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Measuring organisational learning through project reviews

Grant Keeble Kululanga (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi)
Witness Shaibu Kuotcha (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi)

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

ISSN: 0969-9988

Article publication date: 7 November 2008

1549

Abstract

Purpose

Some of the vital lessons that could have been learned from project reviews are lost by contractors because of lack of a structured framework for undertaking them. Even though the construction business environment has moved toward modernising some of its business processes, unnecessary loss of lessons still characterise the industry. This paper aims to report a study that explores the development of a structured tool for measuring the constructs of the project review process in order to ensure organisational learning.

Design/methodology/approach

To ascertain the significance of the project review process, a study was undertaken in Malawi. A questionnaire survey was employed to elicit data on the constructs of the project review process that was distributed to Malawian registered construction contractors. Of the 84 sampled construction contractors, 60 completed questionnaires were received.

Findings

The results suggest that size and experience play a significant role in the way that construction contractors appropriate lessons from the various constructs of project reviews. Furthermore, the enablers of project review were significantly correlated to lessons learned, shared and planned for implementation at p <0.01 for a correlation coefficient of 0.875. However, implementation plans and application of total quality management tools in conducting project reviews had by far the least mean scores.

Research limitations/implications

The study forms the basis for further research; replication of this study to other parts of world could yield rich lessons for construction industry.

Originality/value

The constructs of project review process employed in this study can be used to design intervention frameworks for capturing lessons learned.

Keywords

Citation

Keeble Kululanga, G. and Shaibu Kuotcha, W. (2008), "Measuring organisational learning through project reviews", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 580-595. https://doi.org/10.1108/09699980810917004

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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