Introduction – growing awareness
When we are born we are totally dependent on others for our nourishment,
protection and development. We are so unaware of the world that
we do not even know we have feet, let alone toes. We have no sense
of purpose, other than to survive, and little sense of self.
As we grow we become more aware. We discover our limbs and begin
to make them work for us. We learn how to communicate to ask for
what we want when we want it. We begin to establish goals and develop
strategies for achieving them. We begin the process of becoming
independent.
This struggle for independence is a long one, some never fully
achieve it. But most of us reach a point at which we are able to
exercise free will in all our actions. However, as our awareness
grows we begin to realise that we cannot achieve many of the things
we desire on our own. We find that co-operating with others is often
more productive and we begin to build our credibility account, depositing
assistance for others and withdrawing favours for ourselves.
Through social interaction, education, business and leisure, many
of us build attachments with individuals and groups, which grow
so close that we become fully interdependent on one another. We
trust each other so implicitly that we do not even bother to develop
all the skills and collect all the knowledge that we need, as it
is available through our partnerships. We realise that this makes
us stronger, wiser and able to achieve more, we also realise that
it is the way others become successful.
Eventually, we begin to realise that all these interdependencies
are interconnected. We share the same limited resources. We achieve
most when we are all successful and we lose most when we all fail.
Whatever you call this, perhaps the highest level of awareness,
it is rarely attained by individuals and is sorely missing in the
world at large.
This growth cycle is not just about individuals; it also applies
to communities, businesses, industries and so on. The UK construction
industry is no exception. It has woken up to the fact that self-centred
independent behaviour is unsuccessful. It has struggled to achieve
interdependent partnerships and is now striving to extend those
fledgling interdependencies through collaborative working. This
industry can be a hugely rewarding environment, offering the opportunity
of success for all who come into contact with it, but it will require
the sustained and committed effort of everyone involved over a significant
period of time, if it is to reach this world-leading position.
So where is the industry now?
In response to the ever accelerating pace of change, society in
general and the construction industry in particular have become
fragmented and specialised. Modern life has become so complex that
it is probably impossible for any individual or group to be able
to see the whole picture. Indeed, change happens so fast that it
is hard enough to keep track of the 'component' people they are
associated with, let alone those that don't immediately impact on
them.
Awareness, however, is the starting point for resolution and the
UK construction industry has in recent years become increasingly
attuned to the issues that surround it. Partnerships and co-operatives
are being formed and integration and collaboration are becoming
generally accepted needs for individual, company and industry survival.
Unfortunately, and not surprisingly in such a complex environment,
integration is not an easy feat, but it can be broadly simplified
into two strands, supply chain integration and project team integration.
The first strand is the integration of clients and their supply
chains.
Central to this integration is the client cluster. A client cluster
represents the various components of a client organisation working
together on a continuous basis. These clients build relationships
with a limited number of suppliers who represent the day-to-day
interactions in one part of the industry. Since industry cannot
function in isolation, these suppliers form together into supply
chains which come into contact with client clusters at multiple
different points, as illustrated in the model below.
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Integration of the matrix of client and supply chain interaction
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Of course in the real world many of the clients and suppliers are
interchangeable, depending on their activities and/or position in
a particular supply chain. Reality is a multilayered interaction
of chains and clients, which it is impossible to represent fully
here. However the model serves to convey the concept not reality.
As if this complexity were not enough, the whole picture changes
when a project comes along and this project team integration is
the second strand required to integrate the industry.
A project begins life as a growing need within a client organisation.
The need may affect the entire organisation, but more normally,
or realistically to solve the need, one part of the client cluster
will focus on the need and its resolution.
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Client cluster element identifies appropriate supply chain
lead cluster members
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This client element will call in appropriate parts of its supply
chain by selecting 'lead cluster'members as appropriate to represent
their particular chain. These cluster members will ultimately form
the 'Integrated Project Team', which is focused on the need and
its solution from outset to eventual completion.
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All lead cluster partners focused on delivering the need
as part of a single ''Integrated Project Team'
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The Integrated Project Team will stay together until the project
has been finished and the need has been proven as completely satisfied,
at which point the partners will return to their points in the client
cluster and supply chains, or move on together to the next project
or activity.
About the Toolkit
Sponsored by the pan-industry Strategic Forum for Construction,
the Strategic Forum Toolkit offers information, advice, guidance
and training – signposts and pointers to help you find answers
that suit your particular projects and challenges.
The Toolkit is split into two main sections of workbooks covering
the two strands of integration.
Section one 'Chainlink'
offers guidance and insight into the processes, methods and
tools required to create and maintain an integrated supply chain
matrix.
Section two 'An
Integrated Project Team (IPT)' explains the philosophy and drivers
behind integrating project teams, utilising collaborative working
methods and approaches to produce teams which operate as if they
were 'virtual companies' in their own right.
Both sections are defined in terms of generic, not prescriptive,
processes and offer insight into approaches, values, behaviours
and ideal activities. A tools and techniques section points to recommended
methods which can be adopted to support each element. These tools
and techniques are 'graded' according to levels of awareness and
experience, offering progressive guidance from those new to the
industry to experienced best practice exponents.
The Toolkit is aspirational, it represents a summary of the innovations
and achievements of many of the practitioners at the forefront of
change in the UK construction industry. There is no one group or
company applying everything contained within the Toolkit and many
practitioners are functioning at different levels of awareness and
performance. However, the Toolkit provides a framework for clients,
advisers and supply chain partners to gauge how optimal performance
can be achieved and what to seek from each new relationship.
The Toolkit provides signposts to much of industry current best
practice and will be updated periodically to reflect the dynamic
nature of best practice application, feedback and development.
For those on board, it holds out a future of exceptional promise,
as improved performance feeds through to higher demand. But for
any companies left behind, rising customer expectations and improving
competitor performance will pose serious challenges.
The Toolkit provides the resources, but the industry must get on
with the application.
How do you know where you are in the integration culture change
process?
The Toolkit provides a maturity
assessment grid that identifies the methods being applied in
the historic, transitional and aspirational worlds we currently
live in, or would like to live in. This grid provides an insight
into these different worlds, their language and behaviours, and
offers the opportunity to see what the next step in growth might
look like so that no one need move too quickly, nor become stagnated
at any one point. As with the Toolkit, it will develop as the industry
develops to ensure that aspiration is always just outside our reach,
giving us the targets to aim for and the hope that continuous improvement
will become our norm.
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