Understanding improvisation in construction through antecedents, behaviours and consequences

Analysis of improvisation in construction through agent-based modelling

“…A previous research study has modeled improvisation in construction as a decision making process and explained its different stages [21]. Also, another study has defined improvisation in construction as a deliberate decision-making process that is usually used when: 1) speed is required to meet a deadline, 2) planned procedures fail to meet the requirements, 3) pre-planned strategies fail to manage a sudden problem, and 4) standardized procedures fail to catch up with daily ameliorations and progress [22]. Statistical analyses of this study have highlighted the frequent types of problems initiating improvisation and showed the effect of some personal and organizational characteristics on the outcomes of improvisation.…”

“…Moreover, the outcome of individual improvisation is measured through two outcome indices which are: the level of emerging waste and the task completion status. On the other hand, task completion represents the extent to which planner has completed or solved the task under consideration via improvisation [22].…”

“…Results of the study showed that personal traits such as high experience, reacting well to time pressure, taking risks, and communicating with others have a significant impact on the level of emerging waste and the task completion status when employing improvisation. Furthermore, Organizations that empower employees, keep good records, and give levels of authority to experienced employees in the field have higher chances of sound improvisations [22].…”

“…However, problems initiating improvisation are different in nature so that they require varying levels of improvisational efforts to be resolved. According to a previous research study, causes of improvisation are most likely to be: 1) missing prerequisites, 2) inadequate definition of task, 3) opportunities to improve sound tasks, and/or 4) new circumstances during execution [22]. However, each kind of these problems is characterized by certain criteria that determine the extent of improvisational significance.…”

“…These problem-related factors should be considered to analyze the process of improvisation rather than exploring different kinds of problems. The level of complexity and the degree of novelty are significant parameters to identify the required degree of improvisation and accordingly classify problems based on their improvisational requirements [22]. However, in the context of construction, there are other problem-related factors which can influence individual improvisational practices such as the number of trades on which the problems depend and the availability of the time duration to solve each problem.…”