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Cost and time are two of the primary benchmarks in which construction projects are measured. A variety of factors, however, affect cost and time on construction projects, as identified in previous research. This has led to a need for better understanding how factors affecting cost and time overruns on public construction projects can be managed more efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

In this study 26 factors affecting cost and time overruns on construction projects were identified, through qualitative interviews with project managers from Danish governmental agencies and through a literature review. Through principal component analyses the 26 factors were subsequently narrowed down to four primary latent factors.

The identified four latent factors affecting cost and time overruns on public construction projects were lack of quality management, lack of project pre-planning, lack of user management and lack of project management.

Previous research has focussed on increasing knowledge by identifying and ranking factors affecting time and cost performance. This has led to the identification of an overwhelming number of factors to use for managing construction projects. The present research reduced the number of factors by clustering them into key latent factors responsible for most of the deviation in performance, narrowing the scope of construction cost and time management into a few tangible key focus areas. This supports and improves fast decision-making that is necessary in a changeable environment such as construction.

The purpose of this article is to assist strategic planners and managers in developing and utilizing a strategic profile of the firm in order to conduct a SWOT analysis and therein apply its results appropriately.

How are the objectives achieved? This objective is achieved by developing a seven‐step procedure, with templates that assist planners and managers in creating a strategic profile of the firm and then utilizing that profile as a filtering mechanism for a SWOT analysis. The article covers the topics of competitive approach, competitive strategy, organizational structure, leadership, and organizational culture.

The profile may not only be employed as a method for centering a firm's strategic planning and implementation, it may also be used for creating a competitive profile of the firm's competitors.

The practical implications of the article indicate the need to attach a pre‐planning stage to the typical strategic management process of a firm. This action will lead to the creation of a preliminary strategic profile of the firm. This profile is used to produce a more accurate SWOT analysis with a greater likelihood of successful strategy implementation.

The value of this article is that it introduces a pre‐planning stage to the traditional strategic management process. This stage creates a strategic profile of the firm which managers and strategic planners can use for two purposes: producing a more accurate SWOT analysis with a greater likelihood of successful strategy implementation; and creating a strategic profile of their competitors.

Despite their centrality to organizing – acknowledged by several theorists – unplanned conversations are often marginalized in organizational theory. To remedy this oversight, we recenter attention on this understudied aspect of organizing. We draw on the affordances perspective to elaborate on the spatial and temporal factors influencing unplanned conversations.

This conceptual paper integrates multidisciplinary literature on unplanned conversations to identify a range of spatiotemporal factors influencing unplanned conversations. Our approach emphasizes how various situational factors afford or hinder opportunities for unplanned conversations among organizational members.

Unplanned conversations were precisely defined as opportunistic or spontaneous conversations, characterized by the absence of pre-planning, that can be work or non-work-related. Then, the characteristics of unplanned conversations (emergent, episodic and brief, interrelated, convenient, and improvisational) were outlined, indicating their distinct organizing and structuring capabilities. The spatial (i.e. spatial proximity, visibility, legitimacy, and psychological safety) and temporal (i.e. work time pressure, work history, work expertise, and work routineness) factors identified in the study both afford and constrain individuals’ unplanned conversations. The empirically testable propositions offered in the study have significant theoretical and practical implications.

This study enriches our understanding of unplanned conversations by offering a precise conceptual definition, outlining their essential characteristics, and underscoring their theoretical and practical significance in organizing. The study highlights the need for organizations to consider the spatiotemporal factors that influence unplanned conversations.

“Scripted behaviour” underpins many repetitive and routine tasks, such as grocery shopping, where it is observed that some shoppers take a list and others do not. The notion of “scripts” is used to examine the underlying reasons for the presence and absence of grocery shopping lists on major weekly or two‐weekly shopping trips to supermarkets. Little if any current information exists in marketing literature to fully explain the reasons for the presence or absence of lists, though it is known that such behaviour affects purchase activity in supermarkets. Set in New Zealand, this exploratory and preliminary study examines the shopping list being a moderator of purchase behaviour. It confirms previous research into the differences between list and non‐list grocery shoppers and suggests that far more planning occurs amongst all grocery shoppers than might be expected. The study reveals that some grocery shoppers, regardless of the presence or absence of a written shopping list, have a flexible approach to grocery shopping that is part of their overall shopping script. It is suggested that supermarket retailing planners could act on this intelligence in such a way as to support shoppers' pre‐planning, and thereby protect or increase their share of custom.

