| 1. |
- Adam, Abderisak, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Applying the dynamic capabilities framework in the case of a large public construction client
- 2017
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 35:7, s. 1-12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Public clients in the construction sector face a number of challenges in designing, procuring and managing major construction projects. The client’s role in bringing about project delivery has more recently been emphasized, particularly with respect to developing capabilities that facilitate the coordinating of projects through its different phases. In line with these developments, this paper sets out to examine the management of capabilities in a client organization through the lens of the dynamic capabilities framework. In particular, what is investigated is how the client organization senses, seizes and transforms opportunities. In pursuit of this objective, an exploratory case study approach is adopted which examines one of Sweden’s largest public client organizations. The study explores the concept of dynamic capabilities and its applicability to the public construction context. Although the usefulness of dynamic capabilities as an interpretive framework is recognized, it is suggested that the concept of dynamic capabilities is inadequate for addressing the specific context in which public client organizations operate. Particularly with respect to the project-based characteristic of these organizations and the difficulty in framing what constitutes “competitive advantage” for public organizations.
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| 2. |
- af Hällström, Anna, 1987, et al.
(författare)
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The role of social ties in collaborative project networks: A tale of two construction cases
- 2021
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 39:9, s. 723-738
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Collaborative project delivery models (CPDMs) are increasing in popularity as infrastructure con-struction projects become more complex and grow in scale and scope. CPDMs build on highlevels of trust, information exchange and formal contractual relations, creating complex relation-ships between actors in the project network. The literature emphasizes the procurement phaseand contractual aspects of CPDMs; however, few studies explicitly focus on the role of socialrelationships in CPDM projects. Social network theory has recently been introduced in the archi-tecture, engineering and construction industry industry to study relationships between networkactors, but the role of social ties within CPDM project networks is still unclear. Through twoqualitative case studies, we have analyzed the role of social ties in projects applying a CPDMcontract. The empirical evidence of 41 semi-structured interviews and observations points toaspects that affect the development of social ties in CPDMs, such as initial project setup, projectidentification, perception of actors, resource sharing and shared space, as well as the importanceof formal and informal ties for supporting collaborative project practices. The evidence showshow social ties develop into negative or positive bonds affecting the level of collaboration. Thisstudy contributes by emphasizing the interplay between project networks using CPDMs andsocial ties.
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| 3. |
- Alderman, N., et al.
(författare)
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Service‐led projects : understanding the meta‐project context
- 2010
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0144-6193 .- 1466-433X. ; 28:11, s. 1131-1143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The service‐led project is driven by the demand for long‐term service provision based on the output of a conventional capital good. The project management implications of the extended timeframe for such projects are considered and the added risks and uncertainties associated with planning for an unknown future business environment. Detailed case studies of three service‐led engineering projects in the context of port facilities, high‐speed trains and sludge treatment are examined. The findings indicate that service‐led projects exist within the context of a meta‐project that encompasses a consideration of critical activities beyond the normal remit of the project manager. Aligning project stakeholders around a vision for the meta‐project becomes a key task in the successful management of the service‐led project.
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| 4. |
- Andersson, Réka, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Beyond barriers – exploring resistance towards BIM through a knowledge infrastructure framework
- 2023
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. - 0144-6193 .- 1466-433X. ; 41:11-12, s. 926-941
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Building information modelling (BIM) is a digital tool that offers the possibility to collect and share a multitude of data about a building and increase collaboration across professional borders. However, the uptake of BIM in the construction industry has been relatively slow, and previous research has shown how BIM creates tensions in the workplace. In this article, we explore the impact of BIM on socio-technical knowledge practices, to understand how these are enabled or restricted by the use of BIM. Through a qualitative case study in Sweden, this article analyses BIM through a knowledge infrastructure framework to explain the relatively slow uptake of BIM in a new light. The results show that BIM lacks embeddedness in governmental and corporate practices and regulations and that it sometimes leads to the marginalization of some professions through changed organizations and the slow process of changing complex knowledge infrastructures. This suggests that a critical discussion of the role of BIM in relation to professional flexibility, construction project process organization and power over technological development is vital for the future development of the construction sector.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Rickard, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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From waste to resource management? Construction and demolition waste management through the lens of institutional work
- 2022
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 40:6, s. 477-496
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European Union has issued action plans to reduce the production of construction waste and increase the reuse and recycling of materials in the hope of triggering a rapid transition towards a Circular Economy (CE). The management of construction and demolition waste, however, struggles to apply these measures. Our purpose, therefore, is to analyse how different actors involved in the management of waste could contribute to transform existing practices so that they respond to the shifting demands of legislation and support CE. To understand how this transformation work is performed, we build on the concept of institutional work, which enables us to describe how actors, rather than accepting institutions as permanent and immovable, contribute to their development by creating, maintaining or disrupting the existing institution. Drawing on qualitative research methods, we collected empirical data through 31 semi-structured interviews, observations of meetings and site visits. Our results show that whereas the production of waste is somewhat reduced, and the sorting of fractions improved, the institutional work performed is not sufficient to translate sustainability into new economic values. Although the work performed legitimizes CE principles and enables new initiatives, it mostly fails to change normative associations and to define new rules of action that support CE.
