Graham Orange, Jonathan Boam, Alan Burke,

School of Information Management

Leeds Metropolitan University

The Grange

Beckett Park

Leeds LS6 3QS

England

[g.orange/j.boam/a.burke]@lmu.ac/uk

Phone/fax: +44 113 283 3240

Our research project tackles one of the major problems of the construction industry as identified in the Latham report of 1994. That is the fragmented nature of the industry as a major factor contributing to poor communication between all parties working on a construction project. We hope to address this problem by We are therefore developing a cCross oOrganisational lLearning Approach (COLA) for partnerships within the construction industry. In doing so we also aim to design a system that will facilitate organisational learning by implementing interorganisational systems (see note 1) that allow for the storage and manipulation of collective knowledge, skills and expertise gained by individuals in the construction project partnership.

However we recognise that this problem area is multi-dimensional and that technical solutions will not provide an answer in themselves.

One of the main problems in the construction industry is the transitive nature of project team membership. Often a given project team, consisting of many individuals from different organisations (e.g. contractor staff, client staff, M&E, cost consultants etc.), will only be together in that combination for the duration of a singular construction project.. The major reasons for this are firstly, much of the construction industry works on a competitive tender basis. Thus, even under a preferred contractor basis, the contractor and consequently sub-contractors will change from project to project.

Secondly, different people with different knowledge and skills are needed at different times and for differing periods throughout a project. Hence people move around from project to project. Indeed, tThroughout the duration of a single project, the potentially high turnover of individuals is disruptive and diminishes the potential for learningcan be disruptive. Thus, collective, and individual, knowledge and skills are dissipated. They become "hidden in filing cabinets, in peoples heads, discussed covertly over the coffee machine or, indeed, forgotten" (Pedler et. al., 1996).

The first problem is being addressed through the development of strategic partnerships through the creation of "vertical networks" (Hinterhuber and Levin, 1994). Hinterhuber and Levin describe four network types showing the relationships between them. In reality partnerships can be described as being a combination of network types. However the vertical network is of particular relevance as it is used to describe the virtual organisation which is of particular relevance to our research project (see Orange et. al., 1997). Strategic partnerships make sense in that they can potentially bring:

• They bring consistency and engender trust to the participant organisations.
• There are benefits to each organisation in that each is seeking a particular set of skills and/or resources that it does not posses (Cravens and Shipp, 1993).
• They promote of the rapid diffusion of new technologies and promote mutual learning (Lorange and Roos, 1991).

In reality these objectives are hard to achieve without creating enabling infrastructures in terms of technologies, procedures and relationships.

Within the context of the partnership core capabilities are developed. "Capabilities are based on developing, carrying, and exchanging information through the firm’s (or as in our case the partnership’s) human capital" (Andreu and Ciborra, 1996) that is "fostering behaviours not observed in competitive firms" (Leonard-Barton, 1992, in Andreu and Ciborra, 1996).

Our focus is on creating the technical infrastructure to support such learning but in doing so we must be cognisant of the important social, cultural and managerial factors that will arise.

Epple et. al. (1996) argue that learning is not just based on that of the individual but also through the experiences of others. This brings us back to the second problem. How do we address the issue of the dissipation of this collective and individual learning? One way is through the use of information technology for it can be an important repository of organisational knowledge (Epple et. al., 1996). Pedler et. al. talk of the development of learning/problem solving databases to capture and support individual and collective learning

No single application or technology can capture this organisational knowledge, rather it will be a collection of many application types, for example, specific databases, spreadsheets, word processors, Cad systems, multimedia, workflow, document management, email etc. The challenge is to make all of these available to those who require the information irrespective of which organisation they work for and regardless of their location.

Within our research project the mechanism used to allow access to this information is an extranet accessed via a web browser such as Microsoft’s Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Use of extranet technology will provide a collaborative virtual environment (figure 1) where individuals can access (where permissions granted) any partner organisation’s intranet. In this way individuals, organisations and the partnership can make use of previously gathered information and past experiences and learn from them more easily, regardless of their location, either physically or within the partnership.

The principles will be initially demonstrated through the development of a specific Microsoft Access database. This application will support an important organisational learning process. That of a project review. Project reviews may take place for a number of reasons. They may be triggered by a stage in the construction project, a time period, a specific issue or problem, etc. Whatever the trigger, information from the review process is often informal or recorded in such an unstructured way that it is difficult to retrieve and difficult to identify the important issues, decisions, innovations and actions. Furthermore the information is usually only available and relevant to those few individuals taking part in the review process and in its present format is of little use to future construction projects.

Such a central point, providing access to such resources as review based information, allows this information to be shared across the partnership and so improve the partnering relationship by ensuring maximum availability of current information. This process will also allow the partnering culture to grow by providing a facility for the sharing of information and practices throughout the supply chain.

1. The UN Economic Commission of Europe’s definition of EDI is:

EDI developed as the result of extending existing systems beyond organisational boundaries. However an important point to note is that the boundary of an organisation’s systems does not extend beyond the organisational boundary of the recipient. It is the method of communication which is being automated. The recipient has its own independent systems which have to be capable of accepting the communicated data.

Interorganisational Systems go further in that the systems in the separate organisations may utilise EDI but are not necessarily independent. Suomi (1992) examines a number of definitions of IOS and identifies the following three components;

• two or more organisations
• application of information technologies
• sharing of data and other resources

Andreu R., Ciborra C., (1996); "Organisational learning and core capabilities development: the role of IT"; Journal of Strategic Information Systems; 5, 111-127.

Cravens D. W., Shipp S. H., (1993); "Analysis of co-operative interorganizational relationships, strategic alliance formation, and strategic alliance effectiveness"; Journal of Strategic Marketing; 1 55-70.

Epple D., Argote L., Murphy K., (1996); " An empirical investigation of the microstructure of knowledge acquisition and transfer through learning by doing"; Operations Research; January-February, 77-86

Hinterhuber H. H., Levin B. M. (1994); "Strategic Networks - The Organization of the Future"; Long Range Planning; Vol 27, June 1994, 43-53.

Hørlück J. (1994); "The Pragmatics of Electronic Data Interchange: The Use of EDI will Unify Business Procedures"; International Journal of Information Management; Vol 14, No 5, pp 330-343

Latham M. (1994); "Constructing the Team: Final Report of the Government Industry Review of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the UK Construction Industry";

HMSO, London

Lorange P., Roos J. (1991); "Why some Strategic Alliances Succeed and Others Fail"; The Journal of Business Strategy; January/February, 25-30

Pedler M., Burgoyne J., Boydell T. (1996); "The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development", McGraw-Hill

Suomi R. (1992); "On the concept of inter-organizational information systems"; Journal of Strategic Information Systems; Vol 1, No 2, pp 93-100