Project and Quality

The aim of this paper is to present a modern model for optimization of relative efficiency of congeneric units benefiting from Imperialist competitive algorithm. The Imperialist competitive algorithm, which is regarded as a method in the realm of evolutionary calculations, dealing with finding an optimized reply to various problems of optimization, presents a social-political algorithmic evolution process for solving mathematical problems of optimization through mathematical modeling. Through accompany of data envelopment analysis method with this algorithm, herein this paper, a model has been proposed for optimization of relative efficiency of congeneric units. Experimental results obtained from execution of the proposed algorithm reveal that the said model has succeeded and also showed that the proposed algorithm has most convergence speed, compared to primary Imperialist algorithm.

Business Analytics (BA) have provided remarkable opportunities for organizations to implement new techniques to face competitive challenges.. However, the effect of BA’s contribution would be increased through the mediation role of data-driven culture in the organization. Business analytics have gained popularity in recent times to analyse complex data and derive meaningful solution. It is an emerging science and technology which involves multidisciplinary information in diversified areas. An optimum strategy is possible for any company through Big data analytics. This paper focus on how business intelligence can be enhanced through big data analytics.

Development planning in the urban areas in Kenya has taken a paradigm shift over the past decade and more so after the enactment of the new constitution in 2010. This study sought to investigate the influence of stakeholder involvement on the implementation of urban strategic development plans (USDP) in Kenya. The study was carried out in Kapsabet town, Nandi County. A sample size of 118 respondents was obtained from a population of 170 using Krejcie and Morgan method. They mainly came from the county Departments of Planning Infrastructure Development, Devolved Units & Special Programmes. Others were professionals and stakeholders in the town. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data and the return rate was 95.8%. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. The study also adopted a descriptive analysis where descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to describe the basic features of the data and to provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures. The study found out that majority (58.4%) of respondents believed that stakeholder communication has got a positive influence on the implementation of USDP. In addition, majority (55.8%) of the respondents support stakeholder training as a way of achieving success in the implementation of USDP. Similarly, it is important to be accountable to the stakeholders in the implementation of the strategic development plan as 61% of the respondents attested to its importance.. The research findings and recommendations are useful in assisting the town managers, the Nandi County Government and all the stakeholders to take measures geared towards enhancing the implementation of urban strategic development plan and the realization of the vision and mission statements of the town.

Project management is not a new management trend; it is a professional practice that has reached wide acceptance in many facets of industries. The purpose of project management is to foresee as many of the dangers and problems as possible and to plan, organize and control activities so that projects are completed successfully in spite of all the risks. This process should start well before any resource is committed, and must continue until all work is finished. Organizations that have adopted project management as a key competency have benefited from improved project outcomes to significant competitive advantage. There are many aspects involved in successful project management: Solid processes, tools & techniques, experience, hard work, good teamwork and good work practices. This paper focuses on two important aspects of project management – the processes and the tools & techniques we use for the successful completion of a project.

In many developing countries, it is estimated that 60% of project management professionals appear to pay less attention to project success factors of timely completion, budget fidelity, and high quality, considered the critical success factors for successful completion of construction initiatives and projects. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between project budget and the independent variables of time and in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, in Africa. The theories of iron triangle, scientific management, and strategic management represented the theoretical underpinning and constituted the theoretical framework for this study. In this study, one hundred and sixteen project managers were randomly selected from the population of construction professionals in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The project managers recruited for this study, completed the survey entitled the Six Key Performance Indicators developed by Ngacho and Das (2014). The results of this study involving multiple linear regression analysis, indicated that a weak positive correlation exists between the independent variables (time and quality) and project budget, F(1, 114) = 37.08, p < 0.001. Time recorded the highest beta (? = .50) and quality (? = .06). Attention to key the project management performance indicator of time could improve project outcomes in the Ghanaian construction sector. From a social welfare and positive change standpoint, this study findings could be useful to improve the quality of projects and the knowledge from it in some way could contribute to ameliorating the lives of project management professionals and community members in the area.

Strategy development in higher educational institution ensures quality and improvement of efficiency in functioning. This paper discusses the development and deployment of strategies in higher educational institutions with specific reference to Srinivas Institute of Management Studies. This paper also include the strategies to be deployed by the institution to ensure adequate information and feedback to be made available to the top management and the stake holders, review the activities of the institution and encourage and support involvement of the staff in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the institutional processes.

