Pernilla Gluch

An absorptive capacity model for green innovation and performance in the construction industry

Applying the model of absorptive capacity (ACAP), antecedents, predictors and moderators for green innovation and performance in the construction industry are investigated. The aim is to identify mechanisms that influence green innovation and environmental performance in a construction company. Data come from a questionnaire survey assessing environmental attitudes, management and performance within the Swedish construction industry. For data analysis, linear regression analysis was used. From testing the ACAP theory and model, it was concluded that it has a promising potential in explaining mechanisms behind green innovation and performance. The application of ACAP has resulted in a revised ACAP model, green ACAP. Findings indicate that organizations can affect their capacity to absorb green innovations and improve their business performance by focusing on three predictors of green business advantage: acquisition, assimilation and transformation. As such, the green ACAP can serve as a framework for focused efforts within the construction industry.

Unfolding roles and identities of professionals in construction projects: Exploring the informality of practices

Using a practice lens perspective, the environmental professionals role is examined in relation to social practices in construction projects. Drawing on several case studies of environmental management, the findings show that contradictory practices prevent environmental professionals from fulfilling their expected role and function. Different world‐views and communication cultures as well as a perception of environmental management as bureaucratic nit‐picking, create tensions between environmental work and project practice. Dealing with these tensions, environmental professionals develop alternative identities to adapt to the different situations that they find themselves in, i.e. formal roles in accordance with their job description and informal roles to suit different project practices. However, this strategy seems to result in further fragmentation between existing practices, creating barriers between professions. The study reveals four aspects that affect the professionals role: relational and positional power, professional identity, visibility, and the facilitation of meaning‐making processes in the project context. The research approach taken has created an opportunity to closely follow the development of an emerging profession in construction, opening a window that allows connecting a local and situational context to a wider societal discourse of environmentalism.

Managing knowledge in platforms: boundary objects and stocks and flows of knowledge

Previous research suggests that construction industry companies use relatively little formal managerial procedures when managing knowledge. Instead, many construction companies are relying on informal networks and social capital as conduits for the sharing of knowledge. However, objects play an important role in organizations as vehicles for the sharing of knowledge. The use of platforms, standardized packages of prescribed components, routines and practices, in a major Scandinavian construction company (SCC), demonstrates that platforms are potentially useful when sharing and accumulating knowledge. The platform concept is a boundary object integrating various functions and activities and standardizing work procedures while at the same time leaving some room for contingencies and local conditions. SCC’s use of platforms contributes to the understanding of knowledge sharing practices by emphasizing the role of formally enacted objects and tools and by underlining the need for bridging and bonding the stocks and flows of knowledge in construction companies.

What tensions obstruct an alignment between project and environmental management practices

Purpose – Using an activity theory lens, this paper aims to examine the interrelationships between project practice and environmental management. It also aims to focus on tensions that occur between human agents and material objects within a motive‐directed, historically‐situated activity system, namely that of managing environmental issues in projects.Design/methodology/approach – Case studies of two large infrastructure projects were conducted 2003‐2004 and 2008. The studies comprised on‐site observations, text analyses, 20 semi‐structured interviews and one group interview. Time was spent on the construction site to become familiarized with the context and the practices of the project community. A total of 15 weekly environmental site inspections were monitored and photo‐documented.Findings – The findings show how new and emergent environmental management practices and routines were inherently contradictory to the situated and established culture within the projects. In fact project practices seemed to...

Managerial competencies of female and male managers in the Swedish construction industry

The construction industry is one of the most male dominated industries around the world, not only when it comes to workers, but also as regards managers. Only 5% of the managers in the Swedish construction industry are women. The managerial competencies of individuals working as managers in the Swedish construction industry are researched to get a clearer understanding of the situation, and to investigate if this lack of balance between male and female managers has to do with differences in managerial competence. The management development questionnaire provided by Human Resource Development Press was sent to 143 managers in the Swedish construction industry and 112 respondents (44 women and 68 men) assessed themselves in 20 competencies, resulting in a response rate of 78%. The Mann-Whitney U test showed that female and male managers possess equal managerial competencies in 17 of the 20 competencies. Male managers rated themselves as having better managerial competency than females in two of the 20 competencies, namely ‘resilience’ and ‘decision making’. Female managers rated themselves as having better managerial competency than males in ‘sensitivity’, which follows the social norm of what is expected of a woman. It was also found that both groups scored high in decision making, reflecting traditional virtues of construction managers as decisive and active. The most important result is not the differences but the many similarities between women and men working as managers in the construction industry. Thus, it is concluded that female managers are as competent as male managers in the Swedish construction industry.

