Causes of Project Delays and Cost Overrun In Ghana Civil Construction Industry: (Case Study of Queiroz Galvao Construction)
Civil Engineering construction has gone through a lot of generational phases. Many countries and organisations have adopted different methodologies for ensuring safe, affordable and successful construction projects. The definition of construction project success has also evolved with time. Construction projects now place emphasis on stake holders’ requirements rather than completing a state of the art edifice. Environmental concerns have now become an uncompromising factor in determining the success of a civil construction project. Projects that are duly executed must meet design specification, pass environmental impact assessment, be within budget, be completed within time, meet all safety standards and serve the stakeholder’s purpose. All these stakeholder’s expectations have made civil engineering construction more complex, complicated and robust. Project managers are faced with diverse challenges in the quest of fully satisfying the needs of stakeholders. Project managers encounter both Constructional and Non-Constructional challenges. Non-Constructional challenges include legal issues, socio-political pressures and government interference. All these challenges if not controlled, deflected or mitigated will substantially increase the cost of the project and also result in project delays. The main purpose of project management is to achieve objectives and goals through the planned allocation of resources that meet project cost, quality, time safety and scope requirements. This thesis seeks to research into causes of project delays and expenditure cost overrun in Ghana construction industry. The writing will also cover practical strategic project management approaches to mitigating these challenges. Though this work addresses civil engineering construction by all construction companies, emphasis will be placed on multinational companies working in Ghana. This research work employs the use of questionnaires and interviews in its methodology. Data collected is then analyzed to interpret problem trends. Procedures and practical remedies to identified challenges is also analyzed to know their effects on other projects. Data was collected from 80 individuals spread across the three categories of respondents namely clients, contractors and consultants. However, out of the 80 respondents interviewed, 75 responses were deemed valid for analysis. The findings identified the factors responsible for project delays and cost overrun of multinational companies in Ghana construction industry. The findings also identified solutions to the causes of these delays and cost overrun.
“Organisational Culture and Its Effects on the Success of Construction Projects in Ghana” A Case Study Of Five Construction Companies in Ghana
The study investigated the organizational culture and its effect on project success using a sample from construction industries in Ghana. Using a correlational research design, data were collected from 250 participants of five construction companies in Ghana using reliable research questionnaires. Standard multiple regression and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on the data. The results showed that, organisational culture was significantly and positively related to project success. Consistent with the dimensions of organizational culture, the study found culture producing a strong effect on project success. It has also been manifested in the study that when employees feel like a family (i.e. community culture), then, they feel that the organisation is part of them and thus, work hard to ensure that the goals of the organisation are accomplished.(Burton 2012) Similarly, when the culture of innovation is encouraged, then, people tend to be creative, take proactive measures and reasonable risks in order to accomplish organisational goals. Further, cultures that are characterized by efficient communication systems, well-defined and achievable tasks, comfortable work environment and autonomy are more likely to lead to a highly successful project. It is therefore clear that, culture have an impact on project success in the selected construction companies in Ghana.