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| 6. |
- Arditi, David, et al.
(författare)
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Managerial competencies of female and male managers in the Swedish construction industry
- 2013
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 31:9, s. 979-990
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The construction industry is one of the most male dominated industries around the world, not only when it comes to workers, but also as regards managers. Only 5% of the managers in the Swedish construction industry are women. The managerial competencies of individuals working as managers in the Swedish construction industry are researched to get a clearer understanding of the situation, and to investigate if this lack of balance between male and female managers has to do with differences in managerial competence. The management development questionnaire provided by Human Resource Development Press was sent to 143 managers in the Swedish construction industry and 112 respondents (44 women and 68 men) assessed themselves in 20 competencies, resulting in a response rate of 78%. The Mann-Whitney U test showed that female and male managers possess equal managerial competencies in 17 of the 20 competencies. Male managers rated themselves as having better managerial competency than females in two of the 20 competencies, namely ‘resilience’ and ‘decision making’. Female managers rated themselves as having better managerial competency than males in ‘sensitivity’, which follows the social norm of what is expected of a woman. It was also found that both groups scored high in decision making, reflecting traditional virtues of construction managers as decisive and active. The most important result is not the differences but the many similarities between women and men working as managers in the construction industry. Thus, it is concluded that female managers are as competent as male managers in the Swedish construction industry.
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| 7. |
- Atkin, Brian
(författare)
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Editorial : Industrialized building
- 2014
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0144-6193 .- 1466-433X. ; 32:1-2, s. 1-6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fashions come and go. Industrialized building (IB) is no exception, having its roots far in the past and appearing in just about every type of construction, including infrastructure, at one time or another. Industrialization, as a term applied to the production of goods, can be on a macro-scale as in the case of large assemblies and near-complete structures. But it also applies to myriad products installed in buildings. Industrialized building is about process and product, where the process involves a producer’s focus mostly on means and the product involves a purchaser’s focus on ends. However, this simplified view hides more complex issues that are fundamental to successful innovation in this field and which are examined from a number of perspectives in this special issue. Depending upon where you are in the world, the idea of industrialized housing, for example, can draw a reaction that ranges from delight, through indifference, to aversion. There have been many eras and movements, each with their proponents and opponents. While our context is the twentieth century, examples of industrialized building are to be found throughout the ages. Close to the location of modern-day Reading (UK) are the remains of what was, in Roman Britain, the thriving town of Calleva Atrebatum, occupying a strategic position between what is now London and the west of England. The development of Calleva benefited from timber-framed construction, with prefabricated elements and other components produced in significant quantity as part of a trade-driven Roman conquest. Numerous innovations were implanted locally, only to be lost for a millennium following the collapse of the Roman Empire. The Tudors and Elizabethans reinvented the wheel to a certain extent, but generally botched the job so that relatively little remains of their work today. It was not until the Industrial Revolution that componentization and prefabrication re-emerged. Since then, industrialization in the broadest sense has enabled countries to engage in production on a gigantic scale to fuel their burgeoning economies: Britain in the nineteenth century, the US from the start of the twentieth century (with Japan emerging in the second half) and the addition of China in the new millennium. Eras and movements are generally synonymous with a particular style of architecture (constructivist, modernism, postmodernism, high-tech and sustainable to name a few) and most are influenced by the politics of the day. Ambitious housing programmes aimed at urban regeneration have been a familiar theme in many countries and have often relied on public sector funding or, at least, significant subsidies. Big business (manufacturers and major construction companies) has been in on the act, interpreting what it considers to be the needs of the day followed by the offer of solutions it believes can be sold for a healthy profit (so long as there are enough takers to guarantee sufficient demand). No country has had a monopoly on this legacy or these practices. The contrast between countries at a given time can be striking, but that does not mean some were right and the rest were wrong. Not only were the contexts generally dissimilar, but their histories in relation to industrialized building