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Contextual Communicative Competence in Multinational Infrastructure Projects
Luleå tekniska universitet, Industriellt och hållbart byggande.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0661-2828
Independent Scholar, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden.
Real Estate and Construction Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Responsible organisation
2021 (English)In: Buildings, E-ISSN 2075-5309, Vol. 11, no 9, article id 403Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Communication is dynamic, social, challenging, and a key quality factor for construction projects. This is especially the case in multinational and inter-organizational infrastructure projects where factors like culture and language differ among the involved actors. As infrastructure projects usually extend over longer periods of time, collaborative relationships need to be established in which the actors can develop, for example, mutual understanding, learning, and efficient working routines. By building on empirical data from contemporary infrastructure projects, we explore how international contractors and a large public client communicate in multinational infrastructure projects (i.e., what the challenges are and what competences are needed). The analysis is based on the linguistic framework of communicative competence, and we contribute to the development of collaborative models in construction project management by suggesting the concept of contextual communicative competence

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI , 2021. Vol. 11, no 9, article id 403
Keywords [sv]
inter-organizational communication, infrastructure, collaborative model, project management, communicative competence
National Category
Construction Management
Research subject
FOI-portföljer, Bygga
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:trafikverket:diva-16195DOI: 10.3390/buildings11090403ISI: 000700241000001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85115171527OAI: oai:DiVA.org:trafikverket-16195DiVA, id: diva2:1883946
Projects
Kvalitativ uppföljning av totalentreprenader och funktionsentreprenader
Funder
Swedish Transport Administration, TRV 2016/63119
Note

Validerad;2021;Nivå 2;2021-09-27 (johcin);

For correction, see: Järvenpää A-T, Pavlik A, Gustavsson TK. Correction: Järvenpää et al. Contextual Communicative Competence in Multinational Infrastructure Projects. Buildings 2021, 11, 403. Buildings. 2021; 11(12):652. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11120652

Available from: 2024-07-12 Created: 2024-07-12 Last updated: 2024-08-09
In thesis
1. How to promote innovation from an organizational control perspective: A case study of a public infrastructure client
Open this publication in new window or tab >>How to promote innovation from an organizational control perspective: A case study of a public infrastructure client
2022 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Within the infrastructure sector, a public client can have various roles and responsibilities that extend beyond its own organization, such as stimulating and supporting innovation. As an infrastructure project is seldom standardized, the client needs to procure each contract based on the relevant uncertainties and complexities for that specific context. To encourage a contractor’s compliance with the client’so bjectives, the client employs some degree of organizational control. When a public client procures all its infrastructure from contractors, it also needs to find ways of eliciting innovative solutions from the suppliers. Therefore, a public client needs strategies to both promote innovation by the contractors and direct and oversee the contractors’ work to ensure the deliverables meet the project’s objectives. The demands for increased innovation in the construction sector in general needs to be handled concomitant with the client’s need to check that the contractor delivers accordingly to the client’s objectives and demands. The overall purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between organizational control and promoting innovation by a public infrastructure client. More specifically, it explores how a public client can promote innovation by its contractors from an organizational control perspective. The theoretical background is provided by an organizational control framework (Ouchi, 1979; Aulakh et al., 1996), i.e. a client can manage and steer an agent via three different control systems: process, output, and social. The empirical data is derived from 47 semi-structured interviews, complemented by observations, from10 different infrastructure projects. The client (The Swedish Transport Administration; STA) is the same for each project, but the contractors differ. Two types of contractor are represented: contractors that have not worked with the STA before (“unfamiliar contractors”), and contractors that have worked with the STA before (“familiar contractors”). A majority of the contract type is design-build. Four appended papers, each presenting a public client perspective, provide the basis of the thesis. Previous findings that the client’s role is important for promoting innovation is explored further in this thesis from an organizational control perspective, emphasizing the role of the public client. It is important that during the procurement phase the client tries to find the right balance between achieving the intended objectives and creating space for innovation. Ex-ante planning is important, because how the client writes the control mechanisms into the procurement documents, and later the contract, has a direct effect on the opportunities for innovation by the contractors.In addition, the client has to manage the project in a way that does not cause irritation of frustration for the contractor, or hinder their work, thus supporting the view that organizational control should be enabling instead of coercive, so that the client’s input encourages innovation rather than creating obstacles. In addition, when adding a relationship history perspective on organizational control, an unfamiliar contractor (i.e. a contractor that has not worked with the client before) can find process control unsuitable and social control confusing, which means output control is probably the most appropriate approach to take when working with unfamiliar contractors. However, just relying on procurement strategies such as a design-build (DB)contract in combination with strict functional demands is not enough to promote innovation. Furthermore, a collaborative setting only seems to lead to innovative solutions if the client regards innovation as a mutual task and utilizes the collaborative setting for innovative co-creation. From the client’s perspective, the practical and managerial implication of this thesisis the importance of finding a balance between giving the contractor space to be innovative in the execution of the contract, and at the same time making sure that the requisite end product is delivered. The results of this thesis suggest that the client does not hand over the “how” to the contractor when it comes to executing the project, as would be expected in a DB contract. From the contractor’s perspective, the responsibility for innovation within a DB contract can be confounded by the client’s use of social control, by which the client may encourage discussions and collaboration regarding innovative solutions but blur the line over responsibilities. This could explain why social control often fails to have a positive impact on innovative output.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Luleå: Luleå University of Technology, 2022. p. 74
Series
Trafikverkets forskningsportföljer
Keywords
infrastructure, organizational control, promoting innovation, public client, Sweden, control systems, inter-organizational, principal-agent
National Category
Construction Management
Research subject
FOI-portföljer, Bygga
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:trafikverket:diva-16223 (URN)978-91-8048-079-6 (ISBN)978-91-8048-080-2 (ISBN)
Public defence
2022-06-17, Luleå, 09:30
Opponent
Supervisors
Projects
Kvalitativ uppföljning av totalentreprenader och funktionsentreprenader
Funder
Swedish Transport Administration
Available from: 2024-08-09 Created: 2024-08-09 Last updated: 2024-08-09Bibliographically approved

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