Difficulties Of Cost Control During Construction Stage - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 20 Words: 5996 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem Statement: In every industry, cost control is a must in order to make sure that a project or production can make maximum profit or to make sure that the budget of a project does not burst. Locally, the actual costs of development of a project will normally being higher than necessary. In order to have an effective cost control in construction industry, it is necessary for us to determine the difficulties of cost control and to identify the factors contribute to the cost control difficulties in a project in order to overcome the difficulties or to avoid those factors that may cause difficulties to cost control of a construction project during construction stage, thus to have an effective cost control for the construction project and complete the project within the budget or under budget. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Difficulties Of Cost Control During Construction Stage" essay for you Create order 1.2 Aim and Objective: The aim of this paper is to study the difficulties of cost control in construction industry during the construction stage. In order to achieve the study of aim, some objectives have been established as below: To ascertain the importance of applying cost control in local construction industry. To highlight the cost control difficulties in local construction firm during the construction stage. To investigate the factors contributing to cost control difficulties in local construction firm during construction stage. 1.3 Background: Cost control is a process that should be continued throughout the project life cycle of a project. In construction industry, cost control should be continued from the inception of the project until the completion of the project to ensure that the cost of the construction project is kept within the agreed cost limits. For cost control of construction industry, it can be divided into two major stages; the control of cost during design stages and the control of cost by construction firm right after the commencement of the construction work of the construction project. According to Ashworth (2004), cost and schedule control is one of the most important functions of management once a project is identified. Cost control is paramount during the feasibility and design phases because a projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s feasibility is normally tied to the cost of a project. Besides that, cost control during the construction phase can be paramount for large projects due to their potentially high construction cost and profiles. As mentioned by Nunnally (1998), the measuring and collecting the cost record of a project and the work progress are included in the cost control of a project. Besides that, the comparison of actual progress with the planning is also involved. The main purpose of cost control of a project is to gain maximum profit within the designated period and satisfactory quality of work. According to Pilcher (1994), he defined cost control as the regulation, by executive action, of the cost of carrying out the various activities which go to make up a project or a contract. The regulation (for cost control) designed for a specific industry will need a major modification if it is used in other industry because of the different nature or the business. He also said that for all construction projects, costs must be controlled and monitored from all the parties involved including client, consultants and contractor. This study will mainly focus on the difficulties of applying cost control during construction stage. That is because of in my opinion, what is needed in a cost control methodology is to proactively seeks out potential difficulties and factors contributed to those difficulties and provides project managers with as much warning as possible before their occurrence. This study provides a milestone for construction firm in the factors that likely to causes the difficulty in cost control. 1.4 Scope of Study: Cost Control is commonly used in every industry and almost in every project, the study will only focused on cost control difficulties of construction industry or a construction project during the construction stage. This study will ascertain the importance and the use of applying cost control in local construction industry. Besides that, the difficulties in applying cost control during construction stage also falls within the scope of this study. After highlighting the difficulties theoretically, an interview will be conducted with experienced Contract Executive or Contact Manager or Project Manager to determine the difficulties of cost control during construction stage practically. Finally, after understanding the difficulties of cost control during construction stage, the factors contributing to cost control difficulties during construction stage will also be highlighted. 1.5 Research Methodology The study is conducting in three stages. First stage is literature review. The literature review will started with the introduction to cost control. In the introduction to cost control, the definition of cost control will be reviewed and the literature will also review the importance of cost control in construction industry. Moreover, the literature also will review the difficulties of applying cost control during construction stage. Furthermore, articles and notes about the cost control difficulties will be searched. All literature will be review deeply by referring the previous research paper, article, journal and etc. These sources can all be found in Google, Emerald, Yahoo and from the library of College Tunku Abdul Rahman. At second stage, an interview will be conducted with experienced Contract Executive or Contracts Manager or Project Manager face-to-face to obtain the information about their current practices in cost control system of their company, the practical difficulties and factors contributing to the difficulties in cost control will be identified by the Contract Executive or Contract Manager or Project Manager. The chosen Contract Executive or Contract Manager or Project Manager must be experienced enough in cost management of construction industry and willing to provide valuable information regarding the research topic. Last stage is writing up the content of the dissertation and the information obtained during the interview will be analyse and compare with the theoretical information. Conclusion of this study should be the result of the comparison between the practical and theoretical difficulties during cost control of construction stage faced by the contractor. 1.6 Benefits of Study By conducting this study, it allows me to have a rough idea on the Cost Control system. Completing this study also gives me a better understanding regarding the purposes and importance of Cost Control. Besides that, it also provides me with better perception regarding the difficulties during the application of Cost Control during construction stage. Furthermore, the interview conducted with the experienced Personnel will definitely allow me to review the current practices of Cost Control in the construction industry. 