organisational learning in construction: a framework organisational learning in construction: a...

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING IN CONSTRUCTION:

A FRAMEWORK FROM THE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

PERSPECTIVE

Mohan Lasantha SIRIWARDENA

Ph.D Thesis 2015

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING IN CONSTRUCTION:

A FRAMEWORK FROM THE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

PERSPECTIVE

Mohan Lasantha SIRIWARDENA

School of the Built Environment

College of Science and Technology

University of Salford, Salford, UK

Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy, April 2015

Declaration

The thesis builds on research conducted as part of the EPSRC funded SPICE

project, a two year research programme that finished in 2005. The author was a

research student on the project and was responsible for developing and testing the

model through a series of case studies. The author was also involved in the

EPSRC funded KIM research project which also investigated organisational

knowledge and information management.

Dedicated to my beloved family

for their unconditional love & patience

Organisational Learning in Construction: A Framework from the Process Improvement Perspective

Abstract

i

Abstract

The construction industry, one of the significant sectors of most regional and national

economies, is being continuously urged to improve its performance at project and

organisational level. The urgent need to improve the processes of construction

projects and organisations has been highlighted in a number of industry reports. In

this regard, organisational learning has been considered as essential to facilitate

process improvement, innovation and sustaining the competitiveness of construction

organisations, and also of the sector as a whole.

Although there are a number of initiatives to facilitate organisational learning in

construction contexts, literature reveals that the organisations are still finding it

difficult to identify ways to effectively facilitate learning to improve their processes

and performance. Therefore, this research aims to bridge the gap by developing a

framework to facilitate organisational learning in construction contexts. In doing so,

the process improvement perspective has been taken into consideration. Given the

constructive nature of the research, design science was used as the overarching

methodology. Within this overall approach, case studies were used to inform,

develop and validate the research process and the outcomes. An extensive literature

review, document analysis, workshops, participant observations are the key

techniques used to achieve the research aim.

Organisational Learning in Construction: A Framework from the Process Improvement Perspective

Abstract

ii

The main outcome of this research is the framework to facilitate organisational

learning within construction context. The research further highlighted the complex

adaptive nature of the construction contexts and processes, and it has been

incorporated into the Procurer, Provider and User (PPU) framework. In addition, the

integration of the role of process maturity and time dependent meta roles of

stakeholders in the context of complex construction projects, to facilitate learning and

improvement, is one the significant contributions to the body of knowledge. The

developed framework could be adopted by any organisations, which are contracting,

consultancy, client’s organisations and/or regulatory bodies when they seek to

improve their processes while facilitating organisational learning. It is recommended

that industry practitioners / strategic level decision makers take consider their time

and stake dependent meta-role and the resultant information flows as a basis for

evaluating and updating their current organisational processes.

Keywords: Organisational Learning, Complex Adaptive Organisations, Process

Improvement Framework, Construction Industry

Organisational Learning in Construction: A Framework from the Process Improvement Perspective

Acknowledgements

iii

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my very great appreciation to my supervisor Prof. Vian

Ahmed, you have been a revered mentor for me. Thank you very much for all the

encouragement, constructive suggestions, and insightful criticisms that guided this

research.

I offer my sincere thanks to Salford Centre for Research and Innovation (SCRI) and

the research team for their tremendous support, friendship and the learning

opportunities provided.

I am most grateful to Prof. Lauri Koskela, Prof. Marjan Sharsha, Prof. Michail

Kagioglou, Prof. Dilanthi Amaratunga, Prof. Richard Haigh, Dr. John Rooke and Prof.

Ghassan Aouad for their generosity and encouragement.

The advice offered by the academic staff and the friendship rendered by non-

academic staff of the School of the Built Environment, and Postgraduate research

office, University of Salford is also sincerely acknowledged.

Very special thanks go out to all who helped me in numerous ways by giving

permission to get access to confidential information of case studies that I used within

this study.

I would especially like to thank the Committee members of the Association of

Professional Sri Lankans in the UK for their genuine support and encouragement.

Organisational Learning in Construction: A Framework from the Process Improvement Perspective

Acknowledgements

iv

I owe my deepest gratitude to my family, beloved father, mother, and wife for their

endless love, moral and emotional support.

A very big thank you to all my colleagues who have always being there to support

and encourage me.

Last, but not least, I regret my inability to mention the names of many others who

helped me to fulfil this effort.

Thank you.

Mohan Siriwardena

Organisational Learning in Construction: A Framework from the Process Improvement Perspective

Table of Figures

v

Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ i

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... iii

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ v

Table of Figures .......................................................................................................... x

List of Tables ............................................................................................................. xii

Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ xiii

Chapter One ................................................................................................................ 1

1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background and rationale ........................................................................... 1

1.1.1 Need for industry improvement ............................................................ 2

1.1.2 Need for process improvement in construction .................................... 4

1.1.3 Importance of learning in construction organisations ........................... 4

1.1.4 Complex adaptive nature of construction context ................................. 9

1.2 Research Problem / gap in knowledge ..................................................... 11

1.3 Aim and Objectives ................................................................................... 11

1.4 Methodological steps ................................................................................ 12

1.5 Scope and delimitation .............................................................................. 17

1.6 Contribution to knowledge......................................................................... 17

1.7 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................... 18

Chapter Two .............................................................................................................. 20

2. ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING .................................................................... 20

2.1 Introduction to chapter two ........................................................................ 20

2.2 Historical overview of learning in organisations ........................................ 20

Organisational Learning in Construction: A Framework from the Process Improvement Perspective

Table of Figures

vi

2.3 Organisational learning ............................................................................. 28

2.3.1 Technical perspectiv