Collaborative Project Delivery Models and the Role of Routines in Institutionalizing Partnering

Abstract

It is widely held that collaborative project delivery models, such as partnering, represent a key means of improving construction project performance. Institutionalizing these models in practice, however, is not straightforward. We suggest that the (in)ability to establish new routines may be one reason for the variance in partnering outcomes. Based on a study of a partnering project, we develop a model of how partnering is institutionalized through the establishment of routines, enabled through common understanding and truces between the partners' interests. The model illustrates how such routines develop through a balance between top-down structural interventions and emergent social learning processes.

The interplay between financial rules, trust and power in strategic partnerships in the construction industry

“…Despite its potential, the concept of strategic partnering has not developed as strongly in the construction industry as in other industries (Bygballe et al, 2010;Sundquist et al, 2018). Case studies report that team members struggle with the partnership's social system because it contradicts earlier experiences that are often gained in more traditionally procured projects (Venselaar et al, 2015;Bygballe and Sw€ ard, 2019).…”

Re-Creating Organizational Routines to Transition Through the Project Life Cycle: A Case Study of the Reconstruction of London’s Bank Underground Station

“…Routines have been a central construct in organizational theory over the last 50 years and more (Becker, 2004; Cohen et al, 1996; Cyert & March, 1963; Nelson & Winter, 1982; Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville, 2011). The construct has been applied in the project management literature to understand the management and complexity of large projects (Eriksson, 2015; Stinchcombe & Heimer, 1985), learning across and between permanent and temporary organizations (Bresnen et al, 2005; Jacobsson et al, 2013), organizational capability in project-based organizations (Davies & Brady, 2016), and collaborative delivery models in construction projects (Bygballe & Swärd, 2019). However, their application to the life cycle model, and more specifically to transitions between stages, is limited.…”

“…(Nelson and Winter, 1982;Feldman and Pentland, 2003;Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011) as being a useful theoretical construct to explore patterns of action in project organisations (Davies et. al., 2017;Samset and Volden, 2016;Eriksson, 2015;Bresnan et al, 2005;Bygballe and Swärd, 2019). As highlighted in the call for papers for this edition, 'transition-related project phenomena remain remarkably under-investigated' and that despite recent efforts to understand the transition through the life cycle, such as decisions between the temporary and the permanent organisation (Jacobsson et al, 2013), transitional rituals at stage boundaries (van den Ende and van Marrewijk, 2014), and handover to operations (Zerjav, et.…”

“…The concept of organizational routines (Feldman & Pentland, 2003; Nelson & Winter, 1982; Parmigiani & Howard-Grenville, 2011) has been adopted by project management scholars as being a useful theoretical construct to explore patterns of action in project organizations (Bresnen et al, 2005; Bygballe & Swärd, 2019; Davies et al, 2017; Eriksson, 2015; Samset & Volden, 2016). As highlighted in the call for papers for this edition, “transition-related project phenomena remain remarkably under-investigated” (Locatelli et al, 2018).…”

In the shadow of a negative past: repairing and developing trust in construction projects

“…Furthermore, formal tools and arrangements are identified as not sufficient for nurturing collaborative relationships and organisations face difficulties in translating these into practices in dynamic contexts (Bresnen, 2009;Aagaard, Eskerod and Madsen, 2015). To counteract this trend, some researchers have proposed a shift of attention towards the temporal, processual and emergent aspects of management practices in construction (Cicmil et al, 2006;Bresnen, 2009;Bygballe and Swärd, 2019).…”