Master of Business Administration in Project Management

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/32

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 58

item: Thesis-Abstract
A Critical review of mobilization advance payment and contractors' cash flows
Wijekoon, WMCLK; Perera, A
This research addresses the determination as to whether the Mobilization Advance Payment is actually necessary in the Sri Lankan construction industry, its effect on contractors' cash flow and whether it is a motivation for the contractors. Accurate cash flow forecasting is essential to all contractors in the construction Industry for successful operation and existence in the long run. At initial stages of a project the cash flow aspect of the contractor is negative. The main role of project financing is to cover up this negative flow in a beneficial, cost effective manner. Mobilization Advance Payment enhances the quality and productivity in the construction industry. It improves the performance and cost efficiency of the contractors as well as the clients. Cash data in relation to thirty projects were collected. Three criteria, no Mobilization Advance, 20% of the initial contract sum as the Mobilization Advance paid at the inception of the project and 20% of the initial contract sum as Mobilization Advance given in stages, were identified to determine the differences in the effects of cash flow. The effect of these different criteria on the cumulative cash flow was examined. Further Scheduled Performance Index was calculated for further analysis. Results show and confirm that Mobilization Advance Payment has a big bearing on the contractors' existence and their motivation towards attaining objectives of the project. Research confirms that Mobilization Advance Payment is a necessity in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Further it can be confirmed that the provision of Mobilization Advance Payment is very essential for the Sri Lankan contractors. Key Words: Mobilization Advance Payment, Cash Flow, Stage Payments, Scheduled Performance Index
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-Full-text
An analysis of environmental factors in open office layouts
Geekiyanage, VD; Ekanayaka, LL
‘Cellular office layouts’ and ‘open office layouts’ are the two main office designing techniques available for a Facility Manager. The latter is the widely used technique out of the two due to the reasons such as efficient space utilization, cost effectiveness, easiness in altering the layouts etc.. Although, both the techniques have its advantages and disadvantages, it is observed that lot of grievances exist among the users of “open office layouts”. The employee productivity and Job satisfaction level are found to be inter-related. Hence the factors affecting the job satisfaction level of an employee is vital for organizational management. Satisfaction level about the work place is identified as one of the factors affecting job satisfaction level of an employee. The literature available about working environment and productivity, discusses about the attributes which affect Overall Environmental Satisfaction level (Satisfaction level about ones work place) of an employee occupying a workplace. Out of them, the researcher identified 21 attributes as the base of his study and developed a questionnaire to gather information about the occupant’s Overall Environmental Satisfaction level in relation to the identified attributes. Survey done among the 46 executives in two offices, implies that the 21 attributes identified, have a direct impact upon the Overall Environmental Satisfaction level of an occupant. Hence inclusion of said 21 attributes, into layout designs is very vital in providing an efficient and productive working environment. Further, a detailed analysis about customer requirements and their interdependencies, prior to design a layout, is important, since success of the proposed layout will depend upon inclusion ofthem. User awareness about the functionality and design considerations (or assumptions) ofthe layout is also important in maintaining the office layout as intended. Finally the office layouts are to be checked routinely, for their intended performance levels after handing over.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Applicability of agile project management for construction projects
Kumara, PMWP; Perera, A
Project management is today a current and highly discussed area. Projects within the construction industry are managed has not changed significantly during the last decades. The construction industry, the number of different actors and the way that projects are procured today has however changed. This has led to a gap between the managerial view on how construction projects should be conducted today and how they actually are executed. This is reason enough to question this conservative industry and look into what possibilities there might be in the future. Using agile methodologies have numerous advantages over the classical methods used in project management in construction projects. However, their characteristics make them appropriate to be applied to projects in other areas.Project management in the information systems industry has had a poor record of delivering value and has consequently seized upon the recent evolutional of agile project management.The meaning of the agile project management, from whence it originated and whether it has further applicability, are not widely understood. The construction industry also might benefit from the adoption of agile project management. A literature review has established that agile project management does indeed offer significant improvements and that the construction industry might also potentially benefit. In order to resolve to an agile theory, the underlying rationales for agile have been explored, leading to the identification of further promising research. The agile methodologies are suited for projects with high complexity and uncertainty. It is also suitable to work in agile ways when a project has unclear specifications, changing situations, complex project goals and results needs to be achieved continually or early in the project process.In order to this study is focused on establishing the possibility of applying the scrum method in construction project management. The compatible scrum framework is identified for construction projects as a result of the literature review. A case study is conducted by following the model outputs, and then reviews the possibility of establishing the scrum roles,meetings and artifacts. An expertise review is referred to validate and generalize the case study output to construction project management. Even though the case study highlighted the positive possibilities to establish scrum methods in construction project management, the expertise review is not positively resulted.