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) aims to make the built environment less vulnerable to crime and disorder through its design. CPTED is applied in practice by Architectural Liaison Officers/Crime Prevention Design Advisors employed within each police force in England and Wales. Their aim is to advise built environment professionals (architects and planners) how opportunities for crime and disorder can be minimised through the design of a development without compromising on the design quality. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of relevant literature and an example of one force's promising, but as yet unevaluated, approach to embedding CPTED early in the planning process.

The paper takes a case study approach and outlines how Greater Manchester Police Design for Security Consultancy (GMP DFSC) liaise with built environment professionals in an attempt to design out opportunities for crime and disorder to occur at the pre‐planning stage of a development.

The findings suggest that the process and delivery of CPTED by GMP DFSC is unique when compared to the delivery of CPTED across other areas of England and Wales. Using the Crime Impact Statement (CIS), GMP DFSC are consulted on a range of proposed planning applications prior to the application being submitted to the local planning authority, opposed to later in the planning and development process, where the opportunities to “design out crime” become limited. The staff employed by GMP DFSC have previously worked within the built environment and are not warranted or retired police officers. GMP DFSC also charge a fee for the service which they provide.

This paper should be of interest to built environment professionals seeking to incorporate and embed the principles of CPTED into the design and pre‐planning stages of proposed developments.

A review of relief‐and‐recovery glitches related to natural disasters revealed four main issues that hinder the effectiveness of relief efforts. A common theme across these issues is a need for a more holistic systems design to provide better coordination within humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR). This paper addresses this issue.

This is a conceptual paper using systems design theory to frame the extant literature and delineate the challenges and opportunities in HADR with respect to environment, processes, and goals. With the focus on systems design, the authors use fundamental principles of systems thinking to identify core issues and questions that require the attention of future research.

HADR supply chains are made up of a complex set of players. By answering the questions the paper have proposed using systems thinking, these organizations can be motivated to coordinate efforts in the HADR supply chain to create a more cohesive response effort.

Progress is needed to transition from temporary to synchronized, “borderless” HADR supply chain networks. The result would be that HADR supply chains would more effectively reduce suffering and operate at lower total costs – two goals that are worth pursuing.

This paper is written in response to Richey's call for a more theoretical base in HADR research. Addressing the proposed research questions introduced in this paper will increase HADR system transparency, allowing us to better evaluate theoretically the governance and synchronization mechanisms required to enhance collaboration and improve HADR effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to propose virtual process simulation as a technique for identifying and analyzing uncertainty in processes. Uncertainty is composed of both risks and opportunities.

Virtual process simulation involves the creation of graphical models representing the process of interest and associated tasks. Graphical models representing the resources (e.g. people, facilities, tools, etc.) are also created. The members of the resources graphical models are assigned to process tasks in all possible combinations. Secondary calculi, representing uncertainty, are imposed upon these models to determine scores. From the scores, changes in process structure or resource allocation can be used to manage uncertainty.

The example illustrates the benefits of utilizing virtual process simulation in process pre‐planning. Process pre‐planning can be used as part of strategic or operational uncertainty management.

This paper presents an approach to clarify and assess uncertainty in new processes. This modeling technique enables the quantification of measures and metrics to assist in systematic uncertainty analysis. Virtual process simulation affords process designers the ability to more thoroughly examine uncertainty while planning processes.

This research contributes to the study of uncertainty management by promoting a systematic approach that quantifies metrics and measures according to the objectives of a given process.

This article investigates the pre‐planning of consumer purchasing for a low‐involvement product group. Evidence is presented from the field of chocolate confectionery on consumer intentions to purchase two new brands and on their actual reported purchases. Previously a very high level of impulse purchasing had been assumed to occur in this market but this evidence suggests more routinised behaviour which implies pre‐planning. Suggestions are made for forecasting the sales of new brands from consumer intention to purchase data on the basis of the relationships presented here. Implications for management decision making are summarised and the need for further research investigation is stressed.

Groups are an integral part of organisational life. It is important, therefore, that these teams are managed both efficiently and effectively. One method of undertaking this process is to employ skilled facilitators who can support and direct the group’s processes. This paper discusses a method of facilitation that not only will help a problem‐solving group to remain structured and focused but will also help to encourage creative thought and output. A conceptual model has been developed which managers can use as a handy checklist or reference while undertaking the process of facilitation.