Mejía, G and Franco-Duran, D M (2017) Evidence-based improvement policies in public management: A case study of public projects in Barrancabermeja City, Colombia. Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, 22(2), pp. 55-66. ISSN 1823-6499
Abstract
Studies show that many organisations face a deficient capability of information analysis to make decisions effectively, due to a lack of statistical evidence and the poor quality of data, among other factors. This has become an increasing problem in some public organisations of developing countries. This study proposes a methodical approach for the policy formulation improvement, based on statistical evidence. Conducted as a case study in the city of Barrancabermeja in Colombia, this work identified relevant factors that influence the approval procedure, tested as statistical evidence at a confidence level a =.05. The sample consisted of 55 civil engineering projects completed during 2008-2013. The statistical evidence found in this study suggest a benchmark of 15 days as the expected duration for the registration and approval processes of projects, which may be adopted as an assessment policy for public project management in Colombia. Additionally, the study provided statistical evidence to formulate policy related with: the memorandum of commitment to the community benefited by the project, the methodology for the registration of public projects, and the project budget estimation. Thus, this study advocates the use of statistical evidence as an appropriate strategy for the improvement policy formulation of project management processes and decision making in public organisations.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | evidence-based improvement; evidence-based management; public management assessment |
| Index terms: | evidence-based improvement, duration, project management process, estimation, public management assessment, case study, public project, evidence-based management, methodology, decision-making, evidence, strategy, face, commitment, Colombia, developing country, approval |
| Subjects: | financial and cost management, psychology, contractual role, data collection methods, evaluation and assessment methods, political science, project controls, decision analysis, Geography, project management theory and practice, infrastructure engineering, development economics, performance measurement, management, research methods |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Time Control, Organizational Design, Quality Management, International Construction, Risk Management, Governance, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here