Psychology in construction: Measuring the influence of psychological features on project performance in housing association renovation projects

Psychology in construction: Measuring the influence of psychological features on project performance in housing association renovation projects

Gaviria Moreno, J.C.

Koolwijk, J.S.J. (mentor)
Van Oel, C.J. (mentor)

Architecture and The Built Environment

Real Estate & Housing

Design and construction management

2015-07-10

Because of the lack of research about the social aspects that affect the performance in the construction industry (CI) and given the importance of these processes to team collaboration and outcomes, this Master thesis aims to contribute to the body of knowledge about the social aspects in these processes. This gave rise to the following research question: What is the perceived influence of social aspects on team performance in housing association renovation projects (HARPs) and how can those aspects be explored? The perceived influence of social aspects on team performance has been explored by means of a literature review and three interviews with experts. To explore those concepts in teams a survey has been developed. The steps taken to make conclusions and produce the survey are as follows. First an extensive literature study was conducted to get an understanding of the social aspects that affect performance, from which a long list of concepts was produced. This literature study has been used to identify concepts for integration in the questionnaire. Where possible, existing scales or questionnaires were considered for translation and inclusion after which a shortlist has been developed of selected concepts. The identified concepts have been evaluated using results from expert interviews. Three interviews have been held with project managers from the field two senior project managers of housing associations and one senior project manager of a construction company. All three have experience in traditional construction projects and have recently undertaken projects which employ strategic partnering. Each manager was asked to extensively describe the last project he has worked on. Subsequently there were open questions concerning: a) Characteristics of strategic partnering and characteristics of traditional construction. b) The psychological concepts identified in the literature study. c) Any behavior or tool that might influence performance. d) What influences creativity in a project team. e) Their thoughts on performance in HARPs. The steps undertaken during the reseach are illustrated in figure 1. A survey has been developed based on the social aspects that seemed to be important according to the project managers along with the results from the literature study. The survey was spread among two project teams of finalized projects for feedback about the content of the survey and whether or not the questions were understandable. ? From the literature study and the interviews it can be concluded that social aspects influences project performance both directly and indirectly. These results are confirmed by three senior project managers of HARPs who have employed the techniques of strategic partnerships successfully. They state that a higher level of psychological safety, a larger empowerment of employees and more trust between and within organizations leads to a continuous team learning process and higher performance of HARPs. However, until now there is not a tool that allow teams to analyze which behaviors, team compositions and decisions lead to a team where innovation is stimulated, common goals are pursued, and the will to make processes and products better time and time again. The social aspects can be further explored by means of a survey. This survey contains the concepts that are seen as most influential on team performance by literature and three project managers from the field. It can be used to analyses for training purposes by consultancy companies like Noorderberg & Partners (N&P), or for academicals purposes by testing several hypotheses. Underneath you can find three recommended hypotheses to explore in further research based upon themes, which the senior project managers intuitively act upon based on experience or themes they disagree on. i. Hypothesis 1: Team member’s autonomy (the level of empowerment) is positively associated with performance in HARPs with project complexity as a mediator. ii. Hypothesis 2: Team psychological safety is positively associated with team learning behavior in HARPs. iii. Hypothesis 3: The size of a team matters less for the performance than the completeness of the team disciplines versus the amount of work to be done. ?

psychological features
psychological safety
team learning behavior
supply chain collaboration
housing associations
renovation projects
survey
multidisciplinary teams
construction industry

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:aec02875-8cf6-42aa-99a2-022284a7fed3

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2015 Gaviria Moreno, J.C.