A number of issues regarding quality, safety, and production persist in the construction industry. These issues arise in the form of rework, accidents, delays, cost overruns, and loss of trust. The way companies have been dealing with these issues is problematic because of an insufficiently broad perspective on interconnected processes and overreliance on buffering as opposed to reducing the negative variation itself. One gap in our knowledge concerns the influence of human factors in the design and success of construction processes. Psychological safety, a construct that can help to bridge this gap, is based on assessments about the risks associated with an action. Lean principles, such as respect for people, can be fostered through people being aware of each other's level of psychological safety. This is shown on site when people speak up without constraints, understand each other's expectations, and come to an agreement about the work, which follows the behavior-based quality (BBQ) approach. The paper highlights theoretical conceptions to describe how underlying ideas about Lean, psychological safety, and BBQ are connected in a people-centered approach to improve value delivery. The exploratory research presented in this paper provides empirical evidence to illustrate the linkage of these ideas in practice.

A behavior-based approach to quality has been proposed to highlight the impact that upstream behaviors have on the overall outcomes of construction projects. The focus of this pioneering approach is first to understand that certain behaviors lead to conversations in which expectations are clearly identified and understood by the different project participants, and then to set measurable acceptance criteria so that the final result can be compared with what was agreed. Previous research has described the approach and provided positive results in satisfying client's expectations, but the process to achieve such outcomes has not been captured. This paper captures the implementation of this behavior-based quality (BBQ) approach to quality management, that has as its main goal to have no surprises, zero rework, and to improve delivery of value to all the project participants engaged at any point of a construction project. Construction projects are to be planned first for quality to fully understand expectations of what the team should build, then for safety to identify any potential risks associated with the processes to build the agreed work and define how tasks will be built in a safe manner, and then for production to secure flow and an adequate use of resources.

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Guided by the lean principle of respect for people, it is key to recognize the value of construction workers feeling psychologically safe on site. Psychological safety is proven to be a driver for learning behaviors as it allows workers feel confident about asking questions to get clarity on their work, asking for help, or speaking up when errors occur on site to avoid repeating mistakes. The authors framed the understanding of psychological safety in the context of a construction project and analyzed worker's perception regarding factors that foster a psychologically safe work environment. In this study, different trades shared their perception about factors that made them feel safe or unsafe while working at the job site. Outcomes highlighted human behavior characteristics such as how the willingness of workers to speak up when they see someone doing something unsafe changed depending on whom they are talking to. Results were analyzed with the project's leadership team and action items were set in place. Changes implemented included using English and Spanish during weekly meetings and the establishment of an on-site safety committee to strength relations between and amongst different trades as well as discussion with foremen to keep growing psychological safety on site.

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) implies a transformational change of the behavior and project's means and methods used by project participants. The aim is to break down the traditional silos of construction and to improve collaboration, communication, and alignment between different stakeholders of a project. As infrastructure projects are often more complex, integration is more necessary in these projects. In this paper, the authors explore introduction of the IPD concept and its strategies into infrastructure projects in Peru, and explore the contextual nuances of the adaptation of the concept and associated challenges. While some Lean construction concepts have been increasingly adopted in Peru with support of Peru's Lean Construction Institute, there is still a lack of knowledge in the market about IPD, its principles, and tools to facilitate implementation. The authors studied a company that recently aimed to change current practices through fostering colocation of stakeholders in early stages and involvement of key partners in early stages of decision-making. Evidence shows some challenges to overcome to effectively work collaboratively in a common space. This paper explores the maturity of the industry in Peru, identifies potential challenges for implementing IPD, and proposes steps to foster integration. Proposed steps include developing a sense of community and training participants in IPD related concepts, basic principles, means, and tools as well as incentivizing participants.