Master of Business Administration in Project Management

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item: Thesis-Abstract
An Analysis of technical data and develop a model to predict all share price index in Colombo Stock Market by using artificial neural network
Ilambarathy, R; Gunawardana, KD
Stock market trends have been predicated over and over again to extract useful patterns and predict their movements. Stock market prediction has always had a certain appeal for researchers. Whilst, numerous scientific attempts have been made, but few methods have been discovered to accurately predict stock variables movements. There are various approaches in predicting the movements of stock prices and variety of prediction techniques has been used by stock market analysts. Buying and selling shares is became one of the most popular and rewarding businesses among the business community. In contrast, not like earlier, nature of this business has turn into much more complex in the present world. Profitability and productivity are not solely depending on the company's profile or industrial growth. Whereas, depends on a mixture of dynamic ecological factors. Success of any business is a reflection of efficient decision making, made via analysis of historical data and prediction, which requires high skill, knowledge and industrial experience. In Sri Lankan perspective, multinational and individual business investors seek advises from well experienced professional bodies in making their investment decisions by paying high consultancy charges. Apart from this, stockbrokers face critical problem of accommodating the demand owing to the lack of such skilled professionals and high service cost. This research facilitates with the model to predict the movement of the Colombo Stock Exchange Index using an Artificial Intelligence technique such as the Artificial Neural Networks, which is trained using all fundamental or technical variables, to predict the behavior of stock movements and it is considered as an ideal method to handle pattern less past data. The variables used for this model includes technical data as well as macro economic data. The model was able to predict the CSE index with an accuracy of 97.8%.This model will also aid all business individual investors who are attached to CSE.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Application of project management softwae in IT projects
Dharmasena, CDDN; Perera, A
Information Technology has changed our lives dramatically over the past. With this enormous dependence on Information Technology the proper management of IT projects has become a critical aspect for many IT projects. Thus many tools and techniques were developed to assist the IT project management easier. Project management software was heavily used in IT projects in the initial stages of IT project management. But with the advent of new project management strategies such as agile methodologies and increased emphasis on cost and schedule compliances more and more organizations and individuals are turning away from the traditional project management software. The main goal of this research is to find the factors affecting the application of project management software in the context of an IT project. The sample of this research was formed with IT professionals in Sri Lanka who are especially involved with IT project management responsibilities in their respective organizations. Data was gathered through a questionnaire survey distributed to the sample via email and web access. The main findings of this research show that majority of IT professionals understand the management tasks that can be performed by project management software. It also confirms that IT projects have different aspects which are not addressed by traditional projects and requires. special attention to these aspects. The research is also aimed at discovering user specific and organizational specific factors affecting the use of project management software. The impact of organizational methodologies adopted in IT project management in selection of project management software and the limitations faced by the organizations are discussed in this research. One of the key recommendations of this research is that knowledge of IT project management should be instilled in those who are responsible for such activities. The research also tries to recommend a guideline in selecting project management software for an organization. Limitations of this research were the small sample space and the limited time duration. Although it was deemed that formal interviews and forum discussions would greatly benefit the purpose of this research, such research methodology could not be performed due to the short time allocated to the research project.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Balance score card - a strategic project management tool for infrastructure development projects
(2014-05-10) Amarasuriya, TU; Jayawardane, AKW
In today’s global context in infrastructure development, projects require critical review at different viewpoints such as Investor, Consultants, Contractors and End-users. Since the beginning of the 1990s experts have introduced terms such as “modern project management”, “management-by-projects”, “projects (Project Management) culture” and “beyond the Gantt chart” to distinguish contemporary future forms of Project Management from traditional past forms. Such terms, in part, propose the existence of a discipline, referred to in the remainder of this dissertation as either “Strategic PM” or “Emergent PM” that is characterised by as being “broader in its application, concepts and methods than traditional PM”. Out of many approaches that can be adopted in strategic PM, the BSC model was selected in this research as an effective tool in PM to evaluate project outcomes through; Financial perspective; Customer perspective; Internal perspective and Innovation and learning perspective. In order to compare the effectiveness of the proposed model over the conventional PM practices, a questionnaire survey was conducted among the stakeholders of a sample selected infrastructure development projects. The responses collected were evaluated through statistical analysis and inferences. Results obtained indicated that most of present organizations which undertake infrastructure projects follow PM techniques above 65% in order to manage their projects, the staff engaged in such projects (especially engineers), have averagely 67% knowledge about such techniques. Using this proposed tool, an organization, project manager or a team of project leaders can evaluate the project deliverables in different perspectives supported from the tool.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Causes and effects of delays in medium scale building construction projects in Sri Lanka
