Using Interactive Management to Explore the Factors Causing Delay of Modification Project in a South African Power Station

Authors

  • Sikholiwe Ntoyanto University of Cape Town
  • Nien-Tsu Tuan University of Cape Town

Keywords:

Interactive Management, Systemic Thinking, Project Delay

Abstract

Project delays are common problems in construction industry. The modification and shutdown (outage) projects in South African power stations are faced with project delays as well. The project delays have detrimental effects to the supply of electricity and impacts the advancement of South African economy. This paper explores the major determinants that influence untimely delivery of modification projects in a South African power station. Through the use of Interactive Management (IM) methodology, 21 principal project delay factors were identified and used for structuring a delay model. The model generated through the IM session is a digraph, showing the ‘aggravate’ relationship between the identified delay factors. The digraph reveals that the main determinant of modification project delays in this South African power station is the ’proficiency of a project manager’. Proficiency of a project manager relates to the ability of a project manager to accomplish the required project tasks based on his or her skills, competency, and experience within the project management field. The model developed through the IM session demonstrates that proficiency of a project manager in that South African power station is the driver of other project delay factors, such as the factors in a large circular loop lying in the second stage of the model, including ‘poor leadership’, ’poor communication’, ‘poor planning’, ’insufficient risk management’, ‘scope creep’ and so forth. The model serves as a starting point to revisit the power station’s strategy in dealing with its project delays.

Author Biographies

Sikholiwe Ntoyanto, University of Cape Town

Department of Construction Economics and Management

Nien-Tsu Tuan, University of Cape Town

Department of Construction Economics and Management

Published

2019-09-15

How to Cite

Ntoyanto, S., & Tuan, N.-T. (2019). Using Interactive Management to Explore the Factors Causing Delay of Modification Project in a South African Power Station. Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the ISSS - 2018 Corvallis, OR, USA, 1(1). Retrieved from https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings62nd/article/view/3419

Issue

Section

Systems Engineering and Systems Modelling