1.7 Dissertation Organisation Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Cost Control Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology Chapter 4: Analysis of the Result and Discussion Chapter 5: Conclusion CHAPTER 2: COST CONTROL 2.1 Introduction to Cost Control 2.1.1 Definition The term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Costà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is defined by Dictionary.com (an application of iPod Touchà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢) as the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything. Whereas the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in Dictionary.com, it defines à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? as the act or power of controlling; regulation; domination or command. For construction industry, the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Costà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? should be referred to the amount paid by a party; either a person or a corporation, to another party; normally a contractor, either to construct a complete building or a particular section of a building. And for the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in construction industry, it should be referred to an official mean of regulation or restraint in the management of the project. According to Marchesan and Formoso (n. d.), the combination of the term à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Costà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? should be defined as the application of procedures that result in early illumination of potential changes in resource requirements and in the timely surveillance of the usage of funds to permit action that will keep cost within a predetermined range. While for the other definition of Cost Control, we can refer to Ashworth (2004), he defined Cost Control as a process of planning, checking and verifying project expenditure based on established standards and taking the necessary corrective action to ensure that the total project expenditure is approximately to the estimated budget. While according to Ritz (1994), he stated that Cost Control gives a different meaning to a different people. Some people engage it with engineering costs; some states that it is a cost report, value engineering, cost management etc. Cost Control involves all the activities above in different time by different parties and all the parties involved in a project will have their own responsibilities and roles in cost minimization and Cost Control. Other than that, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor Committee defined Cost Control as the total proves which ensures that the contract sum is within the clientà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s approved budget or cost limit. Further definition can refer to Mueller (1986), he stated that the cost control is the ability to influence the final cost of project positively with modifying negative performance trends. In addition, Kwayke (1997) defined Cost Control as a process where construction cost of a project is manage with the best method and systematic approach in order that the contractor would not suffer losses during the execution of the activities of the project and the cost of construction of a project would not be over-estimated by the developer. By concluding all the definition mentioned above, Cost Control in construction industry should be the application of procedures or regulation during the construction project life cycle to plan, check and verify the construction project expenditure based on the established procedures or regulations to ensure that the construction project expenditure is within the project budget, within given timeframe with quality specified and also to ensure that resources are used to best advantages or maximization of the profit for the construction project. 2.1.2 Statement of Facts in Cost Control As stated by Roger (2000), he said that Cost Control is a broad set of cost accounting methods and management techniques with the common goal of improving business cost-efficiency by reducing costs, or at least restricting their rate of growth. Cost Control is used in business to monitor, evaluate and the most important to increase the efficiency of specific areas within their operations. As for Nunnally (1998), he stated that cost control of a project involves measuring and collecting cost record and work progress of a project. Besides that, comparison of actual progress with the planning is also involved. He also mentioned that the main objective of Cost Control of a project is to maximize profit within the given timeframe and to achieve satisfactory quality of work. If the application of cost control is by a systematic procedure, it will result in ease of collection of important cost data in estimating and controlling of the cost of the coming projects in future. Kwakye (1997) states the main purpose in cost controlling for a construction project should be active controlling of final costs for owner, and not just to record and registering the payment. Cost Control Reports must be prepared for efficient Cost Control. The Cost Control Report is based on the cost data collected, it is important to project the costs in to future and to estimate or re-estimate the cost of the work yet to be completed. Amount of detail and the time interval between Cost Control Reports must be considered and the time interval is varied depends on the level of management for which they prepared the Reports for. For example, Cost Report should be received by site manager on weekly basis. Since the commencement of the contract, any new information must be taken into account and makes a suitable reporting system is important for a cost control system. According to Koh (2005), if an adequate reporting system is used, the estimator would become more reluctant in the future to use cost data that have been fed back from the site and granting the estimator some time to determine sufficient detail about the data and conditions they acquired. In addition, Koh (2005) also suggested two areas to check whether the Cost Control reporting system is efficient or not. First is to check on the profitability of the work and second would be check on efficiency carried out against the standard of the output rates that were used by the estimator in compiling the estimate. 