Samarakoon, SMS; Ekanayake, LL
The main purpose or this study is to identify the causes or delays in medium scale building projects in Sri Lanka. highlight its impact on the construction industry and to forward recommendations for minimization or such delays . A questionnaire survey was carried out among the professionals engaged in medium scale building projects to identify the delays and their effects. Hundred and twenty two professionals responded. The relative important index method was adopted to rank the GIUSCS and effects in the order 01" their importance and "Improper project management by the contractor" was identified as the main cause. Other causes for the project delays were identified as "Shortage of " labour". "Improper planning by contractor" and "Financial problems or the clients". The most damaging effect or the delays was identified as the "Cost overrun" whilst other adverse effects were recognized as "Time overrun". "Disputes" and ..Arbitron". Key players in the construction industry are contractors. Consultants and clients. They hold diverse views on the causes for delays. But at times agree on certain issues. Hence. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient method was used to check the agreement among them. Having identified the causes for the delays and ranking the same, separate set of guidelines were prepared for each party. identifying the areas they need to improve/concentrate to overcome the problem or delays. These guidelines will ensure that clients would pay more attention on aspects such as project management. identification or rlit requirements or the building. minimizing design/structural changes during construction and setting realistic time targets whereas the main areas in relation to the contractors would be efficient project management. financial management. and material procurement. Further. the proposed Guidelines will focus the attention of the Consultants on issues such as minimizing discrepancies in bidding documents. effective approval process. and identification of the client' s requirements.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Corporate governance and corporate failure : a survival analysis
Karunarathne, RRK; Gunawardana, ND
Corporate governance provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set, and means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance are determined, With the introduction of corporate govemance rules in 2008, awareness was created among the Sri Lankan organizations. The research was carried out with the objective of identifying the relationship between survival likelihood of the distressed firms with certain corporate governance characteristics and financial indicators, to check the significance of these characters and to examine the nature of the relationship of these characters with the financial distress. Outside directors, CEO change" creditor ownership, block holder ownership and board size were selected as the corporate governance characteristics. As financial variables financial risk, interest coverage ratio, operating risk, size, liquidity, profitability and market perception were selected. Analysis was carried out by using multiple regression. t-test and F test is used to identify the significance of the factors used for the study. Conclusions of the research were that there is a relationship between the survival likelihood of financially distressed nature of firms and the corporate governance characteristics and the financial indicators. Board size and out side directors of the assets do not show significance even though these factors show relation ship with the financial distress. CEO change, creditor involvement, block holder ownership financial risk, interest coverage ratio, operating risk, size, liquidity, profitability and market perception show significance with survival likelihood of financially distressed firms. CEO change, financial risk, interest coverage ratio and market perception show positive relationship with financial distress. Liquidity, profitability, block holder owner ship and creditor involvement are negatively associated with financial distress. Profitability shows the capability of predicting the financial distress of the firms. Use of hazard ratio is not confirmed in forecasting the magnitude of bankruptcy.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Cost of accidents and investment on safety in construction industry - a case study in Sri Lanka
Kindelpitiya, KDSK; Jayasinghe, C
Construction accidents cause considerable damages to the contactor as well as the project and employees. It has a direct financial cost to the contactor and other indirect costs as well as social cost to the country. This study attempts to collect and analyze data regarding the safety investment and cost of accidents in construction industry. Altogether, 32 projects and 75 accidents including 9 fatal were investigated to find out the safety investment and the cost of accident in each project. On each site, the safety investment was calculated by dividing the total safety investment by contract sum and accidents loss ratio was calculated by dividing the total financial loss caused to contractor due to accidents by contract sum. The total accident loss ratio was calculated by dividing the total of financial loss caused to contactor and social cost related to accidents by contact sum of the projects.It was found that the average investment on safety in construction projects is 0.66 %of contact sum and the relationship between safety investment and contact sum to useas a guide line to calculate the amount required for safety performance .The average accident loss ratio, which includes only the direct financial cost borne by the contactor, was found as 0.5% of contract sum and it increase up to higher than1.2% in 10% of project mostly due to the fatal accidents. The average total accident loss ratio, which includes both direct cost borne by contactor and the social cost related with accidents, was found as 1.98 % of contract sum and it increase up to higher than 4% in 10% of projects. The relationships between accident loss ratio against safety investment ratio were found to have and idea about the effectiveness of safety investment for reducing of accidents Only the investment of money on safety is not sufficient to reduce accidents. It is also depend on the component ·of management, worker's attitude and interference o of government authority, client and consultant..
