This has been a real uphill battle — three organisations for the adoption of Last Planner System

Abstract

This study examines the learning processes of the adoption of the Last Planner System (LPS) and mechanisms of learning indicating the successes and failures of their establishment in three organisations. The organisations under study are a public building agency, an engineering office, and a construction company. One practice-based methodology by Engeström and Sannino of organisational learning based on the theory of expansive learning was applied in the analysis. The ethnographic research data included the observation of LPS adoption processes and the interviews of the participants. This study links the epistemic learning actions of the theory of expansive learning to the adoption process of LPS. It also reveals the mechanisms that indicate the success or failure of the adoption process. A successful adoption process seems to require strong ownership, enough time, resources, and opportunities for learning together in practical project work, and the combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches.