Individual Learning in Construction Projects: Professions and their Approaches

Abstract

New materials, use of sophisticatedtechnologies and increased customerdemands, in combination with growingcompetition among construction companies,have led to a high degree of specialization. Forsuccessful integration of the differentprofessional specialists, there is a need forshared learning between project co-workers.Based on twenty eight interviews in sixdifferent Swedish construction projects, thispaper illustrates strategies for individual andshared learning, among different actors andacross various organizational boundaries. Theresults indicate that personal networks are themost common source of learning for allprofessions. While clients, architects, anddesigners also engage in reading andattending courses, site managers and workersare less engaged in these activities.Experimenting and organizing for learningappear to be underutilized strategies by allprofessions. This leads to the conclusion thatattempts to increase learning have to addressthe differences in learning behaviors of thevarious groups. Further, focus onexperimenting and organizing for learning is apossibility to change the learning behaviorfrom learning as a consequence of problemsto learning for future improvement.