Management of post disaster reconstruction projects: A comparative analysis with conventional projects

Disasters increasingly cause loss of lives and property especially in the economically less developed world. Successful delivery of post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) projects is critically important to restore basic services and return to normalcy after disasters. Management of PDR projects can be quite sophisticated with the involvement of different stakeholders. Many scholars agree that disaster recovery operations can be more successful if the know-how of project management discipline can be more effectively integrated into the field to cope with the complexities of PDR efforts. Researchers suggest that the conventional construction processes may be inadequate especially in the case of large-scale disasters, which require a higher degree of coordination effort. Although the number studies that focus on the intersection of disaster recovery and project management has increased in recent years, the literature is relatively scarce and systematic research efforts are needed to address the topic. Despite the recognition of the role of project management approach in disaster recovery, adaptation of the conventional project management approaches and tools to the disaster recovery context have not been adequately addressed in the literature, especially in a systematic relation to the project management knowledge areas and processes. This thesis aims to compile the present knowledge from the literature and practice on how project management know-how is/can be integrated into PDR operations to restore the built environment resource-efficiently. Additionally it aims to make a process-based comparison according to the project management life cycle as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI). A thorough understanding of these differences, based on lessons learned from different real-life cases, and their project managers can be a valuable input to prepare guides or reference sources for other managers, who may undertake PDR projects in future. Available literature were filtered according to project management knowledge areas from scope management to integration management to highlight the differences between conventional construction projects and PDR projects. Both quantitative and qualitative findings were collected and analysed, aimed at a comparison of the challenges in conventional and PDR projects according to PM knowledge areas. Governmental and non-governmental decision makers and professionals who are in charge of PDR efforts can be the primary beneficiaries from a better understanding of these differences and a stronger connection between post-disaster reconstruction efforts and project management.