Applying a Universal Content and Structure of Values in Construction Management

There has recently been a reappraisal of value in UK construction and calls from a wide range of influential individuals, professional institutions and government bodies for the industry to exceed stakeholders' expectations and develop integrated teams that can deliver world class products and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2009-12, Vol.90 (4), p.473-501
Main Authors: Mills, Grant R., Austin, Simon A., Thomson, Derek S., Devine-Wright, Hannah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annual reports
business
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Business management
Comparative analysis
Construction
Construction industries
Construction industry
Construction management
Corporate culture
Corporate governance
Cultural customs
Cultural values
Decision making
Education
Environmental security
Ethics
Leadership
Management
Motivation
Organizational culture
Philosophy
Pleasure
project
Project management
Quality of Life Research
Real estate appraisal
Respect
Social responsibility
Social structures
Society
Stakeholder
Stakeholders
Statistical analysis
Studies
Traditions
United Kingdom
value
Values
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Summary:There has recently been a reappraisal of value in UK construction and calls from a wide range of influential individuals, professional institutions and government bodies for the industry to exceed stakeholders' expectations and develop integrated teams that can deliver world class products and services. As such value is certainly topical, but the importance of values as a separate but related concept is less well understood. Most construction firms have well-defined and well-articulated values, expressed in annual reports and on websites; however, the lack of rigorous and structured approaches published within construction management research and the practical, unsupported advice on construction institution websites may indicates a shortfall in the approaches used. This article reviews and compares the content and structure of some of the most widely used values approaches, and discusses their application within the construction sector. One of the most advanced and empirically tested theories of human values is appraised, and subsequently adopted as a suitable approach to eliciting and defining shared organisational values. Three studies within six construction organisations demonstrate the potential application of this individually grounded approach to reveal and align the relative values priorities of individuals and organisations to understand the strength of their similarity and difference. The results of these case studies show that this new universal values structure can be used along with more qualitative elicitation techniques to understand organisational cultures.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-009-0055-7