Abstract
New materials, use of sophisticatedtechnologies and increased customerdemands, in combination with growingcompetition among construction companies,have led to a high degree of specialization. Forsuccessful integration of the differentprofessional specialists, there is a need forshared learning between project co-workers.Based on twenty eight interviews in sixdifferent Swedish construction projects, thispaper illustrates strategies for individual andshared learning, among different actors andacross various organizational boundaries. Theresults indicate that personal networks are themost common source of learning for allprofessions. While clients, architects, anddesigners also engage in reading andattending courses, site managers and workersare less engaged in these activities.Experimenting and organizing for learningappear to be underutilized strategies by allprofessions. This leads to the conclusion thatattempts to increase learning have to addressthe differences in learning behaviors of thevarious groups. Further, focus onexperimenting and organizing for learning is apossibility to change the learning behaviorfrom learning as a consequence of problemsto learning for future improvement.
Highlights
The increasing complexity of individual work tasks creates either a need for a higher degree of standardization and industrialized building methods or a need for increased organizational learning that enables the individual to deal with this complexity
This paper focuses on the second alternative, increased learning, which can enrich work tasks and increase people’s ability to handle challenges, such as new customer demands, high-tech materials, or advanced technological solutions
In this paper we have identified five learning styles in construction projects: learning through personal networks; learning through organizing; learning through experimenting; learning through reading; and learning through attending courses and industry seminars
Summary
The increasing complexity of individual work tasks creates either a need for a higher degree of standardization and industrialized building methods or a need for increased organizational learning that enables the individual to deal with this complexity. This paper focuses on the second alternative, increased learning, which can enrich work tasks and increase people’s ability to handle challenges, such as new customer demands, high-tech materials, or advanced technological solutions. Seen in this light, the demand for organization learning is contingent on the complexity of the tasks; in highly complex construction projects, when standard operation procedures are complicated to apply, there is a more substantial need for organization learning that would help the actors handle the situation. Since the complexity in construction projects is increasing, both in terms of technologies and materials used, and in terms of the need for coordination and collaboration between actors and occupational and professional groups, organization learning is becoming an important feature of construction companies. Chinowsky (2001) argued that enhanced organizational learning is becoming a necessity to stay competitive in the construction industry. Holt et al (2000) concluded that organizational learning is a necessity for construction firms to survive and meet customer demands. Appelbaum and Gallagher (2000) put it even more succinctly, arguing that survival depends on the ability to learn in an organization
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