item: Thesis-Abstract
Determinants of customer switching behavior in telecommunication industry - Sri Lankan context
Kumaresh, R; Dias, G
Sri Lankan telecommunication industry is fastly growing and there are number of operators engaged in huge competition, also there are new comers coming into the market in recent past. Since the competition is increasing and market growth is reaching saturation in the operators prospective they need to sustain their customers at the same time attract others customers. In this study we have tried to find the influencing factors of customers switching behavior in Sri Lankan telecommunication market. This study will give an idea to the operators why customers switch from one operator to another and what are determents of their behaviors. Also as a secondary objective we studies the idea of Mobile Number Portability concept in our local market. Referring previous literatures it was found that price, switching cost, service quality and trust on operator are the determents. These factors are determined by number of variables. As this study had a limited time and resource availability, this study has been done on Sri Lankan middle income middle managerial level working group by conducting a questioner survey. The propositions taken in this study are the switching cost, price, service quality and trust are determines of switching behavior. Several variable measures are considered under each of this constructs. Descriptive statistical analysis has done to test the proposition. And the result showed most of the proposition are accepted. It has been observed in mobile and fixed line segment the determents are slightly different. Switching cost is not a determinant in mobile sector. Whereas price structure and service quality are determines. In the fixed line segment price, switching cost and service quality are found to be determinants. In any case trust on operator is not a determinant Also there was a correlation among service quality variables. Additional survey has done among customers regarding their interest in Mobile Number portability. This surveyed group seems that they have not much interested on this option. It is recommended to the mobile operators to increase the switching cost in order to retain their customers as the mobile sector not showing the switching cost as barrier for switching.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Dilemma : integrated or separate project management units for donor-funded projects in Sri Lanka
Salgado, NAB; Perera, A; Gammathige, A
Both multilateral and bilateral development agencies provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries, for development projects. However, aid effectiveness, the impact on the economy and the effect on institutional capacity is widely debated. The role of Project Management Units (PMUs) as an implementation mechanism is a key topic in these discussions, on effective delivery of development aid. The relationship between the PMU, a temporary organization, and the parent organization is critical to existing organizational capacity, efficient project implementation and the subsequent institutionalization of project outcomes. This issue has not been given sufficient attention in the literature on the subject of project based organizations, which does not attempt to evaluate the PMU's level of integration within the main organization, and the effect of this relationship on project implementation and institutional capacity and sustainability of project outcomes. This research a) explores the literature and develops a model to analyze the relationship between project management units and their parent organizations in terms of the level of integration, and b) analyzes the perception of Project Directors of donor-funded projects to asses the impact of this integration on efficient project implementation, institutionalization of project outcomes, and the capacity of the parent organization. The methodology includes a literature review on project organizations, project structure and international donor- funded projects and a semi-structured questionnaire survey administered to selected Project Directors. The research concludes that there are different degrees of integration of PMUs, of ongoing donor-funded projects, with the main organization. The differences in the integration arise from the way in which the PMU is structured and where it is located, recruitment of the Project Director and PMU staff internally or externally, and the extra benefits enjoyed by the PMU staff. It confirms that PMUs with low integration contribute to efficient project implementation because it gives the Project Director required autonomy in decision-making to overcome the bureaucracy of the government structures. However, it dilutes the existing institution's capacity as the PMU work substitutes the parent organization's work and there is a low level of interaction between parent organization and PMU staff. Also, low integrated PMUs create problems in institutionalizing project outcomes, as there are conflicting views on how the project is implemented. Research recommends further studies on this subject as disbursement figures contradict with Project Directors' perceptions of the implementation efficiency. Low integrated PMUs are reported to have low efficiency in terms of disbursements against the time elapsed for the loan period to that of a highly integrated PMU.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Gender, age and the MBA degree programs : an evaluation of extrinsic and intrinsic career benefits of Sri Lankan MBA's