Nowadays, airline industry has a very delicate and significant role in sustainable development of countries as the successful performance of this branch of industry can create a strong motivation for other industries of a country by doing its mission, objectives and strategies. Using a suitable evaluation framework like Balanced Scorecard can relate to strategic plans and objectives, evaluate different areas of the organization, as well as presenting a full report of organizational performance. However, in countries where the organizations are significantly influenced by the cultural-religious factors of society, the standard Balanced Scorecard model cannot work out. Thus, in this research, we aim to extend the model by adding “culture and values” perspective as a new and determinant factor. In order to do this, we identified the indictors of the model and localized it by library studies and interviewing the managers and experts of several airlines. Then, the most important functional indicators in areas such as financial, customer and market, internal business processes, learning and growth and culture and values were identified and a questionnaire containing 267 indicators in 5 components for determining the significance of each indicator were randomly distributed among 110 managers and experts of the airlines. The components and indicators of the questionnaire were tested by parametric T-student. Consequently, using TOPSIS technique as one of the MADM decision making techniques, the components and indicators were weighted and ranked. The results show that the “culture and values” is the most important component. According to this, we designed a performance evaluation model for airlines which reflects the values and cultural circumstance of a specific country and it seems that using this model can be applied by all other countries with the similar cultural, social, political and economic context.

Companies need project portfolio management (PPM) to deal with the increasing number of projects and used it to ensure strategic arrangement and adequate use of available resources. Moreover, customers were demand more attention from their suppliers. The management of a project portfolio and the corresponding customers, supplier’s engagement signified a link between PPM and external stakeholder’s engagement. Supplier engagement in project portfolio management success had become an increasingly popular technique for improving project capability and project performance in PPM. By defining the range of PPM, this study hypothesized a connection between external stakeholders like customers and supplier’s engagement and project portfolio management success. The results were based on a cross-sectional sample of 100 well known Software Houses in Lahore, Pakistan. Study employed Pearson’s correlation and step wise hierarichal regression to find the results. Study found a significant relationship between customers and supplier’s engagement and PPM success. While moderating effect of role clarity showed partial moderation.

Data mining is a technique that utilizes a range of data to provide valuable information. Customer relationship management through data mining can be a powerful tool for attracting, retaining, and promoting customers in today businesses. Banks, financial institutions, and insurance institutions are of those business that collect and storage many data from their customers on a daily basis. This research on one of private banks in Khomein city was accomplished in September 2012 in which 5939 customers with 7199 transactions were studied. These transactions were modeled using four demographic characteristics including age, gender, education, and occupation. At first, data was preprocessed which was the most time-consuming part of the study. After that, using visualization technique, graphic display of customers' demography was obtained. And then, the customers' transactions were predicted based on their transaction volume and probability, and it was checked whether the customers accept the bank's new service (i. e. instant card issuance) by using decision tree algorithm. Finally, the customers were clustered by conducting the two step algorithm and the result was that the cluster of 2543 transactions (cluster 1) is comprised of target customers. The characteristics of customers in target cluster are the age of 25~40, often having a bachelor degree, and be self-employed.

Disaster preparedness is one of the phases within the disaster management cycle which covers implementation or operation, early warning systems and capacity building so that the population can react appropriately when an early warning is issued. Disasters have inflicted a heavy cost on human, material and physical resources. A comprehensive review of the literature has revealed that the development of disaster management strategies, such as preparedness, must be undertaken before the event strikes. The specific objective was to evaluate fire disaster risk plans for preparedness in Nairobi County. The research employed a descriptive research design to carry out the study in order to establish the relationships between the variables of interest. Exploratory and Evaluative research designs were used. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were used to conduct the research. Households were sampled purposively such that only those from the informal settlement were interviewed and the research involved face to face interviews with 110 households by the use of questionnaires. Findings revealed that most respondents (89.6%) indicated that fire disaster risk plan for preparedness and awareness campaigns were important. Most respondents agreed with awareness initiatives both at household and institutional level except for allowing children to play near fire and lighting of cigarettes in fuel flammable areas. Fire escape plans were the most adopted fire awareness initiative as a fire disaster risk reduction measure.