Construction projects are of very complex nature, and subject to circumstances of high uncertainties and risks due to the interdependences of activities and processes in the project performance. As a result of the dynamic complexities inherited in construction projects, changes in the scope of work are inevitable. Of particular concern is that, when scope changes are introduced in a project, contractors follow a systematic procedure in managing the changes, but with poor planning and implementation thereof because the project complexities that underpin the scope changes are not fully understood. Therefore, despite that complexity is an inherent and defining feature of construction projects, studies in the literature have failed to grasp and present the dynamics of project complexity which underlie the scope changes in the delivery of construction project. The TOE (Technical Organizational Environmental) framework was adopted and applied on a multiple-case study research design in order to explore and denote project complexity relations to scope changes in construction projects. Through a content analysis procedure, six key elements of project complexities that relate to scope changes in the construction projects has emerged. Understanding these complexity elements could enable the project management team to apply a front-end planning approach in the initiation phase of the projects in order to better manage scope changes in the execution phase of the project, and eventually to improve the project performance.
In the South African government sector, public procurement is a strategic mechanism through which the government could be able to achieve the mandatory socioeconomic objectives. To this extent, the government procures goods and services from the private sector which can be estimated around eight hundred billion rand annually. Although there are numerous policy frameworks and systems to ensure that the management of the public procurement processes are fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective; the public procurement management practice, particularly in the delivery of construction goods and services, remains vulnerable to mismanagement and irregularities. To this extent, the nature of the irregularities and the stages at which they occur in the public procurement system remains unclear. To address this gap of knowledge, a content analysis method and the associated techniques of in-Vivo coding and word frequency analysis were used for the analysis of the secondary data. The study revealed that poor and or non-performance were the most frequent irregularities in the procurement of public construction services. The principal theoretical implication of this study is that rigorous proficiency measures should be applied to scrutinize and evaluate the potential of the contractors in terms of capacity to deliver in accordance with the contractual agreements prior to the awarding of contracts.
The purpose of this article, with practical focus, is to analyse the potential of Renewable Energy (RE) as the catalyst for a sustainable energy distribution sector in South Africa (SA) and promote collaboration between the manufacturers, government, and all relevant stakeholders. The research design was a systematic literature review. It used a qualitative research method, through a questionnaire, to evaluate the knowledge and views of professionals from the energy distribution sector, managers or leaders in the energy sector, and energy sector experts. The sample size selected was between 350 and 400 participants. The literature reviewed noted that photovoltaic (PV) energy was one of the primary RE sources for sustainable energy generation. Furthermore, installing capacity and investment continued to grow throughout SA. Of note was the value-added through distributed RE systems in respect of electricity provision. The energy poverty in SA was high, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic further contributed to the challenges experienced. The general conclusions were that due to global warming and increased large-scale pollution, the use of RE for power generation had become evident. The article offered the potential opportunities of RE as the catalyst for the sustainable energy distribution sector in SA. Criteria was developed to include or exclude relevant scientific literature, by identifying subject relevance, type of technology, geographic scope, intervention scale, and data type. Keywords: Photovoltaic, Poverty, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Energy, reduction INTRODUCTIONDue to advances in information and communication technologies, the world faces a strong evolution, placing knowledge technology based on productivity, competition and power. The world is more interconnected than ever (Vezzoli et al., 2019). Renewable energy sources, such as solar energy (photovoltaic and solar thermal), hydroelectric
The challenge of unemployment of built environment graduates is recurrent and this paper aims at presenting findings on the inherent factors therein and make recommendations towards ameliorating this challenge. A quantitative method was adopted for the data collection and the data was organized, analyzed and presented with descriptive statistics. The population sample was limited to the Nelson Mandela University Built Environment Graduates. The study discovered that there were difficulties in securing employment as a result of lack of practical experience, current curriculum and the dearth of skills. The study provides information towards the resolving this challenge arising from the factors identified as causative for unemployability and identifies the need for taught and practical skill and experience to be embedded in the curriculum to stimulate the level of employability.
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