Thomson, C S and Munns, A K (2004) Successfully implementing system innovations within the construction project environment. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 20th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2004, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
The construction industry has recently realised that their low levels of innovation has the potential to seriously damage the long- term future and sustainability of the industry. The source of the problem within the industry centres on the implementation process as opposed to idea generation and creativity capabilities. This has been significant in highlighting the need to address the problem of implementing construction innovation. This paper focuses on the implementation process of innovation within the project environment, where the industry largely operates as a mode of production. The implementation of partnering within three publicly funded construction projects are used as case studies for this research, and analysed using the principles of grounded theory to produce a model of the implementation process. Partnering is defined as a system innovation (management based innovation) and the paper focuses on this context of innovation implementation. The paper provides a model of the innovation implementation process highlighting the factors of influence and requirements for its successful management. The findings draw attention to the dominance of factors influencing the innovation process that relate to the team and the need for facilitation of the overall cultural environment within the project.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | case studies; construction projects; grounded theory; implementation process; innovation |
| Index terms: | grounded theory, case study, low level, creativity, partnering, construction innovation, implementation, construction industry, construction project |
| Subjects: | production management, theoretical framing, industry analysis, innovation and creative processes, partnership management, building construction, measurement and scaling, data collection methods, contractual arrangements |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Research Practice, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Procurement, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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