectiveness.
Safety rules and procedures which were known to be complicated or confusing were adjusted, and it is more likely that they willing to put operatives’ suggestions into the rules development. However, in this kind of organizations, drawbacks are resulted from the management deficiencies in supporting their site operation as apparently, the availability of the SRP’s documents to the workforces and maintenance of safety visual signs were insufficient. Therefore, the decisions are skewed more on the management’s side.
SRP’s development and implementation with the type of worker’s violations
The result came with some SRP’s development and implementation variables that could potentially reduce particular type of violations. Therefore, it should be pointed out that mismanaging some of these variables could potentially promote violations. Although the rest of the variables were not found in contributing to the reduction of any type of violations, it is still suggested that management takes these variables into their Hierarchical Attributes Negatives Positives Operation, technical support deficiency Open-systems approach Bureaucratic approachOrdered, well-arranged Procedural rigidity, over reliance Output maximization, torientedClan Attributes Towards FlexiTowards Centra consideration when developing and implementing their SRPs. Table 5.3 and 5.4 below summarizes the analysis result analysis in which they portrayed the potential of each SRP’s development and implementation variable to reduce particular type of violations.
Leadership styles and type of worker’s violations
The result signifies the need for the Safety Officers to carefully understand the impact of their leadership behaviors. It is suggested that emphasize should have been taken to minimize the negative effect of the leadership styles rather than to reduce them. Based from the observations on-site combined with the analyses results, the researcher postulated that the problem largely relies on the workers’ perception. Thus, safety trainings were suggested to address this problem, particularly to take bigger portion in correcting workers’ perception.
5. The Peltzman Effect
In terms of workers’ activeness in safety programs participation, this study did not identify the presence of Peltzman Effect. However, further studies are suggested to investigate this phenomenon from different angle.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out to identify problems associated with the development and implementation of safety rules and procedures (SRPs) to ensure worker’s compliance and to give an insight of effective solutions to overcome these problems. The discussions were broadened to identify the influence of organizational culture to the SRP’s development and implementation, the potential of leadership styles in handling particular type of violations and the possibility of the Peltzman Effect occurrence in the construction industry.
The result revealed that several SRP’s development and implementation variables have a great potential in reducing particular type of violations. Therefore, management should be aware that mismanaging these variables could potentially promote violations. In general, the finding suggested that SRP’s should be: (i) developed following project risks assessment, (ii) designed so that it will not over restricted individuals working efficiency, and (iii) designed considering operational difficulties. As well, during the implementation, SRP’s should be: (a) available to all of the workforces, (b) implemented alongside with varieties of safety trainings, and (c) enforced by providing wide ranging of PPE or any other resources necessary to do the job safely.
Furthermore, the findings also suggested the need for the management to understand the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the particular organizational culture attributes in their relation to the SRP’s development and implementation in order to make necessary adjustments for their organizational effectiveness. It is also suggested the need for the Safety Officers to carefully understanding the impact of their leadership behaviors. At last, in terms of worker’s activeness in safety programs participation, this study did not identify the presence of the Peltzman Effect.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Framework Implementation Of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, And Residual Management For Thai Building Construction Industry
In 1972, the first conference in sustainable development was held at Stockholm, Sweden. Since then, several countries all over the world have put a great emphasis on this issue and have accepted it as the major concern in a mainstream. A number of conferences and summits have been organized in order to ensure that the world has met the requirement of sustainable contents. Many countries have signed an agreement to accept the agenda in processing the implementation of sustainable development concept across all industries, especially in construction industry. Consequently, “sustainable construction” is the term commonly used in representing sustainability in construction industry.
In term of sustainable construction, material waste is one of key issues (DIT, 2000). The waste has a directly crucial impact on environment. The obvious effect of which which can be easily observed is the rapid achievement of landfill site. A number of studies tried to find out the causes of the construction material waste and the approaches to minimize the waste. Since the waste minimization and management are the important issues toward the sustainable construction, Mr. Pakawat Pormmoon made a case study concerning the systematic formulation of framework through 4Rs (reduce, reuse, recycling, and residual management) waste management strategy for managing the construction material waste on sites. This framework is hoped to enable the construction companies to deal with the construction material waste.
Mr. Pormmoon’s research objective is to develop the 4Rs framework implementation for the construction industry. In order to achieve this main objective, the three
key objectives were also set to (1) investigate the existing activities relating to the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle, and residual management in Thai building construction industry; (2) test the validation of collected 4Rs-relevant activities; (3) develop the framework implementation following to 4Rs concept.
The result of his case study based from the interview revealed that ten general issues can be implemented through 4R’s concept. These issues include (1) environmental policy; (2) nearly Just-in-time delivery; (3) waste management plan; (4) use of long-life construction material; (5) standardization of design; (6) design and build scheme; (7) project quality plan; (8) off-site prefabrication; (9) supply chain alliances with suppliers and recycling companies; and (10)“Take-back” scheme.
