Organisational learning and inter‐firm “partnering” in the UK construction industry

Abstract

The paper explores the role of construction industry “partnering” ‐ the development of closer collaborative links between firms ‐ in stimulating organisational learning. Drawing on case studies of partnering relationships involving large clients (British Petroleum, NatWest Bank, McDonald’s, Selfridges, Safeway) and over 40 of their contractors and suppliers, discusses the factors which influence the transfer of knowledge between organisations, the different levels at which learning takes place (e.g. individual, team, organisational) and the extent to which double‐loop learning can be observed.

Relationship between Construction Firm Strategies and Innovation Outcomes

“…Indeed, the Dutch study found a high degree of interdependence between knowledge and relationship strategies (Drejer and Vinding 2006), which is consistent with other studies (Barlow and Jashapara 1998;Powell 1998;Manley 2003;Keast and Hampson 2007). It is recommended that the interrelationships between different types of business strategies is investigated to improve understanding of which combinations maximize innovation activity and business outcomes.…”

Constructing learning: adversarial and collaborative working in the British construction industry

“…It encourages collective learning and knowledge-sharing by advancing a set of values and beliefs that support trust, allow discretion and experimentation, and create a collective ethos within which individuals feel comfortable collaborating and sharing knowledge with each other (see, for example, Thomas and Thomas, 2005;Davey et al, 2001;Barlow and Jahaspara, 1998). Such benefits may be even greater within formalised multi-project or 'strategic' collaborative arrangements, where the same team of clients and contractors (and, perhaps, subcontractors) work on a series of projects together; as Prencipe and Tell (2001) observe, the capacity to transfer knowledge and lessons learned is often under-developed in situations where teams are typically disbanded after each project.…”

Making sense of stakeholder values emergence

“…For example supply chain management (Green et al, 2005;Fernie and Thorpe, 2007), knowledge management (Tennant and Fernie, 2013), organizational learning (Barlow and Jashapara, 1998;Henderson et al, 2013), front-end and service-led approaches (Johnstone et al, 2009;Morrey et al, 2013;Morris and Hiugh, 1988;Edkins, et al, 2013;Morris, 2013), uncertainty (Perminova et al, 2008) and the establishment of customer relationships (Pryke and Smyth 2006;Skitmore and Smyth, 2007;Fellows and Liu, 2013). Still others have discussed the commitment, chemistry and emotional attachment that result from project participation (Nicolini, 2002;Dainty et al, 2005).…”