Construction Management & Economics

Chan, Paul W.; Räisänen, Christine

doi: 10.1080/01446190903361912pmid: N/A

Rooke, John Alfred; Koskela, Lauri; Kagioglou, Mike

doi: 10.1080/01446190903273950pmid: N/A

The growing interest in informal and emergent features of organizations has accompanied changes in both the dominant forms of organization and prevailing academic views about how best to think about and research them. It is argued here that currently espoused dichotomous characterizations of both organizations and research approaches are over‐simplified and misleading. A review of types of organization research is conducted and it is suggested that the relationship between theory and data collection provides a more detailed and illuminating taxonomy than a distinction between qualitative and quantitative research. Two major distinctions are proposed: (1) between theory driven and phenomenon driven research; (2) between descriptive and prescriptive theory. It is suggested that organization theory is properly prescriptive in nature. The place of informality in organization and management studies is explicated, drawing on insights from Wittgenstein and ethnomethodology (EM). A distinction is drawn between (1) the degree of formality in particular organizational settings; and (2) the necessarily informal foundations of formal organizational schemes and methods. Finally, the organization of research itself is addressed. A prescriptive theory (TFV) is suggested as a means of organizing and explaining the research process. This suggestion serves as both (1) a proposal for research management; and (2) an illustration of the relationship between theory and organization.

Bresnen, Mike

doi: 10.1080/01446190902974145pmid: N/A

The ‘practice turn’ in organizational studies has recently emerged as an important set of perspectives which has implications for understanding processes of knowing and learning within and between organizations. Consisting of a range of different approaches, it emphasizes the situated nature of knowing and learning in practice and offers an alternative to understanding human action that transcends the dualism of structure and agency effects on action. The ontological and epistemological underpinnings of a practice‐based approach are explored before attention is directed towards assessing the implications for understanding the knowledge, learning and change in project‐based organizations associated with the emergence of partnering.

Barrett, Peter; Sutrisna, Monty

doi: 10.1080/01446190903273943pmid: N/A

In investigating complex situations, such as construction projects, the case study approach has been considered reliable to capture rich information for the purpose of the investigation by allowing the investigators to retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real‐life events. Subsequent to data capture, data analysis will take place according to the intended research methodology. However, there is a potential for certain information to be hidden within the data and diluted during this data analysis phase. In order to minimize this and to reveal informal aspects and freshly emerging themes from the case study data, it is proposed that there is great value in analysing case studies on various levels, through different phases using multiple methods. Examples of the outcomes of applying multiple analyses involving different approaches, such as grounded theory methodology, rich picture diagrams and cognitive mapping, to the same set of data from multiple case studies are presented and discussed. This application of multiple analyses to case study research of construction projects provides valuable insights by revealing informal aspects and stimulating the emergence of a fresh understanding of the processes and interactions among different stakeholders. From the findings, the limits of the formal management systems were revealed. Further, the limits of tacit understanding around an evolving shared vision for a project were found to be substantial dimensions in understanding construction projects in a more holistic way.

Baarts, Charlotte

doi: 10.1080/01446190903147501pmid: N/A

Safety knowledge appears to be ‘a doing’. In construction work safety is practised in the complex interrelationship between the individual, pair and gang. Thus the aim is to explore the nature and scope of individualist and collectivist preferences pertaining to the practice of safety at a construction site. An ethnographic fieldwork, in which the researcher worked as an apprentice, will provide detailed and experience‐near insights into the complexity of these processes. Findings show that individualist and collectivist preferences influence the amount of risk the individual worker will assume and expose workmates to. Aspects such as self‐regulation, self‐confidence and independence are acceptable values only to the extent that they do not pose a threat to the solidarity of the community or safety of other workers. The informal practice of safety is a tight‐rope act that involves balancing the form and scope of these preferences.

Gluch, Pernilla

doi: 10.1080/01446190903179728pmid: N/A

Using a practice lens perspective, the environmental professional's role is examined in relation to social practices in construction projects. Drawing on several case studies of environmental management, the findings show that contradictory practices prevent environmental professionals from fulfilling their expected role and function. Different world‐views and communication cultures as well as a perception of environmental management as bureaucratic nit‐picking, create tensions between environmental work and project practice. Dealing with these tensions, environmental professionals develop alternative identities to adapt to the different situations that they find themselves in, i.e. formal roles in accordance with their job description and informal roles to suit different project practices. However, this strategy seems to result in further fragmentation between existing practices, creating barriers between professions. The study reveals four aspects that affect the professional's role: relational and positional power, professional identity, visibility, and the facilitation of meaning‐making processes in the project context. The research approach taken has created an opportunity to closely follow the development of an emerging profession in construction, opening a window that allows connecting a local and situational context to a wider societal discourse of environmentalism.