However, upon detailed implementation of each “R” in 4Rs, many activities have been arisen. These activities were categorized as (a) improvement of material ordering and supplying; (b) changes of material selection; (c) improvement of site material management; (d) increase of work controlling; (e) defining of alternative options for reuse and recycle; (f) provision of sorting methods and container, area, or infrastructure for collection of by-product; and (g) setting of policies according to the relevance law and regulation; Residual Collection and Residual Disposal
Another finding of his study validated that 4Rs have many relevant activities such as:
1) General Issues
a. To set up environmental policy in order to contribute the implementation of 4Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, and residual management) principle in practices
b. To apply ‘nearly Just-in-time’ delivery principle in order to reduce and alleviate the congestion of material movement on site
c. To encourage the use of Design and Build scheme to deliver project in order to utilize use of value engineering concept
d. To enhance the use of standardization of design in term of modular system to improve buildability and reduce the quantity of off-cuts on site
e. To increase the use of off-site prefabrication to control loss, waste, and damage, thus, the off-cut can be reduced
f. To enhance the use of long-life construction materials such as steel, standard wood, and others to construct building components; therefore those structures can longer be used
g. To develop Project Quality Plan for managing construction materials on site
h. To develop Waste Management Plan for managing waste on site
2) Reduce at management level
a. Improvement of material ordering and supplying
b. Changes of material selection
c. Improvement of site material management
d. Increase of work controlling
3) Reduce at operational level
4) Reuse and recycle at management level
a. Defining of alternative options for reuse and recycle
b. Provision of sorting and collecting methods, container, area, or infrastructure for collection of by-product
5) Reuse and recycle at operational level
6) Residual management at management level - Setting of policies according to the relevance law and regulation
7) Residual management at operational level
His study’s last finding is that application of each 4Rs-relevant on sites and its implementation can be done at both site management and operational level as implemented by Bovis Lend Lease (Thailand) Limited. It yields a better work execution than other companies at site management level.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
The problems regarding to sustainable construction are that the most of construction materials are considered to be low efficiently used. The less efficient use of construction materials will not be a problem if the natural resources are limitless, but in fact it is not. In addition, the construction firms need to be reminded that waste make financial cost both direct cost and indirect cost are significant. Many researches have tried to apply the 3Rs (Reduce, reuse, and recycle) waste strategy for managing waste on construction sites. Consequently, this study has tried to apply the concept of 4Rs, reduce, reuse, recycle, residual management concept in Thai building construction industry. To apply 4Rs, reduce, reuse, recycle, residual management concept in Thai construction industry is the main purpose of this thesis.
In order to correlate the main and the sub-objectives of this study, research methodology has been split into three main steps. The first step is to investigate existing 4Rs-relevant activities. The result is that the related activities following 4Rs concept. These activities would be utilized in the next step, gathering the significance and applicability of collected 4Rs-relevant activities. The second step, some activities have been removed. There are six experts utilized in the second step. The last step is to measure the application of each 4Rs activity on sites at both management and operational level. The data in last step were
collected from both Bovis Lend Lease (Thailand) Limited and other companies within Thai building construction industry.
The results were found that validated eight general issues can be implemented through the 4R’s concept. Moreover, there are eight groups of work which 4Rs concepts can be implemented through that are improvement of material ordering and supplying, changes of material selection, improvement of site material management, increase of work controlling, defining of alternative options for reuse and recycle, provision of sorting methods and container, area, or infrastructure for collection of by-product, and setting of policies according to the relevance law and regulation.
In term of sustainable construction, material waste is one of key issues (DIT, 2000). The waste has a directly crucial impact on environment. The obvious effect of which which can be easily observed is the rapid achievement of landfill site. A number of studies tried to find out the causes of the construction material waste and the approaches to minimize the waste. Since the waste minimization and management are the important issues toward the sustainable construction, Mr. Pakawat Pormmoon made a case study concerning the systematic formulation of framework through 4Rs (reduce, reuse, recycling, and residual management) waste management strategy for managing the construction material waste on sites. This framework is hoped to enable the construction companies to deal with the construction material waste.
Mr. Pormmoon’s research objective is to develop the 4Rs framework implementation for the construction industry. In order to achieve this main objective, the three
key objectives were also set to (1) investigate the existing activities relating to the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle, and residual management in Thai building construction industry; (2) test the validation of collected 4Rs-relevant activities; (3) develop the framework implementation following to 4Rs concept.
The result of his case study based from the interview revealed that ten general issues can be implemented through 4R’s concept. These issues include (1) environmental policy; (2) nearly Just-in-time delivery; (3) waste management plan; (4) use of long-life construction material; (5) standardization of design; (6) design and build scheme; (7) project quality plan; (8) off-site prefabrication; (9) supply chain alliances with suppliers and recycling companies; and (10)“Take-back” scheme.
