Xue, H; Sun, T; Ling, F Y Y and Wang, L (2023) Redesigning the virtual organisational structure for the management of prefabricated buildings. International Journal of Construction Management, 23(6), pp. 1069-1085. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
An effective organisational structure is vital for the management of prefabricated buildings. This study aims to redesign a virtual organisational structure for such projects. Two-pronged action research was adopted. The survey was to redesign the virtual organisational structure. The case study was to validate the virtual structure redesigned and conduct an in-depth description of the application of the virtual organisational structure on real prefabricated projects. The result shows that the virtual organization’s core actors are client, general contractor, designer, and PC manufactory. The chain of command starts with the client, and ends with peripheral actors such as subcontractor elements. Meanwhile, prefabricated buildings that adopted the virtual organisational structure proposed are better managed and have better project performance than those that did not. This study contributes to the knowledge of the management for prefabricated buildings by showing that a virtual organisational structure needs to incorporate stakeholder salience attributes and stakeholder relationships.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | prefabricated buildings; project management; social network analysis; stakeholder; virtual organisational structure |
| Index terms: | case study, general contractor, survey, project management, action research, subcontractor, prefabricated building, project performance, organizational structure, designer, social network analysis, redesign, virtual organization |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, practitioner, research methods, profession, sociology, project management theory and practice, design methods, building construction, information systems |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Design Practice, Project Management, Construction Technology |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here