Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation in the Public Works ...

Implementation Innovation Through
Total Quality Management (TQM)
James A. Broaddus
Associate Director
Construction Industry Institute
The University of Texas at Austin
As a newly appointed member of a committee to develop a
proposal for the implementation of total quality management
(TQM) at The University of Texas, I watched as our group outlined
the research process in a process flow diagram. The last
block of the model read "publish the findings of the research."
To complete major research projects to the point of publication
is a formidable challenge, but what about the adoption and use
of the research results. As I surfaced the issue of continuing
the process into technology transfer, my colleagues said,
"You're right. We should include it, but that's the hard
part." That group, like this one, recognized that technology
transfer or implementation, as we call it in CII, is difficult,
and we all continue to struggle with that very same issue.
CII started with this in mind. From the beginning, our
mission has included the words "research" and "implementation."
Despite this, there has been much in the way of research, but
as far as we can gather, much less in the way of implementation
than we would like to see. Nevertheless, we are endeavoring to
put more and more effort behind expanding our implementation
efforts.
First, let me introduce you briefly to CII. CII has a
staff of 14 people located in Austin at The University of
Texas. We are an organization that is funded largely by owners
and contractors from the private sector. However, we do have a
handful of public sector members, each of which contributes
$30,000 a year in grants to the Institute. The membership is
fairly evenly divided between owners and contractors. Twentyseven
universities also participate primarily by providing
research for CII through their universities. The triad between
academia, owners, and contractors is a graphic statement of how
research and other activities of the Institute are carried out.
One of the real keys to CII's success has been the participation
of its membership. The contributions of its companies
go far beyond the $30,000 a year in grant money provided to
CII. Participation on task forces, boards, action teams, etc.
normally numbers about 700 people per year, with their
companies funding the employee's participation. As a result,
we have estimated that services in kind to CII have numbered as
much as $25 million a year, which is about 8 times the cash
budget of CII.
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