However, upon detailed implementation of each “R” in 4Rs, many activities have been arisen. These activities were categorized as (a) improvement of material ordering and supplying; (b) changes of material selection; (c) improvement of site material management; (d) increase of work controlling; (e) defining of alternative options for reuse and recycle; (f) provision of sorting methods and container, area, or infrastructure for collection of by-product; and (g) setting of policies according to the relevance law and regulation; Residual Collection and Residual Disposal
Another finding of his study validated that 4Rs have many relevant activities such as:
1) General Issues
a. To set up environmental policy in order to contribute the implementation of 4Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, and residual management) principle in practices
b. To apply ‘nearly Just-in-time’ delivery principle in order to reduce and alleviate the congestion of material movement on site
c. To encourage the use of Design and Build scheme to deliver project in order to utilize use of value engineering concept
d. To enhance the use of standardization of design in term of modular system to improve buildability and reduce the quantity of off-cuts on site
e. To increase the use of off-site prefabrication to control loss, waste, and damage, thus, the off-cut can be reduced
f. To enhance the use of long-life construction materials such as steel, standard wood, and others to construct building components; therefore those structures can longer be used
g. To develop Project Quality Plan for managing construction materials on site
h. To develop Waste Management Plan for managing waste on site
2) Reduce at management level
a. Improvement of material ordering and supplying
b. Changes of material selection
c. Improvement of site material management
d. Increase of work controlling
3) Reduce at operational level
4) Reuse and recycle at management level
a. Defining of alternative options for reuse and recycle
b. Provision of sorting and collecting methods, container, area, or infrastructure for collection of by-product
5) Reuse and recycle at operational level
6) Residual management at management level - Setting of policies according to the relevance law and regulation
7) Residual management at operational level
His study’s last finding is that application of each 4Rs-relevant on sites and its implementation can be done at both site management and operational level as implemented by Bovis Lend Lease (Thailand) Limited. It yields a better work execution than other companies at site management level.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
The problems regarding to sustainable construction are that the most of construction materials are considered to be low efficiently used. The less efficient use of construction materials will not be a problem if the natural resources are limitless, but in fact it is not. In addition, the construction firms need to be reminded that waste make financial cost both direct cost and indirect cost are significant. Many researches have tried to apply the 3Rs (Reduce, reuse, and recycle) waste strategy for managing waste on construction sites. Consequently, this study has tried to apply the concept of 4Rs, reduce, reuse, recycle, residual management concept in Thai building construction industry. To apply 4Rs, reduce, reuse, recycle, residual management concept in Thai construction industry is the main purpose of this thesis.
In order to correlate the main and the sub-objectives of this study, research methodology has been split into three main steps. The first step is to investigate existing 4Rs-relevant activities. The result is that the related activities following 4Rs concept. These activities would be utilized in the next step, gathering the significance and applicability of collected 4Rs-relevant activities. The second step, some activities have been removed. There are six experts utilized in the second step. The last step is to measure the application of each 4Rs activity on sites at both management and operational level. The data in last step were
collected from both Bovis Lend Lease (Thailand) Limited and other companies within Thai building construction industry.
The results were found that validated eight general issues can be implemented through the 4R’s concept. Moreover, there are eight groups of work which 4Rs concepts can be implemented through that are improvement of material ordering and supplying, changes of material selection, improvement of site material management, increase of work controlling, defining of alternative options for reuse and recycle, provision of sorting methods and container, area, or infrastructure for collection of by-product, and setting of policies according to the relevance law and regulation.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Total Quality Management In Property Development Projects In Vietnam
Despite of a half-year difficulty, Vietnam real estate market is now considered a long term potential market as foreign investors are keen on developing more projects. From the picture of real estate development in 2008, it showed that all trading in this sector are almost frozen, together with the increasing of interest from the banks and material prices, domestic investors are put in troubles. Meanwhile, foreign capital from the outside investors is continuously put in Vietnam’s real estate market with an impetuous speed.
Many foreign developers are still looking for opportunities to penetrate Vietnam's realty market, and many companies are now interested in HCM City's outskirts such as Thu Thiem and Cu Chi District. Developers are also keen-on complexes of apartments, offices and commercial centers, resorts, industrial parks and residential areas. These segments' supply and demand are not well matched. Consequently, if having visibility strategy such as focusing on target customer, paying attention on marketing and having ability to bring out a high quality product, then chance of success is a seeable thing.
According to Goetsch (2002) “Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to doing business that maximizes the competitiveness of an organization through continuous improvement of its products, services, people processes, and environment”. Kotler, 1999 noted that the foundation of TQM is satisfaction renders by products or services and products (or services) are nothing offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that satisfy a want or need.
TQM is not a new concept in the manufacturing sector. However, it does not mean that management system which have worked well in the manufacturing sector can be directly well-applied to construction. This is due to the nature differences between the two sectors. Construction industry has its own unique feature while manufacturing calls for repeat processes with products primarily put out in large batches. On the other hand, construction work is undertaken in the main single batch or projects. Although many of the basic processes are repeated from job to job (e.g. concreting and plastering), the specifics of application are always changing (Low & Peh, 1996).
In construction industry, where customers’ requirements are increasingly complex and expectations are uncertain, the application of such tools becomes difficult. Vietnam’s Property market is now considered a complex and “hot” environment for investors. Hence, application of TQM will be a competitive advantage (Low & Peh, 1996). If TQM can be implemented into property development field in a right way, it can help to improve the quality as well as the productivity of the project. It is a need to identify suitable TQM factors that are applicable to these projects in order to take the best efficiency of implementation.
