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

Achieving excellence in construction

The UK construction industry at its best is excellent. Nonetheless there is a deep concern that the industry as a whole is underachieving. Problems such as low and unreliable profitability, a lack of research and development, a shortage of skills, usage of tender price evaluations, and a fragmented industry structure, are widely recognised by the industry. These problems must be tackled in order to modernise (Egan, 1998). Developed using Egan’s principles ‘Constructing excellence’ has been formed to help the industry deliver world -class products and services. In general management practice the principles of business excellence models are used to realise the similar objective of ‘delivering world-class products and services. This enables the application of business excellence models in construction. EFQM excellence model & MBNQA are two well known internationally recognised excellence models. This paper compares Egan’s principles with those of widely used business excellence models to identify areas that may point the way forward in achieving excellence in constructio

Women's empowerment in disaster reconstruction: Critical perspectives on policies and frameworks

There has been an increase in the occurrence of natural disasters and their impact has aroused the interest of many stakeholders to incorporate different strategies on disaster management. Although, disaster ceased many opportunities and lives, the lives of survivors do not cease in the disaster affected areas. This bespeaks the need to develop communities to cope up with challenges during post disaster situations and to improve their disaster resilience. 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. There are many factors which influence women?s empowerment such as their contribution to household, access to resources, participation in household decision making, perception on gender awareness, etc. Among factors that influence women?s empowerment, existing policies and frameworks is one of the important factors that can play a major role within post disaster reconstruction. Further, although there are legislations and policies to provide assistance to women, the lack of implementation of these remains a problem. Hence, in order to gain an understanding on the existing framework on women?s empowerment, this study firstly examines the way the concept of empowerment has been viewed within development studies and later analyses the national and international policies and frameworks that exist within post disaster context in Sri Lanka. 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 Lank

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

Leadership in construction partnering projects

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. Leadership is originally the source of the beliefs and values which forms shared assumptions of organisational culture. This paper builds on the leadership literature which has so ably demonstrated the influence of powerful leaders. As Bueno and Bowditch states “the reality may be that managing will remain much more of an art than a science”. However true this statement may be, there is a number of things that management can do to further cultural integration and the success of construction partnering projects. This paper initially reviews the theory behind partnering, culture and leadership. It stages arguments and discussions over the importance of behavioural aspects of leadership and explores applicability of leadership styles to construction partnering projects. Further, this establishes the requirement of project leader to exhibit different leadership styles and modes of motivation to demonstrate a range of behaviours together with the combination of transformational and transactional, firelighter leadership style