Public Sustainable-Energy Requirements and Innovation in UK PFI School Projects

In a bid to understand the relationship between public sector clients’ sustainable energy requirements and innovation, this paper describes a study examining the requirement development process in four private finance initiative (PFI) school projects. A case study approach was adopted to enable a greater understanding of the public sector clients’ activities at the front end of the design process, particularly focusing on requirement identification and the effect of the requirement on private sector actors’ pursuit of an innovative sustainable design. The findings have shown that incentive effects of the requirements are often weak in PFI projects, particularly in relation to the requirement’s specificity and achievability, the inability of requirements such as BREEAM to promote energy efficiency and the low weighting of environmental sustainability on PFI bid evaluation criteria. Taken together, these results offer insight into public authorities in relation to the necessary conditions for the use of requirements as an effective contractual mechanism to encourage innovation for sustainable energy

Assessing the quality of collaboration towards the achievement of Sustainable Energy Innovation in PFI school projects

Purpose: This study aims to examine the quality of collaboration towards Sustainable Energy Innovation (SEI) in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects. While the capacity of PFI to encourage collaboration towards innovation is largely advocated by its proponents; however, it remains to be supported by empirical evidence. Design/methodology/approach: Adopting the CoPS innovation management model, we assess the quality of collaboration at the interface between the innovation superstructure of public sector clients and users, and the innovation infrastructure of private sector designers, contractors and operators. Two interactional elements are examined upon which the quality of collaboration is assessed: (i) openness of communication and (ii) alignment of objectives. We apply the model to four new-built PFI school projects within the context of the UK government Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Programme. Semi-structured interviews with total of 50 key stakeholders were used as the primary data collection method. Findings: PFI has introduced a number of problematic issues weakening collaborative efforts towards innovation in the project environment. Particularly, the study underlines the restricting internal contractual relationships within the integrated ProjectCo and the misalignment of Design-Construction-Operation sustainability objectives. It also highlights ineffective communication with public sector clients and users brought in by the restricted nature of PFI engagement processes as well as the misalignment of public sector-private sector sustainability objectives. Research limitations/implications: The qualitative nature of the chosen research methodology limits the ability to generalise. The research findings need to be confirmed or rejected by means of quantitative research as representative of all PFI projects. Practical implications: The study emphasizes the public authority's role in relation to providing the necessary conditions for the creation of a collaborative environment conducive to SEI in PFI projects. Originality/value: The study was able to expand the understanding of innovation and collaboration management processes in PFI projects in three respects: First, addressing the limited attention to innovation in PFI research, the study is the first to examine the quality of collaboration in PFI projects towards the implementation SEI. Second, examining the quality of collaboration in PFI projects through the lens of CoPS provides a new understanding of sustainability innovation and strongly indicates that the CoPS model should be expanded to account for the dynamics of innovation processes in the procurement of sustainable CoPS. Third, the explorative nature of the study was useful in generating research hypotheses that can form the basis for future research on SEI in PFI projects

Collaborating for Sustainable Energy Innovation in PFI school projects

We examine the capacity of complex public-sector procurement policies, in the form of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), to create and support inter-organisational collaboration for Sustainable Energy Innovation (SEI). Focusing on schools delivered within the context of the UK government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, we use case studies of four new-built PFI schools to argue that PFI has introduced a number of problematic issues weakening collaboration towards SEI in the project environment

When Service Ecosystems Collapse: Understanding the Demise of the UK Green Deal

The concept of the service ecosystem is increasingly being drawn upon to explain the drivers, occurrences and consequences of socio-economic actors’ service exchanges towards value creation. Existing research has proposed how service ecosystems may successfully transform, but no work to our knowledge has examined how transformations may fail. To address this gap, this paper examines how a service ecosystem fails to transform and survive by developing a conceptual framework based on the concept of entropy from systems theory. A series of propositions are formulated, linking inadequate management of entropy to a service ecosystem’s subsequent state of disorder and collapse. The conceptual framework is illustrated through a unique case: the introduction and demise of the Green Deal in the UK. We propose that entropy is intrinsically embedded in systems’ trajectories and can be understood as the tendency towards loss of value co-creation. The viability of a service ecosystem depends on its capacity to reduce entropy, which requires continuous action to import resources from the environment, achieve heteropathic resource integration and/or re-institutionalise. Where systemic actors and networks of actors within the system fail to manage increasing entropy, resources from the system are dissipated back to the environment and institutional arrangements collapse

