In the project management literature, projects have often been conceptualized as mere implementation sites of organizational strategy. However, such rationalization seldom draws on empirical evidence ...of strategy as it unfolds at the micro-level and at the interfaces between projects and the organization. Drawing on rich case-study data, this article explores strategy as-it-is-practiced in a large project-based organization. Using a Strategy-as-Practice lens to identify key patterns of strategizing actions, we found that project mind-sets and skill-sets afforded project actors legitimacy to act as strategists on all organizational levels. Project actualities therefore broadly shape strategy in the organization, and play a much larger role in organizational strategizing than typically portrayed in the literature. The findings are used to suggest new perspectives regarding who are strategists and what strategy is in project-based organizations, and outline new directions for a revitalized research agenda on strategy in the project-management field.
•A practice perspective on strategy is neglected in the project literature.•Project mind-sets and practices shape organizational strategy far beyond the project-organizational interface.•A practice perspective highlights the overlapping roles between being project worker and organizational strategist.
The conceptualization of construction as a loosely coupled system has been widely used to explain behaviour within the industry. In this article, we revisit the concept by exploring what it means to ...work at the micro-level within this system. Adopting a practice lens, this study focuses on the daily work of site managers, a category of workers who often have been described to have a hub-like role in construction projects. The findings highlight how their work consists of activities that can be seen as mundane, yet simultaneously fill an important coupling function in the projects, which we conceptualize as coupling work. Coupling work denotes a managerial work practice through which site managers use slack from the parent organization to tighten site-activities. However, they do so in a particular way that tightens the projects closer to their own authority which, in turn, sustains organizational loose coupling. The study contributes to debates on change and development in construction by showing how coupling work is produced and reproduced to preserve the autonomy and control of site managers.
A social identity lens and theories of self-reinforcement are used to explore identity work and processes of identification at the micro-level in a large construction company. Rich data from a ...qualitative case study show that a strong collective identification is self-defining for the vast majority of managers in the organization, regardless of their role and function. This collective identification revolved around the trade of 'being a construction worker', associated with the traits of being practically oriented and of having a long professional background in construction. This collective identification seems to reinforce itself by a combination of pulling and pushing movements and/or 'being blind' vis-à-vis those that stand outside its self-defining core, content, and behaviours. The results of the study suggest that self-defining at the individual and group levels has implications for organizational performance and outcomes. It is also suggested that the use of a social identity lens can help increase understanding of interpersonal relations, collaboration, and change initiatives in the construction industry.
•Individualized behavior-based safety-leadership training was tested in a naturalistic RCT.•The training improved managers’ positive feedback and active listening behaviors.•The training improved ...managers’ transformational and contingent-reward leadership.•Feedback and listening are requisites for transformational and contingent-reward leadership.
Introduction: Construction site managers play a critical role in occupational safety in the construction industry. This study aimed to develop and test a method for training construction site managers in positive feedback and active listening by incorporating the behavioral training components of behavior analysis, goal setting, practice with behavior feedback, homework, and maintenance planning into individualized behavior-based safety-leadership training (IBST), and to assess the effect of IBST on construction site managers’ safety-leadership behaviors and performance. Method: In a naturalistic randomized controlled trial, construction site managers were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 16) or a control group (n = 19). The experimental-group managers received IBST, while the control-group managers received no training. Paired sample t-tests on pre- to post-training (i.e., six weeks after the final training session) were performed separately for the experimental- and control-group managers. Results: The safety-leadership behaviors of the experimental-group managers improved in terms of favorable feedback (d = 0.99, p <.01), safety-specific feedback (d = 0.89, p =.02), behavior-specific feedback (d = 0.66, p =.02), antecedent listening (d = 0.68, p =.02), and consequential listening (d = 0.78, p =.01). In addition, safety-leadership performance improved in terms of transformational leadership (d = 0.78, p =.01) and contingent-reward leadership (d = 0.64, p =.02). No significant change was found for the control-group managers. Conclusions: The results indicate that behavior analysis, goal setting, practice with behavior feedback, homework, and maintenance planning are effective behavioral training components of safety-leadership training. Positive feedback and active listening were also found to be important behavioral requisites for transformational and contingent-reward leadership. Practical applications: IBST can be used to develop occupational safety in the construction industry by improving construction site managers’ safety-leadership behaviors and performance.
Academic work demands behavioural ambidexterity: the ability to simultaneously demonstrate exploration (creativity in research and/or in innovative teaching and learning practice) and exploitation ...(compliance with quality assurance). However, little is known about the effects of behavioural ambidexterity on the well-being of individual employees. We explore the experiences of men working in academic roles at universities in Sweden and the UK. More specifically, we examine the relations between behavioural ambidexterity and perceptions of well-being using an interpretative approach based on narrative analysis. Despite societal differences between Sweden and the UK, academics in both countries felt ill-equipped to fulfil the demands for ambidexterity. This resulted in mixed performance outcomes with serious implications for well-being. We identify and discuss the influence of personal circumstances and the role of agency in work design as two key antecedents of positive well-being outcomes.
The construction industry is heavily affected by occupational accidents, and it is important to investigate how leadership behaviors promoting safety on construction sites are fostered among ...construction-site managers.
The overall aim of this study was to investigate how safety-leadership behaviors can be developed in the construction industry, specifically focusing on managerial role modeling.
A two-wave longitudinal cohort study with approximately four months between measurement occasions was conducted among construction-site supervisors in Sweden (n = 51). Supervisors' ratings of their site managers' and their own generic and safety-specific contingent reward (CR) leadership behaviors were obtained by means of questionnaires. Cross-lagged panel models were tested within a path model framework to test the hypothesis that site managers' leadership behaviors prospectively influence supervisors' leadership behaviors.
