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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