AN EXPLORATION OF INTEGRALITY IN PROJECT PRODUCTION AND ITS FINAL OUTCOME: THE MOBILE PRODUCTION CELLS

A flexible production competence is a key internal dimension of competition for any production system dealing with variations caused by both internal and external sources. In construction projects, the development of autonomous, multi-skilled teams functioning like mobile production cells has received strong endorsement as a system flexibility type that enhances the achievement of project goals by reducing tradeoffs between competitive criteria. However, there is some confusion among academics and practitioners about what is truly meant by the term “mobile production cell”. In fact, very often it is described as being just a work arrangement in which a group of workers is assigned to perform an entire set of closely affiliated tasks. This narrow perspective has been influenced by the adoption of a theoretical framework more appropriate for manufacturing operations and by the lack of understanding that, in any context, the emergence of a flexible competence is the result of not one but many internal adjustments in the content of production strategy. The mobile production cell is no different, since its implementation requires changes in system design and operation that defy basic assumptions within the ruling construction management theory. Thus, besides an extensive literature review, this dissertation builds on empirical research in the construction industry to study the following research questions: “What are the changes that allow the emergence of real mobile cells? ”, “How does this true best practice relate to other successful renewal initiatives in project production? ” and “How does this system flexibility type contribute to the performance of the project production system as whole? ”. It is argued that the initiatives fostering effective cell functioning at the level of operations share a common rationale with those improving interactions in the higher levels of project organizations: integrality and simplicity. This is a particularly promising insight that leads to seeing the mobile cell concept as part of a larger paradigm shift. Because of this, the dissertation begins with a broad literature review to understand why integrality and simplicity, in contrast to complexity, are intuitively guiding the renewal initiatives in project production. This is followed by the proposition of an extended view on the content of production strategy so as to create awareness of the tangible and intangible attributes that impact the workings of an integral project production model and the emergence of its competences. Case studies involving a geotechnical engineering firm and firms that specialize in high rise buildings were also used and intentionally structured to examine different aspects of cell operation. The case studies revealed the impacts that this system flexibility type has on different control and buffer types. They also provided insight into different cell building enablers – policies, production practices, strategic choices, assumptions and other factors – adopted in each context. But more than that, they confirmed the existence of consistent patterns between the different initiatives, permitting the discipline of integrality and simplicity to be summarized in a small set of principles. This allowed to articulate a theoretical foundation of integrality and simplicity in project production and to thereby characterize the discipline of mobile cells through a proper underlying theory.