Essien, I O (2021) Modelling project complexity for leadership decision making and success in the building construction industry in Lagos, Nigeria. PhD thesis, Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Abstract
Construction projects improve the built environment and human civilisation. However, the challenges arising from project complexity in the strategic era of Project Management (PM) have resulted in majority of projects around the world failing to deliver to stakeholders’ satisfaction. Particularly, building construction projects are inherently complex and this affects leadership decision-making and project success at project, organisation and institutional levels. This study argues that existing models of project complexity (MPC) are limited in their conceptualisation as they do not account for all the factors that influence project success, resulting in poor decision-making and project failure. This study examines failure relating to building collapse in Lagos, Nigeria. Therefore, a literature review revealed the main paradigms, concepts and constructs that influence project success in the PM, Business Management and Leadership Studies literature. The gaps in existing models informed the development of the novel Leadership Systems Response (LSR) framework which characterises project systems within organisation, environment and leadership constructs. The LSR framework was used as a conceptual lens for the research design, data collection and analysis using the epistemology of pragmatism, applying retroductive strategies and adopting the exploratory sequential mixed method approach and analysis techniques. The data collection tools were mainly interview and questionnaire while the data was analysed using content analysis, as well as descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings are based on the 2010 Building Industry Reforms (BIR) in Lagos and were used to validate and revise the LSR framework. The results suggest that projects are embedded in complex systems, which have endogenous and exogenous dimensions. These exist as complex adaptive organisation, environment and leadership, systems of which are in constant interaction with one another through people, in linear and non-linear social dynamics. Decision making must account for these dynamics to improve project outcomes. Additionally, leadership systems are essential to improve project success and maintain the adaptability of projects within complex systems. Therefore, this study’s main contribution to knowledge is the LSR framework as a new decision-making tool that can improve the way complex projects are conceptualised, particularly by researchers and practitioners.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Tah, J and Keivani, R |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | built environment; complexity; failure; building industry; construction project; decision making; industry reform; leadership; project organisation; project success; stakeholder; Nigeria; content analysis; interview |
| Index terms: | complexity, pragmatism, business management, project complexity, decision-making, construction project, practitioner, adaptability, questionnaire, building construction, literature review, content analysis, strategy, project organization, interview, interaction, modelling, dimension, complex project, epistemology, statistics, project management, building industry, Lagos, paradigm, dynamics, built environment, research design, project outcome, complex system, Nigeria, industry reform, project success, satisfaction, mixed method, project failure |
| Subjects: | management, education and knowledge transfer, project management theory and practice, decision analysis, systems engineering, philosophical concept, industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, research design and methodology, mathematical modelling, business, data collection methods, knowledge theory, health monitoring assessment and metrics, project delivery, data analysis and analytics, Geography, organizational theory, economic concepts, production management, building construction, behavioral psychology, user focus, project completion, practitioner, analytical methods, strategic project management |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety, Risk Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Construction Technology, Governance, Roles and Professions, Design Practice, Urban Studies |
| 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