Towards increased innovativeness and sustainability through organizational culture: A case study of a Finnish construction business

Abstract

In the Finnish construction business, innovation management is considered to be difficult. However, cultural transition towards more innovative and creative thinking in construction industry can have vital impact on sustainability nationally and globally. There is an urgent need to examine at a more detailed level innovativeness in the construction companies and especially the manager's abilities to manage innovative organizational culture. It appears that lacks in managing culture and people with difficulties to understand key elements of innovativeness in organizational context seems to be a barrier towards increased innovativeness. The main finding is that the managers in construction industry cannot manage or create culture towards innovativeness. Therefore, there is major sector level lacks in innovativeness that have negative impact on societal change towards sustainability. This paper focus on managing organizational culture to reveal innovativeness in the case company that is vital for sustainability.

Rethinking the Building Envelope: Building Integrated Energy Positive Solutions

“…Matinaro and Liu [31] recognise that challenges of innovation in the construction industry are in part due to the diverse and multi-levelled nature of the industry and the fact that it is a project-based industry, concurring with Ajayi et al [37]. Whilst the industry is reported as being non-collaborative and lacking innovation, it naturally works in a collaborative way, necessary to deliver buildings.…”

“…The authors begin by explaining the key role of BIM in aiding the development of the construction industry. They recognise the complexity of the construction industry, which can stifle the diffusion of new technologies and practices and also the fact that organisations within the construction industry are constantly faced with changes, as the industry evolves and with the varied nature of each individual building project (ibid), concurring with research by Loosemore and Richard [11] and Matinaro and Liu [31]. This can make it more difficult for momentous changes to be diffused throughout the industry, which is fast moving and involves many changing factors.…”

“…The fact that designers and contractors usually work independent of one another adds to the difficulties, although this is addressed through collaborative working, enabled through partnering and frameworks (ibid), as illustrated by the case studies forming one of the outputs of this research project. Matinaro and Liu [31] discuss how a cultural transition to more innovative thinking in the construction industry can impact on sustainability, proposing that leadership is required to develop a culture towards change as also suggested by Kotter [38]. This is further discussed by Mousa [39] who uses Kotter's [38] eight-step model for change to consider an approach to transforming to sustainable construction in a developing country.…”

“…To enable change, "sustainable development must be seen as an opportunity for the construction industry, not as a cost." Matinaro and Liu [31] state that innovation management is not seen as important to construction companies because of practical and result-orientated ways of thinking, their main aim being to deliver buildings to client's briefs, within budget and to an agreed programme. An innovative organisational culture includes features such as knowledge sharing, tolerance of mistakes (viewed as learning opportunities) and good collaboration abilities, none of which are perceived strengths of the construction industry (ibid).…”

Effects of Business Model Development Projects on Organizational Culture: A Multiple Case Study of SMEs

“…Still, few organizations take advantage of internal marketing opportunities in predicting changes in their business environments, because they do not have this type of organizational culture (Gounaris, 2006). Today, renewing organizational culture is essential for businesses and especially it is a key aspect to innovativeness (Matinaro & Yang, 2017;Valencia, 2010).…”