项目管理统一的方法 外文翻译 外文文献 英文文献.docx

项目管理统一的方法 外文翻译 外文文献 英文文献.docx

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项目管理统一的方法外文翻译外文文献英文文献

英语原文

AUnifiedApproachtoProjectManagement

ThomasFroese*andSherylStaub-French*

*Dept.ofCivilEngineering,Univ.ofBritishColumbia,Vancouver,BC,Canada,V6T1Z4.e-mail:

1tfroese@civil.ubc.ca,2sherylsf@civil.ubc.ca

Abstract

Incurrentprojectmanagementpractice,theoveralltaskofdesigning,managing,andconstructingabuildingiscarriedoutbyorganizingtheworkintomanydistincttasksassignedtomanydifferentgroups.Mostprojecteffortisthendirectedtowardscarryingoutthesetasksinthemosteffectivemannerpossible,whilerelativelylittleeffort（concentratedwithinafewcriticalpositions）isfocusedonmanagingtheinterdependenciesbetweentasksandeffectivelycombiningtheseresultstoyieldtheoverallresult.Weproposeaunifiedapproachtoprojectmanagementthatbringsanintegrativeviewtotheforefront,centeredonthenotionofdefiningmultipleviewsoftheprojectandtheinterrelationshipsthatexistbetweentheviews.Thisintegratedrepresentationactsasamodelorprototypeofthephysicalfacility,allowingmoreexperimentationandoptimizationandprovidingaunifyingfocusfortheongoingwork.Therepresentationalframework,proposedmethodology,andaccompanyingITissuesforthisapproachtoprojectmanagementarediscussed.

Motivation

Muchofourpreviousresearchhasbeenintheareaofinformationtechnologies（IT）appliedtothetaskofprojectmanagement（PM）inthefieldofarchitecture,engineering,construction,andfacilitiesmanagement（AEC/FM）.Withinthisfieldofresearchanddevelopment（R&D）,amajorthemehasbeentheintegrationofinformationresourcesandtoolsthroughouttheAEC/FMprojectlifecycle.Greatprogresshasbeenmadeintheconcepts,technologies,andtoolstosupportthisintegration.Asofyet,however,theresultshavehadminimalimpactonpracticeintheindustry.ThissituationbegsthequestionofwhythisactiveareaofR&Dhasnothadgreaterimpact.Onesignificantproblemseemstobethattheresultingtechnologiesandtoolsdonotfitparticularlywellwithcurrentprojectmanagementpractices.Morespecifically,thenewtoolsassumeandrequirealevelofintegrationandcoordinationamongprojectparticipantsthatisseldomfoundinpractice.Clearly,thetechnologiesrequirefurtherdevelopmenttowardstoolsthatbettersuitcurrentpractice.YetitmaybeusefultoalsoconsidercurrentprojectmanagementpracticestoseeifchangescouldbeintroducedthatwouldallowprojectstobetterexploittheadvancesthathavebeenmadeinIT.

FromthisinitialperspectiveofIT,wehavebeguntoexplorepotentialweaknessandopportunitiesforimprovementincurrentprojectmanagementpractices.Intheprocess,theperspectivehasbroadenedtoidentifyseveralissuesthatarenotspecificallyITrelated.Thesearenotnewconcepts,butacollectionofseveralcurrenttrendsinAEC/FMandrelevantideasfromotherindustries.Inthispaper,weconsiderseveraloftheseviewsonweaknessincurrentprojectmanagementpracticesandopportunitiesforimprovements.WethensynthesizetheseintoaproposedframeworkforaunifiedapproachtoprojectmanagementinAEC/FM.

PerspectivesonWeaknessesandOpportunitiesforProjectManagement

ComplexityandInterdependenciesinAEC/FMprojects.AEC/FMprojectsareoftendescribedaslargeandincreasinglycomplex.Agreaterunderstandingofthenatureofthiscomplexitycanpointtotheareaswheretheneedforimprovedmanagementisgreatest.

Studieshaveidentifiedthefollowingcharacteristicsasgenerallycommontoany

typeofcomplexsystem1:

1.Complexsystemsarecomprisedofamultiplicityofthings;theyhavealargenumberofentitiesorparts.Generally,themorepartsasystemcontains,themorecomplexitis.

2.Complexsystemscontainadensewebofcausalconnectionsamongtheircomponents.Thepartsaffecteachotherinmanyways.

3.Complexsystemsexhibitinterdependenceoftheircomponents.Thebehaviorofpartsisdependantuponotherparts.Ifthesystemisbrokenapart,thecomponentsnolongerfunction（likethepartsofthehumanbody）.

4.Complexsystemsareopentotheiroutsideenvironments.Theyarenotselfcontained,butareaffectedbyoutsideevents.

5.Complexsystemsnormallyshowahighdegreeofsynergyamongtheircomponents:

thewholeismorethanthesumofitsparts.

6.Complexsystemsexhibitnon-linearbehavior.Achangeinthesystemcanproduceaneffectthatisnotproportionaltoitssize:

smallchangescanproducelargeeffects,andlargechangescanproducesmalleffects.

