Saied Yousefi

Attitude-Based Negotiation Methodology for the Management of Construction Disputes

A systematic negotiation methodology for construction disputes is presented to take into consideration the attitudes of negotiators at two complementary levels of decision making: strategic and tactical. At the strategic level, the proposed methodology employs the graph model for conflict resolution and helps negotiators find the most beneficial subset of solutions to the conflict. At the tactical level, the proposed methodology examines the most beneficial strategic decisions using utility functions to provide agreed-upon tradeoffs with respect to any conflicting issues. A construction case study is used to illustrate the proposed methodology and demonstrate the importance of incorporating decision makers’ attitudes into negotiation to better identify the most feasible decisions. The proposed methodology may assist negotiators with the challenges of conventional negotiation through the incorporation of decision makers’ attitudes into a range of analytical tools that will clarify interests, determine equi...

Considering Attitudes in Strategic Negotiation over Brownfield Disputes

An innovative negotiation methodology for resolving disputes in brownfield reconstruction is presented for handling negotiation in the presence of multiple decision makers (more than two). A unique feature of the proposed negotiation methodology is that it takes into account the attitudes of the decision makers, which is an important psychological factor in construction negotiations. The methodology is developed at the strategic level of decision making in which the graph model for conflict resolution is employed to help participants determine the most beneficial strategic agreement, given the competing interests and attitudes of the decision makers. A real-life case study of a brownfield reconstruction negotiation is used to illustrate how the proposed methodology can be conveniently applied in practice and to demonstrate the importance and the benefits of incorporating the attitudes of multiple decision makers into the negotiation process in order to better identify the most feasible resolutions. The proposed negotiation methodology is implemented in a negotiation decision support system that assists managers in tackling real-world controversies, particularly complex construction disputes.

Negotiation characteristics in brownfield redevelopment projects

Brownfield areas are contaminated lands that lie unused and unproductive. Because of the serious economic, social, political, and environmental damages that brownfield problems can cause to society, governments are focusing their attentions on the redevelopment of these contaminated sites. However, the excess costs of reconstruction projects over their benefits often stall the initiation of projects. Moreover, brownfield projects involve several uncertainties that seriously contribute to the challenges of brownfield redevelopment, such as uncertainty about the extent of contamination and the uncertainty in cleanup costs. To overcome these challenges, negotiation among the involved parties (government, owner, purchaser, and their stakeholders) is one of the most efficient tactics to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution and, as such, saves an enormous amount of time, cost, and resources. This paper aims at discussing the negotiation process associated with remediation and redevelopment of brownfield projects. Timing, type of contaminate, extent of contaminate, zoning, offsite impact, and the number of players are some of the most important factors affecting the study of brownfield negotiation and their ultimate redevelopment. The needs and interests of the various parties involved in a brownfield negotiation process are discussed. Initial steps towards the development of a decision support system for resolving brownfield conflicts through negotiation are then highlighted.

Attitude‐based strategic negotiation for conflict management in construction projects

An innovative negotiation methodology for managing conflicts in construction projects is presented in this article where multiple decision makers are involved. The proposed negotiation methodology has a unique ability to consider the attitudes of the decision makers, which is an important psychological factor in the negotiations that take place in various stages of a construction project. The methodology is developed at the strategic level of decision making in which the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) is employed in assisting decision makers, such as project managers, to achieve the best strategic decision, given the competing interests and attitudes of the decision makers. A real-life case study is used to illustrate how the proposed methodology can be conveniently applied in practice and to demonstrate the importance and the benefits of incorporating the attitudes of multiple decision makers into the negotiation process in order to better identify the most feasible resolutions. The proposed negotiation methodology has been implemented in a negotiation decision support system that assists project managers in tackling real-world controversies, particularly in complex disputes that occur in construction projects.