Georg, Susse; Tryggestad, Kjell

doi: 10.1080/01446190903181096pmid: N/A

Within construction, roles are generally thought of in terms of a division of labour, tasks and responsibilities, established through contractual and/or cultural relations. Moreover, roles are also presumed to be relatively stable. Drawing upon actor network theory, roles are re‐conceptualized and it is argued that roles are emergent and that they depend upon the tools and devices with which the project managers are equipped. A case study of the construction of a skyscraper, the ‘Turning Torso’, in Malmö, Sweden highlights the hybrid role of project management. In some instances project management may act as a mediator having qualitative effects on the project while in other instances project management may only be an intermediary, merely speeding up the process by conveying the concerns of others. The concept of qualculative project management is introduced to account for this emerging hybrid role. The analysis shows the ways in which the budget and other devices participates in enacting a qualculative role for project management, while simultaneously being involved in negotiating boundaries between professional roles in construction as well as the qualitative and quantitative properties of the building.

Gorse, Christopher A.; Emmitt, Stephen

doi: 10.1080/01446190903179710pmid: N/A

The small amount of published research into construction project meetings demonstrates some of the principal difficulties of investigating such sensitive business environments. Using the Bales Interaction Process Analysis (IPA) research method, data on group interaction were collected. A project outcome, namely whether the project was within contract budget, was used as a basis of enquiry between interaction patterns. Analysis was concerned with the socio‐emotional (relationship building) and the task‐based components of communication and the positive and negative socio‐emotional interaction characteristics. Socio‐emotional interaction was found to be significantly greater in the projects completed within budget. Socio‐emotional interaction is used to express feelings in relation to tasks and it serves as the flux that creates and sustains the group's social framework, which is crucial in a project environment. The data provide an indication of the importance of informal communication in the maintenance of relationships within project meetings.

Styhre, Alexander

doi: 10.1080/01446190903236379pmid: N/A

Tacit knowledge is one of the perennial issues of discussion in both the knowledge management and construction management literature. Being by definition that which cannot be properly explained in existing operative vocabularies, tacit knowledge is a residual category in prescribed analytical frameworks in the knowledge management literature. However, knowledge that is not easily explained verbally or in written form plays a decisive role in the construction industry. For instance, in the case of rock construction work, the most skilled construction workers are capable of carrying out certain procedures without fully mastering accompanying operative vocabularies, thereby demonstrating the capacity to use what has been called aesthetic knowledge, a specific form of tacit knowledge recognizing the limits of verbal and written communication. Aesthetic knowledge is an emergent competence residing in everyday practices and is therefore capable of transcending operative vocabularies. In practical terms, both managers and practitioners should pay attention to the importance of tacit knowledge and aesthetic knowledge and construction companies should seek to provide arenas where tacit and aesthetic knowledge should be shared effectively.

Kao, Chung‐Chin; Green, Stuart D.; Larsen, Graeme D.

doi: 10.1080/01446190903273935pmid: N/A

Research is described that sought to understand how senior managers within regional contracting firms conceptualize and enact competitiveness. Existing formal discourses of construction competitiveness include the discourse of ‘best practice’ and the various theories of competitiveness as routinely mobilized within the academic literature. Such discourses consistently underplay the influence of contextual factors in shaping how competitiveness is enacted. An alternative discourse of competitiveness is outlined based on the concepts of localized learning and embeddedness. Two case studies of regional construction firms provide new insights into the emergent discourses of construction competitiveness. The empirical findings resonate strongly with the concepts of localized learning and embeddedness. The case studies illustrate the importance of de‐centralized structures which enable multiple business units to become embedded within localized markets. A significant degree of autonomy is essential to facilitate localized entrepreneurial behaviour. In essence, sustained competitiveness was found to depend upon the extent to which de‐centralized business units enact ongoing processes of localized learning. Once local business units have become embedded within localized markets the essential challenge is how to encourage continued entrepreneurial behaviour while maintaining a degree of centralized control and coordination. Of key importance is the recognition that the capabilities that make companies competitive transcend organizational boundaries such that they become situated within complex networks of relational ties.