Boyd, D and Belcher, R (2002) Learning to change in the UK and USA. In: Greenwood, D (ed.) Proceedings of 18th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2002, Northumbria, UK.
Abstract
This paper studies a British and a US construction management organization, each of which is regarded as forward thinking and successful, to determine what has enabled these organizations to change the way they, and the industry around them, does business. These companies were specifically set up to do things in a different way. It is this ability to work successfully with change that has been defined by government and industry reports as the necessity for the improvement of the construction industry for the benefit of all parties. The research involved interviewing a number of senior managers in the organizations using a participatory approach exploring the concepts of the 'learning organization'. It was found that both organizations had clear visions based on strong values held by founding individuals that drew people to work for them who engaged with the world in similar ways. Further, the openness to thinking and learning – the organizational culture - was a key characteristic of these organizations that the individuals who were interviewed were able to relate with passion. The results challenge the notions of leadership and structure which abound in the strategic management literature and develop a more practical realization of the needs for 'organizational learning' in strategic change.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | strategic change; organizational learning; success; innovation |
| Index terms: | manager, organizational learning, participatory approach, construction industry, organizational culture, strategic management |
| Subjects: | management, professional development, sociology, industry analysis, data collection methods, practitioner |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy |
| 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