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Applicability of earn value management in Sri Lankan construction projects
Nimashanie, WMT; Perera, AADAJ
Earn Value Management is a globally accepted and well established integrated planning and control methodology that combines the measurement of cost, schedule and technical performance. It enables early detection of performance issues and allows corrective actions to be implemented in a timely manner. The objective of this study is to establish the possibility of introducing Earn Value Management as an ICTAD Condition of Contract for Major Contracts for the performance reporting and evaluation. In literature review derived the several important benefits of the EVM as an effective performance measuring technique, the problems in implementing and commonly used practice standards in the globe. The construction industry was an early private industry adopter of EVM. EVM is commonly used in United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia and other European and Asian countries to evaluate construction projects. EVM is a flexible and universally applicable project management technique. However, in Sri Lankan construction industry there is a need of a globally established performance monitoring technique for the development of the industry and better performance. Under these circumstances, it is important to find out the feasibility of introducing EVM as an ICTAD condition for the construction industry. The effectiveness of the ICTAD document to the industry is high. The level of acceptance is significant; the responses show that 64% of respondents accept the Time Schedule as an effective tool and 37.3% submit it on-time for all projects to fulfil the ICTAD requirement. However, Sri Lankan construction industry doesn’t have a proper understanding and knowledge about the use of Time Schedule and its limitations. The lack of knowledge about the technique hinders the getting appropriate use of the technique. However, respondents believe effective performance measuring technique should not have these limitations. The result of this study confirms the possibility of introducing the EVM in Sri Lankan construction industry for performance reporting and evaluation. Further, results highlight that the importance and necessity of Earn Value Management to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Sri Lankan construction industry. The majority of respondents believe the most important aspect of the EVM is, it helps projects to be completed within time and cost constraints compared to other benefits. The survey results illustrate that more than 80% of respondents believe Sri Lankan construction industry need EVM concept for effective and accurate performance management. The cost performance management is the primary concern of the Industry. The Industry’s perception on the possibility of EVM implementation is satisfactory.
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
Barriers on small scale contracors to enter and survive compettitive construction industry in Sri Lanka
Ramawickrama, G; Ekanayaka, LL; Gunawardena, K
Many challenges are facing by business managers when there are projects involved in their business in construction industry. Construction is industry is not an exception when project comes in to their businesses as a part of the business activity. Many barriers are directly resulting to operations related and some are indirect marginal activities of SME level for its survival. While managing a SMEs, most ofthe time, challenges are addressed by the SMEs to ensure the success and survival. Many considerations are included in communication, workforce, safety, time constraints, and nature ofthe project, quality and time management. From a literature review six predominant problems currently facing the construction industry were identified. With the analysis of data and above constrains in the field of construction SMEs survival, it reveals that the clear relationship between employee turnover, application of new technology, government regulations, financing, contractor awareness of environmental issues, project management, knowledge transfer and survival ofSME construction companies. The underlying aim ofranking these problems being towards developing a strategy for improving the performance of the construction sector and improving client satisfaction through the satisfaction of SME operations. Accordingly, research question is formulated to address the issue of “what are the existing situations of competitive construction industry in Sri Lanka and what are the barriers to enter and survive in competitive construction industry in Sri Lanka?” The opinions of Construction Company concerning the severity ofthese problems was obtained through a questionnaire survey. Finings revealsthat, there are direct relationship between employee turnover, application of new technology, government regulations, financing, contractor awareness of environmental issues, project management, knowledge transfer and survival of SME construction companies. This was proved by using the fishbone model. With the findings ofthis research, it is not only applicable to locally, but also to address to mitigate issues related to survival of construction SMEs at global level.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Causes and effects of delay in completion of government funded building construction projects in Sri Lanka : with special reference to the projects based in Western Province
