Bastien, A N (2002) Successful organisational and human practices in the UK construction industry: proposing the CONSTRUCT framework of good practice. PhD thesis, University of Warwick, UK.
Abstract
Previous research recognised a lack of team culture and collaboration in construction projects and failure of the fragmented UK construction industry to recognise people as an asset, generate profits or deliver high customer service. The Construction Task Force commissioned by the Government in 1998 confirmed these findings and suggested that industry and clients collaborate to reverse them by applying best practice. The Task Force identified key drivers for change and specified improvement areas. However, lessons from construction and other projects were not widely or adequately disseminated amongst construction professionals and the emerging information on good practice was not fully utilised. This research set out to identify and share with practitioners, human and organisational factors and good practices that would help to improve UK construction. Qualitative methodologies of case study and evaluation were employed within a phenomenological research framework. An in-depth investigation of the Heathrow Express (HEX) railway construction project revealed human and organisational factors that led to success. Literature suggests that appreciation of complex situations and informed decision-making rarely occur through application of prescriptive or best practice models. Rather, organisations develop by applying practices contingent to their particular situation. Using the HEX findings and further study of the literature, a descriptive framework of good practice, entitled CONSTRUCT©, was created, focusing on four domains of knowledge: building a single team, establishing trust, managing procurement and contractual relations, and involving the supply chain. An innovative approach, using the mindmapping technique, led away from a prescriptive model towards an interactive, CD-ROM based framework that enables practitioners to delve into knowledge on good practice as implemented by industrialists and advocated by academics. Therefore, CONSTRUCT© is proposed as a contribution to the sought improvement of UK construction industry through the application of good practice. It will help develop construction professionals' awareness of proven interventions thereby informing their project decisions. The content and context of CONSTRUCT© were evaluated by 20 construction and other sector practitioners selected for their expert opinion. Most of these experts found CONSTRUCT© to be useful, interesting and well-structured and all of them agreed on its applicability to project organisations. Recommendations for future work comprise the updating of good practices presented by the framework and its further dissemination to the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | best practice; collaboration; construction project; contractual relations; improvement; organisational factors; project organisation; trust; case study |
| Index terms: | case study, organizational factor, customer service, good practice, investigation, construction professional, best practice, construction industry, project organization, profit, practitioner, decision-making, methodology, dissemination, collaboration, construction project, railway construction, contractual relations |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, business, data collection methods, practitioner, decision analysis, industry analysis, civil engineering, contract law, research methods, performance measurement, management, knowledge translation, professional development, service delivery, organizational theory, production management |
| Topics: | Project Management, Engineering Principles, Risk Management, Quality Management, Legal Issues, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Organizational Design |
| 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