Kirsty Hunter BEng (Hons)
Education
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Honours degree in Building Design Engineering (BEng),
University of Strathclyde, UK
Research Interests
The application of value management in the public service sector. Best Value in local government. Construction procurement: Public Private Partnership, Private Finance Initiative. Partnering, E-learning in local government, Construction briefing using a value management approach.Research Title
Value Management - 'A Link Between Project Value Management and Best Value in the Public Sector?'Background of the research study
Best Value is an emerging context that is about improving the quality of public services, adopting the view that what matters is what works whether this is internal within the local authority or external using a private, voluntary organisation or another local authority. It was introduced in 1997 by the Labour Government who made a manifesto pledge to abolish Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) and introduce a new regime of best value. The HM Treasury guidance, No. 2: Value for Money highlights that government should procure services on the basis of value for money rather than lowest cost. In the context of local government this has been badged as Best Value. This guidance document also suggests the use of value management with risk management within the project management framework to achieve value for money. Supporting this, Atkin and Flanagan (1995), list value management as one of ten critical success factors to obtain better value for money and the DETR (2000) states that, 'Best Value is a term long used in Value Management, with the same meaning as for the Best Value policy - i.e., the best relationship between the quality of service that meets user's expectations and the price they are willing to pay.' Bone and Law (2000) maintain this observation by stating that the, 'Best Value policy - in essence is a broadly-based value management policy. However, value management is generally perceived by academics as being something of a 'black art,' Connaughton and Green (1996) and there is little use of it in the public sector.Research Objectives
The primary objective of this research is to determine whether value management can be applied effectively and successfully to Best Value projects in the public sector. The link of value management with the public sector is not well associated, thus there are very limited publications in this area. The research will review value management guidance as it relates to manufacturing and construction before determining the possible implementation scenarios in local government projects. This will be done through the study of project stages, success factors and characteristics to develop a generic project model. The research questions for this thesis are:- Will the adoption of Value Management techniques deliver the Best Value solution for public services?
Is there commonality of issues dependent on the project stage?
- Can the Value Management methodology identify opportunities to eliminate waste and add value for any type of project?
- Dependent on the project stage, will different success factors arise applicable to different stakeholders?
Research Methods
The research methodology for the PhD thesis has adopted three primary research methods:-
Case studies in the form of workshop reports to investigate project issues at various project stages
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A survey questionnaire on projects distributed to all thirty-two Scottish local authorities to explore
how local authorities carry out their projects
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Action research in the form of a workshop with a Scottish local authority to
improve the practice of how Scottish local government go about managing their
projects by introducing an approach which may be unfamiliar to them; value management.
The Value Management method in supporting a service project is explored further to
determine the success of the approach.
Benefits/Expected Outcomes of the Research
The general benefits of applying value management to construction industry projects are numerous and well documented. This research will illustrate through a thorough research process how value management can be applied successfully to public sector projects which will provide local authorities with a method that can be adopted at key stages in the project life cycle to achieve Best Value.The research focusing in value management project issues will provide a number of valuable benefits. The prediction of project issues prior to a workshop provides benefits to both the workshop facilitator (value management practitioner) and the project team. The workshop facilitator will have more information to plan the workshop agenda and will be able to use the issues as prompts for the project team to ensure no issues are missing from the review. This also benefits the project team as it ensures that no issues are disregarded and the facilitator will be able to mention issues that individual project team members may not find comfortable expressing in a workshop environment. The prediction of issues therefore ensures that all issues are addressed in the workshop leaving little room for error where work has to be reviewed at a later stage as the project progresses and more issues may be uncovered. It also reduces the amount of time spent in this particular part of the workshop which is a time consuming activity in itself leaving more time for development of project proposals.
Publications
Journals- Hunter K, Hari S, Egbu C and Kelly J (2005) “Grounded Theory: Its Diversification and
Application Through two Examples From Research Studies on Knowledge and Value
Management”, The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methodology, Volume 3, Issue 1,
pp 57-68, available online at www.ejbrm.com
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Graham, Michael., Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (13th February 2003), Article on e-learning, Municipal Journal - 'Think Tank,' pp12.
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Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2003), The Three Wheels of Best Value: A Service Focussed Approach to the Measurement of Best Value, RICS Education Trust (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors), Project Report, October 2003, Volume 4, Number 23, Electronic Reference PSO423.
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Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2003), The Three Wheels of Best Value: A Service Focused Approach to the Measurement of Best Value, The Institute of Value Management, Volume 12, Issue 3, pp18-20.
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Kelly, J., Hunter, K., Shen, G. and Yu, Ann (2004), Briefing from a Facilities Management Perspective, Facilities, Paper accepted for publishing.
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Hari, S., Hunter, K., Egbu, C and Kelly, J, (2004), A Comparison of a Knowledge Management and Value Management Approach Using Grounded Theory Methodology in Construction Management, Paper submitted to Building Research and Information.
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Hunter, K., Hari, S., Egbu, C and Kelly, J, (2004), Grounded Theory: Its Diversification and Application through Two Examples, Paper under review Engineering Construction and Architectural Management.
