Innovation in Construction A Project Life Cycle Approach

Enablers of innovation:This question was intended to help understand thefactors that are seen as significant in enabling innovationwithin an organisation.Barriers to innovation:This question was intended to elicit from therespondents the main barriers to innovation for theirfirms.Table 5: Enablers of innovationTo what extent do the following factors help promote innovationwithin your organisation (1-5)?Table 6: Barriers to innovationTo what extent do the following factors impede the uptake ofinnovation within your organisation (1-5)?EnablersMeanLeadership 4.6Supportive work environment 4.4Collaboration with partners 4.4Deep understanding of the customer 4.3Education & training policy 4.1Knowledge management practices 4.1Encouraging staff to get involved withexternal networks 3.9Use of problem solving techniques 3.7Awards, grants, funds 3.6Government schemes 3.5Reward schemes 3.3Emphasis on research & development 3.2The top two factors are seen to be leadership and asupportive work environment. These outweigh the othermore formal enablers which tends to indicate that whereschemes are put in place without the surrounding ‘cultural’factors of leadership and supportive environmentthey are not likely to flourish. The next most significantfactors are collaboration with partners, and deep understandingof the customer which reinforces the findingsof the previous questions and strengthens the impressionthat innovative solutions are often co-developed atthe project level from within the supply chain. This is alsosuggested by Tatum (1987) who has shown that leadership,supportive organisational structure, collaboration,and customer orientation are the main enablers of innovationwithin the organisation. On the other hand,reward schemes and emphasis on R&D do not appearto be seen as significant enablers of innovation. In thecase of reward schemes this may be because it is a specifictype of scheme that may only be used in certainorganisations, nevertheless the low ranking of R&D asan enabler of innovation again appears to confirm thefindings of the previous questions.BarriersMeanEconomic conditions 3.9Availability of financial resources 3.6Fragmented nature of construction business 3.4Unwillingness to change 3.3Lack of government role model 3.3Inappropriate legislation 3.3Risk in commercialising innovations 3.2Temporary nature of construction projects 3.2Extensive inter-organisational change required 3.1Lack of awareness 3.0Lack of qualified staff 3.0Lack of end-user involvement 3.0Lack of innovative investments /procedures/ practices (R&D, training and education) 3.0Adversarial approaches within thesupply chain 2.9Lack of clear benefits 2.9Belief that the industry is doing wellwithout innovation 2.8The two top barriers to innovation are clearly seen tobe economic conditions and availability of financialresources. It is interesting to note that financial concernscan both act as a driver and a barrier; there is aparadox in the sense that the companies surveyed claimto innovate in order to increase their profitability butbelieve that they cannot innovate unless economicsallow. These two factors are followed by a group of factorsled by the fragmented nature of construction followed byunwillingness to change, lack of government supporand inappropriate legislation.11