2.1.3 The Purposes and Importance of Cost Control One of the principal objectives of Cost Control for most project or organisation is the achievement of minimum cost for a particular project. Achievement of minimum cost is to maximize the profit and profit in simple terms is what is left after all the income accruing to the enterprise has been received and all of the costs or outgoings have been paid. For all construction projects, cost must be monitored and controlled, whether from the point of view of owner, designer or a contractor. It helps to distinguish the problems arise and understanding of the problems which occur in each phase of industry enables better co-ordination of the activities of the many participants in a single project (Pilcher, 1994). Besides that, according to Pilcher (1994), the importance of Cost Control is due largely to the following: To provide the relevant feedback, carefully qualified in detail by all the conditions under which the work has been carried out, to the estimator who is responsible for establishing the standards both historical and future; To provide the client with a value-for-money project. Example: To give the building client a building which is soundly constructed, of satisfactory appearance and well suited to perform the functions for which it is required, combined with economical construction layout. To provide data to assist in the valuation of those variations that will arise during the course of the work; To provide immediate warning of uneconomic operations, both in the long and the short term; To limit the clientà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expenditure to within the amount agreed. In simple terms this means that the tender sum and final account should approximately equate with the budget estimate. To achieve balanced design expenditure between the various elements of the buildings. Thus, the sums allocated to cladding, insulation, finishing, services and other elements of the building will be properly related to the class of building and to each other. To summarize progress. To promote cost consciousness; The contractor may ascertain the maximum income that they may receive according to the contract sum, then ascertain the initial cost expenditure, or provide detailed brief to his own construction team who will then determine the actual cost that may involved. But most schemes are a combination of these two extremes. There has in recent years been a great need for an understanding of construction economics and Cost Control, particularly during the construction stage of projects. As stated by Ashworth (2004), Cost Control also should serve the following purposes: The clientà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s requirements today are more complex, a more effective system of control is therefore desirable during the construction stage up to the completion of final account and thereafter during costs-in-use. There has been a trend towards modern designs and new techniques, materials and methods of construction. The designer is able to choose from a far wider range of products and this has produced variety in construction. The traditional methods of estimating are unable to cope in these circumstances to achieve value for money and more balanced designs resulting that in the end the contractor may need to bear for extra cost due to the faulty design. Contractorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ profit margins have in real terms been reduced considerably during the past decade. This has resulted in their greater cost-consciousness in an attempt to redress possible losses. There is a general trend towards greater cost-effectiveness, and thus a need to examine construction costs not solely in the context of initial costs but in terms of whole-life costs, or total-cost appraisal. World recession has generally produced a shortage of funds for capital purposes and construction in general. This has been coupled with high inflation and interest charges, resulting in the costs of construction soaring to high levels. Although the relative costs compared with other commodities may be similar, the apparent high costs have resulted in greater caution, particularly on the part of contractor. 2.2 Difficulties of Applying Cost Control Procedures At present, serious problems exist in the cost control and management of construction project. For example, for some construction project, the design is earlier than the study of feasibility, which makes the later turn into useless. In bidding, some construction companies perform illegally, which makes the bidding fail to control project cost well. The popularization of assigned subcontracts and various subcontracts serve as potential threats for project quality. The delay for project payment, especially for workersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ wages, is serious. Some projects can not manage the changes of designs, construction companies fail to follow the designs completely, which may lead to larger costs for construction. Some construction companies emphasize on the control of quality and period but fail to control the cost. All these activities make the cost of construction project out of control in our country, which is harmful for the sustainable and healthy development of construction ind ustry. Gao (2009) has stated that the following is the difficulties in Cost Control of construction stage. 2.2.1 Fail to Estimate the Project Exactly The project estimation is performed at the very beginning, namely in the study of feasibility. Present compilation of study of feasibility is lack of details. No effective items to control the number of project. The estimation has a lower preciseness. Besides, the study of feasibility has no necessary investigation. Some potential geological disasters can not be identified effectively, which leads to the rise of costs. Although some companies make à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“details for implementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, the effect is poor. In order to establish the project, some companies may reduce the number of project and decrease costs. 2.2.2 The Compilation of Project Budget Has Poor Reliability At the stage of design, the investigation is far from sufficient. Some fundamental materials for design are inexact. As a result, the design may be irrational and will be changed significantly in construction, which causes the poor reliability of budget. 2.2.3 Working Drawing Budget is Unpractical At the working drawing design stage, compile the project budget according to the design. The working drawing budget is to calculate the cost of design. The rationality of working drawing budget is about how to organize the construction and how to reach the design requirements by what kinds of methods, plus how to arrange the construction period, and how to manage workers and machines under different seasons, according to scientific designs. All these tasks are supposed to be arranged by construction companies. For design companies, to compile the budget is unpractical. 2.2.4 Do not Follow Basic Construction Procedures and Can not Control Costs For some projects, time is urgent. Therefore, the design is maybe imperfect. And the construction does not follow the basic procedures strictly. Sometimes, the study of feasibility turns into useless papers. As a result, the estimation and the budget can not control the project cost effectively. 2.2.5 Contract is not Managed Well Some developers neglect to manage contracts. They do not follow the terms written in contracts strictly. Besides, some developers can not calculate the cost of project quantities correctly. They are incapable of managing external workers effectively. 2.2.6 Irregular Management and Many Changes for Project Developers can not design properly and have to change the management methods. Or, the execution is weak. They can change the design as will. Then, the scale of project is increasing and the cost is rising. 