Planning and implementation of effective collaboration in construction projects

Abstract

The 21st century is now seen as the time for the construction industry to embrace new ways of working if it is to continue to be competitive and meet the needs of its ever demanding clients. Collaborative working is considered by many to be essential if design and construction teams are to consider the whole lifecycle of the construction product. Much of the recent work on collaborative working has focused on the delivery of technological solutions with a focus on web (extranets), CAD (visualisation), and knowledge management technologies. However, it is now recognised that good collaboration does not result from the implementation of information technology solutions alone. The organisational and people issues, which are not readily solved by pure technical systems, need to be resolved. However, approaches that exclusively focus on organisational and people issues will not reap the benefits derived from the use of technology, especially in the context of distributed teams which are the norm in construction. Work currently being undertaken at Loughborough University aims to bring together the benefits enabled by the technology, with the organisational, and its people issues to provide a framework enabling high level strategic decisions to be made to implement effective collaboration. This paper reports on the initial stages of the project: the background to the project, the methodology used, and findings from the literature survey and the requirements capture survey conducted as part of the project.

Coordinating collaboration in contractually different complex construction projects

“…In this study, collaborative work entails relationships between all project parties (from the owner to the sub-contractor), their supply chain processes, and the technology they use (Shelbourn et al, 2007). Coordination of collaborative work in the construction industry is demanding because of the high uncertainty and complexity of construction projects, but also because of the prevailing culture where risks are transferred to other parties.…”

Street work policy in England, UK: insights from stakeholders

“…Like the construction industry, organisations working in the telecoms industry are profit driven where a culture of secrecy is common practice (Bishop et al, 2009). Trust is an important component for nurturing collaborative working (Hashim, 2012;Shelbourn et al, 2007), however, joint working with competitors is regarded as 'adversarial collaboration' (Patel et al, 2012). These issues appear to be barriers in the telecoms sector which restrict sharing of information, which in turn has the effect of reducing joint working opportunities.…”

“…Interviewee UW1 revealed that sometimes these conflicts compelled them to work against the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (1991), which meant that they risked receiving small fines by SAs, as opposed to being 'fined millions' by their regulator. Working in conflict with street work legislation requirements shows an unnecessary compulsion faced by undertakers, which transposes into a lack of trust and openness between parties, which is a significant barrier to effective communication and thus effective joint working (Shelbourn et al, 2007). The regulator (R1 and R2) expressed surprise about perceived conflicts and advised that any specific conflicts brought to their attention would be thoroughly investigated.…”

“…The consequences of work promoters not following the rules are felt by road users and businesses; the fines are minor compared to the cost of disruption' (LA3). Trust is an important component for interorganisational working; however, an environment where parties feel suspicion and mistrust is unlikely to support a conducive environment for collaborative working (Hackman, 1998;Lu et al, 2007;Patel et al, 2012;Shea and Guzzo, 1987;Shelbourn et al, 2007).…”

The social life of the novel idea: what did social psychologists ever do for us?

“…Despite this, many have noted that research into AEC collaborative performance improvements have centred upon operational improvements or technological advance, with scant attention paid to behavioural approaches Shelbourn et al, 2007;Kululanga, 2009;Gorse, 2011;Love et al, 2011).…”