Jayasundara, JMH; Gunawardena, ND
Given this rapid expansion In business schools/Universities and MBA graduate numbers, the purpose of this study was to assess whether and how graduate business management education offered in Sri Lanka makes better and competent managers. To attainment of this purpose an empirical research was conducted, interviewing 84 MBA graduates from 4 universities, to assess whether and to what extent MBA training can influence managerial competencies, employability, and career development. More specifically the report tests the graduates after gaining an MBA, will provide them with business related competencies, enrich graduates' employability, promote career advancement, and lead to increase compensation with special focus to explore whether there are age and gender biases/ significances of those findings. The analysis of graduates' perceptions and attitudes revealed that MBA studies have a positive effect on skills, employability, and compensation, with gender bias in some areas of internal and external career benefits. It further revealed that there are University specific lapses in course curriculum when meeting the requirements of individuals. This is an exploratory study that seeks to analyze the self reports of a limited number of respondents. A complete and more representative survey covering the graduates and the employers of those graduates-would result in a more comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of MBA studies on managers in Sri Lanka. The findings of the study will help the Universities offering MBA and those are going to start MBA education to add values for their course curriculum. On the other hand the future students will be benefited by knowing and ensuring the real career advancements of MBA courses in Sri Lankan Universities and its relevance to the market.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Implementation of business process management in Sri Lanka
Samaratunge, SGKDN; Jayaratnam, S
Current global environment demands a constant drive to outperform and out-innovate the competition. Most organizations have identified business process improvement in an agile environment as the key to success in a competitive environment. Business Process Management (BPM) is one of the outstanding topics in today's business management discussions. It is a discipline which looks at organizations as a collection of processes. BPM enables process improvement while managing change. BPM can make a huge difference because it focuses on the business and combines both technologies and disciplined methodologies that build on top of corporate culture and values. According to a research by Gartner (2008), the BPM market growth in 2006 was 2 billions in USD. The projected growth in 20 I I is more than 5 billions in USD. Attention to BPM is now growing fast as organizations explore new ways to master their disorderly business processes to close the gap between strategic vision and goals and the operational execution and achievement of the goals. Those who deployed BPM enjoy enormous benefits of BPM. Irrespective of many successful implementations and studies done in the business world, Sri Lankan Organizations are reluctant to adopt BPM due to lack of understanding of BPM and misconceptions about BPM. Lack of visibility into business processes and lack of knowledge in their business operations are some challenges they face. According to questionnaire responses analysis, 77% of current initiatives or organizations in Sri Lanka are for business process improvement. Only a few, organizations have defined standard process models for their values chains; they occasionally have defined standard measures for evaluating the performance of major processes and sub processes. The organizations look at BPM as a way to save money by reducing cost, improve productivity and improve quality of processes and customer satisfaction to remain competitive. Proper implementation of BPM enables the ability to process more with less effort and higher quality. The core benefits of BPM are efficiency, effectiveness and agility. Benefits also consist of financial benefits such as low costs, higher revenue and improved productivity. In conclusion, the impact of business process management on organizational performance in transition economy and a set of guidelines is explained for implementing BPM in Sri Lanka.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Influence of knowledge, training and skill development on service quality of the information systems
Pemarathne, EDK; Perera, A
