CONSTRUCTION BEST PRACTICE - CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

The book sets out deliberately to challenge current directions in construction management, confronting the assumption that knowledge is uni-dimensional and accumulative. It is argued that any understanding of construction management depends upon a critical orientation that does not subjugate understanding to performance. This book initially sets out the justification for adopting a critical perspective with reference to the broader literature on construction management studies. Current trends in construction management are set in the context of social, economic and political change over the past thirty years. A recurring theme throughout the book is the complex interplay between the espoused managerial rhetoric and the realities of structural change in the construction sector. The discourse of construction management shapes, and is shaped by, the changing reality of the workplace. Linkages are also be made to the emergence of the enterprise culture and rhetoric of the global marketplace. Following the development of a critical perspective on construction management as a whole, specific chapters will be devoted to: business process re-engineering, lean construction, partnering, collaborative working, performance measurement and the assumed need for culture change.

Key features:
- Authored by a highly respected critic of current trends in construction management
- The only book to take critical approach
- Provides an entirely new perspective on what constitutes ‘best practice’

Professor Stuart Green is Director of the Innovative Research Centre, School of Construction and Engineering, University of Reading, UK

Preface.

1 Construction in the Age of the Planned Economy.

1.1 Introduction.

1.2 An inherited legacy.

1.3 Improving construction.

1.4 Planning for stability and predictability.

1.5 Trouble and strife.

1.6 Summary.

2 The Dawn of Enterprise.

2.1 Introduction.

2.2 Uncertain beginnings.

2.3 Enterprise in formation.

2.4 Enterprise unleashed.

2.5 The enterprise culture.

2.6 Summary.

3 Leanness and Agility in Construction.

3.1 Introduction.

3.2 Towards the hollowed-out firm.

3.3 Intensifying labour casualisation.

3.4 Re-structuring in the client base.

3.5 Summary.

4 The Improvement Agenda Takes Shape.

4.1 Introduction.

4.2 The rise of management procurement methods.

4.3 Bridging between eras.

4.4 Constructing the Team.

4.5 Progress through Partnership.

4.6 Summary.

5 Rethinking Construction.

5.1 Introduction.

5.2 Background.

5.3 The Egan report.

5.4 Eganites on the march.

5.5 Summary.

6 Understanding Clients: Beyond the Machine Metaphor.

6.1 Introduction.

6.2 Metaphorical perspectives on organisation.

6.3 Metaphors as a process.

6.4 Practical implications.

6.5 Summary.

7 From Business Process Re-Engineering to Partnering.

7.1 Introduction.

7.2 Business process re-engineering in construction.

7.3 The persuasive appeal of re-engineering.

7.4 Information technology and process improvement.

7.5 Partnering.

7.6 Summary.

8 Lean Construction.

8.1 Introduction.

8.2 Lean production in critical perspective.

8.3 Understanding diffusion.

8.4 Lean thinking in the construction context.

8.5 The meaning of leanness.

8.6 Summary.

9 From Enterprise to Social Partnership.

9.1 Introduction.

9.2 Building Britain with New Labour.

9.3 Modernising Construction.

9.4 Accelerating change.

9.5 Summary.

10 A Legacy of Dilemmas.

10.1 Introduction.

10.2 The changing infrastructure of construction improvement.

10.3 The disconnected agendas of construction improvement.

10.4 Health and safety.

10.5 Never Waste a Good Crisis.

10.6 A final word.

Postscript.

Index.