Flexible Decision-making in Response to Disruptive Events on Construction Sites

Illinois Institute Of Technology, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to advance understanding of the improvisational decisions and actions of construction workers in response to workflow disruptions. Disruptions create turbulent conditions that challenge the industry's capabilities for management and control. As a result, flexibility remains critical for the successful response to unexpected incidents on the jobsite. One flexible approach that addresses disruptions is improvisation: the simultaneous generation and execution of a new course of action requiring creativity and skill under tight time constraints. Yet, in spite of more than a decade of research supporting its beneficial uses, skepticism still surrounds the acceptance of improvisation as a flexible way to address disruptions because it evokes images of a lack of structure to the decision making process. Contrary to such beliefs, improvisation is a structured process that involves purposeful human behavior driven by intuition, experience, competence, and context. The proposed investigation will be underpinned by the emerging theory of organizational improvisation, and, accordingly, the PIs will develop and test scientific theory about how, under what conditions, and with what results improvisation can complement detailed planning and plan-following on the jobsite. If successful, the results of this research will facilitate a better understanding of the interplay between plan-following and improvisation on turbulent construction sites and will allow the research findings to be translated into a theory of improvisational actions in construction. The research has the potential to transform the way craft workers, foremen, and construction managers plan for, accommodate, and manage disruptions on the jobsite. The results of this research will enable a shift in philosophy that supports greater flexibility in decisions and actions. In turn, this will ultimately lead to changes in practice that accept, encourage, and cultivate the use of ?intuition, experience, competence, and context? to overcome daily workflow disruptions.