Browsing by Author "Chen, Ping"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Conceptual determinants of construction project management competence: A Chinese perspective
    (Elsevier, 2008-08) Chen, Ping; Partington, David; Wang, Jia Ning
    In recent years Western project management theories and practices have become increasingly recognized and dispersed in China, particularly in construction-related work. The assessment and development of project management competence in China are driven by attempts to follow the Western standards-based competence certification programmes. Yet little is known about whether and how the predefined set of knowledge embodied in the Western standards are used by Chinese project managers in their workplace. In this paper we report an empirical exploration of Chinese construction project managers’ ways of conceiving and accomplishing their work. We replicate in the Chinese context the previous UK-based phenomenographic study of construction project management competence, which revealed three different conceptions arranged in a hierarchy of performance. The results of this China-based study confirm the conceptual determinants of construction project management competence first revealed in the UK, and provide practical implications for effective training and professional certification of project management competence in China. Meanwhile, the replication of the phenomenographic approach to understanding project management competence in China enhances the cross-cultural validity of the approach and highlights its potential for explorative management research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Electrocaloric effect in La-doped BNT-6BT relaxor ferroelectric ceramics
    (Elsevier, 2017-09-22) Li, Lucheng; Xu, Mengxing; Zhang, Qi; Chen, Ping; Wang, Ningzhang; Xiong, Dingkang; Peng, Biaolin; Liu, Laijun
    Relaxor [(Bi1/2Na1/2)0.94Ba0.06](1-1.5x)LaxTiO3 (x = 0, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09) ceramics (La-doped BNT-6BT) with composition close to the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) were successfully prepared by using the conventional solid state reaction method. All samples present almost a pure perovskite phase with the coexistence of tetragonal and rhombohedral. With the increase of La doping content, the degree of the dielectric relaxor dispersion around the dielectric peak which is close to the room temperature increases, and also the transition temperature of ferroelectric-to-relaxor (TF-R) shifts 120 K towards a lower temperature at x = 0.09. The maximum value of the temperature change (ΔT) of the electrocaloric (EC) effect decreases sharply from 1.1 K at x = 0–0.064 K at x = 0.09. A large positive EC effect (maximum ΔT ~ 0.44 K) in a broad temperature range (~ 90 K) close to room temperature is achieved at x = 0.03, indicating that it is a promising lead-free material for application in solid state cooling system. Moreover, it is found that the Maxwell relationship can be well used to assess the EC effects of the La-doped BNT-6BT ceramics when the operating temperature is higher than that of the TF-R, indicating that these relaxor ceramics would perform as an ergodic.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    An interpretive comparison of Chinese and Western conceptions of project management work
    (2005-03) Chen, Ping; Partington, David
    This thesis presents a cross-cultural comparative field study of Chinese and Western managers’ conceptions of their work. The thesis challenges the assumption that management practice is a generic social reality that may be transposed from one culture to another. The context for the study is construction project management, where the assumption of generic cross cultural transposition is currently exemplified by attempts by Western professional bodies to transpose Western project management standards and practices into China. The study applies the research approach known as phenomenography, previously used in diverse fields to understand the qualitatively different ways in which people conceive given aspects of their reality. In this thesis the approach is used to reveal culturally-based differences in conception of construction management work. Further, because the phenomenographic approach enables different conceptions of the same kind of work within the same cultural context to be arranged in a hierarchy of performance the study provides fresh insight into construction management competence in the two cultures separately. Interviews in the workplace with 30 Chinese and 30 UK construction project managers revealed a hierarchy of three Chinese conceptions (planning and controlling; coordinating relationships; developing relationships) and a hierarchy of three UK conceptions (planning and controlling; organising and coordinating; predicting and managing potential problems). Each conception includes a different main focus and key attributes that appeared when project managers experienced and accomplished their work. Differences in conception reflect not only cultural differences but also different forms of project management competence within China and the UK. Three aspects of cultural difference are illuminated (Chinese attention to relationships; Chinese concern for their company; UK attention to utilising the project contract). These differences were further reflected in Chinese and UK project managers’ contrasting conceptions of certain aspects of their work, including relationship with client, relationship with subcontractors, relationship with project team, organisational structure preference, relationship with company, job satisfaction, and claim and conflict resolution. The findings of this study contribute primarily to the field of cross-cultural management by demonstrating specific culturally-based differences between Chinese and UK conceptions of project management work. Two secondary areas of contribution are (1) the field of management competence, by providing an interpretive understanding of project management competence at work; and (2) research methodology for studies in the above two fields, by applying the phenomenographic approach to the comparison of cultures and sampling from practicing project managers working in their usual environment in their respective country. Implications for management practice are identified, including the need to take account of the impacts of cultural differences when transferring project management theories and practices across cultures, and offering a new approach to professional competence assessment and development, both in China and the UK.