2.2.7 Rise of Cost Due to Unreasonable Financing Structure At present, the funds for construction project in Malaysia are mainly from domestic loans, foreign funds, self-collected by construction companies, and other sources. Although financing ways are few and some are immature, limits are more. Sometimes, funds can not arrive in time. In order to insure the process of project, the construction companies have to apply loans from banks. Therefore, a large proportion of construction funds are from banks as loans. And the credit period is long and can not match with investment return. The characteristics of construction industry determine the lagged-behind investment return. One financing channel increases risks and costs, which leads to the accumulation of loan balance in banks, increasing construction costs and pressures for later in operation. 2.2.8 System is imperfect One of the factors that cause overspending is the management. Main items that cause overspending include management fees, compensation fees for removing, and supervision. Main reasons include: Lack of a perfect cost control system and can not manage and control the cost systematically, which makes it hard to identify the out-of-control of cost in time. Lack the idea of cost control and the constraint mechanism. Project managers are always focusing on quality and construction period, but not cost control. The absence of system makes the expenditure more irregular. No integrated standards for management fee are effective. Workers are more than necessary in construction companies. 2.3 Factors Contributing to the Difficulties of Cost Control 2.3.1 Control of labour cost The control of labour cost frequently causing much troubles to Cost Control because of the productivity of labour is variable and causing the difficulty to the estimating stage. Although experienced estimators have their own database of historic cost data, but these data can only ever be regarded as an average for a given trade and does not make allowance for particular circumstances. A prediction of how labour will perform in the future on a particular project must be incorporated into an estimate of cost. Site management is greatly affecting the labour efficiency and their productivity. It is important that all labour resources, either self-employed or employed as labour and materials sub-contractors, are fully supervised and co-ordinated, to ensure that the labour resources are efficiently organized and making best used of them. If the labour resources are not well organized, it may reduce the productivity of the labour and making cost of labour to be higher hence causing difficulties to Cost Control because the labour cost is different with the estimated cost. 2.3.2 Site Condition After the design of engineer, quantity surveyor will normally estimate the amount of the designed work, but due to the site condition is unpredictable, it cause the cost estimation is rather difficult. In many of the construction project, there are majority of unforeseen and differing site condition are found in subsurface work such as tunneling and foundation work, such situation can also arise in rehabilitation and restoration work, retrofitting to meet revised seismic codes and projects that improve energy efficiency. Where ground water level is close to the surface of the site, closely pumping operation may be needed throughout the substructure work. This unforeseen situation will increase the construction cost. A wet site may also involve raising temporary sheds and offices on brick bases and more costly temporary work. The cost of excavation in rock is much more expensive than working in normal ground. This type of strata will need to be examined and to determine what type of support is needed to the sides of excavation. All this will contribute to the difficulty in cost control when the construction method is carried out wrongly. 2.3.3 Location of site The cost of building on a site in a city could be much expensive than construct a similar building on a provincial site. This is due to higher wages, materials and other costs. For instance, a project on a remote location site may involve long lengths of temporary access road and of temporary power cable for electricity suppliers and increased costs of transporting operatives and materials to the site. A site in a congested central area of a city will give rise to major problem in delivery and storage of materials and equipment, protection of adjoining building, construction method to carry out substructure work, restriction on the use of mechanical plant and to the protection of the public. Overcoming these problem involve considerable additional cost and all these will considerably contribute to the difficulty in cost control. 2.3.4 Materials In some of the guides the cost of materials can be easily identified, and adjustment to the measured rate is therefore a simple process. Material prices often depend on contractor, location, quantity and discount and hence making the estimation process to be rather difficult. The materials wastage of site will also contribute to this because there will be difference between the actual amount used and the estimated amount used. 2.3.5 Overheads and profit In most case, during the estimation process, the amount of overheads and profit will normally just referred back to previous projects. But the amounts included in the published rates vary considerably. In some guides nothing has been allowed, and these expect the user to add an appropriate amount. In other information, up to 25% has been included on margins of 3%. In addition, overhead costs have generally been reduced in order to keep costs to an absolute minimum, while seeking to maintain the required workload. Builders will therefore need to access their own percentage and adjust this according to that quoted. Surveyors, in attempting to predict tender values, will also need to take this into account in their approximate estimate. 2.4 Chapter Summary Cost Control in construction industry should be the application of procedures or regulation during the construction project life cycle to plan, check and verify the construction project expenditure based on the established procedures or regulations to ensure that the construction project expenditure is within the project budget, within given timeframe with quality specified and also to ensure that resources are used to best advantages or maximization of the profit for the construction project. Cost Control need to serves the purposes like to provide the relevant feedback, to provide the client with a value-for-money project, to provide data to assist in the valuation, to provide immediate warning of uneconomic operations, to limit the clientà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expenditure, to achieve balanced design expenditure, to summarize progress and to promote cost consciousness. Difficulties of Cost Control during construction stage are failed to estimate the project exactly, the compilation of project budget has poor reliability, working drawing budget is unpractical, do not follow basic construction procedures and can not control costs, contract is not managed well, irregular management and many changes for project, rise of cost due to unreasonable financing structure and system is imperfect. Factors that contribute to those difficulties are control of labour cost, site Condition, location of site, materials and overheads and profit. It is necessary for management to study the difficulties involved and the factors contributing to these difficulties so that they will design a cost control system that more efficient for a particular project. chapter 3: Research design and methodology 3.1 Introduction In this chapter, the research methodology used in this research will be discussed. The method of conducting research to achieve the aim and objectives will be reviewed to ensure that all the information obtained is reliable. Among two research strategies that suggested by Naoum (2007), which is Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research will be used as the research strategy for this dissertation. The reason to use Qualitative Research is because of it allows the topic being studied to give much valuable answers to questions put to them. Structured interview will be conducted with at least five (5) contractors so that sufficient information can be obtained to proceed with the field work. The interview will be carried out face to face with the interviewee, however, it also may be carried out over the telephone or any other methods like email or webcam. The targeted personnel to be interviewed are contract executive, contract manager or the project manager of the company. Since it is a structured interview, the questions to be asked are presented in the same order and with the same wording to all interviewees. The main objectives of this interview section are to clearly understand the ability of the contractor in cost control and the difficulties that they are dealing with during cost control of project they undertake. While the other objectives are to ascertain the importance of cost control during construction stage with the contractor and last but not least to investigate the factors that contribute to difficulties that they are dealing with during cost control. The interviewing session has the advantage of providing experience or opinion based information for the dissertation. Questions prepared are open- ended questions for the interview so that in-depth information can be collected. The questions are set by referring to the aim and objectives, data obtained will be of the opinions and perception as individual interviewee knowledge and experience of research area. 3.2 Questionnaire Construction The principles that are followed in constructing the questionnaire for the research are as shown in Figures 3.1 below: Research objectives + Literature review Questions Lead to Lead to Issues, topics and ideas Principles on how research objectives are translated into specific questions. (Naoum, 2007) Before constructing the questionnaire, the potential ideas which can be developed into a questionnaire at a later stage are listed out. In order to have the ideas to develop into questionnaire, the research proposal and the literature review is reviewed and all possible questions which are related to the research is written down to obtained the first thought questions. Those listed out question are all based on the aim and objectives of the research. After the first thought questions have been identified, the final questionnaire is constructed by introducing a number of section or categories for the questionnaire and the first thought questions are fitted into these sections. The research questionnaire was divided into two sections in which the first section is to obtain the back ground and information of the interviewees as well as their organization. This is to ensure that the contractor and the personnel is experienced enough and is highly knowledgeable to provide sufficient information required by the research. While for another section, the contractor will be asked to highlight the difficulties that they are dealing with in cost control. The factors contributing to the difficulties will also be investigated and the importance of cost control will be ascertained. 3.3 Basis of Interview Questions The interview questions are designed in format and wording that can be easily understood by interviewees. These questions were set to achieve the aim and objectives of dissertation. Information obtained should be able to support or make comparison with the theoretically as presented in the previous chapter. Through the interviews, the information regarding difficulties and factors contribute to those difficulties of cost control during construction stage will be obtained. Besides that, the importance of cost control will also be obtained. Each question is designed to achieve certain aims and purposes. For questions set in the first section, it is to make sure that the interviewee has sufficient knowledge and experience in cost control of construction project during construction stage. The interviewees will first being asked how many years has he been in the construction industry and how many years had he been involved in the post that related with cost control during construction stage. The interview will then proceed by asking the interviewee how many projects that the intervieweeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s firm has completed within budget or under budget to determine the ability of the firm in Cost Control. For the subsequent section, questions are designed to obtained information to meet the aim and objectives. The interviewees will first being asked to give his opinions regarding the importance of cost control during construction stage. 3.4 Potential Problems and Contingency Plan Primary data of this research will be obtained by structured interview, but as we know, interview often causes bulks of problem no matter during the interview or after the interview which is to analyze the data. Potential problems that may arise will be discussed and contingency plan to solve those problems will be suggested in this sub-chapter. Interview can help the interviewer to obtain in depth information regarding the research. However, the ability to ask open questions and to create an open environment in which the interviewees feel comfortable to answer is a difficult and complex set of achievements. This is the most challenging part in conducting an interview. So, a well preparation for the question is needed and the designed question should be checked and rechecked to ensure that the question is leading the interviewee to provide necessary information. Besides that, the interviewer shall train himself to ask question correctly before the interview session to ensure a success and good interview can be done. Since only left a short period of time which is before the final submission of thesis is available for conducting the interview and analyze the data obtained, there might be insufficient of time to collect enough data for the fieldwork. For example: only able to obtain two or three face to face interview out of five (which is the minimum). If this problem occurs, interview may be carried out via telephone, email or webcam. Conducting an interview via all these communication devices require shorter time and they are more convenient for interviewees as they do not need to purposely arrange a time for the face to face interview in which the arrangement of time might take a long time. But interview via these communication devices will be harder for the interviewer to obtain in depth information, hence, a set of well prepared and structured questions is needed to obtain as much information as possible. Different languages may be used by