Perera, GHNN; Ekanayaka, LL
The main purpose of this study is to identify the causes of delay in completion of government funded building construction projects in Sri Lanka; with special reference to the projects based in the Western province as well as to highlight its impact on the construction industry and to round up by forwarding recommendations for minimization of such delays. A questionnaire survey was carried out among the engineers representing consultants and contractors engaged in building construction projects of government funded projects in western province of Sri Lanka to identify the delays and their effects. The delay in completion of government funded building construction projects could be due to various reasons and those reasons will change from region to region. For this research, a questionnaire was used with 25 delay causes and the responses were ranked according to relative importance index. At the completion of the research nineteen causes were identified which have more effect on the delay. Those 25 delay causes were grouped in to four called client related delays, consultant related delays, contractor related delays and other delays and were used in finding which party had higher impact on project delay. The ten effects were listed in the questionnaire that can occur as a result of delay in building construction projects and ranked them according to their importance level. Having identified the causes having a high effect for the delays, the areas that are to be improved/concentrated can be identified and that will help overcome the problem for delays. According to the analyzed data, shortage of skill labor is the cause with the most impact and delay in providing necessary drawings and delay in delivery of required material to the site has become the second and third position respectively. Also it was found that delays occurring from the contractor’s side have higher impact on project delay. Increasing in the final cost of the project is the main effect which results from the delay in completion of government funded building construction projects.
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
Cost of software quality (CoSQ) contribution towards, gaining higher return on investment in software development projects
De Silva, OWW; Ekanayake, LL
Information Technology plays a key and decisive role in the modern business world. Along with the ever increasing importance and the decisive role of Information Technology, Software Development has taken a prime place in the holistic context of Information Technology. Under the said circumstances, there arises the urgent need to have carefully planned, efficient quality assurances processes for these software systems. It is essential to put it place more accurate prediction of the potential costs and anticipated benefits of various quality assurances technically within a particular project as it facilitates for economically rational decision making. The main goal of this research is to obtain an enhanced understanding pertaining to the examination of the impact of cost of software quality towards deciding the level of return on investment applicable to the software development projects. The sample of this research was formed within Virtusa private limited in Sri Lanka who especially involved with IT project management responsibilities in organizations. Data was gathered from a corporate database and also through a structured questionnaire. The main findings of the research shows once the company has identified its key processes and established adequate process control, quality can be easily linked to financial performance. It also reveals that the Software development project's ROI is a widely used approach for, measuring the value of a new and improved process or product technology, convincing managers to invest money and effort in improvement, and convincing them that the company can help solve structural problems, estimating how much effort to invest to solve a certain problem or estimating whether a certain intended benefit is worth its cost, deciding which process improvement to implement first as many organizations must prioritize these due to timing and resource constraints. Limitation of this research was the small sample space. 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
item: Thesis-Full-text
Critical evaluation on achieving total implementation of ERP in Manufacturing firms
Wewalage, H; Perera, A
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has been one of the most popular business management systems, providing benefits of real-time capabilities and seamless communication for business in large organizations. However, not all ERP implementations have been successful. Since ERP implementation affects entire organizations such as process, people, and culture, there are a number of challenges that companies may encounter in implementing ERP systems. This research is the quest to find out the feasibility of implementing an ERP system for the manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka, focusing on the cost benefit of production planning, purchasing, inventory management, and supply management optimization. Literature was reviewed in order to study ERP systems, usage of information technology in manufacturing sector, manufacturing information system and global case studies of ERP system implementations on manufacturing sector and return of investment of from above optimization. Application software systems must be architected in order to deal with the current and future needs of the business organization. Managing optimization of production planning, purchasing, inventory management, and supply management using architecture-centered methodologies must be an intentional step in the process of deploying information systems which not an accidental by product of the software acquisition and integration process.
