1,902 research outputs found
Cultural transformation in construction partnering projects
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the use of partnering in
construction. Since partnering is seen as changing behaviours and
attitudes, cultural transformation cannot be forgotten in the process. Much
of the literature tends to presume that cultural alignment is a prerequisite
for partnering. Furthermore, the existing research fails to adequately
address the complex relationship between individual or group behaviour
and organisational culture which, nevertheless, lies at the heart of many
prescriptions for improving collaboration within the industry.
This paper initially reviews the major cultural and behavioural challenges
and their root causes in construction partnering projects. Many
commentators place considerable emphasis upon the importance of
changing attitudes and cultural transformation to address various
challenges in construction partnering. As the first step, this paper proposes
a cultural web to understand organisational culture and to identify a
substantial range of the elements which must be managed if a strategic and
cultural change is to be successful
Leadership in construction partnering projects: Research methodological perspective
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the use of partnering in
construction. Central to any successful partnering arrangement is the change in cultural and
behavioural characteristics towards mutual trust and understanding. According to Schein,
cultural and behavioural characteristics can be shaped and reflected by proper leadership.
This research probes leadership as the response to address complex relationships of
behaviour and culture in large scale partnering projects. This involves understanding,
interpreting, explaining and mapping complex human behaviour. Therefore it is very
important to comprehend and implement a suitable research methodology to carefully
extract appropriate information. This paper justifies the social constructionism stance and
case study approach for the leadership study as the response to address complex
relationships challenges of behaviour and culture in construction partnering projects. For
this purpose, the nested approach is used, highlighting the main facets of the arguments to
justify the selection of appropriate research philosophy and research approach
Empowerment revisited: will it address marginalised positions of women in post disasters?
World is faced with frequent natural disasters and the magnitude of impact that they cause lead
to major concerns in many fields. The need to focus on community engagement and
enhancement of society‟s capacity to withstand disasters in order to reduce damage to both
human and material resources has been highly emphasised. Recent studies have reflected the
need for gender consideration in disaster management, and emphasised its importance in
building disaster resilient communities. Within the post disaster stage, the impact of natural
disasters and the consequent partial reconstruction efforts have presented many challenges to
women. Hence, there is a need to enhance women‟s position within post disaster context.
Further, many studies have acknowledged that although women are disproportionately affected
by these disasters, their role in preventing and mitigating the effects of natural disasters is not
well explored. Within this context, the main research investigates into empowerment of women
during post disaster reconstruction in Sri Lanka.
Since disasters affect women and men differently and in practice a larger share of benefits of
disaster management goes to men, women continue to remain marginalised. Post disaster
reconstruction which is, the reconstruction process after a disaster, can provide windows of
opportunity for development not only to reconstruct the impacted areas, but also to improve
these conditions of the affected population. Although earlier studies have recognised the
importance of the concept of empowerment in marginalised conditions literature related to post
disaster barely identifies the linkage between the concept and its suitability. Hence this paper
seeks to explore these marginalised positions of women in post disasters, examines the concept
of empowerment and explores its suitability to address the difficulties of women by bringing
forward the evidences from other fields of study. This study has been based on a theoretical as
well as practical ideas obtained through a comprehensive literature review and interviews
carried out among experts within the practice in Sri Lanka
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