different interviewee, since the dissertation is written by using English, some terms or words just cannot be translated directly. If those terms or words are translated directly, it may have a very different meaning. Besides that, the data collected are all in words, in which it may be tricky enough for the interviewer to understand what those interviewees mean although they are all using the common language because words may take on a different meaning in different cultures or different usage. When facing this kind of problem, try to seek clarification of the meaning of the special terms. It could make the data analysis become a difficult and hard job if the data collected are not clear enough of the specific meaning or rationale. The interviewer can ask for clarification by repeating and double confirm the answer with the interviewee. The notion of interviewer bias does not simply refer to the way in which questions might be asked and how answers are responded to. Interviewer bias refers to the whole character of the interviewer and the impact this may have on the responses of the interviewee. Therefore, while doing the data collection and data analysis, must always bear in mind that not to insert interviewer bias into the work. 3.5 Method of Analysis The research strategy that being use in this dissertation is qualitative research. Since it is a qualitative research, it is necessary to analyze the content. It involves essentially analyzing the interview contents to identify and isolate the main themes that permeate right through the responses from the interviewees. The data collected will be analysed manually because the sample size is small (minimum of 5) and the number of variables are not many. Several steps are required to analyse the qualitative data: Step 1: Set the objectives for the interview Since the interview session is to obtain information to achieve the objectives of this research dissertation, the objectives of this research dissertation will as well be used as the objectives of the interview session and the following are the 3 objectives for this research dissertation: To ascertain the importance of applying cost control in local construction industry. To highlight the cost control difficulties in local construction firm during the construction stage. To investigate the factors contributing to cost control difficulties in local construction firm during construction stage. Step 2: Identify and isolate main themes Step 3: Classify responses under the main themes A careful perusal of the descriptive responses from the interviewees for each question can uncover the meaning underlying the responses. Examine the responses in all the interviews and classify each response under the different themes which have developed. Use appropriate wording to accurately represent the meaning of the responses. Step 4: Integrate themes and responses into the text of research write up. While discussing the main themes that run through the research study, one can bring in verbatim responses to substantiate the discussion of the research.

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The obstacles challenges and opportunities Free Essays

string(102) " misss do non go to school in distant rural countries, they do still hold the chance for instruction\." Introduction Conflict is a fact of life. It surrounds us and is every bit natural as dawn and sunset harmonizing to Warner ( 1997 ) . Conflict exists at all degrees of society in all kinds of state of affairss. We will write a custom essay sample on The obstacles challenges and opportunities or any similar topic only for you Order Now Conflict frequently occurs because of a deficiency of regard for one another ‘s demands and positions. It can supply an chance for new societal and political systems to be established and can assist to determine the hereafter. Structure of essay This essay will get down to depict what the obstructions, challenges and chances confronting pedagogues are when working in societies in struggle and post-conflict state of affairss with mention to Sri Lanka as a chief instance survey and literature associating to instructions responses to conflict. Background of instance survey: Sri Lanka The civil war in Sri Lanka began because of the cultural tensenesss between the bulk Sinhalese and the Tamil minority in the nor’-east. After more than twenty five old ages of force, the struggle appeared to be at an terminal in May 2009 when authorities forces seized the last country controlled by Tamil Tiger Rebels. It is now clip for Sri Lanka to acquire back to normal with respect to reconstructing the authorities, substructure and instruction. Since investing in cosmopolitan primary instruction, Sri Lanka has gained high rates of registration ( 98.2 % , UNICEF ) and literacy ( 92 % , UNICEF ) . Sri Lanka has one of the most literate populations amongst developing states. This figure is farther being invested in within the Millennium Development Goals with the purpose of holding all primary school aged kids in instruction by 2015. Challenges Teaching of History The instruction of the history within the course of study can be a challenge for pedagogues. It was noted by Davis ( 2005 ) that merely ‘some ‘ instructors seize the chance to undertake current events whilst the others lacked assurance or were uneasy in covering with the issues of history, war or terrorist act. Research carried out by Davis ( 2005 ) found that instructors agreed in the chief that pupils wanted and needed to cognize about their states history and their engagement in the war. There was consensus that a complex attack was needed that war ‘is n’t about victors and also-rans ‘ , but both sides should be presented and that options to war should be discussed. Although this is ideal for learning history in the course of study, some states and even pedagogues disagree with this attack. In some history or societal scientific discipline text editions, the enemy is described in in writing and minimizing footings and one ‘s ain state is portra yed in epic 1s. Textbooks in Sri Lanka in 1970 ‘s and 1980 ‘s declared the Tamils were the historical enemy of the Sinhalese and stylised the Buddhist Sinhalese, in denial of the historical facts, as the lone legitimate inheritors of the history of Sri Lanka. Although it was stated by Davis ( 2005 ) that both sides of the struggle should be taught, it is clear that in Sri Lanka there is one sided instruction. Educators in Sri Lanka teach what they believe to be true and it is clear that Tamil and Sinhalese are being taught two different history lessons. For this to better, pedagogues need to experience comfy and besides learn the facts of the struggle themselves before it is taught to the kids. Having lived through the war it is indispensable that kids learn the grounds behind it. By showing kids with both sides, it gives them their ain ideas on the affair. This in bend could take to traverse community undertakings with the two different schools. With the aid and encoura gement for pedagogues who teach, alteration can be seen get downing to organize in the future coevals ‘s lives. Other illustrations of the challenge of learning history are in Bosnia and Rwanda. Textbooks in Bosnia in each of the three ‘nations ‘ had portraitures of attackers and victims were ‘not helpful for peace edifice and rapprochement ‘ ( Stabback 2004:60 ) . In Rwanda, the history books portrayed the Tutsi as rich, foreign and oppressive ; kids were indoctrinated to believe in unreal differences. Mitter ( 2001 ) points out for cardinal and Eastern Europe that ‘Teachers have had to undertake exigency state of affairss in their mundane pattern ; in some states this has non yet come to an terminal at all. In all the states it started with call offing certain course of study and withdrawing, or at least choosing application of hitherto valid text editions†¦ in many schools old text editions are still used, with violative documents or transitions eliminated ‘ ( p155 ) . An illustration of where this has been the instance is in Bosnia and Herzegovina w here names and maps have been taken out in black felt tip pen. Gender inequality One other challenge pedagogues face is gender inequality. While school registration has increased for kids in most states, the gender spread still persists. In most low-income states, parents are more likely to direct their boies to school. If they do go to, misss are frequently obliged to drop out early. Less than one one-fourth of misss in developing states attend secondary school. It is the civilization of Sri Lanka that the kids follow in the footfalls of their parents. Yemen is an illustration of a state with the lowest female pupils go toing secondary school ( 20 % ) . Many international understandings such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ( 1979 ) and the Millennium Development Goals ( 2000 ) have highlighted the demand for states to take action against prejudiced patterns. The increased focal point on adult females and misss since the International Year for Women ( 1975 ) has led to many betterments in the lives of adult female s and misss. In Sri Lanka it was found that most pedagogues are female. This is interesting to observe as it is common for misss to drop out of school before university degree. It is a challenge for pedagogues to seek and maintain misss in school. Although most misss do non go to school in distant rural countries, they do still hold the chance for instruction. You read "The obstacles challenges and opportunities" in category "Essay examples" As Sri Lanka is now a post-conflict state, it is now clip for all kids to derive some instruction so they can alter the lives of future coevalss. Not merely does gender inequality exist in Sri Lanka, it is really common throughout the universe. There is an old Arab Proverb which says ‘a adult male loves foremost his boy, so his camel and so his married woman. ‘ As portion of the forenoon supplication of an Orthodox Jew, it states ‘Lord, I thank thee that I was non born a adult female. ‘ Another quotation mark from Confucius, China ‘It is the jurisprudence of nature that adult females should non be allowed any will of her ain. ‘ From these three quotation marks from around the universe, it is clear to see gender inequality is non uncommon. Although these quotation marks do non straight associate to instruction, it is utile to hold some background information and what other states think or perceive of adult females. For adult females to derive something in life, for illustration a good calling, it takes a batch of difficult work and finding to go something other people do n’t believe is possible. Obstacles Resources available An obstruction for pedagogues in struggle state of affairss is the sum of resources there are available. In Sri Lanka in 2004 there was a lay waste toing tsunami which hit the state. This alone left 1000s of kids and instructors in danger and wholly destroyed school edifices and everything in them including books, kids ‘s work and pupil records. Apart from the tsunami there is still a deficiency of resources available for pedagogues to utilize. In schoolrooms in Sri Lanka there is small proviso for Information Communication Technology ( ICT ) . The chief instruction methods pedagogues use is a chalkboard, pen and paper. This is an obstruction that needs to be addressed. It is clear that school registration has non reached 100 % yet so initiatives need to be taken to acquire kids more involved in the school community and promoting them to fall in. If pedagogues overcome this obstruction so the authorities reference this issue, greater proviso for ICT can be made. An enterprise l ike this one is already being put in topographic point. This will be discussed further in the chances subdivision. Child soldiers Educators besides face the obstruction of kid soldiers. Child soldiers are deprived of their childhood, normal societal interaction and educational chances. The injury they experience frequently leave them with long-run guilt, shame, low self-pride, incubuss and depression. Sudan is recognised as holding one of the worst records of kid soldiers, forcibly enrolling many 1000s every bit immature as 12 old ages old. One-third of kid soldiers in El Salvador, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Uganda are misss. So are 30-40 % of kid battlers in Angola and Sierra Leone. In Sri Lanka, immature Tamil misss, frequently orphans have been consistently conscripted by Tamil Tiger resistance combatants since the mid 1980 ‘s. Their most recent enlisting thrusts in schools have focused on misss. In February 2002 the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in armed struggle came into force. The pact rose the age of mandatory engagement in armed struggles from 15 to eighteen. This r epresents a important progress in the protection of kids ‘s rights. Child soldiers are a challenge for pedagogues. New enterprises are now put in topographic point in Sri Lanka which attempt and convey back the kids to instruction. Once they are back in school, it is so the pedagogue ‘s occupation to pull off them in a category. As already stated they experience traumas and this has an consequence on their behavior and their attitude towards their equals. Educators need farther preparation on how to get by, promote and manage kids who have gone through injury. This is one obstruction that the Sri Lanka instruction system needs to turn to. Opportunities After violent struggle, it is frequently hard to see chances for a better hereafter due to widespread devastation of substructures, instruction and supports. Developing the course of study for a positive acquisition environment An chance that can come from states in struggle or states that are coming out of struggle is the development of the course of study for a positive acquisition environment. This in bend can hold a positive impact on schools, authoritiess, kids and pedagogues themselves for the hereafter. Having contacted a worker in Sri Lanka it was found that ‘Civic Education ‘ has late been introduced to the school course of study. This new enterprise has been provided by the authorities with financess for developing the instruction course of study. Educators now have the chance for heighten their ain personal experiences for reconstructing the hereafter with the aid of the authorities. While implementing new enterprises it gives pedagogues the chance to affect kids in the schoolroom which provides a sense of ownership in their acquisition. It is easier to maintain most kids engaged in a lesson when they are actively a portion