Erdogan, B; Anumba, C; Bouchlaghem, D and Nielsen, Y (2005) Change management in construction: The current context. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 21st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2005, London, UK.
Abstract
Construction companies are sometimes required to implement changes at business level related to management, technology, people and cultural issues as well as handling many changes at project level. Changes in projects, most of which are related to design, are inevitable even if there had been detailed studies during the design development, and prior to the construction stage. The changes need to be managed to reduce the negative impacts and to safeguard quality and profitability. The impacts and consequences of changes vary according to the type and nature of changes, but most importantly according to how they are managed. In an environment characterised by ever-increasing global competition and customer expectations, change management has become a key factor in the quest by organisations to stay ahead of the competition. Change management becomes more important, and at the same time more difficult, when the construction companies have a geographically dispersed organisational structure, are multi-disciplinary in nature, and manage one-off projects with interactions changing for each project. This paper presents the results of a literature review carried out on change management in construction. Change management is explored at two levels: organisational level and project level. The classification and nature of changes at each level and the change management tools and techniques available are investigated and analysed. The problematic areas in construction change management which require further research are highlighted.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | change management; project change; organisational change; barriers |
| Index terms: | organizational structure, organizational change, construction company, change management, literature review, profitability, competition, interaction, design development |
| Subjects: | business, organization, economic analysis, data analysis and analytics, design process, management, behavioral psychology, sociology, market analysis |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Design Practice, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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