Abstracts – Browse Results

Search or browse again.

Click on the titles below to expand the information about each abstract.
Viewing 7 results ...

Brady, T, Davies, A and Gann, D (2005) Can integrated solutions business models work in construction?. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 571–9.

Bresnen, M, Goussevskaia, A and Swan, J (2005) Implementing change in construction project organizations: exploring the interplay between structure and agency. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 547–60.

Cicmil, S and Marshall, D (2005) Insights into collaboration at the project level: complexity, social interaction and procurement mechanisms. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 523–35.

Green, S D and May, S C (2005) Lean construction: arenas of enactment, models of diffusion and the meaning of 'leanness'. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 498–511.

Harty, C (2005) Innovation in construction: a sociology of technology approach. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 512–22.

Koch, C and Bendixen, M (2005) Multiple perspectives on organizing: projects between tyranny and perforation. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 536–46.

Rooke, J and Clark, L (2005) Learning, knowledge and authority on site: a case study of safety practice. Building Research & Information, 33(06), 561–70.

  • Type: Journal Article
  • Keywords: authority; ethnography; health and safety; knowledge; organization; organizational culture; site management; unique adequacy requirement
  • ISBN/ISSN: 0961-3218
  • URL: http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?id=j123863r0641833k
  • Abstract:
    The ethnographic research reported here reveals patterns of authority and learning on an experimental construction site that are significant for the promotion of a safety culture. It seeks to display the methods of understanding used by site personnel to constitute the construction site as a local work site. In making these explicit, an alternative is offered to recent suggestions that critical studies of situated learning demand recourse to historical or macro resources. Findings confirm insights from previous studies, detailing in addition: the role of trial and error; alternative bodies of knowledge underpinning competing authority structures; and complex and subtle patterns of the informal authority of elite manual workers, its ambiguity and its limitations. The experiential knowledge valued by site personnel forms a basis for the recognition of authority on site that can conflict with that of construction professionals. The conflict between forms of authority and knowledge can inhibit the dissemination of good safety practice: initiatives will meet significant resistance if they contradict the experiential knowledge of site operatives; if they do not make use of this experiential knowledge, they may fail to address hazards fully; methods of site learning, particularly in the development of innovative practice, are inherently hazardous.