McCabe, S and Robertson, H (2000) Striving to be the best: A case study of construction benchmarking world class organizations. In: Akintoye, A (ed.) Proceedings of 16th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2000, Glasgow, UK.
Abstract
The need for organizations to seek continuous improvement has, over the last decade, become a mantra for those who seek to commentate on construction. As such, commentators suggest organizations in electronics and automotive production industries have accrued benefits that allow both enhanced customer satisfaction and the achievement of greater efficiency. Therefore, it is usually argued, if this can occur elsewhere, why cannot construction do the same? As this paper will explain, the need to engage in improvement is well accepted in the construction industry. Initiatives such as quality assurance, total quality management and supply chain management have been operating for some time. However, and as the case study of Morrison indicates, the desire to achieve radical change resulting in significant improvement is only possible by benchmarking against organizations which are excellent. As we will describe, the accepted test of excellance is demonstrated by the use of the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model Award. As well as describing what this model involves, this paper will explain how it has been successfully used by Morrison as a basis for creating culture conducive to stimulating organizational change which has allowed improvement to occur.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | organizational excellence; quality; continuous improvement; benchmarking |
| Index terms: | benchmarking, construction industry, quality management, customer satisfaction, quality assurance, continuous improvement, case study, efficiency, total quality management, organizational change |
| Subjects: | quality assurance, industry analysis, service delivery, performance management, performance measurement, evaluation methods, business, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Quality Management |
| 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