مدل تصمیم گیری چند معیاره برای تخصیص اولویت ها به فعالیت ها در مدیریت پروژه

This study presents a model for supporting project managers to focus on the main tasks of a project network using a multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) approach. A MCDA structure is important for dealing with this kind of problem, in the context of the project manager, when he/she solving a decision problem, taking into account several, often contradictory, points of view. A case study on the construction of an electricity sub-station is used to demonstrate the model proposed. As a result, managers can increase their performance in controlling project activities, particularly in a dynamic and changing environment.

Construction project management is a difficult task, when one takes into account the complexity, uncertainties and large number of activities involved. The increasing complexity and uncertainty of construction projects have led to many significant losses for the construction industry. Problems related to the management of projects are addressed in many studies. Sambasivan and Wen Soon [1] present several causes for losses in construction project management, such as a contractor’s faulty planning, inadequate contractor experience, problems with subcontractors, shortage of material, non-availability of and failures in equipment, lack of communication between parties and mistakes during the construction stage. Hameri [2] visualises other problems: lack of discipline in controlling design change, diverse views on what the objectives of the project are and poor reactivity to sudden changes in the project environment. Some considerations on construction project management at the building site need to be emphasized such as the high degree of current uncertainty about the construction process, the predominance of excessively informal decision aid coming from the project manager and the exaggerated over-emphasis given by project managers to controlling time and costs [3]. According to Cooke-Davies [4] there have been several past studies on the success of projects and which factors lead to project success. Despite this, a project may still under-perform and an understanding of project success factors alone is not sufficient for the success of a project [5]. The role of the project manager and his/her leadership style have been addressed as important aspects for the success of a project [5], although most of the literature ignores this [6]. The project manager’s monitoring of tasks and his/her relationship with subordinates seems to be direct related to the performance of the project. Greek and Pullin [7] also assert that many construction project management teams do not focus on those critical issues of projects. Project management, according to these authors, is an activity characterised by failure and these failures happen for two basic reasons: technical uncertainty and misjudgement of a project’s urgency. In the context of construction projects, the basic question to be considered is how the project manager can control and monitor the large number of tasks contained in the project schedule, since long term planning hardly ever occurs without any changes. In practice, project managers apply different managerial practices to each type of project task, as they cannot give the same attention to all tasks. Hua Chen and Tau Lee [8] assert that a project manager’s performance is directly related to his/her managerial practices. In their study, a performance evaluation model for project managers was constructed considering leadership behaviours that lead to managerial practices which contain some essential factors that may affect them. Thus, this paper presents a more structured model for supporting the project manager so as to focus his/her attention on the main tasks of the project network. The identification of these main tasks is attended to by using multiple criteria decision aid methods (MCDA), in order to evaluate simultaneously the several aspects related to the performance of projects such as: deadlines, costs, contractors’ experience and so forth. A case study on the construction of an electricity sub-station was carried out to demonstrate the structured model proposed.

Throughout the process of conducting the project, the activities classified in class 3 merit greatest attention from the project manager, as these are the ones that meet the norms specified for that category, and can cause negative impacts in terms of the project’s objectives. This study also allows the manager to be more effective in managing projects in a dynamic environment, as he/she can use the managerial practice appropriate to each type of task and thus focus efforts on aspects that really matter. In this case study, the project manager will not be involved in performing tasks related to purchase reports. The use of the model is also very important when the project manager is involved in a multiple project environment. So, having applied the proposed decision structure and considering all the periodic re-assessments of the model, the project manager has the option to anticipate the problems that may occur and draw up contingency plans at the time when the preceding tasks are still being carried out. The model developed requires the involvement of the whole project team in order to keep information up-to-date and to carry out the constant reassessments of the model. Therefore, the use of a decision support systems DSS and an integration system to facilitate communication between teams is very helpful for applying these techniques. Finally, the greatest benefit to be derived from applying the multiple criteria decision structure to construction projects is in order to analyse the problem better and to provide a well-structured model that can consider several criteria simultaneously. This model prompts project managers into thinking about the trade-offs among project objectives. Contribution of multicriteria method on project management practices has been shown to be a very useful. Several other models in this contexts may be developed in order to insure a formal approach for the project management practice. Future work may be conducted regarding exploring other different methods and their particular requirements associated with the projects demands. Also, different kind of problems may be analysed, such as: decision problems related to risk management could be conducted taking into account multiple objectives.