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Sheffield ICBT Campus Hallam University Exam Paper - MODEL PAPER Faculty of

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Development and Society 2015 EXAMINATIONPROGRAMME:BSc (HONS) BUILDING CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT MODULE: PRODUCTION ORGANISATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT LEVEL :6DATE : Jan 2015 TIME ALLOWED:3 HOURS (+ 15 MINUTES READING TIME)

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES: 1. The University Regulations, on academic conduct, including cheating and plagiarism, apply to all examinations.2. Answer FOUR questions out of SIX. 3. The proportion of the marks allocated to each part of a question is shown in brackets. 4. Start each answer on a separate sheet of paper. 5. In the absence of specific information, candidates are to assume their own.

LIST OF ENCLOSURES (If applicable):

STATIONERY REQUIREMENTS: 24 page answer booklet

THIS PAPER CONTAINS 3 PAGES INCLUDING THIS SHEET

Question 1

a. Explain the potential benefits of training and development for an organization engaged in construction.

b. Briefly explain the potential advantages and disadvantages of appointing an apprentice to an organization in the construction industry. What on-the-job and off-the-job training methods can you use for developing the apprentice staff of your organization?c. Explain how job analysis information can be used to support recruitment, selection, performance assessment and training of an organization?

d. Discuss the role of Human Resource (HR) department in the following areas

1. Health and safety of employees2. Implementing employment laws and regulationsQuestion 2

a. Subcontracting is very common in construction industry compared to other industries. Explain the three major advantages and disadvantages of subcontracting work to outside organizations with especial emphasis on construction industry. b. Explain the concept of nominated subcontractor and what could be the possible advantages of using a nominated subcontractor?Question 3

a. What are the major activities that are typically carried out in the pretender planning stage, pre-contract planning stage and post-contract planning stage of a complex construction project?b. What is recruitment? Briefly explain three major sources of recruitment for construction industry.Question 4

a. The project manager of your project is reluctant to sub-contract the work and delegate the work to subordinates fearing the he will lose the control. Explain the advantages of using subcontracting and delegation strategies effectively to achieve organizational goals. b. Importance of safety in construction industry cannot be underestimated as there are lot of health and safety hazards in construction sites compared to other industries Do you agree with above statement? Explain your answer. c. Assume you are the project manager of a large construction project. You notice that an employee in your construction site works without obeying well laid down safety rules. Explain how you would handle this situation if

1. the employee is from your organization2. the employee is from a subcontractor

Question 5

a. Explain the use of baseline curves in construction related projectsb. A contractor found out that due to poor infrastructure in a certain rural construction site, the movement of heavy vehicles, raw materials and laborers are a major challenge. Additionally the lack of basic amenities such as drinking water and threat of wild animals created an unexpected situation. Such situation incurred a lot of additional cost which is not accounted in original estimates. 1. Explain the importance of identifying the existence of proper infrastructure before contract2. Suggest two ways which can be used to transport raw materials using heavy vehicles to an isolated area mentioned in the scenario

Question 6

a. Discuss why risk management is important in a construction project.b. Explain the concept of risk matrix. Take five risk factors that you think will affect a residential housing construction project. Develop a risk matrix for the risk factors that you identified with justification.c. Assume that you are a Project Manager for a flood control project of building a dam across a river and redirecting the water flow in an urban area. This involves lot of demobilization and environment concerns which are sensitive issues to different persons. As this is a very large project, there is a high chance that you will encounter lot of conflicts from various stakeholders. Explain briefly the possible conflicts and how you use your management skills and techniques to manage the issues and conflicts effectively.