Paying due attention to "service quality" can help an organization to stand unique in relation to other organizations and gain a competitive advantage. Successfully implemented Information systems (IS) are the solution to the above managerial challenge in the current business environment. Review of literature shed light on the elements that produce quality services in IS. Based on the framework introduced by Pratyush Bharati and Daniel Berg (2003) an attempt has been made in this study to develop a framework that will produce quality services in IS. Quality System, Technical Support, Management Support and above all Knowledge, Training and Skill Development of personnel employed considered as the main variables that determine the quality service of IS. Work Experience, Staff Motivation and Work Efficiency have been identified as other intervening variables that induce the personnel to provide quality services through IS. As such, the objectives of the framework developed in this research is to establish the above variables and identify the degree of their influence on service quality of IS, identify whether the personnel have sufficient Knowledge, Skills and Abilities to provide satisfactory quality services to the customers, eliminate uncertainty by providing information that improves decision making processes and make suggestions and recommendations if any, to remedy the situation. Analysis shows that customers are hardly satisfied with the services provided to them. Most IS are not operating at a satisfactory performance level. They are also not provided with adequate technical support, although the Project Managers state that they have given attention to it. Personnel who have attended training sessions have a better chance to improve their work efficiency, motivation and customer support capabilities. Fund allocation for man power development varies by type 'of organization due to difference in managerial attention to it. Further, gender discrimination can be identified from the lower level of female satisfaction from the services provided to them.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Readiness of internet user for e-commerce - case studies from Sri Lanka
Jayasekera, JC; Wijesundara, M; Ekanayake, L
Electronic commerce (E-Commerce) has emerged with the development of Internet and spread rapidly because of its capability of improving efficiency and productivity in many business areas. Many countries paid attention on developing e-commerce and its usage and benefitting from it today. However the adaptation of developing countries to e-commerce was a challenge because of the infrastructure limitations and other issues related to consumers. Sri Lanka has not yet passed the medium level of e-readiness because of the less coverage of Internet and low computer and Internet literacy levels. However the existing Internet users display comparatively high adaptability to e-commerce transactions. Sri Lankan Internet user has a moderate level of Internet shopping usage while more people pay bills through Internet and access Internet banking application. With this the current level of ecommerce readiness of country can be said as in a higher medium level compared to the world averages and display better performance than other countries in region and similar economic indicators. Income and education is positively related to Internet shopping while age group 20-40 dominated in purchasing goods and services over the Internet. People who pay more household bills displayed significantly high usage of Internet shopping. Sri Lankan males were more interested in buying on Internet compared to females. However the spending on Internet and frequency of online purchases were in very low levels and less availability of buying options coupled with low trust on e-commerce sites created such a behavior. Current Internet users display very healthy reactions to e-commerce and less shadows of traditional trading mechanisms also acts -positive. Development of infrastructure creating high awareness and opportunities will improve the Internet usage and the e-commerce involvement of people in Sri Lanka. With a matching e- commerce model, there is a high possibility in creating a very active e-buyer community in future if authorities take the correct actions soon.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Risk management process for power generation projects in Sri Lanka
Wanniarachchi, TA; Ekanayake, LL
Risk management helps potential obstacles to be identified and contained early through proper response strategies, thereby minimizing negative impacts on positive aspects on project cost, schedule, scope and quality. Managing potential risks also helps identify opportunities that may enhance the project and have a positive impact on project objectives. The initial surveys carried out by the author revealed that neither the main power utility in Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Electricity Board nor any of the Independent Power Produces operating in the country either possess or practice any documented, structured Risk Management Process for power generation projects. Therefore, there is a great requirement to develop an appropriate Risk Management Process for Sri Lankan power generation projects. The main scope of this research is to formulate a Risk Management Process for Power Generation Projects (RMPPGP), taking in to account the current risk management context of the country. In the thesis, the author has proposed an RMPPGP consisting of six sub-process i.e Establishment of the risk management context of the Power Project, Risk identification, Risk analysis , Risk response planning, Risk monitoring & control and Communicate &consult. Comprehensive flow charts for each of these sub-processes and also the required supporting material of the RMPPGP have also been presented for convenient practice.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Software process improvements through capability maturity model in Sri Lanka