Ms. Nguyen Viet Nhan made a case study that focused on the property developing projects in Ho Chi Minh City to (1) find out TQM factors that are applicable to property developing projects; (2) find out the perception and practices of TQM in Vietnam property development; and (3) develop TQM framework that is applicable in Vietnam property development.
The results of her study clearly indicated that Leadership and commitment by top management is the most critical factor for the successful implementation of TQM in Vietnam property development organizations. Once it is known exactly where the organization is, the manager can take steps to improve the overall effectiveness of quality management system. This study also found out that the first five critical problems of TQM implementation are (1) Customer focus; (2) Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor; (3) Leadership and commitment of top management; (4) Employee involvement and commitment; and (5) Education and training. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the factors affecting successful implementation of TQM in property developments projects. The primary objectives of this study illustrate the development of TQM, introduce the common TQM model and evaluate the items in property development management's TQM model that are believed to be most successfully and most unsuccessfully implemented. In the later part of the study proposes a new TQM model that is applicable in Vietnam market. The result finding is expected to be powerful information for future research directions especially as an indicator for the development of a suitable TQM framework for the property development projects in Vietnam.
The survey was carried in Ho Chi Minh City and the suburban provinces of Ho Chi Minh City. 145 samples from medium-large scale projects were selected for the analysis. All respondent‟s results were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. Theory using in this survey is grounded from literature review and expert‟s experience. There are twelve factors which affect successful TQM implementation were identified from the survey. The findings indicated that the most important element in TQM framework is Commitment and Leadership by Top Management. The others critical dimensions of TQM are Employee Involvement and Commitment, Education & Training, Communication to improve quality, Policy, System & Process, Customer focus, Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor, Quality Audit & Evaluation, Improve jobsite quality, Work environment & Culture, Team working for, Continuous improvement, and Resource management. The findings also indicated that there was a difference on TQM perception between project manager and site engineer in some dimension of TQM. These are Customer focus, Quality Audit and evaluation, and Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor. A gap the analysis was carried to examine the importance and actual status of these TQM factors. The results indicated that there are a big gap between actual practice and perception. The top five factors that have largest gaps were Customer focus, Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor, Leadership and commitment of top management, Employee involvement and commitment, Education and training. Improving the satisfactory levels of these factors may lead to a successful TQM implementation. Finally, a framework for implementing TQM is recommended.
Many foreign developers are still looking for opportunities to penetrate Vietnam's realty market, and many companies are now interested in HCM City's outskirts such as Thu Thiem and Cu Chi District. Developers are also keen-on complexes of apartments, offices and commercial centers, resorts, industrial parks and residential areas. These segments' supply and demand are not well matched. Consequently, if having visibility strategy such as focusing on target customer, paying attention on marketing and having ability to bring out a high quality product, then chance of success is a seeable thing.
According to Goetsch (2002) “Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to doing business that maximizes the competitiveness of an organization through continuous improvement of its products, services, people processes, and environment”. Kotler, 1999 noted that the foundation of TQM is satisfaction renders by products or services and products (or services) are nothing offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that satisfy a want or need.
TQM is not a new concept in the manufacturing sector. However, it does not mean that management system which have worked well in the manufacturing sector can be directly well-applied to construction. This is due to the nature differences between the two sectors. Construction industry has its own unique feature while manufacturing calls for repeat processes with products primarily put out in large batches. On the other hand, construction work is undertaken in the main single batch or projects. Although many of the basic processes are repeated from job to job (e.g. concreting and plastering), the specifics of application are always changing (Low & Peh, 1996).
In construction industry, where customers’ requirements are increasingly complex and expectations are uncertain, the application of such tools becomes difficult. Vietnam’s Property market is now considered a complex and “hot” environment for investors. Hence, application of TQM will be a competitive advantage (Low & Peh, 1996). If TQM can be implemented into property development field in a right way, it can help to improve the quality as well as the productivity of the project. It is a need to identify suitable TQM factors that are applicable to these projects in order to take the best efficiency of implementation.
Ms. Nguyen Viet Nhan made a case study that focused on the property developing projects in Ho Chi Minh City to (1) find out TQM factors that are applicable to property developing projects; (2) find out the perception and practices of TQM in Vietnam property development; and (3) develop TQM framework that is applicable in Vietnam property development.
The results of her study clearly indicated that Leadership and commitment by top management is the most critical factor for the successful implementation of TQM in Vietnam property development organizations. Once it is known exactly where the organization is, the manager can take steps to improve the overall effectiveness of quality management system. This study also found out that the first five critical problems of TQM implementation are (1) Customer focus; (2) Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor; (3) Leadership and commitment of top management; (4) Employee involvement and commitment; and (5) Education and training. These five priority factors should be given more attention in order to achieve a satisfactory level.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the factors affecting successful implementation of TQM in property developments projects. The primary objectives of this study illustrate the development of TQM, introduce the common TQM model and evaluate the items in property development management's TQM model that are believed to be most successfully and most unsuccessfully implemented. In the later part of the study proposes a new TQM model that is applicable in Vietnam market. The result finding is expected to be powerful information for future research directions especially as an indicator for the development of a suitable TQM framework for the property development projects in Vietnam.
