Siebken Schultz, C (2012) Construction production failure in a structural perspective: A study of reactive and proactive problem-solving practices. PhD thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
Abstract
This thesis is the result of an Industrial PhD project conducted in cooperation between the university and NCC Construction Denmark – one of the largest contractors in Denmark. The specific purpose is to examine how failures and defects are produced and handled in the social practices of construction projects in order to make changes and thereby reducing the extent of failure in the building processes. As a result of the research design and the rooting of the study in the company the thesis contributes with an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the structural premises and the actions and decision-making of the project managers and craftsmen on construction projects. The premise is that failure and defects cannot be seen as isolated incidents, but must be regarded as a correlation between the successful as well as the faulty processes. The key contributions of the thesis are the expansion of the understanding of: Failures and defects; how routines and experiences in addition to helping to reduce the extent of failures and defects, also can be seen as instrumental in producing and maintaining a certain level of failure. Practices of problem solving; the study highlights reactive and proactive problem-solving practices as being important for the completion of the construction project. Problem-solving practices are often forced into reactive problem solving. Unintended consequences of routinized practices; elaborated through a) lack of knowledge sharing beyond the project boundaries, b) the reproduction of project participants as powerful problem-solvers and c) the reproduction of an "acceptable" level of failures and defects.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | failure; construction project; problem solving; project manager; Denmark |
| Index terms: | social practice, problem solving, construction project, decision-making, boundaries, building process, cooperation, Denmark, routine, unintended consequence, knowledge sharing, construction production, craft worker, project manager, research design |
| Subjects: | profession, risk assessment, research design and methodology, social theory, sociology, decision analysis, practitioner, knowledge management, property law, psychology, operations management, production management, Geography, decision-making and reasoning, building construction |
| Topics: | Information Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Site Management, Organizational Design, Project Management, Geographical Context, Risk Management, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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