Factors that influence the formation of construction project teams for sustainability: consideration of specificity

Abstract

The importance of effective multi-disciplinary organisational teams has been a central aim of management research in the construction industry for over 50 years. As design and construction processes are reconsidered to include sustainability there is a need to consider procurement approaches which facilitate more effective coordination between supply chain partners. Such procurement approaches require a strong theoretical basis and also need to consider parties other than the client, design team and contractor. This paper reports on ongoing research about the factors that influence the formation of construction project teams. The focus of the study was how buying organisations’ collaborative procurement strategies interact with a range of specialised trade contractors and to identify those factors which affect their selection during the project development. The theoretical basis for the study was adapted from transaction cost economics and the research strategy was mixed. This paper reports upon the quantitative second phase which used a survey of 570 professionals working for UK contracting organisations. The findings of the research suggest a future approach is required which seeks to increase the specificity of trade contractors to the developing project which will facilitate an improvement in knowledge transfer relating to alternative low carbon approaches to design and construction.