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Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2002), Value Management Workshops and Partnering Conundrums, Paper submitted to the Journal of Construction Procurement, Nottingham.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2005), Efficiency in VM / VE Studies and the Pressure for Shorter Workshops, Paper submitted to Value World.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2005), Never in the Field of Competitive Tendering was so Much won by so few - An Analysis of PFI in Scotland, COBRA, Paper accepted.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2005), The Development of a Whole Life Costing Tool for Local Government in the UK, COBRA, Paper accepted.
- Yu, Ann., Shen, Geoffrey., Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2003), Towards a Theoretical Framework for Construction Briefing, Paper sent to Journal of Construction Procurement.
- Yu, Ann., Shen, Geoffrey., Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2005), A Value-Based Methodology for Strategic Briefing, Paper submitted to ECAM.
- Yu, Ann., Shen, Geoffrey., Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2005), Application of Value Management in Project Briefing, Paper accepted for Facilities.
Conferences
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Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2002), The Three Wheels of Best Value: A Service Focussed Approach to the Measurement of Best Value, Conference Proceedings for COBRA (Construction and Building Research Conference), The Nottingham Trent University, pp12-27.
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Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2003), An Investigation of Commonality of Issues at Different Project Stages Using a Three-Stage Project Model, ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management), University of Brighton, Volume 2, pp553-562.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2003), Opportunities for the Application of Value Management Using a Three-Stage Project Model, 3rd International Post-graduate Conference, University of Salford, ESAI, Portugal, pp357-366.*
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2003), The Path to the Application of Value Management in the UK Public Service Sector, PRoBE (Postgraduate Researchers in the Built Environment) Conference, Glasgow Caledonian University, pp3-15.*
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2004), A Grounded Theory Approach in Applying Value Management Practice in the UK Public Service Sector, 4th International Post-graduate Conference, University of Salford, Salford, Vol. 2, pp764-771.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2004), Is One Day Enough? The Argument for Shorter VM / VE Studies, SAVE (Society of American Value Engineers) 2004, Montreal, Canada.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2004), The Case for Value Management in the UK Public Service Sector, ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Volume 2, pp1031-1041.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2004), Where is all the Cash Going? The Economic Profiles of Scotland's PFI Projects, COBRA 2004 (Construction and Building Research Conference), Leeds Metropolitan University (proceedings in CD-ROM).
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2005), The Exclusion of Scottish Firms in Scotland's PFI Projects, PPP Conference, Hong Kong.
- Hunter, Kirsty and Kelly, John (2005), Expanding the Use of Value Management to the UK Public Service Sector, 5th International Postgraduate Conference, University of Salford, Salford, Vol. 1, pp66-77.
- Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2002), Assessing Best Value Attitudes of Client Groups, Conference Proceedings for EDRA (Environmental Design Research Association), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pp64-68.
- Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2002), Using Value Management Techniques to Set up Partnering Agreements, Conference Proceedings for ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management), Northumbria University, pp699-708.
- Kelly, John, Hunter, Kirsty and Male, Steven (2003), The Clients Value System Explored: Case Studies of UK Public Sector Values, Knowledge Construction, W55 / W65. Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Volume 1, pp423-433.
- Kelly, John., Hunter, Kirsty., Shen, Geoffrey and Yu, Ann (2003), The Development of a Theoretical Framework for Briefing Using a Value Management Approach, COBRA, University of Wolverhampton, pp328-337.
- Kelly, John., Hunter, Kirsty., Shen, Geoffrey and Yu, Ann (2003), A Framework for Using Value Management in the Briefing Process to Create Better Project Briefs, 6th Hong Kong IVM (Institute of Value Management) Conference.
- Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2004), Clients Value System, SAVE (Society of American Value Engineers) 2004, Montreal, Canada.
- Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2004), A Proposition for a Construction Research Taxonomy, ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Volume 2, pp1175-1186.
- Yu, Ann., Shen, Q.P., Kelly, John and Hunter, Kirsty (2004), Development of a Value Management Framework for the Formation of Project Briefs, ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Volume 1, pp233-242.
Research Experience
Editor Conference ProceedingsCOBRA (Construction and Building Research Conference) Conference Proceedings Sept 2001 (2 Vols. 800 pages).
Publications
24 papers published, 10 in press.
Conference attendance
17 conferences, 6 overseas international and 11 national and local.
Some Funded Research
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The Measurement of Best Value (1999-02) Funded by RICS (£30,000). The research was undertaken at Glasgow Caledonian University by Prof. J. R. Kelly and Kirsty Hunter.
- E-learning in Local Government (Mar - June 2002) Funded by the Scottish Executive (£30,000) To examine to feasibility, effectiveness and benefits of web-based learning. Joint Caledonian University / Michael Graham Consultancy Project.
- Construction Industry Initiatives and Image 1996 - 2002 (Dec 2002) Commissioned by HBG Construction (£1,500).
- Building Futures (1999-03) Funded by Scottish Building (£20,000). The research was undertaken at Glasgow Caledonian University by Prof. J. R. Kelly, Dr J. Tookey and Kirsty Hunter.
- Developing a Theoretical Framework for Briefing (Dec 2002 - Current) Funded by the Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong SAR Government (£30,000). A collaborative project between Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Glasgow Caledonian University.
Contact Details
Kirsty HunterResearcher
M540, School of the Built and Natural Environment
Glasgow Caledonian University
City Campus
Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow, G4 OBA
Scotland, UK.
Tel: +44 (0) 141 331 3716
Fax: +44 (0) 141 331 3696
Email: khu@gcal.ac.uk
