Papers by Dr Subashini Suresh
The study investigated the effect of quality management practices (QMP) on customer satisfaction ... more The study investigated the effect of quality management practices (QMP) on customer satisfaction antecedents (CSA). The survey and correlational research designs were adopted for this study and mean, standard deviation and linear regression analysis were employed to analyse the data obtained. Random sampling was used to select the subjects. Two sections of a researcher designed instrument were used for data collection namely Quality management practices questionnaire (QMPQ) and Customer satisfaction antecedent's questionnaire (CSAQ). These measured the perception of management practices that affect the quality of the finished construction projects and the antecedents of customer satisfaction when engaging in construction projects respectively. The reliability indices of the instruments were found to be 0.71 and 0.83 for QMPQ and CSAQ respectively. Whereas the knowledge of quality management practices that influences customer satisfaction was above average, provision of skill development trainings, use of professional experts as well as adoption of international best practices were found to greatly enhance customer satisfaction. Also, there existed a strong positive and significant relationship between QMP and CSA. It was recommended among others that there is a dire need to maintain a high level of quality management practices for a an improved customer satisfaction
March 11th, 2020 saw the World Health Organisation (WHO) declare a global pandemic following the ... more March 11th, 2020 saw the World Health Organisation (WHO) declare a global pandemic following the COVID-19 outbreak. The contagious disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmitted through respiratory droplets or contaminated surfaces resulting in fatal respiratory infections. Therefore, reducing airborne and surface-based transmission
Sustainability concerns the management of an organisation‘s total business impact upon its immedi... more Sustainability concerns the management of an organisation‘s total business impact upon its immediate stakeholders, the society, and the environment within which it operates. For businesses, however, the very concept of sustainability is elusive. The issue is not whether businesses will engage economically viable, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible activities, but why they should do so. There is, however, little empirical research on the key drivers for implementing sustainability initiatives in, particular, UK industrial sectors, which is the core driver of this paper. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, the qualitative research methodology was adopted. Four industry sectors: energy and utilities; transportation; construction; and not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) were considered based on the environmental, social and economic impact on the UK society. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect industry perception, which was then analysed at aggregate and sector levels using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The data analysis revealed five key drivers that have fuelled the need for implementing sustainability initiatives. They are: reducing operating costs; protecting or enhancing organisational reputation; stakeholders‘ pressure; government regulation/legislation; and top management commitment. The study also revealed that drivers for implementing sustainability initiatives varied across the four sectors. This could be due to the fact that sustainability issues are highly industry-specific. The paper concludes that identifying and understanding drivers for implementing sustainability initiatives is a complex process. A complex mix of political, economic, social, and environmental forces drive UK industrial sectors to implement sustainability initiatives. Therefore, understanding the drivers for implementing sustainability initiatives is important. However, selecting and implementing sustainability initiatives depends on the type of industry and the driving forces affecting sustainability in that industry.
Cities form a major progress in the advancement of a country's economy. Cities are defied with in... more Cities form a major progress in the advancement of a country's economy. Cities are defied with increasing population growth and need to implement smart solutions to become more buoyant to economic, environmental, and social challenges posed by ongoing urbanization. Developing a smart city in a developing economy becomes a challenge with the other forefront challenges. The high amount of initial financial investments needed for consolidation of different departments and sectors and lack of a systemic approach may have a negative impact on industry growth. Cities benefit from a transparent overview of best practice solutions to become smarter and from identifying best-suited solution providers. Companies that make cities smarter benefit from becoming more visible to cities around the globe with their newly developed or proven solutions. Business models help accelerate the adoption of smart technologies. This paper conducts a theoretical review on the concept of business model canvas for smart cities. It studies the economics of smart cities globally. Case studies of smart cities around the globe are discussed with the conduction of business model canvas for different services. The case studies are reviewed to understand the importance and challenges of the application of business model canvas for different services in smart cities. Smart cities will eventually deliver true convergence of lifestyle and technology and improve the overall quality of life for citizens.