The effect of leader emotional intelligence on leader-follower chemistry: A study of construction project managers

Extending Nicolini’s (2002) notion of project ‘chemistry’, this paper proposes the development of a ‘leader-follower chemistry’ model associated with the quality of dyadic interpersonal communication in construction projects. The paper focuses on the project manager as leader and attempts to deepen understanding of the effect of a project manager’s Emotional Intelligence (EI) on the quality of interpersonal communication with their followers- being other members of the project team. While a project manager’s EI, with its associated emotional competencies, is often seen as critical in achieving good relationships with members of the project team, it remains a largely understudied concept, particularly in construction projects. Primary data collected using a series of analytical surveys and live observations of site-based projects meetings were used to examine the relationship between a project manager’s emotional competencies, particularly sensitivity and expressiveness, and leader-follower chemistry. Overall, 68 construction professionals participated in the study. The findings suggest that a project manager’s emotional sensitivity and expressiveness (particularly head gestures) may explain variance in the quality of leader-follower chemistry. Based on the empirical evidence in the context of team communication, a leader-follower chemistry model is introduced, which emphasises the importance of leaders’ emotional sensitivity and expressiveness in a leader-follower communication dyad. The model may be particularly salient in complex project networks with a large number of prominent actors

Assessing the impact of risk allocation on Sustainable Energy Innovation (SEI): The case of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) school projects

PURPOSE: The allocation of risk among project participants is an important determinant of innovation success in construction projects. This study sought to examine the capacity of risk allocation to encourage the implementation of environmental innovation, particularly Sustainable Energy Innovation (SEI), within the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project delivery model. DESIGN: A four-case qualitative research methodology is adopted within the context of the UK government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. FIDNINGS: The findings identify that SEIs are encouraged on the innovative projects by the perceived clarity, appropriateness and manageability of the risks associated with the project’s energy performance on the PFI contract. The main SEIs were largely developed as strategies to manage long-term energy performance risks allocated to private sector actors and safeguard their long-term commitment to the project. However, the findings indicate that excessive perceived innovation-related risks, particularly capital cost risk, may restrict further SEIs to be implemented. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS: The qualitative case study approach adopted may limit the generalizability of the findings. IMPLICATIONS The study and provides practical guidance to policymakers and project managers in developing strategies to support the implementation of sustainable energy innovation in PFI projects. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The study attends to a significant gap in knowledge as there is a lack of conceptual and empirical work on managing innovative processes for sustainable energy in PFI projects

A social network perspective of building information modelling in Greek construction projects

Building information modelling (BIM) is a technology promoted by governments as a solution to the problems of inefficient communication and limited collaboration in the construction industry. However, there remains a limited understanding of the changes that BIM introduces to the structure of inter-organizational communication and its impact on project participants’ roles and relationships. In this study, these issues are addressed through a comparative study of two construction projects in Greece: one that utilized BIM, and one that did not. Social network analysis (SNA) was employed as an analytical method to examine the inter-organizational communication networks in relation to two types of information exchange – design development and cost management during the design stages of the two projects. Comparative SNA studies were conducted focusing on network density, tie strength, path length, and actor centrality. The research findings revealed the capacity for BIM to improve inter-organizational communication with the BIM-enabled project, exhibiting a higher density of communication, stronger ties, and shorter path lengths between project participants, indicating timely access to higher quality of information. The findings also identified the high centrality of the ‘BIM manager’ and ‘BIM coordinator’, demonstrating the effectiveness of these two new roles in managing the flow of communication in construction teams

