Liberating the Semantics: Embodied Work(Man)ship in Construction

Working in a loosely coupled system: exploring practices and implications of coupling work on construction sites

“…The site managers seemed to derive a major part of their work motivation and positive professional identification from the constant stream of ad-hoc problem solving that characterized coupling decisions, which aggregated allowed them to constantly improvise and put their "personal touch" on production. In essence, being able to work independently and to craft their environment to suit their work-world and work-view is something that the site managers highly appreciate, and can also be seen as defining their understanding of their professional selves and identification with their peers (see also Styhre 2011, Polesie 2013, Raiden 2016, Sandberg et al 2018, L€ owstedt and Sandberg 2020, for similar observations).…”

“…Another apt example is how temporary project organizations are portrayed as intra-organizationally decoupled from the permanent organization (e.g. Lindkvist 2004, Gluch 2009, Gluch and R€ ais€ anen 2009, Sandberg et al 2018. This image has further been reinforced by studies that have described the role of construction project managers as being "uncoupled" (used interchangeably with "independent") from the firm (e.g.…”

“…Sat in on breakfasts, lunches, breaks. Participated in meetings (17 in total), workshops (2), daily inspection rounds, daily interactions/notes taken Analysis and theoretical lens Iterative analysis (Eisenhardt, 1989;van Maanen, 2007), moving back and forth between inquiry of theory and the empirical data material More detailed accounts Sandberg et al 2018 impromptu decisions and reacting to unforeseen disruptions. Planning in construction projects is often curtailed by conditions of uncertainty and complexity.…”

Standardizing the free and independent professional

“…To understand why a worker perspective, to date, has been overlooked in the standardization debate, it is useful to view it in the light of a general tendency to ignore the people-level in construction research (Green and May, 2003; Chan and Räisänen, 2009; Chan and Cooper, 2010; Sandberg et al , 2018; Paskins, 2018). Sage and Vitry (2018) portray the historical development of construction research as a field that has been discursively formed around a prevalent focus on instrumental knowledge, strongly governed by capitalist and managerial performance indicators, such as productivity and profitability.…”

“…First, by being located in between the strategic decision-making of the construction organization and the day-to-day production work, they operate as gatekeepers of visions, designs, and plans that might, or might not, be transformed into actual production practices (Dubois and Gadde, 2002a; Styhre and Josephson, 2006; Koch et al , 2015). Second, it has frequently been noted that site managers operate in a particularly free and independent work role (Wakefield, 1985; Mustapha and Naoum, 1998; Sauer et al , 2001; Styhre and Josephson, 2006; Styhre, 2012; Polesie, 2013; Sandberg et al , 2018).…”