COVID-19 pandemic has not only claimed numerous lives but also caused severe limitations to dai... more COVID-19 pandemic has not only claimed numerous lives but also caused severe limitations to daily private as well as business life. This is a written evidence that provides a deeper understanding of what the infrastructure sector has done in order to work around the UK lockdown rules. This evidence provides lessons learnt to policy makers and contributes knowledge on how the UK infrastructure sector have adapted in managing the COVID-19 outbreak. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted within the infrastructure sector and was then analysed to draw inferences. Policies were put in place in the form of: online induction; office staff "engineers that need to go on site"; operating at least 2 meters apart at all times; working from home; virtual support health and wellbeing; and general support for work activities. These policies were put in place to enable employees' safety during the COVID-19 outbreak while works are carried on in the infrastructure projects.
This written evidence provides a richer insight into the understanding and awareness of the imp... more This written evidence provides a richer insight into the understanding and awareness of the impact of Covid-19 and the changes that the UK construction industry has had to undertake in order to adhere to the lockdown rules while being productive. This written evidence contributes towards informing policymakers on some lessons learned from the management of the Covid-19 from the construction industry perspective. In total, 13 semi-structured interviews from 10 construction organisations were conducted to collect evidence, which was then analysed for conclusion and recommendations. Five C's (i.e. create culture, control systems, courageous decisions, and combat mental health and care for employees) are recommended that have been recognised and should be implemented to help employers and employees safely adapt to workplace during and post-Covid-19 outbreak. Brief introduction and reasons for submitting evidence: This research team from University of Wolverhampton is currently exploring the impact of Covid-19 outbreak on managing talent in the construction industry. During these uncertain times, there are fears that key skills are lost, new recession might happen, and the economic growth would slow down. Therefore, we see it as a responsibility to help the sector move forward during and post-Covid-19 outbreak. Written Evidence 1. Covid-19 has brought immediate unprecedented change to many construction companies and their workplaces. The pandemic has drastically changed the way we work, communicate and socialise leaving us with significant daily changes that would need to be measured on an extraordinary scale. Some companies are more adept than others continuing to work effectively but are still hampered by other
Routledge eBooks, Mar 10, 2021
With the increasing importance given currently to sustainable development, countries around the w... more With the increasing importance given currently to sustainable development, countries around the world are shifting their focus and efforts to changing the previous unsustainable growth framework. Accordingly, Qatar has decided to introduce a sustainability plan to ensure prosperity through its national vision and strategy plans. In this chapter, a case example has been presented on the application of a systematic literature review according to the PICO model in built environment research based on a study of the efficiency of policies and tactics implemented by the Qatari Government, in its energy sector, pertaining to sustainability strategies. An initial literature search resulted in the identification of 1990 resources within five different databases, of which 82 met the pre-set inclusion and exclusion criteria, including date, geographic location, language, type of publications, participants, and design of studies. The findings showed that six key sustainability initiatives were noteworthy in the Qatar energy sector, which were: health and safety, environment, climate change and energy, economic performance, society, and workforce. The lack of knowledge of the scope of sustainability is a huge challenge for the organisations in the energy sector. The conclusion from this chapter was that the Qatari sustainable development policies still need great efforts to confront their shortcomings, as more holistic policies and more integrated and comprehensive strategies are required. AAM: A systematic literature review evaluating sustainable energy growth in Qatar using the PICO model
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Jul 19, 2023
PurposeThe construction industry is famous for gender imbalance and reluctance in initiating chan... more PurposeThe construction industry is famous for gender imbalance and reluctance in initiating change. In recent years, construction is becoming an attractive career choice for women. However, this change has been gradual. The purpose of this research was to understand the challenges women are facing in construction sector after a decade of implementation of the Equality Act 2010 in the UK and how women in the sector feel the industry could be further improved. This research investigated real-life experiences to identify where the industry needs to make viable improvements.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research methodology was adopted. In total, 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion.FindingsThis research revealed that women still experience adversity forcing them to work harder than usual to prove their belonging in construction sector. The “man’s world” culture is still widespread. However, women have seen improvements over recent years but believe more can be done from an intersectionality perspective. This is pertinent due to the Brexit and Covid-19 situation.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the field of equality and diversity in the construction sector. Women believe that factors such as bespoke initiatives, equal pay, flexible working hours (considering childcare and caring responsibilities), mental health and well-being support, and equality and diversity policies will enable the construction sector to create conducive environment for women now and in the future.