SCM and extended integration at the lower tiers of the construction supply chain: An explorative study in the Dutch construction industry

Several studies have underlined the potential of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in meeting the formidable challenges associated with fragmentation, adversarial relationships and insufficient customer focus in the delivery of construction projects (e.g. Dainty et al., 2001; Cox and Ireland, 2002; Gadde and Dubois, 2010). However, there remains a paucity of properly documented examples of successfully implemented SCM initiatives, particularly at the lower tiers of the supply chain. This study sets out to explore the enablers and barriers to the implementation of SCM at the lower tiers of the supply chain, particularly the problematic collaboration between main contractors and subcontractors. A SCM Maturity Model is developed based on Holti et al.’s (2000) seven principles of SCM organisation. An explorative study is conducted based on interviews from eight large main contractor and subcontractor organisations in the Dutch construction industry. Discouragingly, across the organisations, more barriers than enablers to supply chain management are identified. Organisations are found to be particularly struggling to compete through superior value, manage costs collaboratively, and develop continuous improvement within their supply chains. The findings also underline the low SCM maturity of main contractors and their inability to play the essential role of supply chain managers. Indeed the principles of integrating project activities and mobilising and developing people are found to be better exercised by subcontractors. The study may highlight the need for a greater degree of contractor leadership and improved internal organisation of both types of firms in order to achieve greater collaboration at the lower tiers of the construction supply chain

The Influence of Communication Network Centrality on Individual Popularity

Individual popularity has been found to have a positive impact on individual performance, group performance and job satisfaction; however, there remains a limited understanding of the concept and its antecedents in construction projects. In this research study, we propose that the position an individual occupies in the project social network will influence his/her popularity. Although different types of networks exist in project environments (e.g., informal friendship networks), we focus on project-related information-exchange networks to capture individuals’ recurrent patterns of work-related communication. That is, our goal was to consider individuals’ structural positions within the project’s relatively formal, work-related communication network, rather than the more casual and less work-significant friendship network. A single-case study approach was adopted examining a road construction project in Baoshan City in China. Data collection involved the completion of a questionnaire by project participants, identifying their communication with, and their perception of the popularity of, other project actors. Analysis was based upon actor centrality (degree, betweenness, and closeness) within the communication and popularity networks. The findings supported the proposition and showed that communication network centrality is positively associated with popularity, such that individuals who are more central in the project communication network also assumed central positions in the popularity network. Degree centrality in the project communication network was found to be particularly salient in predicting popularity, underlying the social dominance of the ‘prominent disseminators’ who control a large amount of information resources

The Influence of Social Networks on Firm’s Success, Survival and Growth: A Social Network Analysis investigation of SMEs in the Bahrain Construction Industry

The success, survival and growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in a fragmented construction sector is partly related to the business owner’s ability to secure critical resources through personal networks which provide information, advice, funding and brokerage (Pryke et al., 2011). The Bahrain construction industry is particularly characterised by a culture of collectivism where business activities are inextricably intertwined with social relationships. Social network analysis is used as an analytical tool to examine the resource provision ego-networks of four Bahraini SMEs owners, taking into consideration the start-up/ growth business development stages and the success/failure status of the firm. Comparative social network analysis is conducted focusing on the density of ego-networks and the prominence of resource providers and associated subgroups. The findings highlighted the evolving nature of social networks over time in order to meet the business owner’s critical resource requirements in the face of increasing uncertainty. At emergence, high density networks and strong ties, primarily family relations, play a critical role. These ties are characterised by high levels of trust and cohesion, are easily accessible, and path-dependent. As firms mature, strong ties are found to restrict the attainment of a wider range of complementary resources, and hence weak ties come into play. These ties are diversified arm’s length and market-based relationships and incorporate less sentimental factors than strong ties. The findings also underline the role of formal institutions in bridging networks’ structural holes; helping firms to capitalise on new business opportunities