Lennartsson, M and Bäckstrand, J (2018) Getting the most out of a collaborative research project: Cross industry design for a holistic view and increased learning. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2018, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
Lately, collaborative research has gained recognition. For Nordic countries, governmentally directed research funding requires a collaborative approach. To achieve significant results, this kind of projects are often designed homogenously, by putting focus on a single industry or discipline. The assumption is that problems are isolated to specific industries or disciplines such as the construction trade.However, to thoroughly scrutinize a multifaceted problem, a multi-disciplinary approach is suggested, arching over multiple industrial practices. This aligns with “the Medici effect” stating that true inventions and breakthroughs are never the result of incremental improvements within single disciplines.A collaborative research project on the topic communication regarding customer specific demands is presented. The project includes two construction companies, a housing company with off-site production and a small subcontractor manufacturing street doors and front doors. There are also four companies in the project within mechanical manufacture, telecom and consultancy.To be successful with such heterogeneous set-up, the project execution has to be solid and well-planned. To engage the companies, the project emphasizes also activities which are not adding any contribution to academic production. Networking, industrial education, publications in trade journals, participation in trade fairs etc. might be essential in order to convince the industry of the practical relevance of both previous and future projects.Previous collaborative research projects have resulted in clear and measurable results for the participating (and recurring) companies and indicate increased learning, better communication and understanding of the actual problem or unit of analysis. The experience has been used in the design of the current project.The findings prove that applied research does not necessarily need to be isolated to specific industries or disciplines, as the collected data are applicable to the different participating companies' despite of their differences.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | collaborative research; communication; cross-industry; cross-disciplinary |
| Index terms: | networking, off-site production, publication, housing, research funding, journal, consultancy, subcontractor, construction company |
| Subjects: | construction type, communication, organization, practitioner, manufacturing engineering, research dissemination and communication, research management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Construction Technology, Organizational Design, Information Management, Engineering Principles, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Research Practice |
| 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