Nepal Engineering College

MSc. Construction Management

Construction Management in Developing Countries
Chapter 1: Concept of Development, Characteristics of developing and developed countries
1. The basic economic indicators of development of a country may be increasing positively, but the
country may still be underdeveloped for many years. Agree or disagree? Give reasons.
2. Discuss the basic similarities (common features) and differences among different developing
countries?
3. Which one should be the ultimate measure of development: Human Development Index or
Gross National Happiness? Explain with appropriate reasons.
4. Is there any relationship between the level of development of a country and the construction
management methods used in the country? Discuss.
5. Discuss the major factors of underdevelopment of a country. Explain these factors in context of
Nepal.

Chapter 2:Linkage between developed and developing countries

6. Discuss the sources of linkages between the developed and the developing countries. Can, and
should, these links be broken?
7. Discuss the socio-economical, political, and environmental interdependence of the developed
and the developing countries. Is interdependence of the developing and the developed
countries increasing, or decreasing? Explain with specific examples.
8. How does the interdependence between developing and the developed countries influence the
construction project management in a developing country? Explain with specific examples.

Chapter 3: Needs of Countries

9. Discuss the needs of the developing countries from the developed countries. How are these
needs fulfilled, and how are these needs related to construction project management of
developing countries? (Note: related the fulfillment of needs with construction management).
10. The developing and the developed countries need each other for further development. The
need of which type of country (developing or developed) is more than the other type of
country?

Chapter 4: Cultural Aspects

11. Discuss the common elements of the culture of a society. How does the culture influence the
management of a construction project?
12. How do the attitude and belief systems of a society influence the management of a construction
project? Discuss with specific examples.
13. Discuss the factors that may change the attitude of a person? If you are a project manager, what
method will you choose to change the attitude of the persons that you consider to have
negative attitude?
14. What role, do you think, the belief system of Nepalese society, like the predestination
(purbajanmakokarmakophal) is playing in Nepal being one of the least developed countries?
How does this type of belief system affect the preparedness against accidents and disasters in a
construction project management?
Chapter 5: Project Environment
15. Discuss the factors which determine the role of major participants in a construction project.
How can they play their role in creating positive/negative project environment?
16. Discuss the characteristics of top level, middle level and operational level management staff in a
construction management in developing countries. Suggest ways to improve the coordination
among the three tiers of management staff for better management of a construction project.
17. Discuss the positive and negative role a local community leader can play in success of a
construction project. How can the potential negative role of a local community leader in
construction project be minimized?
18. Discuss, with specific examples, the social, economic, political, legal and technological factors
influencing project environment in a developing country.

Chapter 6: Technology Choice

19. Discuss the factors, with specific examples, that may be used in the choice of technology in a
particular construction project.
20. Is technology transfer necessarily a good (or bad)thing for the recipient country? Discuss with
specific examples.
21. Discuss the purpose of technology transfer. What are the factors that govern the successful
transfer of technology?
22. The construction technology is changing slowly compared to the changes in information and
communication technology, both in developing and developed countries. Why?
23. What are the reasons for the lack of focus on development of construction technologies which
are appropriate to developing countries, despite the fact that there are hundreds of technicians
and engineers now in developing countries with decades of experience?

Chapter 7: Participatory Approach

24. Discuss the ways to ensure effective participation of all the stakeholders in a construction
project in a developing country, with focus on participation of marginalized stakeholders.
25. How does the level of stakeholder participation vary in (a) state led, (b) market led, (c) NGO led
and (d) participatory development approach, in construction project?
26. Discuss the various levels of stakeholder participation in a construction project. Do you think all
the stakeholders should be involved in all the phases of construction project?
27. Why the participatory approach is gaining momentum in the infrastructure development
projects in the developing countries? Is the participatory approach necessarily better than the
top-down supply driven approach?
28. Which approach to development is better and why: The state-users cooperation approach
versus developers-users cooperation approach? Explain with examples.

Chapter 8: Operation and Maintenance of Construction Project

1. Discuss the activities related to the smooth operation of a construction project.
2. What type of O&M activities needs to be implemented to achieve the basic objectives of a
construction project? Discuss the issue in reference to the basic objective of maintenance of a
construction project?
3. Compare and contrast planned versus emergency maintenance. What are the constraints in
implementation of planned maintenance system in a developing country?
4. How to overcome the constraints in implementation of planned maintenance of a construction
project in a developing country?
 5. Compare and contrast the preventive and corrective maintenance. Why preventive
maintenance gets low priority in construction project management in a developing country?
6. Discuss the preventive and corrective maintenance. Why preventive maintenance is not a
priority in construction project management in most of the developing countries?
7. Discuss the design aspects, community management aspects and capacity building aspects of a
planned maintenance management system.
8. Discuss the importance of an O and M manual in the smooth operation of a construction
project.
9. Discuss the objectives of project maintenance? What needs to be done during the planning and
design phases to ensure smooth maintenance of a project?

Chapter 9: Recent Trends in Project Management

1. Compare recent trends in project management in India and Nepal.
2. Compare recent trends in project management in China and Nepal
3. Discuss the recent trend of construction in India vis-à-vis China.
4. Discuss the scope of improvement in construction management in Nepal.
5. Discuss the impact of information technology in setting or changing trends in construction
project management in developing countries.
6. Discuss the gaps between the increasing use of heavy machinery and the low availability of
human resources in construction management in developing countries recent times. What do
you think is the trend of this gap? Is it going to increase or decrease in the next few years?
Suggest practical ways to direct the trend towards positive project environment.

Chapter 10: Project Evaluation and Auditing

1. Discuss the basic criteria often used in project evaluation, along with their advantages and
disadvantages.
2. Discuss the different types of project evaluations.
3. Discuss the different common methods used in project evaluations. Which is the best method to
evaluation the performance a project?
4. Discuss the advantages of a well performed project audit.
5. Discuss the different phases of a project audit. Which phase is most crucial in the project audit?

Short note type question:

a. Sources of underdevelopment
b. Objectives of national development
c. Effect of belief system on timely completion of construction projects
d. Role of local leaders in creating positive/negative project environment
e. Comparison of recent trends in project management in India and Nepal
f. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors of underdevelopment of a country
g. Cultural influence in safety aspect of construction management
h. Importance of Attitude in successful project implementation
i. Gap in academic and practical aspects of construction project management
j. Objectives of national development
k. Client’s / Contractor’s/ Consultant’s/ Donor’s/ role in creating positive/negative project
environment