Charles Igwe

Paper and Presentation: Applying Choosing by Advantage in Selecting Project Management Framework and Tools for Infrastructure Highway Project

Abstract: The need for new and rehabilitated highways is an important consideration for many nations of the world and transportation developments are shifting from the construction of new highways to the demolition and reconstruction of existing facilities. A large number of reconstruction and rehabilitation work is expected on existing highways either due to existing highways nearing or already surpassing their service life or due to the effects of urbanization placing additional demands on existing highways. Addressing the challenge of aging highways can be a difficult and sometimes contentious issue as there are many options and impacts to consider. One of such option is the consideration of the project management framework and tools to adopt to facilitate the project delivery. Project management has evolved to include a number of best practice frameworks, methodologies and tools. Selecting the right framework from different alternatives becomes a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. Choosing by Advantage is a MCDM based on the Lean Construction (LC) paradigm that helps differentiate alternatives based on the decision context, reduces time to reach consensus, and helps manage subjective trade-offs by basing decisions on the importance of agreed advantages. Decision makers using the CBA list the attributes and advantages of each alternative and then assign a degree of importance to each advantage relative to the one that is least preferred. This study presents an overview of project management frameworks, methodologies and tools and elucidates how CBA can provide stakeholders with the information needed to make informed decisions in selecting the most suitable appropriate framework for the construction of highways.

PMI Talent Triangle: Technical Project Management

Biography: Charles is a doctorate research student at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. His research interest is in the area of lean construction where he hopes to develop a lean construction model for infrastructure highway projects. Over the last ten years, he has obtained a master’s degree in engineering project management from Coventry University in the United Kingdom where he graduated with a distinction. Prior to the commencement of his doctorate programme he was actively involved in the construction industry and held the position of the deputy project manager for a multi-million dollar building project in Nigeria.
Charles possesses practical knowledge and experience with planning and managing complex projects. For more information, visit https://ca.linkedin.com/in/charles-igwe