energizing innovation in integrated project delivery final report - SPUR

The study also found that builders tend to follow the lead of the homebuyer (owner).
Homebuyers are viewed as being risk-averse and resistant to new products. As a result, the
builders have no choice other than to avoid innovation. Koebel et al. found that “Builders are
less likely to be innovative if they emphasize that their customers prefer the ‘tried and true’ and
don’t like nontraditional products or features…”. Conversely, those builders who were found to
be more innovative, proactively communicate with their clients to educate them about new
technologies (Koebel et al. 2004).
2.4 Enablers of Innovation
Characteristics or elements within an organization or on a project that enable innovation to
occur, or to occur at a faster rate, can be found in the literature. The following are enablers of
innovation in the construction industry that are commonly identified in the literature (Tatum
1986a; 1986b; 1991; Slaughter 1993; 1998; Ahmad 1991; Kangari and Miyatake 1997; Bossink
2004):
• Contractor input during the design phase.
• Overlap of the different project development phases.
• Design-Build project delivery method.
• An organizational culture that supports innovation as a method of winning
construction projects.
• An organizational innovation “champion” and entrepreneur, including a technical
innovator, business innovator, product champion, and chief executive.
• Computers, management techniques, robotics, and new materials being developed at
incredibly fast rates.
• Multiple firms working together in a collaborative environment.
• A positive social and political context of a project.
• Attention to user needs and marketing.
• In-depth understanding of customers and markets.
• Commitment of major participants (owner, designer, contractor) to innovation.
• Product uniqueness, marketing knowledge, and technical and production synergy.
• Design of the product and process within the control of one firm, as in the Design-
Build delivery method.
• Strategic alliances that investigate and promote relevant technological inventions
from other industries to be applied to construction.
• Effective information gathering.
The importance of an integrated project team to innovation on a project is clearly identified in
the literature and cannot be understated. Contractor input during the design phase, overlap of the
different project development phases, and the design-build project delivery method are all
enablers of innovation as listed above. These practices foster the communication of ideas across
traditional lines of separation, and enable different ways of approaching problems, data sharing,
and learning to occur. Putting these into practice requires participation and support from the
project owner. Some owners, for example, have recognized the “development of tools that
combine design, communications and database capabilities and are quick to grasp their potential
not just in tweaking design, but in changing the entire construction process to make it more
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