Organizational cultural compatibility of engineered wood products manufacturers and building specifiers in the Pacific Northwest

Organizations are significantly influenced by corporate cultures of the interacting organizations. Both the construction industry and engineered wood products (EWP) manufacturing industry are generally known for operating in a traditional environment maintaining conservative corporate cultures, which can create friction when they try to interact with a more liberal architectural industry or the specifiers. This study assesses the cultural disparities and communication barriers between specifiers and EWP manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, obtaining perceptive accounts of each other. The study follows a semi-structured interview protocol to decipher the cultures of companies and professionals from the two industries. The identified cultural characteristics are supported by responses to a questionnaire administered to executive members of each organization being studied. The responses are qualitatively analyzed and consolidated to identify specific patterns of organizational behavior. The study identifies a number of factors that affect the interaction between specifiers and manufacturers, chief among which, is the presence of material distributors as the intermediate party that facilitate the material sourcing process for a project. Many factors are tied to the reason why it is challenging to change from the currentbusiness practices. Low profit margins, lack of engineering and design competency, risk averseness and failure to create direct communication channels with architects are some of the reasons that challenge the manufacturing sector. In addition, learning disparities between the two sectors, the deficit of contemporary EWP knowledge creation and intense competition among manufacturers for EWP market share create difficulties for specifiers to use new EWP products in projects. Consolidated collective organizational behavioral knowledge of this study will benefit EWP manufacturers, specifiers and policy makers alike to close up the gap in communication and improve the cultural compatibility between these two members of the construction value chain.Keywords: engineered wood products manufacturers, organizational culture, specifier