Site managers' CR behaviors prospectively influenced supervisors' CR behaviors, both generic CR behaviors (β= 0.29, p = 0.01) and safety-specific CR behaviors (β= 0.22, p = 0.04). For safety-specific CR behaviors, a reversed effect (β= 0.26, p = 0.03) was also found, implying that supervisors' behaviors prospectively influenced site managers' behaviors.
Site managers act as role models for supervisors when it comes to developing safety-leadership behaviors on construction sites. The results also indicate that site managers are influenced by their subordinate supervisors' safety-leadership behaviors. Hence, there seems to be reciprocal interaction between site managers and supervisors in which they influence each other and together shape safety-leadership practices at their construction sites.
Within the field of sustainable development, collaborative and interdisciplinary actions are imperative for the development and implementation of proactive holistic renovation solutions. In an ...attempt to enhance cross-disciplinary and inter-organisational knowledge sharing, a project aimed at developing an arena for sharing knowledge pertaining to energy-efficient renovations of multi-family buildings was initiated. The authors have followed the development and implementation of this knowledge arena over a period of three years. The aim of this paper is to understand how knowledge sharing between different professional groups and practices may be facilitated: in this case between various research organisations, municipal housing companies, energy suppliers and governmental organisations. Specific focus has been on identifying mechanisms for interaction and knowledge sharing between actors that normally do not meet in their everyday practice. The theoretical approach adopted concerns social processes related to the sharing of knowledge in and between organisations and professional groups and individuals. Findings show that in the arena knowledge was mainly shared within a pilot project where researchers and practitioners were jointly engaged in the planning and renovation of a building. Interaction within the arena was enabled by the individuals' mutual willingness to adapt and attempt to translate the disciplinary discourses and modes of communication of researchers and of practitioner specialists. Moreover, the motivation to share knowledge was related to their expectations of, and invested interest in, various arena activities. By empirically highlighting the facilitators and hindrances for knowledge-sharing in an arena for cleaner production, the paper contributes to increased understanding of inter-disciplinary communication and collaborative interaction.
► Individuals chose to engage in collaborative knowledge sharing out of vested interest. ► Shared interest are created through durable and mutual engagement in joint activities. ► Mediators are needed in inter-organisational settings to translate community jargon. ► Special attention should be paid to the choice of activities and artefacts for interaction. ► Mediating objects and tools need to be adapted to social practices.
Drawing on theories of social interaction, a critical discourse analysis approach is used to examine the resources and constraints on environmental-communication practices in four construction ...projects in Sweden. The assumption is that talk and action work together to construct, maintain and change organizational structure, social practices, and contractual arrangements. The empirical data were collected through in-depth interviews and field observations where photo documentation was extensively used. The study showed mismatches between information and action, both within the project and between the project and its stakeholders. The mismatches were not caused by a lack of information, but rather by inconsistencies between the communication cultures, the status of the communicator, and the tools used to mediate the information, e.g. the media, discourses and genres used. These discrepancies resulted in a lack of engagement in environmental work in the projects. If environmental and other performances in construction projects are to be improved, more effort needs to be exerted on understanding the dynamics of the social context, human interaction, and the mediating tools used to communicate. This paper suggests an approach that can enhance such an understanding.
S'appuyant sur les théories de l'interaction sociale, les auteurs procède à une analyse du discours critique pour examiner les ressources et les contraintes liées aux pratiques en matière d'environnement et de communication dans le cadre de quatre projets de construction en Suède. On suppose que la parole et l'action fonctionnent ensemble pour construire, entretenir et modifier la structure organisationnelle, les pratiques sociales et les dispositions contractuelles. Les données empiriques ont été recueillies au cours d'interviews approfondies et d'observations sur le terrain où la documentation photographique a été largement utilisée. L'étude a montrer des décalages entre l'information et l'action, à la fois dans le cadre de projets et entre projets et parties intéressées. Ces décalages ne sont pas dus à un manque d'information mais plutôt à des incohérences entre cultures de la communication, état du communicateur et les outils utilisés pour médiatiser les informations comme, par exemple, les média, les discours et les genres. Ces différences se sont traduites par un manque d'engagement dans les travaux environnementaux des projets. Si les performances environnementales et d'autres dans le cadre de projets de construction doivent être améliorées, il faut faire davantage d'efforts pour mieux comprendre la dynamique du contexte social, les interactions humaines et les outils de médiatisation utilisés pour communiquer. Cet article suggère une approche qui pourrait améliorer une telle compréhension.
Mots clés: communication, projets de construction, engagement, information sur l'environnement, médiateur, contexte social, efficacité du lieu de travail
What does change mean for organizational members? Although researchers have attempted to capture its intrinsic complexities, there remains uncertainty as to what change really is and how it happens. ...Drawing on a longitudinal interpretative case study of change in a large Swedish construction company, a narrative approach is used to elicit middle managers' stories of change episodes over the past two decades. These stories have then been compared with the narratives of the same episodes in governing documents. We found that the lived and the formal narratives, respectively, depicted two very different interpretations and enactments of change: the former described a discontinuous process of discrete contingencies demanding immediate short-term responses whereas the latter described a proactive incremental strategic plan. A narrative approach to the study of organizational change contributes to deeper insights into the ramifications of an organization's socio-cultural system by enabling the capture of significant variations, contradictions and tensions, both for organizational members and for the researchers who study change.
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