Construction project teams and their development: case studies in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The construction industry can benefit from teamworking because construction products are delivered by a collection of diverse professionals. The importance of teams and their development in construction is an issue of international relevance – several influential government reports in the UK have highlighted this. However, effective teams cannot be created at a stroke – they need time and the opportunity to mature. This is usually referred to as team development and this area has been the subject of several research studies. However, there is a lack of research into the nature of construction teams and their development. This study explores how construction project teams go through a team development process. It was approached through case studies of three representative construction projects in Sri Lanka. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five distinct participants of each selected construction team during data collection. Based on the findings, a model of team development with regard to construction teams in Sri Lanka was developed. The new model indicates that construction teams develop in a linear sequence, as suggested in the literature. However, the study unearthed that within this basic linear sequence, several cycles can be created. It is hoped that these findings will be useful to general construction teams that operate under separated contract arrangements in other countries.