New management forms for construction projects

The impact of the "New Economy" can be seen in the development of new business models and in the associated learning and cultural change implications. The authors have explored the impact of novel procurement strategies on a variety of construction related businesses, noting how the effective management of networked organizational forms is a crucial factor in ensuring project success. The overall findings of this research indicate that the UK Construction Industry is experiencing rapid transformation in project and organizational forms triggered, in part, by government-led programmes such as the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPP). The result appears to be an emergent cultural change in the industry. Traditionally, construction projects were "Asset Delivery Focused" (ADF); based on delivering an asset (e.g. hospitals), in the shortest period of time and at least cost. Instead, PFI and PPP projects can be seen as "Service Delivery Focused" (SDF), prioritizing design for operability and whole-life management (e.g. education). SDF projects place even greater emphasis upon networked organizational forms in order to achieve improved project performance. Often they are led by a multi-disciplinary project team (a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)). This effectively acts as a "virtual organization", embedded within a network of business relationships. The findings suggest that a major challenge to the industry is how to manage these relationships effectively in order to facilitate alignment between the SPV and its socio-technical "environment". No such change can take place without some degree of (organization and individual) learning taking place. This paper begins to explore such ideas through a better understanding of management technologies like "communities of practice". This empirical study attracted an inductive research methodology deploying semi-structured interviews, focus group sessions and interactive workshops. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively using the principles of grounded theory and presented in a series of historical timelines and mind map formats. The subsequent findings were integrated with those from a review of the relevant literature, both within construction as well as other industries in order to articulate a view of learning within the SPV's environment and indicate an agenda for further research into networked organizational forms.