Tosomeextent,allofthesefeaturescanbeobservedinAEC/FMprojects.AEC/FMprojectsaremadeupofcomponentssuchasthephysicalelementsinabuilding,thedesignorconstructionactivities,thepeopleandresourcesutilized,etc.Inmanycases,theindividualcomponentsarenotcomplex.Yetthenumberofcomponentsthatmakeuptheprojectisvast,andthecausalconnectionsbetweenthesecomponentsarenumerous.Forexample,achangeintheintendeduseofsomespaceinabuildingcouldaffecttheheatingandcoolingrequirementsforthatspace,whichcouldaffectthedesignofpartsofthemechanicalsystem,whichcouldaltertheelementsoftheelectricalsystem,whichcouldchangeapurchaseorderformaterialsupplies,whichcoulddelayamaterialdelivery,whichcouldinfluencetheconstructionschedule,whichcouldreducetheproductivityofaworkcrew,whichcouldincreaseaworkpackagecost,whichcouldaffectasub-contractor’sfinancing,andsoon.

AEC/FMprojects,then,arejustifiablydescribedascomplex,largelybecauseofthequantityandinterdependenceofthecomponentsthatmakeuptheproject.

Explicitrecognitionofinterdependencyinprojectmanagementapproaches.OneofthefundamentalmechanismsthattheAEC/FMindustryhasdevelopedfordealingwithcomplexityistheapproachofdividingprojectworkintowell-definedworktasksandassigningeachworktasktoaspecialistgroup.Thesetasksarethencarriedout,toalargeextent,asiftheyarefairlyindependentfromeachother.Tobesure,eachparticipanthassomenotionthattheirworkmustfollowcertainworkandmustprecedeotherwork,andthatcertainactionsoroutcomesoftheirworkwillinfluenceothers.Byandlarge,however,participantsfocusprimarilyontheirindividualtasks,withanyconcernsabouttheseinterdependenciesaddressedinaveryadhocandreactiveway.Mostparticipantstrytooptimizetheirownworkwhilethefewpeopleresponsibleformanagingtheprojectasawholehavelittleopportunitytooptimizetheentiresystem.

Clearly,itisbeneficialtoorganizeworkinsuchawayastominimizeinterdependencyamongworktasks.However,wecontendthataweaknessofcurrentprojectmanagementpracticeisthatittendstotreattypicalAEC/FMworktasksasbeingfarmoreindependentthantheyactuallyare.Instead,projectmanagementapproachesshouldstrivetomaketheinterdependenciesbetweenworktasksmoreexplicit.Thisdoesnotincreaseinterdependenceandcomplexity,butitdoesmaketheexistinginterdependencyandcomplexitymorevisible,andthereforemoremanageable.Insummary,AEC/FMprojectsarecomplexbecauseofthequantityandinterdependencyoftheircomponents,andprojectmanagementtechniquesshouldstrivetomaketheseinterdependenciesexplicit.

Information,InformationManagement,andInformationTechnology.AlldesignandmanagementtasksonAEC/FMprojectsarefundamentallyinformationprocessingtasks:

theytakeexistingprojectinformationasinputandproducenewprojectinformationasoutput.Evenconstructiontasks,whichdealwiththeprocessingofphysicalresources,requireinformationasasignificantresource.Yettheinformationresourcesandinformationflowsarerarelyconsideredandmanagedexplicitly,andareinsteadtreatedasimplicitinassignedworktasksandphysicalprojectcomponents.Thismakesthemanagementofthisimportantresourcehaphazard,andmakestheapplicationofappropriateinformationtechnologymoredifficult.

InformationManagement.Wesuggestthefollowinggeneralapproachtoinformationmanagement（IM）onAEC/FMprojects.TheIMshouldadoptaprocessbasedapproach,organizingtheprojectintoitsworktasks.TheIMapproachshouldthenconsiderthreemainissues:

1）theinformationrequirementsforeachtask,2）thecommunicationrequirementsbetweentasks,and3）theintegrationacrosstasksandcommunications.Foreachtask,theIMshouldevaluatewhattheinformationinputrequirementsare,whatITtoolsshouldbeusedforsupportingthetask,andwhattheinformationoutputsare.Forcommunications,theIMshouldevaluatewhatinformationflowsmustexistbetweentasks（includingtheirrequiredcharacteristicssuchassender,receiver,mode,content,etc.）,andwhatinformationandcommunicationtechnologiesareusedforthesecommunications.Fortheintegrativeanalysis,theIMshouldexaminetheintegrationacrossalltasksandcommunicationflows（i.e.,adoptaholisticviewandcommonITplatforms,ratherthanaddressingeachtaskorcommunicationflowinisolation）.Thisincludesintegrationacrossorganizationalboundariesandintegrationwithexisting（andfuture）technologies.

Disparateviewsofaproject.Asstatedpreviously,alldesignandmanagementtasksworkwithinformationratherthanphysicalresources.Thisinformationalldescribesormodelsthephysicalconstructionproject,andthusitcanbesaidthatalldesignersandmanagersworkwithinformationmodelsoftheproject.However,eachtaskoftenworkswithitsownuniqueview,perspective,ortypeofinformationmodel.Thiswiderangeofdisparateviewsaddstothefragmentationofthesetasks.Thereisverylittleofacommon,sharedvisio