of it through treatment, undertakings and other pupil centred activities. Once engaged, kids so begin to make their ain regard for the remainder of the kids in the category. Respect is something which is a possible influence to convey into any schoolroom but particularly of import to convey into a schoolroom where kids have been involved in struggle or are populating in conflict countries. Andrew ( 2008 ) quoted ‘A schoolroom environment that promotes respect starts with pupil engagement, clear outlooks and asperity. ‘ What a great chance for Sri Lankan instructors to acquire involved in. Northern Ireland can be said to hold created a positive acquisition environment in the schoolroom. Educators here have taken the Northern Ireland Revised Curriculum and implemented it into their mundane instruction where interaction is the chief focal point in the kids ‘s development and acquisition. Like Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland provides the chance to learn regard to kids in all Key Stages. In the course of study it states that in Personal Development and Mutual Understanding ( PDMU ) helps kids to go cognizant of the universe beyond their immediate environment and to larn about others from a footing of tolerance, regard and open-mindedness. As stated in the Northern Ireland Revised Curriculum, communicating is besides a focal point in deriving this regard ‘Communication is cardinal to the whole course of study. Students should be able to pass on in order to develop as persons, to show themselves socially, emotionally and physically to prosecute with others and to len d as members of society. Students should be given chances to prosecute with and show the accomplishment of communicating and to reassign their cognition about communicating constructs and accomplishments to existent life and meaningful contexts across the course of study. ‘ New engineerings for pedagogues and kids Not merely are pedagogues implementing new enterprises, the World Bank is besides conveying in new chances which pedagogues can utilize to assist maintain kids interested and focused on their instruction. A new engineering which has been introduced in Northern Ireland over the last five old ages is the Synergistic Whiteboard. Sri Lanka has been donated ten of these Interactive Whiteboards by SMART Technologies in Canada. This is a great chance for farther develop pedagogues and kids ‘s potency. Sri Lanka ‘s pedagogues have been trained to utilize the Interactive Whiteboards by Indian pedagogues who have late implemented this new manner of larning in their schoolroom. Not merely does this supply new engineerings for pedagogues and kids but besides links in India. The World Bank provided the bulk of the support for the One Laptop Per Child Initiative. In December 2009, the Sri Lankan President launched the pilot programme. This programme benefited over four 100 primary scho ols. The mission of this programme is to guarantee that all school-aged kids are able to prosecute efficaciously with their ain personal laptop networked to the universe. It has been found that these laptops have given kids the chance to larn, accomplish and transform their communities. It has besides been found that wherever the laptop goes, school attending additions dramatically as the kids begin to open their heads and research their ain potency. This is a great chance in which pedagogues can promote kids and immature people to pass on with other communities. Cross-community undertakings can be a portion of this. Educators can construct relationships with other schools and gives the chance for larning about other communities in a impersonal environment. Decision From discoursing challenges, obstructions and chances, it is clear that instruction has a cardinal function in the development of kids ‘s personality. The nexus between instruction and struggle is now forthrightly on the Education for All ( EFA ) docket of international educationalists ( Tawil et al, 2004 ) . The EFA motion is a planetary committedness to supply quality basic instruction for all kids, young person and grownups. The motion was launched at the World Conference on EFA in 1990 by UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank. Participants endorsed an ‘expanded vision of larning ‘ and pledged to universalize primary instruction and massively cut down illiteracy by the terminal of the decennary. It is through EFA and aid from other administrations that pedagogues can get down learning kids in struggle and post-conflict state of affairss. Finally, ‘Education is the most powerful arm which you can utilize to alter the universe ‘ , Nelson Mandel a. How to cite The obstacles challenges and opportunities, Essay examples

Possibility to Make Equity Investments †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Possibility to Make Equity Investments. Answer: Introduction: There are several factors, which investors should consider while investing in managed funds among which the most important factor is the risk taking and the return-earning propensity of the investor. The investors before investing in any particular managed fund should check the type of fund. They should find out whether the fund manager or the fund management company is going to invest in secured, unsecured assets or mixed assets. The secured assets are prone to lower market volatility and can give more secured return. They include assets like certificate of deposits, bond funds or money market funds. These assets are secured but give lower rate of return. For example, a treasury bond in Australia coded as GSBA18 yields 5.5 percent semi-annually. This means if an investor invests $50000 he would get an interest of $1375 half yearly or $ 2750 annually on flat rate (ASX mFund. 2017). The unsecured assets consist of shares, which are prone to high market risks. They are good investment options if the propensities of the investor to take risks are high because they give high returns. For example, the market price of a share of Telstra is $3.52 as on October 13, 2017 at 4.10 pm and can give dividend of 8.81 percent annually. Thus, an investor would earn a dividend of $ 4405 on investing $50000, which is greater than the interest of $ 2750 yielded by the Australian bond (Bloomberg.com. 2017). The third investment asset, which an investor can opt for, is a combination of both secured and unsecured or mixed asset funds. This would allow the investor to balance his risk and enhance his return. He can invest a portion of his investment in bonds which would yield him secure returns and the other portion in shares which would give him more returns (Cholakova and Clarysse 2015). References: ASX mFund. 2017.Factors to consider when choosing a managed fund. [online] Available at: https://www.asx.com.au/mfund/news/factors-to-consider-when-choosing-a-managed-fund.htm [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017]. Bloomberg.com. 2017.TLS:ASE Stock Quote - Telstra Corp Ltd. [online] Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/TLS:AU [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017]. Cholakova, M. and Clarysse, B., 2015. Does the possibility to make equity investments in crowdfunding projects crowd out reward?based investments?.Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,39(1), pp.145-172.