Abstract

The Australian building and construction industry (ABCI) ranks fourth largest within the national economy.  But compared to the market sector, its productivity growth is sluggish.  If ABCI’s performances are matched with market sectors its contribution to GDP will increase (2003-2010) by $12 billion.  Such an improvement will benefit all industries in Australia and users of built environment.  The industry recognizes that the project team managers (PMs) can play critical roles in improving the productivity. 

Decision-making (DM) is considered to be the single most important job of PMs.  Thus, by improving DM, managers can play critical roles in increasing productivity.  The thesis examined the DM process in PMs’ roles at different levels of modern project management (MPM).  The research focuses on continuous improvements in PMs’ capabilities by learning cutting-edge of new knowledge, experience and best practices.  The thesis, seeks to develop deeper insights into PMs’ learning and transfer the learning to team members for effective DM for the new challenges that are continuously arising within the competitive environment of MPM.  It is based on clearly defined research questions, review of current literature, field research by interviews of eminent Australian and international executives and managers, analysis by modern software and case studies.  

The thesis developed best practice generic models for PMs to adapt in their specific situations.  A key finding of the thesis is that continuous learning of PMs for effective DM is essential for project success within the competitive environment.  The thesis expects to provide recommendations for action that ABCI organizations and PMs can take to improve the help they provide team members with for DM challenges.  The conclusions and recommendations of the thesis are expected to benefit PMs and ABCI significantly and to add to the debate on how to achieve sustained improvements.