Creativity and its Discontents: Professional Ideology and Creativity in Architect Work

Architects are a professional group that is commonly associated with creative and aesthetic work and with strong professional norms, values and identities. While such shared norms and beliefs are positive overall in terms of being constitutive of professional subject-positions, an overemphasis on specific skills and qualities may also be regarded as a burden on members of the professional community. A study of a major Scandinavian architect office suggests that the perceived lack of creative and innovative thinking and accompanying dialogues and discussions among practising architects tends to produce cynicism and, to some extent, disappointment. As a consequence, professional ideologies may in some cases be out of joint with everyday work realities, and thereby to some extent produce expectations that are complicated to fulfil. Professional ideologies are thus both what integrates and consolidates a profession while at the same time prescribing ideal future scenarios for the professional community.

The value of communicative skills for developing an energy strategy

A case study is presented of how a public-sector client organization engaged with a political directive on energy efficiency in buildings. The value of communication skills of built environment professionals is explored during a strategic change process. An interpretative approach is used to study the organizational discussions and interactions between mainly a senior engineer (an energy expert), the management team and officials. It demonstrates how the political directive led to an initially ambiguous energy target, but was successfully framed, contextualized and anchored within the organization. This change process was shaped by key actors’ ability to influence others. Use of discursive competence is important for explaining what stakeholders may gain from the changes needed to meet the energy target. The focus on the role of a senior engineer (middle management rather than top management) provides a novel perspective on how strategies develop and are adopted in organizations.

Visual representations and knowledge-intensive work: the case of architect work

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to look into the knowledge-intensive work that entangles the use of various visual representations such as drawings, CAD images, and scale models. Rather than assuming that knowledge is exclusively residing in the human cognitive capacities, most knowledge-intensive work integrates a variety of perceptual skills and the use of language. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of a Scandinavian architect bureau, including semi-structured interviews with architects, design engineers and managers, was conducted. Findings: The study shows that architects mobilize and use a variety of visual representations in their day-to-day work. Such visual representations serve a variety of roles and purposes but actually more generally enhance communication between colleagues and external stakeholders. The paper concludes that visuality and visual representations deserve a more adequate analysis in the knowledge management literature. Originality/value: The paper contributes to an understanding of how visual representations are constitutive of knowledge and central to architect work. Rather than residing in language or being embodied, knowledge is developed through the use of a variety of tools and aids.

Conceptualizing environmental expertise through the lens of institutional work

Although a growing number of environmental experts have entered the scene within the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, studies of environmental experts’ role and agency remain limited. In order to gain more clarity regarding the agency of environmental experts in relation to construction project practice the theoretical lens of institutional work is applied. A multidimensional framework, linking agency with three forms of institutional work, is used in a conceptual discussion on how environmental experts adopt various types of agency to influence institutional change towards a sustainable development of the AEC industry. Due to the fragmented and distributed project-based environment, the application of institutional work in the AEC industry uncovers tensions between various forms of institutional work processes. A dynamic model is therefore suggested to capture these tensions. Besides illustrating tensions, the model envisions the locked-in maintaining of institutions performed by iterative and practical-evaluative agency.

The Role of VDC Professionals in the Construction Industry

The increasing use of Virtual Design and Construction, VDC, is changing the way of working in the construction industry. With the introduction of VDC follows the creation of new roles and new ways of communicating within construction projects. The overall aim of the present paper is to map industry practitioners’ view on VDC professionals’ role. This includes mapping their perceptions on what characteristics a VDC professional should possess, what roles they play today and what role they should play in the future, and also to what extent they are perceived to contribute to project success. In order to shed light on these questions a questionnaire was sent to respondents working in varying degrees with VDC, in one of Sweden’s largest construction companies. The results show that there is little agreement concerning the goals of VDC within the company. Furthermore, opinions also vary considerably with regards to what responsibilities a VDC professional ought to take within projects, and at the same time expectations of the characteristics of a VDC professional are high. Finally, the results show that there is demand for higher involvement of VDC professionals as compared to their current involvement.