Impact of Quality Management in the Swedish Construction Process
(2000)- Abstract
- During the past few years, extensive effort has been devoted to developing quality systems as an integral part of the process in the construction sector. The construction process is complex, involving many different actors with different interests. The demand for quality assurance comes primarily from central authorities via the client, but quality systems should be applied throughout the whole chain and all actors involved in the process. The aim of this study was to investigate how the concept of quality management is being adopted in the construction process and the impact it has had so far.
The work associated with quality management was studied in several companies chosen from different categories in order to cover... (More) - During the past few years, extensive effort has been devoted to developing quality systems as an integral part of the process in the construction sector. The construction process is complex, involving many different actors with different interests. The demand for quality assurance comes primarily from central authorities via the client, but quality systems should be applied throughout the whole chain and all actors involved in the process. The aim of this study was to investigate how the concept of quality management is being adopted in the construction process and the impact it has had so far.
The work associated with quality management was studied in several companies chosen from different categories in order to cover the whole construction process. Companies representing clients, architectual/engineering-companies as well as different types of contractors were studied. The main method used in this thesis was the collection of data by interviews and sorting of these data into the same system as the ISO 9001 standard, together with the use of key factors. With this method, it was possible to search for patterns that could describe the general activities associated with quality management in the construction process.
The results of these studies show that quality management appears to be considered primarily as a means of increasing effectiveness and enhancing competitive advantage. Apart from this, the demand of the customer for quality systems may be another force motivating companies to introduce quality management. It was shown that the most common way of implementing quality systems was by inspections, probably due to client requirements. Extensive systems for inspections were regarded by most companies as one of the major elements in the work associated with quality systems. These inspections were often found to be rather meaningless because companies had problems in finding resources for this type of work. However, over time, it was found that the degree of acceptance regarding the use of the ISO 9001 standard gradually increased. The various parts of the ISO 9001 standard were not regarded by the companies as equally important, and were therefore not used to the same extent. Some requirements of the standard tended to be confused with others, or to be misinterpreted. In conclusion, quality systems based on the ISO 9001 standard in the construction sector are used to varying degrees and the acceptance of the standard is increasing. The connection between the integration of these quality systems into the process and the use of this as the basis for innovation and learning in the further development of the construction sector is, however, neglected and should be considered in the future. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Under senare år har företag inom byggbranschen utvecklat sitt kvalitetstänkande genom att införa kvalitetssystem för att styra byggprocessen. Många olika aktörer med olika intressen är involverade vilket gör att det är en komplex process sammansatt av en rad olika mindre processer. Kraven på kvalitetssäkring kommer ursprungligen från myndigheterna via lagstiftningen men det är byggherren som ansvarar för att kvalitetstänkandet genomsyrar alla delar i ett byggprojekt. Syftet med studierna i denna avhandling var att undersöka hur kvalitetsarbetet fungerar i den svenska byggprocessen och vilka effekter det har. Kvalitetsarbetet studerades i olika kategorier av företag som verkar inom byggprocessen.... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Under senare år har företag inom byggbranschen utvecklat sitt kvalitetstänkande genom att införa kvalitetssystem för att styra byggprocessen. Många olika aktörer med olika intressen är involverade vilket gör att det är en komplex process sammansatt av en rad olika mindre processer. Kraven på kvalitetssäkring kommer ursprungligen från myndigheterna via lagstiftningen men det är byggherren som ansvarar för att kvalitetstänkandet genomsyrar alla delar i ett byggprojekt. Syftet med studierna i denna avhandling var att undersöka hur kvalitetsarbetet fungerar i den svenska byggprocessen och vilka effekter det har. Kvalitetsarbetet studerades i olika kategorier av företag som verkar inom byggprocessen. Kategorierna valdes så att de täckte större delen av processen: byggherrar, arkitekter, konstruktörer, bygg- och