Creating, supporting and sustaining a culture of innovationJohn Steele; Mike Murray
2004 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699980410558502
Recently the industry's clients, designers and society as a whole, have begun to accept that innovation can offer key benefits in the form of financial growth and increased profits. Therefore, it is apparent that the development of a culture of innovation is of utmost importance if a business is to become universally proactive, entrepreneurial and remain successful. This owes much to the fact that the agility and ability of an organisation to respond to the changing marketplace is driven by its propensity to innovate. This paper does not attempt to resolve these problems; it merely attempts to raise awareness of the key issues relating to innovation, diffusion and the associated management of change. Moreover, it promotes the benefits afforded by developing an organizational culture of innovation. The content will be of interest to industrialists and researchers and will describe the key issues associated with product derivation, introduction and wider diffusion. Ultimately, it aims to demonstrate that creativity, the promotion of a culture for innovation, and the development of intellectual capital are issues of utmost importance in generating and maintaining a proactive and entrepreneurial organisation.
The innovation potential of integrated services and its utilisation through co‐operationAndreas Hartmann; Gerhard Girmscheid
2004 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699980410558520
In the last few years an increasing demand for integrated services could be recognised on the construction market. For construction firms this means that there is a wider scope for achieving advantages in competition. Based on a research project on the innovation behaviour of two Swiss contractors this paper presents the innovation potential of integrated services and the advantages and disadvantages of the present organizational structure of medium‐sized contractors with respect to the usage of this potential. Moreover, possibilities for construction firms to build up and benefit from internal and external co‐operation and to generate innovative constructional solutions are discussed. It is concluded that an innovative construction industry requires the ability of construction firms to co‐operate.
An innovative approach to identifying knowledge management problemsA.M. Al‐Ghassani; J.M. Kamara; C.J. Anumba; P.M. Carrillo
2004 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699980410558548
The promised benefits from implementing knowledge management (KM) attract an increasing number of organizations. However, many organizations, face several difficulties when designing a KM system or implementing its initiatives. These difficulties, along with some unsuccessful KM initiatives worry many organizations interested in the concept. This paper investigates the reasons for these difficulties and discusses the issues that need to be addressed to develop robust KM systems. It then introduces a systematic approach for addressing these issues at the early stages of designing a KM system. This approach was developed within the cross‐sectoral learning in the virtual enterprise (CLEVER) project and supports the definition of KM problems within a business context. The approach has been encapsulated into a prototype software system to make it easier to use. The paper describes in detail the operational level of the prototype. It also discusses the potential of the developed prototype, and concludes that it represents an innovative tool for improved KM.
Technology‐based learning and the project managerRobert C.T. Ellis; Gerard D. Wood; Tony Thorpe
2004 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699980410558557
Construction is a project‐oriented industry that benefits from both the technical and interpersonal skills that a project manager has to offer. Increasingly, project management is viewed as being an integrated process relevant throughout the project lifecycle, which necessarily draws upon a broad range of knowledge and abilities. It is imperative that project managers, therefore, have ready access to education and training programmes that enable them to update their skills. This paper compares a new distance learning project management educational software application with a traditional multiple‐media resource and a well‐established postgraduate module delivered in part‐time mode to establish the pedagogic effectiveness of distributed interactive multimedia. An analysis of quantitative data generated over a two‐year period finds that whilst learning and confidence gains occur in all delivery modes, there is no significant difference in the academic performance of students between the traditional control and distance learning experimental groups.
Reconciling construction innovation and standardisation on major projectsF.T. Edum‐Fotwe; A.G.F. Gibb; M. Benford‐Miller
2004 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699980410558566
The concepts underlying innovation and standardisation presents an apparent divergence in what each strives to achieve. In the view of the authors, this has contributed in no small measure to the low take‐up of standardisation within the construction sector as organisations strive to be innovative to improve on their performance and attain continuous improvement in their processes and operations as well as design solutions. The paper presents as a case, how one major public sector outfit is striving to achieve innovation within an agenda that involves a widespread adoption of standardisation. It presents the motivations for adopting an organisation‐wide agenda on innovation and standardisation, identifies the elements of apparent incongruity between the concepts, and outlines how the case organisation has resolved the divergences.
Innovative 3D‐modelling for selecting and locating mobile cranesOsama Moselhi; Sabah Alkass; Mohamed Al‐Hussein
2004 Engineering Construction & Architectural Management
doi: 10.1108/09699980410558575
This paper provides an overview of a recently developed system for selecting and locating mobile cranes on construction sites. The proposed system provides direct help on two fronts: cost and time savings, and improved safety arrangements. The system has a number of interesting features: a relational database designed to store the cranes' geometry‐related variables and to present them using powerful graphics; a selection module supported by an algorithm designed to satisfy geometrical requirements and necessary clearances, accounting for site constraints and lift configurations; and 3D animation to facilitate the planning of crane operations. The system provides a near‐optimum selection of crane lift configurations, considering available cranes. This paper focuses mainly on case examples to demonstrate and to illustrate the use and capabilities of the developed system. Two actual cases, featuring different site constraints and lift configurations, are presented. In these cases, cranes were selected and their operations planned using the developed system. The findings of the two cases are discussed and the benefits of the proposed methodology are highlighted.