Examining the drivers and states of organizational change for greater use of prefabrication in construction projects

Many studies have focused on the technologies and reasoning behind off-site construction and failed to address the implications to organizational change. This papaer aims to investigate the readiness of construction project organizations (CPOs) to accommodate new project environments that demand a more extensive use of prefabrication. Semistructured interviews of project managers were conducted in Melbourne, Australia. The results indicate that CPOs were well aware of the need to change operational practices in order to capitalize on the positive effects of off-site construction. A variety of practice changes were also undertaken. However, CPOs appear to be failing to fully commit to the realization of organizational change because they focused primarily on planned approaches like revising policies and performance management systems. Emergent organizational change strategies like rewarding innovation and fostering bottom-up communication are still underdeveloped.