The survey was carried in Ho Chi Minh City and the suburban provinces of Ho Chi Minh City. 145 samples from medium-large scale projects were selected for the analysis. All respondent‟s results were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. Theory using in this survey is grounded from literature review and expert‟s experience. There are twelve factors which affect successful TQM implementation were identified from the survey. The findings indicated that the most important element in TQM framework is Commitment and Leadership by Top Management. The others critical dimensions of TQM are Employee Involvement and Commitment, Education & Training, Communication to improve quality, Policy, System & Process, Customer focus, Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor, Quality Audit & Evaluation, Improve jobsite quality, Work environment & Culture, Team working for, Continuous improvement, and Resource management. The findings also indicated that there was a difference on TQM perception between project manager and site engineer in some dimension of TQM. These are Customer focus, Quality Audit and evaluation, and Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor. A gap the analysis was carried to examine the importance and actual status of these TQM factors. The results indicated that there are a big gap between actual practice and perception. The top five factors that have largest gaps were Customer focus, Relationship with supplier, contractor and subcontractor, Leadership and commitment of top management, Employee involvement and commitment, Education and training. Improving the satisfactory levels of these factors may lead to a successful TQM implementation. Finally, a framework for implementing TQM is recommended.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Improvement Of The Budgeting System For Transportation Projects By Enhancing Road Transportation Technical Knowledge
Transportation infrastructure is one of the most important categories of infrastructure. It is fundamental in movement of people and goods. According to Andrichak (2005), transportation infrastructure is the durable capital of the city that fixed in the location. It was defined as a long-term asset on investment site. For development side, transportation was defined as the one of the tools which influences two sides of country development. First side, transportation investment effects community development, comprises of social, political and natural, and another side is economic development (Mourmouris, 2005).
In Thailand, ADB (2008) emphasized that the proposed megaprojects program is required to sustain long-term growth of economy. The amount of expenditure in transportation sector is 7.8 billion dollars which is considered to be the third of government allocation in megaproject investment plan. The Bureau of the Budget plays a crucial role in all responsibilities concerned with budgeting such as budget management, budget analysis for budget allocation, monitoring and evaluating the performance of government ministries and agencies. This bureau is also responsible to prepare an annual government statement of expenditure.
For budgeting system, budget is always considered for two main sides which are revenue side and expenditure side. Budgeting is as a document which forecasts and authorizes the annual governmental revenue and expenditure of the state (Storum, 1917). On the expenditure side of the budget, government allocates budgets to project following functional classification of expenditure, such as health care, education and transportation project (World Bank, 2008). The thing is the bigger size of project means bigger amount of budget investing in project. The key important factor is expenditure prioritization. Therefore, principle to considering project is very important for budgeting officers in order to prioritize which project should be allocated budget in.
Ms. Korakade Thamphongsri made a case study to tackle the three main issues such as: (1) inadequate budgeting knowledge using for project prioritization and budget allocation; (2) unclear criteria for project prioritization and selection; and (3) lacking of understanding technical knowledge of transportation project using for project consideration.
The objectives of her study is to (1) investigate current practices and perceptions of governmental budgeting officers from Bureau of the Budget and Ministry of Transportation regarding budgeting system; (2) develop physical model of road transportation components for applying in budget consideration; and (3) propose recommendation for improving budget allocation of road transportation project by applying utilities of developed model.
She concluded that road transportation project is a basic infrastructure which is necessary for the society and needs huge amount of budget for investment. Therefore, bureaucrats who are responsible for budgeting department play crucial role in this task – project consideration and budgeting allocation. Although there is budgeting system used for managing budget, it still has problem in lacking of knowledge of budgeting officers to budget management.
The purpose of studying perception of budgeting officers regarding problem influencing budgeting system is to: 1) investigate current practices and perceptions of governmental budgeting officers from Bureau of the Budget and Ministry of Transportation regarding budgeting system, 2) develop physical model of road transportation components and 3) propose recommendation for improving budget allocation of road transportation project by applying utilities of developed model.
Current Practice of Budgeting System
From investigating current practice of budgeting system, it was found that there are different perceptions between budgeting officers from budgeting level and operational level. Below are crucial points that show different of perceptions to budgeting instrument of budgeting system.
1. Project management: Perception of budgeting officers at budgeting level with problem influencing implementation of budgeting system highly tend to be the problem in part of project management. The reason is problems are mostly related to unreadiness of project operation which mostly comes from planning phase of project. Another problem is related to lacking of important information of project such as project feasibility study which is the main data that budgeting officers use to consider and make decision for budget allocation.
2. Output costing: Perception of operational officers with problem influencing implementation of budgeting system highly tend to be the problem in part of output costing. Almost problems are related with financial recording system from central office which its function is not flexible to be integrated with existing system of operational department. It would make recording cost of activity at operational level difficult which affects to budget record at budgeting level as well. Another problem is activities distribution without considering of central officers before distributing which can lead to unnecessary budget allocation.