Perera, DWDDP; Perera, AADAJ
It is visible that software companies must establish practices that enhance quality and advanced process management techniques in order to remain competitive. Thus, they have increasingly turned to software process improvement methodologies (SPIM) nowadays. Understanding how to implement best fit SPIM successfully is arguably the most challenging issue faced by the software development field today. The Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is widely adapted and has received great publicity in the software development industry. However adoptability of CMM has been the topic of ongoing debates. Since most current software process models are developed and provided by either the United States or European standard committee, it can be said that CMM models are generally tailored for western cultures. The objective of this research was to analyze the experiences of IT professionals in implementing CMM in Sri Lanka and to identify the key factors that influence the adoption and applicability of CMM. Further the aim was to introduce a framework to evaluate CMM adoptability and applicability for companies that are practicing CMM and planning for CMM implementation and to discover how to tailor the western style process for the Sri Lankan software development society. It was looked across in 2 main dimensions; cultural factors and work practices and investigated the impact of each dimension with regard to detail factors. By analyzing the data of 62 individuals from 3 segments namely; Management, Software Engineers and Quality Assurance / Quality Control teams of II IT companies listed under ICTA for CMM implementation in Sri Lanka, it was evident that the CMM adoptability was influenced by cultural factors; M-time Vs P-time, High-Low Context Languages, Power Distance and Longshort term orientation. With regard to work practices, it was found that CMM applicability was influenced by Marketing practices, Knowledge on SPIM and Success work practices. Overall research findings evidenced that process improvement through CMM is not adoptable and applicable with regard to culture and work practices in Sri Lankan context. However, majority of the management segment responded differently to other two segments as in agreement to the fact that CMM is adoptable and applicable in Sri Lanka. The key recommendations of this research are that the organizational culture and the work behaviors should be thoroughly studied and tailored the models accordingly prior adopting a SPIM and employees in all categories should be participated in activities of process improvement.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Success criteria and critical success factors for e-government projects
Vimalenthirarajah, KA; Kamaladasa, NN
Project management as a growing profession requires various analysis on its domain of knowledge. One of the thematic areas of research interest is project success, which consists of project management success and product oriented success. The project success as a perceived success varies project to project as projects are unique endeavors to accomplish a pre determined objectives. The e-Government Projects as a distinct project type; could have a distinct set of success criteria as well as critical success factors. As it is an unvisited area of knowledge, it was defined as theme of this study. The Success Criteria are used to judge project success; while a set of critical success factors are used to determine the project management success of a project. In this context, what criteria can be used to judge the success of e-Government Projects? what critical success factors are determining the successful implementation of e- Government Projects? These two questions are constituted the research problem of this study. The findings of this empirical study identified by ranking a set of success criteria focusing on effectiveness of results of a project including meeting clients' satisfaction, meeting organizational objectives etc. In the case of critical success factors, top management support, clear goals, realistic schedule, effective leadership, end user commitments, effective monitoring and feed back mechanism etc are identified for e-Government Project Management. The traditional iron triangle criteria were not recognized as appropriate criteria for e-Government Projects. It could be recommended to devise a success criteria framework for e-Government Projects and a framework of critical success. factors for successful implementation of e-Government Project Management. The recommendations of this study are concerned areas of the ICTA, which carries responsibility of e-Sri Lanka initiative, within which, e-Government applications are devised and executed. Further study could be suggested to analyze relationship between success criteria and critical success factors for e-Government Projects.