Propositions on interrelationships among attitude-based stability concepts

This paper provides some propositions on interrelationships among attitude-based stability concepts within the graph model for conflict resolution. Concentrating on the cases in which just two decision makers having specific types of attitudes are involved, the authors investigate various interrelationships among such attitude-based stability concepts as relational Nash stability, relational general metarationality, relational symmetric metarationality, and relational sequential stability. In particular, it is verified that under the condition that all of the attitudes of the decision makers are the same, relational Nash stability and relational sequential stability are equivalent to each other.

Optimum compromise among environmental dispute issues using attitude based negotiation

An innovative tactical negotiation methodology is presented for managing environmental disputes that involve multiple decision makers and multiple conflicting issues. A unique feature of the proposed negotiation methodology is that it takes into account the attitudes of the decision makers, which is an important psychological factor often ignored in traditional conflict resolution methods. A utility analysis is used to develop the methodology, which maximizes the sum of all decision makers’ utility through pair-wise negotiations with respect to each conflicting issue. A real-life environmental dispute is used to illustrate the proposed methodology and to demonstrate the benefits of incorporating attitudes into the negotiation. The proposed attitude-based negotiation constitutes a new systems engineering methodology that will assist environmental professionals in tackling real-world controversies, and provides a mechanism to examine the impact of attitudes on negotiation outcomes.

Effective warning data dissemination scheme in vehicular networks for Intelligent Transportation System applications

Warning data dissemination using vehicular networks is envisioned in Intelligent Transportation System applications. Due to extended connectivity of roadway vehicles and consequent extension of region of data propagation, data may be accessed in some geographical areas where it is neither relevant nor effectively beneficial. Moreover, propagating data to irrelevant regions increases communication cost. Therefore it is crucial to limit the warning data dissemination to a certain region. This research strives to address the above challenges by proposing an effective warning data dissemination which restricts data dissemination to a Region of Interest (Rol). Among the factors influencing the Rol determination, the type of warning message is considered so that the more severe the incident, the wider the Rol. Also, in order to reduce message overhead during data dissemination, the strategy which assigns the responsibility of packet retransmission to only certain vehicles (relays) is deployed. In the selection of the relay point, border relay area where the relay point is placed, is adapted to the traffic density so that the higher the traffic density, the narrower the relay area. The proposed scheme informs the vehicles located in the immediate vicinity of an incident, reduces message overhead, and prevents unnecessary and inappropriate message dissemination.

Participative project management as a comprehensive response to postmodernism criticisms: The role of communication

The purpose of this paper is to understand the philosophical changes which underpin research and practices in project management. This study is an attempt to challenge previous studies that have tried to explain this change in order to provide a better explanation.,The authors adopt a critical review research method to challenge previous explanations of the paradigm change and definition of communication. For this purpose, philosophical and social theories and concepts have been used.,This paper proposed changing the paradigm from modernism to postmodernism and the paradigm shift, which happens from postmodernism to participation, as a better explanation for the paradigmatic change in project management. Furthermore, the important role of communication has been illustrated in the participation paradigm.,For the first time in project management, the authors attempt to clarify the role of power in this paradigmatic shift, especially because this concept is an axial concept in postmodern philosophy and a neglected concept in project management literature. In addition, communicative action theory has been used with the aim of pursuing the influence of informal power in the participation paradigm and paving the way for confronting its emerging challenges in future studies.

Assessment of architectural and physical factors in human resources performance in project-oriented organizations

This paper presents a forensic research about evaluating the impact of architectural and physical factors on the performance of human resources in project oriented organizations. The objective is to study how design and planning of working areas can influence the human resources performance. In order to achieve this objective, two stages are presented: analytical and statistical. In the analytical stage (Sections I, II, II), human resources performance, related literature and schemes, and the criteria of office work are briefly studied. In the statistical approach, surveys are carried out and the resulting outcomes are discussed using five graphical representations. This systematic approach would result in a rationally persuasive and theoretically justifiable guideline that can practically be used to improve the efficiency of human resources performance and management.