A study of the situated practice of benchmarking in the UK construction industry

The focus of this thesis is the situated practice of a select number of quality and business improvement practitioners (QMs/BIMs) from the construction industry who were actively involved with academia in collaborative research. The research is described as exploratory to the extent of requiring a revised research instrument that was ‘designed' to meet the concerns of the QMs/BIMs for direct relevance to current work practices. It is in this context that I have undertaken to describe and explore possibilities based on selective experiences based on this research. The approach adopted in undertaking this research is based on the interpretive paradigm, specifically that of reaching understanding based on Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. The basis for this is in terms of the notion of ‘communal rationality' as proposed by Gergen and Thatchenkery. A key concept in this thesis is that of communities of practice (CoPs) and the notion of legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). These concepts are central to understanding emergent forms of practice amongst these QMs/BIMs. The seemingly chaotic nature of this research and the transient dimension of the research focus is recognised as a feature of the creative tension between academic researchers and practitioners. Within such a complex ‘collaborative' research endeavour, the objective of benchmarking as originally intended is realised, in more practical terms, as the development of a benchmarking methodology.