Value Stream Optimization for Oil Servicing Companies in Ghana: A Case Study of Schlumberger
In contemporary times, amidst the downturn in the Oil and gas business, many Oil and gas companies have had to fold up, resorted to severe head count reduction or merged to survive. It is therefore ciritcal if not imperative to resort to waste reduction in order to survive the current state of affairs, be sustainable in the long term as part of recovery and making supeior profits by retaining market share with a competitive advantage. The proposed strategy used in this research is Value Stream Mapping. It’s a tecnique that optimizes the current flow process to identify and eliminate waste. It is a lean tool usaullay used on production floors. In our case it is adopted for a service compnay; Schlumberger Ghana. The research conducted a survey amongst the employee population to help identify waste, evalute their understanding of the Value Stream Mapping, understand how customers and Suppliers contribute to this process and calrify the overall company’s culture in respect to Value Stream Mapping. From the data received in this survey, it was realised that top amongst the issues of logistical delays were poor job planning and unrealistic lead times with 74% and 51% respondents agreeing to this assertion respectively. The data from this survey fed into the development of a leaner workflow logistical process by incorporating a planning team whose sole role is to assit with job planning and provide a better oversight and a dedicated logistics team stationed permanently at the port to assist with clearance of goods. There was an overall improvement in the Current State which had a lead time of 47 days out of which 23.5 days were value-added and 23.5 days were non-value-added times. The future State had 28 days lead time with 16 days value added and 12 days non-value-added time. This means there was a 40% improvement in the lead time comprising of a 19 day reduction, 32% reduction in the Value-added-time comprising of 7.5 day reduction and a 49% improvement in the non-value added-time conssisting of 11.5 days reduction over the current state. With the improvement of the current state and the introduction of the planning team, there is a continous effort to reduce unwanted inventory and obsolete products in the location to zero. This drive to reduce depreciation to the bearest minium coupled with the improvement in the flow stream will offset the financial loses of the company to move them back to profit making in the coming years.
Analyzing the Effect of Oil Price Fluctuations on the Performance of Petroleum Marketing Companies in Nigeria: A Case Study of Total
The work analyzes Oil price effect fluctuations on performance of Petroleum products Marketing Companies in Nigeria. Trends of Oil price fluctuations and performance of Petroleum products Marketers are described here. The work further examines the effect of the fluctuation in Oil price on the performance of Petroleum products Marketers, and further checks the causal relationship between fluctuation of Oil price and the performance of Petroleum products Marketers in Nigeria between 1970 and 2018. Secondary data was employed for the analysis. The data was sourced from CBN Annual Report. Graphs were used to describe the trends of variables while the ARCH-GARCH analysis, granger causality test, and Vector Autoregressive analysis were employed in the analysis. Unit root test and the Co-integration test were also used to check for stationarity and long-run relationship, respectively. Jarque-Bera statistic for crude oil price (3.509752) with a probability of 0.172929 indicates normality, while that of Profit after tax is 6.370729 with probability value of 0.041363 indicates that there is no normal distribution. The stationarity test shows that all variables are I(1). Cointegration test showed the existence of one co-integrated equation at 5 per cent level of significance. The Error Correction Term (ECT) has a coefficient of -0.316976 with probability value 0.0184, which is significant at 5%. This indicates that in the short run, performance adjust to about 31% of the price fluctuation, while the remaining 69% is accounted for in the long-run. The F statistics of the ARCH LM test results also indicate that there is no ARCH effect. The F value of 2.02960 for causality from COP to LPAT and with probability value of 0.1564, shows that Oil price fluctuation does not granger-cause Performance of Petroleum products Marketers in Nigeria. Similarly, there is the absence of causal relationship from LPAT to COP, with F statistic and probability value of 0.95211 and 0.4020 respectively, thus there exist no causality between COP and LPAT. The study recommends that Oil marketers should move from just describing or forecasting oil price volatility as high or low to understanding the dynamics of the oil market.
Developing the Downstream Petroleum Industry for a Sustainable Market in Ghana.
The government of Ghana realizing the significance of fuel products, founded the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in 1961 to pursue the sole objective of processing crude oil into refined products for the indigenous market. Moreover, appreciating the increasing demand for finished petroleum products all over the country, there was some level of product circulation ineptitudes and threats in the midst of low capacity utilization of domestic refinery, deprived network of storage and pipeline structures. The government further brought into being the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST) with depots facilities all over the country. The research adopted the case study technique to discover the elements hindering the smooth operations within the petroleum downstream industry in the distribution of petroleum products all over the country. The targeted units of analysis were key players within the petroleum downstream industry such as Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), BOST, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) as well as the Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs). The study revealed certain ineptitudes hampering the development of the petroleum downstream sector for market sustainability in Ghana. Recommendations such as complete utilization of the domestic refinery, increase storage capacity of the petroleum depot, complete utilization of the various modes of product transfer and other recommendations were made. These were intended to develop the operations of within the downstream, in the distribution of petroleum products to all over the country in an effort to develop the industry for a sustainable market.