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
Economic benifits by harnessing wind energy in the North-Western regional of Sri Lanka
Kaluarachchi, WR; Jayasinghe, C
The case study is a part of the dissertation made to complete the Master of Business Administration in Project Management. Degree program in January 2009. The experimental study was performed in the north-western region of Sri Lanka, where it was identified sufficient wind potential resource is available for harnessing wind energy. Studies had been conducted in Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA (NREL) in 2000 and 2002 respectively to identify the feasibility of utility scale wind farms in the region. As a result of that NREL Wind Resource Assessment for Sri Lanka and Maldives completed in 2002. The Rural Electrification Unit of CEB also had conducted a site specific wind measurement study in 2000 and revealed the potential wind resource for a utility scale wind farms in the region in 2001. Also, Constraints for the Development of Wind Farms in Sri Lanka is a study conducted to simulate the grid behavior if the wind plants were connected in the north-western region. Another case study had been performed to select the suitable turbine type for the region. All these studies revealed that the utility scale wind farms are feasible in the region. The related literature review reveals the feasibility of utility scale wind farms in the region. The NREL, CEB and other studies; direct the potential developers to the identified regions for setting up the site specific wind measurement facilities, revealed the potential feasibility of grid connected wind farms and the acceptability of wind power to the grid. Also they discuss the limitation of the wind power input to the grid The experimental study conducted at Nirmalapura (Np) and Mullipuaram (Mp) area revealed that the wind speed in the Np is 7m/s and the Wind Power Density (WPD) as 327 W/m2. In Mp the two factors are 6.8 m/s and the WPD 315 W/m2. These results verify the technical feasibility of using IEC Class III wind turbines with large rotor diameters. for larger swipe area for capturing more energy passes through the rotor. These results have? .Jlreater chance of varying from one location to another in the same region. Hence, a site specific Wind Resource Assessment is a must to a potential wind site. It was also observed that the wind site classifications done by NREL study do not comply as it is. The Np region classified as Good - Class 4 site with 7-7.5m/s wind speed and 400-500 W/m2 Wind Power Density. The experimental results show that the site is in 7-7.5 m/s wind speed region and WPD of 300-400 W/m2. The actual measured WPD seems lower compare to the NREL Classification. However, the Mp area is compatible with 6.4-7 m/s and WPD of 300-400 W/m2 wind class. Technical, social and commercial feasibilities for implementing utility scale wind farms also exist. There are capacity addition restrictions to the grid for technical reasons and it is a limitation for harnessing the potential wind resource in the region. the turbine technology must be optimized and select suitably for the wind regime. Dispite the issues due to coal power plant implementation in the region, people would welcome wind projects in to the region. This does not mean that there would not be any social resistance. Project mangers with good personal soft skills would require operating in the area. If not expert advice must be sorted. The present high cost of finance is causing projects to be more commercially riskier. However, intuitive funding methods would minimize the risks in expected returns. The project profitability is very sensitive to the currency risk in the country. Intensity of the risk is more in this industry due almost 60% of the implementation cost goes with the equipment purchase. If the capital is drawn from foreign currencies, which is obviously required for equipment purchase, the exposure to the currency devaluation is high during repayment. One another sensitive factor, transportability of equipment, is much more feasible compared to any other wind resource areas due to geographic and infrastructure conditions Wind power is very sensitive to small variation of wind speed due to its cubic relationship to the out put power of the turbine. Hence site specific data analysis can not be ruled out to an acceptable feasibility of a project. Small variation in the wind speed will greatly affect the energy estimations hence the revenue calculations. Use of non site specific wind data for wind project evaluation is not acceptable for any prospective developer. Technical feasibility of wind projects are undoubted in the region if a comprehensive project financing plan is available.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Effect of occupational stress on the work performance of the humanitarian sector workers : in Sri Lankan context
Nilaweera, SW; Ganepola, P
Purpose of this research was to study the effects of occupational stress on the performances of humanitarian sector workers in Sri Lanka and to measure the correlation between the occupational stresses with the performance level of such workers. With the current economic upheavals many changes have taken place almost within every organization where some of such changes seem to be on favor of the employees while a majority of them have created negative impacts making a perfect foundation for stresses. Responses of 135 humanitarian workers attached to 17 organizations were analyzed using a self administered questionnaire .Out of the two hypothetical condition that were taken in to consideration it was not possible to verify the hypothesis on the significant percentage of humanitarian sector workers suffering from stress with the collected data. However, the second hypothesis on the significant correlation between the stress and the work performance shows a statistical significance with the Pearson correlation analysis. The findings show that the Humanitarian workers are in a state of managing and controlling their stress level within the contemporary settings. A significant level of relationship between the stress and the performance could also be observed in the correlation analysis. Findings of this research will assist organizations in implementing stress management techniques for their employees and improving the organizational performance. There is scope for further studies based on occupational stress within the Sri Lankan context.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Effectiveness of passive building techniques in dry zone : a case study of an Eco - lodge
