Decision-making in structuring construction project organizations

Many national needs in the United States, such as mass transportation, energy supply and environmental protection, require large engineering and construction projects. The results of completed projects indicate potential for their improved organization and management. Increased understanding of present decision-making processes in organizational design is an essential first step toward developing more effective organizations. How do managers structure project organizations? This descriptive investigation uses models of decision-making to analyze empirical data and to determine which theories best explain current processes. Implications from the five models (adaptation, behavioral choice, "garbage can", political, and rational-contingency) provide a framework for data analysis. The empirical data from the eight industrial construction projects included interviews, document reviews, and observations. The analysis involved evaluating data conformance with model implications, contrasting model implications and the data, and comparing managers' theories and managers' descriptions of organizational structuring with the empirical data. The results indicated that managers structured project organizations primarily by adapting personal experience. They repeated past successes and avoided problem areas. Behavioral constraints thwarted intended rationality in this decision-making. Power also influenced structuring. Despite these variations from rational theories, the data also included examples of structural outcomes conforming to predictions of contingency theories. Environment and technology influenced organizational design parameters (superstructure, lateral linkages, and the decision-making). These results increased understanding of organizational structuring and indicated a potential for improvement. Researchers' descriptions of organizational structuring must consider behavioral constraints and the influence of process on outcome. Construction professionals can lessen bias and inflexibility in organization design by recognizing the role of adaptation. Informational limitations and time constraints may require adaptation in structuring. However, the wide variance in project situations and the potential for innovative organizations to achieve goals under these conditions merit future research to develop a rational methodology of organizational structuring.