item: Thesis-Abstract
The Impact of the critical factors influencing the success of IT projects in Sri Lankan context
Karunasena, WAWN; Gunawardana, ND
In a refinery the choice of a suitable crude oil slate is probably one of the most difficult problem that refiners have to resolve. The process of making the best choice includes the whole series of successive decisions to purchase different crud oils that refinery will process and globally which will generate the best economic results. Information technology (IT) has become a growing and demanding industry in today's world and it has become an important component in every business sector. Business firms invest heavily in information technology projects to achieve their strategic business goals. Thus IT organizations are focused to deliver the projects on time and within the budget to accomplish customer objectives. Different IT organizations use different types of mechanisms, methodologies and process models to successfully deliver the projects to achieve the competitive advantage but the ultimate outcome of the project vary drastically depending on various issues. In any project there are several factors which affect the ultimate outcome of the project and those factors are considered as critical factors to the project in the past literature. This study analyzes the impact of the critical factors influencing the success of IT projects. Majority of the literature related to critical factors have investigated several factors, factor groups and sub factors related to project success. This study comes up with a conceptual model that depicts the awareness of professionals in the IT industry regarding critical factors and perceived importance of critical factors on project success. Further the study examines the impact of those critical factors on project success and the recommendations in detail. The study has developed and distributed a questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of software development organizations in Sri Lanka. The sample characteristics show the age distribution, educational background and the experience of IT professionals. The interpretation of results has been performed by statistical analysis using the measures such as descriptive statistics and correlations. The results revealed that majority of the IT professionals aware that most of the factors are critical for project success but there are some factors where professionals are not much aware that those are critical for project success. When it comes to the order of perceived importance of critical factors, it is changing accordingly with the ultimate outcome of the project. Further project mission and clear objectives, technical background of the project team, communication skills, trouble-shooting, project schedules and planning, monitoring and feedback, top management support and client acceptance significantly influence project success.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Time management and work life balance of software engineers in Sri Lanka
Thushari, WKS; Jayasinghe, C
Work Life Balance is an increasingly popular and a demanding topic by employees all over the world. It has significant consequences of the attitudes of the employees towards to the employer and as well as to their personal lives. Various past researches have been done to measure the Work Life Balance that prevails in various countries. Time Management is an equally popular and an important aspect for both organizations and as well as for independent individuals. With the competitiveness in the business world more work is been demanded by the organizations from employees within a minimum amount of time. Due to this reason today Time Management is seen as vital. Although work has been done on many areas of Time Management and many areas of Work Life Balance in so many countries, no work has been carried out to find out about the relationship between Time Management and Work Life Balance of Software Engineers in Sri Lanka. Using data collected from 106 randomly collected Software Engineers from Sri Lanka, this research attempts to find out firstly the relationship between the Time Management and Work Life Balance of Software Engineers in Sri Lanka. Secondly, identify the level of Work Life Balance of the Software Engineers in Sri Lanka. This research has uncovered that a positive relationship exists between Time Management and Work Life Balance of the Software Engineers in Sri Lanka. Furthermore it reveals the level of balance between work and life of the Software Engineers in Sri Lanka. A gender comparison has also been provided. As a result of this research a message is. given to organizations that, if they invest more on educating their employees on effective Time Management, it will yield beneficial and rewarding results through better time management by employees, which will on the other hand help Software Engineers to strike a balance between work and their personal lives. Alternatively if organizations invest more on family-friendly policies, these will intern help Software Engineers to maintain a well balanced life which in turn will result in a committed and dedicated staff workforce with high quality product outputs to the organization.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Value engineering in construction business in Sri Lanka
Wilegoda, WMJ; Ekanayake, LL
Value Engineering concepts have been in the Sri Lankan construction industry for many years even though it has not been practiced effectively. The industry practitioners still rely on these concepts mainly in situations when their project cost exceeds the budget. Therefore, it has been more popular as a cost-cutting tool rather than a vital concept for value improvements. Related literature however, reveals that Value Engineering (VE) concepts are very popular in other countries and are being used frequently in construction business to achieve improvements in value. Previous researchers have reveled that absence of a proper VE procedure is one of the main constraints for an effective VE practice in the Sri Lankan construction industry. This study attempts to derive a procedure for establishing an effective VE practice for the Sri Lankan construction business. As a result, VE methodology and guideline / workbook were developed. Various VE manuals and guidelines that are being used in other countries were analyzed in order to determine a tailor-made VE methodology for the country. The survey results revealed that people's awareness of VE methodology in these construction companies is not very satisfactory. However they are in favour of having a proper VE methodology and a guideline for a better practice in future. The ICTAD's latest move to include VE clauses into the 'Standard Bidding Document' were highlighted as clear indication of the future prospects for VE. The methodology and the guideline / workbook developed has however, not been field tested. Therefore, another industrial survey consisting -of presentations and discussions need to be carried out to find out, if any changes are needed for improvement. The ICTAD could be of help for further improvement of this methodology and guideline in the aim of creating a standard VE methodology for the construction industry in the country.

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