have different origins and have followed different trajectories; take Japan, the UK and Sweden for example and the emergence of China in more recent times. Each has experienced a succession of movements featuring attempts at mass production and mass customization with degrees of pre-engineering, prefabrication and success. The passage of time makes clear what has worked and what has not. In some cases, enthusiasm for industrialized housing has been lost almost in an instant. Industrialized building is not solely about housing. Most modern commercial and industrial buildings are products of a supply chain that is geared to production (factory-based and global) to satisfy the appetites of owners, developers and tenants for buildings that exemplify modernity, not least in their use of materials and technology. The seeds of this particular movement were sown in the 1980s and were followed by the promotion of construction as a manufacturing process. It did not help, however, to be continually compared with the automotive industry; nonetheless, some useful lessons in supply chain management have become embedded in construction. In the event, it was an uphill struggle to persuade government that, given the right kind of encouragement (mostly monetary), construction could modernize: it could industrialize and become leaner and, arguably, more productive. Detractors will, however, point to achievements that to this very day have yet to be equalled. For instance, the Crystal Palace is often cited as record-breaking; yet, who would seriously wish to see Victorian health, safety and other labour-related practices on a twenty-first-century construction site? Offsite production, in the sense of complete or near-complete modules, has become regarded as a perfectly acceptable solution for certain types of commercial and industrial buildings and, depending on the country, for housing too. Its deployment has grown steadily and is one of the more stable segments within the industrialized building sector in terms of production volumes. Offsite has been sold on the premise that, quite rightly, it provides decent quality products of modest cost for rapid onsite assembly. It is a model that has been followed in many countries since it overcomes objections to industrialized building in general.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Badenfelt, Ulrika, 1970
(författare)
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I trust you, I trust you not: a longitudinal study of control mechanisms in incentive contracts
- 2010
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - 1466-433X .- 0144-6193. ; 28:3, s. 301-310
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The relationship between trust and control in client–contractor interactions is explored, focusing on the control mechanisms used in a construction project. A longitudinal case study of a large laboratory construction project found that the client used a variety of control mechanisms to ensure that the contractor behaved trustworthily. Empirical data were gathered through interviews and non-participant observation. The results indicate that the use of control mechanisms is part of a complex and dynamic socially constructed process that requires ongoing discussion and evaluation, and to which informal control mechanisms are central. Business relationships built solely on trust are seemingly rare; even in trust-based collaborative settings, such as partnering arrangements; the contracting parties must pay attention to trust-nurturing actions.
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| 10. |
- Bengtsson, Susanna Hedborg, et al.
(författare)
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Developing a neighbourhood: exploring construction projects from a project ecology perspective
- 2020
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Ingår i: Construction Management and Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0144-6193 .- 1466-433X. ; 38:10, s. 964-976
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As a consequence of ongoing urbanisation, construction projects are likely to be performed in multi-project contexts. Zooming out from the single project and focusing on the context in which construction projects are performed is suggested as a way to broaden our understanding and develop new theory. The empirical case in focus here, which is studied as a project ecology, is the development of a major urban development district, where several interdependent construction projects have been initiated in sequence and in parallel in a limited geographical area. This case poses several challenges to the developers (construction clients) who are performing their projects simultaneously, and literally, as neighbours. Therefore, we zoom out from the single construction project and put the project in a wider context on a macro level, to increase the understanding of the context in which construction projects are performed. The theoretical lens of social capital helps us zoom in on the interdependencies that develop over time, going beyond traditional, contractual and vertical relationships. Based on empirical material, including interviews and meeting observations, the findings indicate that the developers have to coordinate horizontal interdependencies between projects. The findings also show that the construction client’s role has been extended from initiating and delivering the project mission to also having a collaborator role between projects, where ambidexterity is required.
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