Browsing by Author "Desta, Solomon"

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    An investigation into the practice of the project management office (PMO) concept in the German developer, contractor and project management sectors
    (2006) Desta, Solomon; Root, David; Diederichs, C J
    Integrating Project Management practices with other management practices and processes such as Knowledge Management, Total Quality Management, Concurrent Engineering, Risk Management and Change Management has become a coping mechanism for many organisations operating in volatile business environments (Kerzner 2000). Companies have come to realize that leveraging knowledge gained on projects is an important resource to improve performance and have started to look for strategies that help them to achieve 'excellence' and 'maturity' in PM and help formally "manage" this intellectual property gained on projects (Kerzner 2003). One of the strategies that many companies are adopting for the structured collection, distribution, and updating of the intellectual property gained on projects and to facilitate their maturity in PM practices is the 'project management office' (PMO) (Dai & Wells 2004; PMI 2004a; Santosus 2003; Rad & Levin 2002; Bates 1998). This is referred to by different writers alternatively as the project office (PO) (Englund et al. 2003; Kermer 2003; Turbit 2003; PM! 2000a), PM centre of excellence (COE) (Kermer 2001) or Project support office (PSO) (Marsh 2001; Marsh 2000).
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    The management of construction processes in developing countries : a case study of the Ethiopian Roads Authority
    (2015) Desta, Solomon; Michell, Kathleen Anne; Root, David
    The delivery of construction projects in Ethiopian is accused of non-optimum performance. With this poor performance of the delivery of projects as the instigator, this study set major objectives of exploring the current practices of the management of the construction processes in Ethiopia and investigating the major drawbacks of the practices as seen in the context of 'accepted practices' and theoretical principles. As part of the approaches to achieve these objectives, the study first developed a conceptual framework for improved project performance. It identified the processes executed in project delivery, the resources used in executing these processes and the governance/management system through which the processes and resources are brought together and managed; contextualized to the peculiar conditions under which the projects are implemented, as the basic pillars of construction project management. Then, the study used the concepts and principles associated with these basic pillars and 'accepted practices' in the management of the construction processes both to inform the data collection and analysis and serve as reference against which the Ethiopian practices are compared. The study adopted post-positivist inclined case study research methodology whereby the Ethiopian Roads Authority's (ERA's) project delivery approaches are taken as case in point. It employed data collected from documents and through interviews. Using content analysis technique, the study explored and evaluated ERA's project delivery processes and their management. It also explored and analyzed the major challenges experienced by ERA in its project deliveries.