3. Output structure: From result, both levels of budgeting officers have good practice in output structure. The thing is that both budgeting officers at budgeting level and operational level familiar in using this budgeting instrument for breaking down output of project from time to time. Therefore, both levels of budgeting officers do not have problem with implementing output structure.
4. Alignment between strategies, objective, strategic plan, and output with the budget: Operational officers mostly have practice problem with this instrument more than budgeting officers. Problem with key performance indicator (KPI) is a main problem for Operational officer. Performance indicator has bigger scale of measurement than actual work. The thing is bigger scale of performance indicators would lead more budgets to project. Therefore, indicator should be indicated with appropriate consideration.
5. Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF): Budgeting officers at budgeting level mostly have practice problem with this instrument more than operational officers. The important practice problem for budgeting officers is a lack of success evaluation of megaproject for MTEF budget ceiling. This problem would affect budgeting allocation. Because megaproject needs large amount of budget, success evaluation of previous megaproject would be useful for considering in order allocating budget to coming megaproject.
6. Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART): Budgeting officers at budgeting level have practice problem in implementing PART at operational level which operational officers do not emphasize PART evaluation on working performance. A lack of emphasizing PART evaluation would affect to decision making on budget allocating for the next project of department. For operational officers, they have practice problem in inflexible PART system for using operational level because evaluation system is belonging to assessment division in practical.
Problem Ranking
From part of analysis, there are problem ranking of both budgeting officers from Bureau of the Budget and from Ministry of Transportation. For officers at Bureau of the Budget - budgeting level, the first three problems, which are the most importance to influencing budgeting system, are problems in part of project management. These are problems in the first three ranks.
1st rank : Most projects are prioritized by the individual policies of high level management rather than by the readiness of project operation. (Project Management)
2nd rank : There is a lack of important information related to the project, the act of which can hinder effective project prioritization. (Project Management)
2nd rank : A project cannot achieve its target that has been planned because of project delay due to the fact that the project is not ready to be launched and there are on-side obstacles. (Project Management)
For perception of budgeting officers from Ministry of Transportation, first three rank include two problems are in output costing and one problem are in part of big picture of budgeting system.
1st rank : The financial record of the government, GFMIS, used by government divisions at budget management and operational level is not flexible to be integrated in output costing system. (Output Costing)
2nd rank : Officers at the operational level only focus on achieving task-objectives, but lack consideration for the monitoring and evaluation. (Big picture of budgeting system)
3rd rank : Central officers distribute activities and budget to provincial officers even though such activities can be done for the whole country at the central level. (Output Costing)
Model Development
In order to achieve objective two, physical model of road transportation components has been develop. The purposes of model development are:
1. To make budgeting officers more clear perception about physical components of road transportation.
2. Help budgeting officers to be more understanding technical terms of road transportation project and it will be useful for budgeting officers in project consideration process.
3. To make use of relationship between factors for better considering proposed physical output of road transportation project.
4. To be used as an instrument for budgeting officers in order to consider project budget requests from operational officers by using physical output to clarify output costing of project.
5. To improve budget allocation of budgeting officers on road transportation project by reducing unnecessary outputs of road transportation project which causes unnecessary budget.
Recommendation for improving budget allocation of road transportation
There are utilities of physical model on budget allocation. Factors in each group have different utilities issues. This part would propose recommendation for better decision making on budget allocation for budgeting officers. Proposed recommendation mainly focuses on improving budget allocation for road transportation project.
1. Long term planning: Budgeting officers can make use of design factors in order to plan and study road transportation project in long term which would benefit for preparing budget. In addition, project would be ready to be launched with completely information and resources.
2. Emphasis on setting and using performance indicators: Budgeting officers should consider result of measuring performance of project operation by using performance indicators. It would be guideline for considering next project proposal for budget allocation.
3. Eliminating unnecessary budget: Budgeting officers should divide important level of output components of road transportation and consider output that relate with objective of the project. Budgeting officers would eliminate unnecessary output, which can lead more amount of budget, which included in project proposal without relating with targets. Therefore, budgeting officers can eliminate unnecessary budget and budgeting officers also can select the most important project.
4. Understanding technical knowledge of road transportation: Technical terms in physical model of road transportation would make budgeting officers better understanding road transportation project at operational level. It would help budgeting officer consider project easily.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted
ABSTRACT
Road transportation project is an infrastructure which serves society in movement of people and commodity. Most road transportation projects are megaproject that need huge budget for investment. Therefore, it is a responsibility of Bureau of the Budget in order to consider and allocate budget into project. Budgeting officers use budgeting system to be as an instrument for considering project and allocation budget. From problem statement, for budgeting officers, there are unclear criteria for project selection and inadequate knowledge to prioritize project and allocate budget. Therefore, this research is aimed to investigate current practice and perception of budgeting officers, who work at different level which are budgeting level and operational level, regarding budgeting system and develop model to improve budget allocation process.
To achieve objective of study, the first objective is achieved by using questionnaire survey to investigate current practice and perception of budgeting officers between Bureau of the Budget and Ministry of Transportation. Current practice and perception would be investigated about problems regarding budgeting system throughout budgeting components included six budgeting instruments. Descriptive analysis by mean and ranking is used to analyze important level of problem in each instrument. Result is that there are similar and different perception between budgeting officers from budgeting level and operational level.