The Impact of Local Content on Ghana’s Oil and Gas Economy: Global Perspective A Case Study of Local Content: L.I.2204
Following the discovery of Ghana’s oil and gas in 2007 of larger and commercial quantities, the expectations of Ghanaians and communities where the exhaustible natural resource “black gold” was found, went high thereby compelling Policy makers in the country “Government of Ghana” (GOG) and other key stakeholders who are equally anxious to obtain the greatest benefits of the exhaustible natural resource. This triggered, the initiation and subsequent implementation of the L.I.2204 in 2013 to help impact positively on the Ghanaian economy and global impact as well. The rational of conducting this qualitative and quantitative (crossed sectional research) was to determine the extent of the impact local content has had on Ghana’s oil and gas economy: and the global perspective of the L.I.2204, the local content requirement of L.I. 2204 of the petroleum upstream sector. The prospective implications of this research is for bringing about social positive changes which includes; the organization of lectures and seminars by the petroleum commission of Ghana aimed at informing indigenous Ghanaians and local companies about the various opportunities of the local content L.I.2204. The local content L.I.2204 has what it takes to alleviating poverty in the Ghanaian economy and also the enhancement of the broader economic growth and development. Finally, it is for this reason the research was focused on the impact of local content L.I.2204 of oil and gas on the Ghanaian economy and the global perspective; how the world views the L.I.2204. It is my hope and believe that the petroleum commission and its key stakeholders will do more in generating jobs as a requisite requirement of the L.I.2204, doing more in generating revenue for government and engaging more in dialoging with multinational petroleum companies which will give Ghana a competitive edge in attracting more investors in to the Ghana oil and gas upstream industry.
An Assessment of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance: The Case of Nobel International Business School
The study used both qualitative and quantitative method of data collection and analysis, in the form of questionnaire as means of gathering data to answer the research topic that seeks to assess leadership styles and on employee performance, using 97 respondents of the Nobel International Business School. This was obtained using multiple regression analysis. The primary objective of this study is to assess leadership styles and on employee performance. Specifically to evaluate the underlined different types of leadership and its impact on employee performance at Nobel International Business School. The importance of leadership styles on the organizational survival of Nobel International Business School was assessed and different types of leadership styles were evaluated based on their impact on the productivity of employees in the School. The descriptive statistics were categorized under Gender, Age, Educational Level, Department (Position Category) and Years of work. Four main leadership styles were assessed and they are Charismatic Leadership, Autocratic Leadership, Laissez-Faire Leadership and Democratic Leadership. The results shows that charismatic leadership had a positive and significant relationship with employee performance at a 5% level of significance. In contrast, the results obtained suggested that, there was a positive but insignificant relationship between autocratic leadership style and employee performance. In a summary, the multiple regression analysis shows that, the charismatic leadership style exhibited by supervisors positively impacted on employee performance. If supervisors exhibited more charismatic leadership, the employees will have higher employee performance. As predicted, this result supported hypothesis 1
The Influence of Organizational Meetings on Productivity: A Study of Vodafone Ghana
Meetings are associated with higher team productivity but too many meetings can negatively affect productivity. The structure of the study is to determine the influence of organizational meetings on productivity at Vodafone Ghana. The research adopted the descriptive survey design with a quantitative approach to collect data from the target population employed by Vodafone Ghana. Using the stratified random sampling method, approximately 258 (32%) of employees were sampled from a total of 805 employees of the various departments. A selfdesigned was used to collect data from employees and open questions, data was collected from employees. SPSS software was used to analyze the descriptive and inferential statistics Results indicated that during the week, meetings were held, mainly daily (24.4%), four times a week (10.1%), three times a week (5.8%) and twice a week (37.6%). Meetings were held, mainly three times a day (42.6%), four times a day (27.9%) and, twice a day (26.0%). Meetings duration was long; one hour (69.8%) and one and a half hours (10.1%). There was a negative association of meetings with productivity among respondents (the correlation coefficient is -0.124, significant at the 0.05 significance level), thus meetings have a negative influence on respondents’ productivity. Frequency of meetings affect work time because it takes the time needed to work. Exactly 82.5% of respondents said meetings are too frequent, 40.3% said meetings take the time they need for other job responsibilities, 73.3% said meetings take the energy they need for other job responsibilities. Exactly 79.0% indicated that some meetings are not needed at work and 61.7% said some activities at meetings are not needed. Recommendations included the strategic planning of meetings to reduce frequency and time and the adoption of more flexible online forums and e-mails.