(2016) Wijeratne RVDND; Halwatura RU
Human beings utilize the natural environment to fulfill the basic needs for survival. The sole responsibility of protecting the natural environment for present and future generations is upon us. Built environment is a basic need of humans but most of these needs are catering to the ‘wants’ exceeding the actual ‘need’. The consequences we are facing due to over consumption of resources is an ‘eye-opener’, which conveys an alarming message that we should minimize the destruction to the natural environment. Understanding the environmental aspects and having the knowledge to practice them is the key for an environmental friendly and healthy development. Appreciation of such moves and approaches will influence other building sectors and stakeholders to become more environmental friendly in all aspects of the industry. The case that is looked at in this research is one of such attempts to understand the natural environment and creating an environment friendly building. This is a small step towards much larger goals, we need to achieve in terms of environment friendly building construction. The dry zone of Sri Lanka did not have much attraction due to its harsh climatic conditions throughout the year. But some Architects have been bold enough to face the challenge of creating innovative yet comfortable buildings with minimum environmental and social impacts. Selected building for the case study is designed by a reputed local architectural practitioner, Archt. Wijitha Basmnayake. The building known as Galkadawal Forest Lodge, is located 20km off Habarana, in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka, which falls into the dry zone. This is a fine example of manipulating built environment with minimum resources to suite the local climate with minimum environmental and financial costs.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Effectiveness of team briefing program as a communication strategy
Millawabandara, A; Perera, AADAJ
Effective communication is very important in every level in our life. The most importantly the effective both way communications plays a strategic role in every level in our society. Especially in organizations whose ultimate aim is to improve the qualitative and quantitative results to the end user has used this as a strategy in these days. The Team Briefing (TB) is one of the concepts that improving both way and lateral communications, introduced and successfully implemented in various organizations. Empirically, the international researches have found that the introduction of TB improves the communication more effectively within an organization. Also they found that if the internal communication has been properly implemented, there would have been a tendency to improves the clear information flowing. Therefore it is an important requirement to identify the levels of awareness of the basic principals of TB for successful implementation TB in Sri Lankan context. The People's Bank having more than nine thousand (9,000) employee cadre representing all levels of community and one of the state owned bank and geographically diversified in Sri Lanka. This is one of the organization where TB has been introduced and still in practising as per guidelines. The research area was basically focused on this concept and to measure the effectiveness of this strategy and finally recommendations to improve this concept most effectively to this institution as well as other institutions. Due to large number of employe.e representation, the sample was mainly focused on banking service sector since they have more interfaces with the customers and the outcome of this TB was reflected more from this segment. Therefore the sample was selected to represent more branch managers and branch staff. , Nevertheless, the methodology and the findings of this research intend to broaden the local academic information pool while enlightening the future research work of this concept not only for the service sector but for production sector as well. The study reveals that the TB IS more effective to all levels of people of the organization despite the age and experience on TB sessions. Successful implementation of TB improves the communication within the organization as well as other strategic goals. In TB sessions the bank is more specifically highlighted the financial progress but not other areas such as safety in work places, new technology which can be easily applied for daily needs within the organization, new trends in the world as financial institution perspectives, process management, project management, and etc. The study also revealed that most of the responses displeasure the paper work for the TB session and therefore it is necessary to coordinate the relevant departments to reduce paper work. As implied in further studies in secondary data, the bank has positive impact of introducing TB. Therefore it is highlighted that "Theory X" organizations can become successful by implementing TB, although there are other strategic decisions are adopted for an effective change. Finally, successful and effective TB sessions can be fully versatile tool to implement all levels of organizations that not only to improve the internal communication, but also to gain strategic organizational issues more effectively.