Justification for adopted research methods

Table 4-5 clearly explains the justifications for adopted research methods and rational for rejecting other alternative methods.

Table 4-5: Justifications for selected methods

Research objectives Data sources and methods used

Justification for selected methods and rejection of other alternative methods

1. to study the principal concepts of organisational learning and practices;  Literature review  Informal discussions

 The first objective was aimed to identify the current gap in the knowledge. Therefore an extensive literature review was undertaken at the beginning of the study to understand the theories and practices that support organisational learning. The literature from different disciplines (software industry, manufacturing industry etc.) were analysed and articulated them to use in construction industry. Informal discussions were carried out among the SPICE project team to fine-tune the research question that was initially established through the literature review. The methods like structured/semi-structured interviews would be suitable to gather rich data however it was not adopted at this preliminary stage as because the researcher didn’t have a clear understanding about the nature and complexity of the research problem and its boundaries.

methods used alternative methods 2. to explain the role of

process improvement perspective in facilitating organisational learning;  Literature review  Informal discussions  Document analysis  Participant observations

 To accomplish the 2nd objective of this research the literature review was tunnelled towards the process improvement perspective. The main reason was that the researcher was funded through EPSRC (SPICE III) project, which aimed on organisational process maturity. Therefore the study was designed towards process improvement perspective rather exploring the other facades of organisational learning (i.e. socio-economic perspectives etc.). The second objective also supported through a detailed literature review and informal discussions. Moreover, 3 cases were studied to identify the nature of organisation, their processes. Participant observations were continued to understand the overall research process and improve the clarity of objectives to achieve the optimum use of the available data. The interviews would be the other most appropriate method to understand the organisation culture and processes however it was not adopted at this stage as documentary evidences were sufficient to understand the organisation and their allied activities.

methods used alternative methods 3. to explore the contextual issues associated with organisational learning and process improvement within construction industry context;  Literature review  Document analysis  Case study  Focus group workshops  Questionnaire survey

 The project documents (Case A, B and C, internal reports and minutes of the meetings) and literature review were used to clarify the contextual issues associated with organisational learning. The selected cases represent three different construction organisations (Airport and Aviation, Highway Agency and School building). Therefore the case study method is the most suitable method to analyse each case in detail and then cross cases. Moreover questionnaire survey was undertaken in two workshops among senior, middle and operative level managers to understand their perspectives and contextual issues related process improvement. Questionnaire survey was selected to obtain large data and also to observe any patterns.

 The 3rd objective was more focused to identify contextual issues related to organisational learning/process improvement. Therefore large sample was targeted and other methods such as interviews were rejected due to time and cost limitations.

methods used alternative methods 4. to develop a framework to facilitate organisational learning in construction organisations;  Literature review  Informal discussions  Document analysis  Case study  Desk study  Questionnaire survey  Participant observation

 The literature review was used to develop the conceptual framework and informal discussions were carried out to categorise and rank those contextual issues that were derived from each case study. Case study findings and the outcome obtained through the questionnaire survey were used to understand the organisational entities, how they facilitate learning within the organisation and further to define roles and responsibilities of stakeholders. Desk study was used to integrate those findings and develop the framework.

 The data were gathered continuously through multiple methods to accomplish Objective 4. No interviews were undertaken as participant observation was very much helpful to understand the issues and clarify them where appropriate.

Research objectives Data sources and methods used

Justification for selected methods and rejection of other alternative methods

5. to validate the

framework and identify the implications for theory and practice.

 Literature review  Participant

observation  Focus group

workshop

 The empirical evidence from the previous four objectives was logically assembled together in a desk study. In addition, the researcher’s intuition, the literature review was used to develop a logical and readable format for the framework. The strength of the focus group workshop approach in assessing the usability of the conceptual framework is that it offers the possibility to look at many different facets of the system at the same time. The conceptual framework considers contextual issues related to organisational learning and process improvement. Three focus group workshops were organised during framework development and validating stages with the organisational managers. The main reason for selecting focus group workshop method to validate the framework was the experience of team members, their engagement throughout the process of data collection and their interest towards organisational learning and process improvement. Focus

methods, for example to develop a questionnaire or refine the key issues. Having studied the qualities of focus group workshops/interviews, the study used workshops to fine-tune and validate the developed framework.

 Having studied the contextual issues related to organisational learning and process improvement, this framework establishes the key roles and responsibilities of parties (procurer, provider and user) who are involved in procurement process. Case studies were rejected because of the difficulties with generalisation. Thus, focus group workshop was undertaken to validate the developed PPU framework. The validation process is explained in Chapter 6.