Comparative Analysis of Ghana’s Fiscal Regime and Petroleum Agreements.
The upstream oil sector the major source of government revenue for natural resource rich countries. Though the sector is a highly lucrative one, which plays a key role in the growth and development of a country, the sector is a highly capital intensive one. Thus, most developing countries are unable to raise the required investments to develop these resources. These developing must thus engage International Oil Companies (IOCs) in developing the resource. Existing literature suggests that most fiscal systems/ regimes do not enhance state’s take in the agreements drawn because they are liberal to encourage the FOCs/IOCs to invest their scarce but huge capital in this capital-intensive activity. The study reviewed theories concepts and findings from prior studies in the subject area. Prior studies revealed that Ghana has employed a hybrid fiscal regime comprising of product sharing and a concessionary system to regulate petroleum projects. Key instruments adopted in Ghana’s fiscal regime include royalties, carried interest, additional oil entitlements and corporate income tax. The study further reviewed petroleum regulations governing petroleum activities in the country. The study delves into the methods and instruments used in analyzing the data gathered for the study. Financial models including the Net Present Value method, payback period, internal rate of return and return of investments were used in assessing the efficiency of Ghana’s fiscal regime. The study revealed the weakness of Ghana’s fiscal regime in yielding optimum returns from the nations’ oil resource. The analysis of Net Present Value and the Internal Rate of Return of cashflows for a ten year period (from 2008 to 2017) from the jubilee field generated according to the terms of Ghana’s fiscal regime, was the least when compared to the Net Present Value and the Internal Rate of Return, when the terms of fiscal regimes of Equatorial Guinea, Norway and Nigeria. The Payback period for Ghana’s fiscal regime was found to be among the regimes with the lengthiest payback countries among the selected fiscal regimes. The results reveal that Ghana is realizing only a small portion of its potential revenue from oil production. The study recommends that Ghana’s government must embark on an exercise to review legislations regarding upstream petroleum activities and pass necessary amendments to suit current trends in upstream petroleum activities. The review and amendments of these regulations should be focused on optimizing the returns from oil exploration, development and production.
Assessing the Concept of Local Content in Ghana’s Upstream Oil and Gas Sector.
The study sought to present an assessment of the concept of local content in Ghana’s upstream oil and gas sector. It employed the mixed method Research Approach using both semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to collect data with study population being actors in the upstream oil and gas industry in Ghana. The mixed method was used with questionnaire and interview used to collect data. The purposive sampling was applied. to select 25 employees and 5 experts in the oil and gas industry. The study revealed that the local content policy was being implemented and monitored for effective compliance to be achieved. However, it is more effective with non- technical activities as compared to technical activities. The reason being that unlike other business sectors, the upstream technical environment needs a suite of qualification to fit in owing to its risky environment. Again it was revealed that most Ghanaians do not have the appetite to work in the technical environment. It was recommended that there should be more strategic alliances among local firms to enhance their capacity for contract award and execution. Also, compliance to the local content fund should be intensified while local institutions and universities should be given the necessary accreditations to train and provide the needed certifications required to work in the upstream industry. Local banks Ghana should be encouraged to provide financial support to indigenous Ghanaian.