Sidawi, B (2010) The use of advanced electronic management systems to manage remote projects in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In: Egbu, C (ed.) Proceedings of 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
This study investigates the potential use of Advanced Electronic Project Management Systems for managing remote construction projects by the Saudi Electric Company (SEC), in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The literature review suggests these advanced systems are capable to help companies which have remote projects in KSA or elsewhere to overcome the dilemma of projects' remoteness, reduce unnecessary costs and raise the quality of construction of remote projects. However, little research was undertaken particularly in the gulf region regarding this issue and it has highlighted few unique problems associated with the management of remote construction projects and how far the advanced systems would help to sort out these problems. A pilot study was conducted in 2009 on SEC to set solid grounds for the main survey which explored the views of contractors and SEC’s supervision teams about present management systems and practices and how advanced systems would help to improve these practices. The results pointed out the advanced systems would improve some project management practices whereas there are barriers that limit its potential benefits regarding other aspects of project management. Hence, certain adjustments to present project management practices and systems are necessary to overcome these barriers and to ensure that benefits from using these advanced systems can be fully grasped.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | remote projects; mobile systems; project management; remote manager; virtual management |
| Index terms: | construction project, project management, supervision, management system, project management practice, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, manager, survey, literature review |
| Subjects: | project management theory and practice, production management, Geography, management, control systems, practitioner, data collection methods, data analysis and analytics |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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