Results were found that perception of operational officers with problem influencing implementation of budgeting system highly tend to be the problem in part of output costing. The reason is almost problems are related with financial recording which is not flexible for working at operational level, and also activities distribution which is lack of considering of central officers before distributing. It would affect to unnecessary budget allocation. For budgeting officers at budgeting level, their perception with problem highly tend to be problem in project management. The reason is problems are mostly related to unreadiness of project operation and lacking of important information of project such as project feasibility study which is the main data that budgeting officers use to consider and make decision for budget allocation. Therefore, physical model of road transportation components has been developed. The purpose is to be as an instrument for budgeting officers more understanding in technical term, and used to improve budget allocation of road transportation. Finally, recommendation for improving budget allocation has been proposed.
In Thailand, ADB (2008) emphasized that the proposed megaprojects program is required to sustain long-term growth of economy. The amount of expenditure in transportation sector is 7.8 billion dollars which is considered to be the third of government allocation in megaproject investment plan. The Bureau of the Budget plays a crucial role in all responsibilities concerned with budgeting such as budget management, budget analysis for budget allocation, monitoring and evaluating the performance of government ministries and agencies. This bureau is also responsible to prepare an annual government statement of expenditure.
For budgeting system, budget is always considered for two main sides which are revenue side and expenditure side. Budgeting is as a document which forecasts and authorizes the annual governmental revenue and expenditure of the state (Storum, 1917). On the expenditure side of the budget, government allocates budgets to project following functional classification of expenditure, such as health care, education and transportation project (World Bank, 2008). The thing is the bigger size of project means bigger amount of budget investing in project. The key important factor is expenditure prioritization. Therefore, principle to considering project is very important for budgeting officers in order to prioritize which project should be allocated budget in.
Ms. Korakade Thamphongsri made a case study to tackle the three main issues such as: (1) inadequate budgeting knowledge using for project prioritization and budget allocation; (2) unclear criteria for project prioritization and selection; and (3) lacking of understanding technical knowledge of transportation project using for project consideration.
The objectives of her study is to (1) investigate current practices and perceptions of governmental budgeting officers from Bureau of the Budget and Ministry of Transportation regarding budgeting system; (2) develop physical model of road transportation components for applying in budget consideration; and (3) propose recommendation for improving budget allocation of road transportation project by applying utilities of developed model.
She concluded that road transportation project is a basic infrastructure which is necessary for the society and needs huge amount of budget for investment. Therefore, bureaucrats who are responsible for budgeting department play crucial role in this task – project consideration and budgeting allocation. Although there is budgeting system used for managing budget, it still has problem in lacking of knowledge of budgeting officers to budget management.
The purpose of studying perception of budgeting officers regarding problem influencing budgeting system is to: 1) investigate current practices and perceptions of governmental budgeting officers from Bureau of the Budget and Ministry of Transportation regarding budgeting system, 2) develop physical model of road transportation components and 3) propose recommendation for improving budget allocation of road transportation project by applying utilities of developed model.
Current Practice of Budgeting System
From investigating current practice of budgeting system, it was found that there are different perceptions between budgeting officers from budgeting level and operational level. Below are crucial points that show different of perceptions to budgeting instrument of budgeting system.
1. Project management: Perception of budgeting officers at budgeting level with problem influencing implementation of budgeting system highly tend to be the problem in part of project management. The reason is problems are mostly related to unreadiness of project operation which mostly comes from planning phase of project. Another problem is related to lacking of important information of project such as project feasibility study which is the main data that budgeting officers use to consider and make decision for budget allocation.
2. Output costing: Perception of operational officers with problem influencing implementation of budgeting system highly tend to be the problem in part of output costing. Almost problems are related with financial recording system from central office which its function is not flexible to be integrated with existing system of operational department. It would make recording cost of activity at operational level difficult which affects to budget record at budgeting level as well. Another problem is activities distribution without considering of central officers before distributing which can lead to unnecessary budget allocation.
3. Output structure: From result, both levels of budgeting officers have good practice in output structure. The thing is that both budgeting officers at budgeting level and operational level familiar in using this budgeting instrument for breaking down output of project from time to time. Therefore, both levels of budgeting officers do not have problem with implementing output structure.
4. Alignment between strategies, objective, strategic plan, and output with the budget: Operational officers mostly have practice problem with this instrument more than budgeting officers. Problem with key performance indicator (KPI) is a main problem for Operational officer. Performance indicator has bigger scale of measurement than actual work. The thing is bigger scale of performance indicators would lead more budgets to project. Therefore, indicator should be indicated with appropriate consideration.
5. Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF): Budgeting officers at budgeting level mostly have practice problem with this instrument more than operational officers. The important practice problem for budgeting officers is a lack of success evaluation of megaproject for MTEF budget ceiling. This problem would affect budgeting allocation. Because megaproject needs large amount of budget, success evaluation of previous megaproject would be useful for considering in order allocating budget to coming megaproject.
6. Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART): Budgeting officers at budgeting level have practice problem in implementing PART at operational level which operational officers do not emphasize PART evaluation on working performance. A lack of emphasizing PART evaluation would affect to decision making on budget allocating for the next project of department. For operational officers, they have practice problem in inflexible PART system for using operational level because evaluation system is belonging to assessment division in practical.
Problem Ranking
From part of analysis, there are problem ranking of both budgeting officers from Bureau of the Budget and from Ministry of Transportation. For officers at Bureau of the Budget - budgeting level, the first three problems, which are the most importance to influencing budgeting system, are problems in part of project management. These are problems in the first three ranks.
1st rank : Most projects are prioritized by the individual policies of high level management rather than by the readiness of project operation. (Project Management)
2nd rank : There is a lack of important information related to the project, the act of which can hinder effective project prioritization. (Project Management)
2nd rank : A project cannot achieve its target that has been planned because of project delay due to the fact that the project is not ready to be launched and there are on-side obstacles. (Project Management)
For perception of budgeting officers from Ministry of Transportation, first three rank include two problems are in output costing and one problem are in part of big picture of budgeting system.
1st rank : The financial record of the government, GFMIS, used by government divisions at budget management and operational level is not flexible to be integrated in output costing system. (Output Costing)
2nd rank : Officers at the operational level only focus on achieving task-objectives, but lack consideration for the monitoring and evaluation. (Big picture of budgeting system)
3rd rank : Central officers distribute activities and budget to provincial officers even though such activities can be done for the whole country at the central level. (Output Costing)
Model Development
In order to achieve objective two, physical model of road transportation components has been develop. The purposes of model development are:
1. To make budgeting officers more clear perception about physical components of road transportation.
2. Help budgeting officers to be more understanding technical terms of road transportation project and it will be useful for budgeting officers in project consideration process.
3. To make use of relationship between factors for better considering proposed physical output of road transportation project.
4. To be used as an instrument for budgeting officers in order to consider project budget requests from operational officers by using physical output to clarify output costing of project.
5. To improve budget allocation of budgeting officers on road transportation project by reducing unnecessary outputs of road transportation project which causes unnecessary budget.
Recommendation for improving budget allocation of road transportation
There are utilities of physical model on budget allocation. Factors in each group have different utilities issues. This part would propose recommendation for better decision making on budget allocation for budgeting officers. Proposed recommendation mainly focuses on improving budget allocation for road transportation project.
1. Long term planning: Budgeting officers can make use of design factors in order to plan and study road transportation project in long term which would benefit for preparing budget. In addition, project would be ready to be launched with completely information and resources.
2. Emphasis on setting and using performance indicators: Budgeting officers should consider result of measuring performance of project operation by using performance indicators. It would be guideline for considering next project proposal for budget allocation.
3. Eliminating unnecessary budget: Budgeting officers should divide important level of output components of road transportation and consider output that relate with objective of the project. Budgeting officers would eliminate unnecessary output, which can lead more amount of budget, which included in project proposal without relating with targets. Therefore, budgeting officers can eliminate unnecessary budget and budgeting officers also can select the most important project.
4. Understanding technical knowledge of road transportation: Technical terms in physical model of road transportation would make budgeting officers better understanding road transportation project at operational level. It would help budgeting officer consider project easily.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted
ABSTRACT
Road transportation project is an infrastructure which serves society in movement of people and commodity. Most road transportation projects are megaproject that need huge budget for investment. Therefore, it is a responsibility of Bureau of the Budget in order to consider and allocate budget into project. Budgeting officers use budgeting system to be as an instrument for considering project and allocation budget. From problem statement, for budgeting officers, there are unclear criteria for project selection and inadequate knowledge to prioritize project and allocate budget. Therefore, this research is aimed to investigate current practice and perception of budgeting officers, who work at different level which are budgeting level and operational level, regarding budgeting system and develop model to improve budget allocation process.
To achieve objective of study, the first objective is achieved by using questionnaire survey to investigate current practice and perception of budgeting officers between Bureau of the Budget and Ministry of Transportation. Current practice and perception would be investigated about problems regarding budgeting system throughout budgeting components included six budgeting instruments. Descriptive analysis by mean and ranking is used to analyze important level of problem in each instrument. Result is that there are similar and different perception between budgeting officers from budgeting level and operational level.
Results were found that perception of operational officers with problem influencing implementation of budgeting system highly tend to be the problem in part of output costing. The reason is almost problems are related with financial recording which is not flexible for working at operational level, and also activities distribution which is lack of considering of central officers before distributing. It would affect to unnecessary budget allocation. For budgeting officers at budgeting level, their perception with problem highly tend to be problem in project management. The reason is problems are mostly related to unreadiness of project operation and lacking of important information of project such as project feasibility study which is the main data that budgeting officers use to consider and make decision for budget allocation. Therefore, physical model of road transportation components has been developed. The purpose is to be as an instrument for budgeting officers more understanding in technical term, and used to improve budget allocation of road transportation. Finally, recommendation for improving budget allocation has been proposed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)