How Agile Project Management Behaviors Affect The Performance Of Russian Construction Project

To date,it has been revealed by many studies that Agile Management has good prospects in improving projects’ performance.However,applying Agile Management in projects involves paying great attention to the human aspect-team behavior.Almost all the Agile Manifesto principles give specific recommendations on how the team should behave to complete the project successfully.As the trend towards using Agile management in Russian construction projects is growing and low quality,cost,and schedule overruns remain the main construction project problems,it becomes necessary to understand what Agile behavior is in construction projects and how Agile behavior affects construction projects performance.All above became the rationale for the formation of two thesis’s research questions:"What is the Agile Project Management Behavior in Russian construction projects?","How does the Agile Project Management Behavior affect the time,cost,and quality of Russian construction projects?".The thesis’s research is qualitative as Agile behavior in construction projects is a new phenomenon that other researchers have not yet described.The Grounded Theory(GT)method developed by Strauss and Corbin was chosen as the research method because it contains the most rigorous and structured procedural guidelines for conducting research.The central analytical procedure of GT is coding,which plays a critical role in trying to determine what the collected data is talking about.According to Strauss and Corbin,there are three types of coding:open,axial,and selective coding.Open coding helped identify the initial categories needed to steer the research in the right direction and determine what information should be collected in subsequent interviews.Axial coding has resulted in a model that shows the leading causes,conditions,and actions that induce Agile behaviors in Russian construction projects.The selective coding result was a model that reflects the project teams’ Agile behaviors in Russian construction projects,how these Agile behaviors interact with each other,and how they affect Russian construction projects’ performance.Communication,collaboration,reflection,and feedback were identified as the most common project teams’ Agile behaviors in Russian construction projects that positively influence construction projects performance.The application of the paradigm model and the GT method procedures,such as the iterative process of collecting and analyzing data,applying inductive and deductive analysis,alternating collection of primary and secondary data,continually asking questions,the use of a comparison method,helped to identify the connections between the open,axial and selective coding categories and build a grounded theory of Agile behaviors in Russian construction projects.Primary data sources were interviews with representatives of the Russian construction companies and Agile coaches from ScrumTrek company.The case study of the thesis’s research was an additional validation of coding results.Sources for collecting secondary data were research reports on Agile Management in the Russian construction industry,videos,and transcripts of other researchers’ interviews.The thesis’s research revealed the joint influence of Agile Behaviors of the project team and Agile-methods on the construction projects performance,and a particular understanding of Agile methodology among Russian representatives of the construction industry.The results of the thesis’s research can serve as additional evidence of the beneficial effects of Agile management on construction projects through the application of some Agile methods in construction such as Kanban,Scrum,BIM,Design Thinking,TRIZ,Last Planner System,and Agile behaviors such as communication,collaboration,reflection,and feedback.The project teams can apply these methods and behaviors to improve the performance of Russian construction projects.