RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology

Department of Architecture

GROUP 10 REPORT PAPER

PROJECT LEARNING
New materials, use of sophisticated technologies and increased customer demands,
in combination with growing competition among construction companies, have led to a
high degree of specialization. For successful integration of the different professional
specialists, there is a need for shared learning between project co-workers. Based on
twenty-eight interviews in six different Swedish construction projects, this paper illustrates
strategies for individual and shared learning, among different actors and across various
organizational boundaries. The results indicate that personal networks are the most
common source of learning for all professions. While clients, architects, and designers also
engage in reading and attending courses, site managers and workers are less engaged in
these activities. Experimenting and organizing for learning appear to be underutilized
strategies by all professions. This leads to the conclusion that attempts to increase learning
have to address the differences in learning behaviors of the various groups. Further, focus
on experimenting and organizing for learning is a possibility to change the learning behavior
from learning as a consequence of problems to learning for future improvement.

Planning provides a nexus between the managerial functions required to activate a

project and the elements needed for successful project completion. It is concerned with
deciding in advance what, when, how and who will take the necessary actions to
accomplish established objectives. This paper has examined the project environment for
planning, considered the purposes of planning, focused on the stages of project planning,
evaluated the elements and stages of planning and discussed the role of decision making in
project planning. Project managers seeking success should master these concepts.

In the planning process the various alternative strategies are costed and the
decision made to use a given strategy based on low-cost and other quantitative factors.
These costs, however, are estimates which may be erroneous. Costs may be affected by
inflation, high interest rates, labor strikes, material shortages, and other environmental
variables. To avoid overruns cost uncertainty can be reduced by the acquisition of valid and
accurate information. Since perfect information is never available, the planner can use
sensitivity analyses to determine the degree of error that his project can survive. In doing so
he identifies the range of the uncertainty spectrum in which he must operate. If he cannot
acquire sufficient information at reasonable cost, he should reassess his total plan.

Decision making in planning also is complicated by multiple constraints arising from

the internal and external environments. Internal limitations involve budgetary matters, such
as funds to pay personnel and procure supplies, equipment and other resources. Adequate
planning will aid in the identification of these limitations and the subsequent tradeoffs
between resource categories to ensure project success. External variables as mentioned
 RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology
Department of Architecture

before cannot generally be controlled by the project manager; however, they must be
identified so as to possibly be influenced and accommodated. These variables include top
management policies, environmental changes stemming from political and legislative
actions, the strategies of competitors, and the vagaries of the market place.