A critical evaluation of the internal “cross departmental” projects communications management at Urawa-Gaza field office within the construction & infrastructure sector

Other Title(s)

تقييم نقدي للتنسيق و تبادل المعلومات بين مختلف دوائر الأنوروا بمكتب غزة الإقليمي في إدارة مشاريع الإنشاءات و البنية التحتية

Dissertant

Salih, Ismail Hasan

Thesis advisor

Ashur, Yusuf Husayn Mahmud

University

Islamic University

Faculty

Faculty of Commerce

Department

Department of Business Administration

University Country

Palestine (Gaza Strip)

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2012

English Abstract

This study aimed at critically evaluating the internal “cross-departmental” Projects Communications Management at UNRWA- Gaza Field Office within the construction infrastructure sector.

A comprehensive survey has been adopted for the research population ; which consists of all staff members (49 in number) from all managerial levels (operational, middle management, and top management level) across the various departments at UNRWA-Gaza Field Office who are directly involved in administering / managing construction & infrastructure projects.

Every participant received a copy of the questionnaire and answered its structured questions in full presence of the researcher to receive any required clarifications (in a standard and unified way to avoid any bias in the collection stage).

The researcher had discussed questions with the participant for probing and thorough understanding purposes.

The study revealed that there are significant statistical relationships between the dependent variable (cross-departmental Projects Communications Management) and the following independent variables : information quality, quality of available information systems, organizational structure (functional bureaucracy) and organizational communication flow.

As for the information quality, the study revealed that acquiring required information with the least feasible efforts and on-time is the main obstacle encountered during exchanging information across the departments.

The quality of the available computerized information does not satisfy the users’ needs of information and these systems are not subject to periodic development or customization to the users’ needs.

This forced the employees to develop by themselves many computerized applications to manage and organize their requirements of data and information ; which, in turn, led to fragmented, scattered and not-integrated systems.

Unfortunately, the situation for the manual information system (archives, records and periodic reports) was not an exception ; where the study revealed that even these systems do not satisfy the users’ information needs.

Finally, the study revealed the negative impact of the current functional bureaucracy on the projects communications management in particular and on the organization communication flow in general.

The study was concluded by practical recommendations ; of which the following are the most important: 1- the necessity to adopt temporary parallel matrix structure per each project with clear responsibilities per assigned staff and well-organized communication plan, 2- the necessity to bolstering the monitoring and control role of the Field Projects Office and 3- the necessity of applying a Project Management Information System [PMIS].

The research has proposed a generic model for the PMIS based on the feedback received from the field work.

Main Subjects

Business Administration

Topics

• Palestine
• Management information systems
• Gaza Strip

No. of Pages

207

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-318969