Engineering management journal, Dec 15, 2022
Witten evidence submitted to the Net Zero Governance Inquiry, Business, Energy and Industrial Str... more Witten evidence submitted to the Net Zero Governance Inquiry, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, UK Government
This is the accepted manuscript of a conference paper due to be presented at Recovering from COVI... more This is the accepted manuscript of a conference paper due to be presented at Recovering from COVID: Responsible Management and Reshaping the Economy, 35th British Academy of Management Conference, the 31st August - 3rd September, Lancaster University Management School, United Kingdom.Sustainable development and sustainability are concepts that are gaining a lot of popularity recently, mainly due to the increasing concerns regarding business and the environment relationship. Following the footsteps of the world, Qatar commitment towards sustainability was confirmed with the introduction of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and different National Development Strategies, where the Qatar leadership had outlined its development goals for the next generations to incorporate the concept of sustainable development. Such decisions induce changes within the country’s local, regional and national industry sector and especially oil and gas. The pathway for a successful implementation of sustainability strategies within organisations in the sector depends heavily on the alignment of the organisational culture with such change. Therefore, this paper provides a in depth view of the cultural changes the Qatar oil and gas sector underwent to manage the adaption of sustainability initiatives. The paper adopted a qualitative approach for the data collection process, interviewing 24 professionals from eight different Qatar oil and gas organisations. A thematic analysis was carried out to analyse the results and findings shows that important cultural changes had been experienced within the sector since the organisations’ decision to implement sustainability. Four cultural changes identified to be adapted in the Qatar oil and gas sector and are: behavioural change, leadership attitude, shareholders’ attitude and inter-organisational collaboration. Sustainability is not a stand-alone issue, but a dimension of management culture. As such, sustainability-related skills will have to reach further than personal relations skills
The construction industry is currently suffering from a lack of skilled workers, from builders an... more The construction industry is currently suffering from a lack of skilled workers, from builders and plumbers, to quantity surveyors and architects. Reasons for this include the recession and that the retiring workforce is not being replaced by younger generations. This is having a huge impact on the country's ability to keep up with the demand for houses that need building; consequently meaning there is a shortage in homes in the country also. The research question addressed in the paper is: What can be done to encourage young adults (14-16 years old) to join the construction industry? The research question is answered through a critical literature review and analysis of questionnaire responses. The results show that there is little education on the construction industry to encourage young adults, and that it is perceived to be a dirty and low status industry to work in. On this basis, it is recommended that the Government and professional bodies need to do more to educate children in schools on what the construction industry truly is, and what opportunities it has for a good career. An initiative that was introduced in 2017 was the apprenticeship levy, which persuades companies to employ apprentices and up skill current employees subsequently encouraging school children to move directly into the construction industry. By schools, universities, colleges and businesses supporting each other it allows longevity and sustainability of the construction industry to be strengthened.
Smart and sustainable built environment, Nov 15, 2022
Rural communities around the world are searching for solutions to upkeep, restore and improve loc... more Rural communities around the world are searching for solutions to upkeep, restore and improve local services that are deteriorating. They are exploring the potential of a digital transition along with the opportunities and threats created by new patterns of mobility and closer links with urban areas. The expansion of information and communication technologies (ICT) enhanced applications enable rural communities to improve their quality of life. The concept of Smart Village is primarily about how rural communities make best use of both ICT and social innovation by responding to the ongoing and emerging challenges. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate strategies for adoption of smart villages along with the challenges faced. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative research methodology was adopted in this research. A web-based questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data. In total, 110 fully completed and usable questionnaires were received. Statistical analyses were undertaken using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings: The results indicate that lack of budget, lack of clear strategies for development of sustainable 'smart villages', lack of collaboration between stakeholders, and lack of knowledge related to 'smart villages' are the most debated challenges for implementing smart villages agenda. Whereas, smart energy, smart healthcare, smart transport, smart education, and smart water are the top five most important smart villages strategies. Originality/value: Research on smart villages development is rare. This paper presents a theoretical basis on the concept of smart villages. In addition, to the rich insight into the understanding and awareness of the current smart villages strategies along with the key challenges encountering organisations implementing smart villages initiatives. This research has implications towards informing professionals and policymakers on key lessons learnt during the implementation of smart village strategies. Also, this paper contributes to the academic debate on smart village development and provides useful recommendations to both policymakers and practitioners. Limitations: Despite the novel insights provided by this study, it has some limitations. Given that the research reported in this paper is based on literature review and small-scale survey, results presented are only tentative and not generalizable. The findings of this paper are limited to the UK context only. Although generalizability outside of this context may be limited, we infer that the results are relevant to other comparable developed countries.
British Academy of Management, Sep 2, 2020
Business model innovation has increasingly gained attention in both research and practice in rece... more Business model innovation has increasingly gained attention in both research and practice in recent years. A business model is defined as the outline of the value creation, value delivery and value capture activities of an organisation. With current pressures on our planet resources and the environment business model innovation give organisations a way to ensure that their operations create positive impact on the environment and society. Ideally a sustainable business model is one that contributes to sustainable development while ensuring competitive advantage by delivering greater forms of value to customers. This paper aims to provide an understanding of factors external to firms that drive sustainable forms of innovation. A literature review on drivers of sustainable value creation from an institutional theory perspective was conducted. Finding were further analysed within the context of business model innovation and a list of eight drivers that influences business model innovation for sustainability were identified and discussed.
Smart Health, Dec 1, 2022
Smart healthcare strategies have been identified as a potential solution to address the growing c... more Smart healthcare strategies have been identified as a potential solution to address the growing challenges faced by the healthcare sector. The ability of smart healthcare strategies to improve efficiency, patient's outcomes and delivery of quality healthcare has motivated and committed governments and policy makers to invest in this innovation. However, uptake and usage of smart healthcare strategies has not been successful as anticipated, and this is due to a number of challenges faced by different stakeholders during the adoption of these strategies. The objective of this paper is to systematically check published literature to identify and compile a comprehensive list of challenges of adopting smart healthcare strategies. Knowledge of these potential challenges gives stakeholders awareness and better prospects of dealing with the challenges of adopting smart healthcare strategies. A systematic literature review was conducted. EBSCOhost, PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct were searched for full text, peer reviewed, English language articles that reported the challenges for successful adoption of smart healthcare management strategies. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were used to select eligible articles. After the full screening, 26 articles that met the criteria were analysed and reported. Three main themes of challenges that affect the adoption of smart healthcare strategies have been identified based on technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework. The findings of this study demonstrate that different TOE challenges affect smart health strategies adoption by healthcare sector. This study, therefore, proposes a differentiated approach to policies and practices to effectively scale up adoption of smart health and reduce failure rates of smart health projects. It is concluded that future research is needed in identifying key change management strategies to successfully manage the identified challenges to improve the prospects of successful adoption of smart healthcare strategies.
This is an accepted manuscript of an article due to be published by Academic Conferences Internat... more This is an accepted manuscript of an article due to be published by Academic Conferences International in the proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Knowledge Management, 2–3 September 2021, Coventry, UK. The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.The most recent view on smart city development has recognized that the level of technology adoption in urban contexts is no more able to reflect the real smartness of cities. Smart cities is seen as a centre of knowledge, education, and creativity. The development of smart cities is becoming more and more knowledge based. As a result, knowledge has been perceived as the core component that makes cities smart. Hence, to take advantage of the opportunities that knowledge-based economy and society can bring to the city, leaders and decision makers need to develop cities that take advantage of local knowledge and intellectual capital of the population. Therefore, they need to take initiative to ...
European Conference on Knowledge Management
Managing COVID-19 pandemic outbreak requires rapid responses, adapting to change, and developing ... more Managing COVID-19 pandemic outbreak requires rapid responses, adapting to change, and developing a set of ongoing, systematic, and interrelated processes to improve the planning, treatment and controlling the pandemic. Knowledge management (KM) is considered one of the instruments that helps organizations and supports managers in making effective use of key resources and in identifying actionable problem-solving knowledge and practice. Thus, it is vital to conduct appropriate KM activities to facilitate effective decision-making efforts., Advanced technologies have made significant contribution to improving the KM processes and provided several tools and mechanisms to enable and facilitate knowledge capturing, sharing, and transfer. With this in mind, the aim of this paper is to explore the techniques and technologies used for managing COVID-19 related knowledge. The findings are in the main, based a systematic review of literature. The findings report on the importance of KM techni...
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Papers by Dr Subashini Suresh