anläggningsentreprenörer, specialentreprenörer. Den huvudsakliga metoden för datainsamling var med intervjuer. Insamlade data sorterades dels medelst systematiken i ISO 9001, dels genom att skapa nyckelfaktorer. Ett holistiskt angreppsätt har använts för att erhålla en förståelse och en helhetssyn på datamängden. På detta sätt var det möjligt att finna generella mönster för kvalitetsarbetet i byggprocessen. Resultatet av studierna visar bl a att kvalitetsarbetet främst betraktas som ett instrument med vilket man kan öka effektiviteten och vinna konkurrensfördelar. Byggherrarnas krav på kvalitetssäkring bidrar dessutom till att öka motivationen för att införa kvalitetssystem hos företagen. De krav som byggherrarna ställer är vanligen krav på ett utökat kontrollsystem vilket kan förklara varför man i byggprocessen initierat kvalitetssystem via en omfattande kontrollverksamhet som inte uppfattas som meningsfull. Betraktat över tiden har, emellertid, denna syn på kvalitetsarbetet förändrats så att man beaktar fler delar av de ingående komponenterna i ett kvalitetssystem istället för endast kontrollrutinerna. Alla kraven i standarden betraktas inte som lika viktiga och vissa delar av standarden missuppfattas eller förväxlas. Sammanfattingsvis kan man dock dra slutsatsen att även om standarden för kvalitetssystem utnyttjas i varierande omfattning så ökar acceptansen av själva standarden. För att ett kvalitetssystem ska fungera i ett företag krävs det att alla rutiner är relevanta och aktuella vilket i sin tur kräver att företaget har en öppenhet för lärande och innovationer. Detta visade sig, i dessa studier, vara något som gärna negligeras i byggprocessen vilket borde uppmärksammas och åtgärdas. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/40866
- author
- Landin, Anne LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Associate Professor Josephson, Per-Erik, Chalmers University of Technology
- organization
- publishing date
- 2000
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Construction technology, Industriell ekonomi, Commercial and industrial economics, ISO 9000, Quality Management, Construction, Anläggningsteknik
- pages
- 144 pages
- publisher
- Department of Construction Management, Lund Institute of Technology
- defense location
- John Ericssons Väg 1 sal V:D
- defense date
- 2000-10-24 10:15:00
- external identifiers
-
- other:ISRN: LUTVDG/TVBP--00/1010-SE
- ISBN
- 91-628-4454-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 86db7a3a-cb73-4da3-a80b-462e21b173e2 (old id 40866)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:11:49
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 20:57:21
@phdthesis{86db7a3a-cb73-4da3-a80b-462e21b173e2,
abstract = {{During the past few years, extensive effort has been devoted to developing quality systems as an integral part of the process in the construction sector. The construction process is complex, involving many different actors with different interests. The demand for quality assurance comes primarily from central authorities via the client, but quality systems should be applied throughout the whole chain and all actors involved in the process. The aim of this study was to investigate how the concept of quality management is being adopted in the construction process and the impact it has had so far.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The work associated with quality management was studied in several companies chosen from different categories in order to cover the whole construction process. Companies representing clients, architectual/engineering-companies as well as different types of contractors were studied. The main method used in this thesis was the collection of data by interviews and sorting of these data into the same system as the ISO 9001 standard, together with the use of key factors. With this method, it was possible to search for patterns that could describe the general activities associated with quality management in the construction process.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The results of these studies show that quality management appears to be considered primarily as a means of increasing effectiveness and enhancing competitive advantage. Apart from this, the demand of the customer for quality systems may be another force motivating companies to introduce quality management. It was shown that the most common way of implementing quality systems was by inspections, probably due to client requirements. Extensive systems for inspections were regarded by most companies as one of the major elements in the work associated with quality systems. These inspections were often found to be rather meaningless because companies had problems in finding resources for this type of work. However, over time, it was found that the degree of acceptance regarding the use of the ISO 9001 standard gradually increased. The various parts of the ISO 9001 standard were not regarded by the companies as equally important, and were therefore not used to the same extent. Some requirements of the standard tended to be confused with others, or to be misinterpreted. In conclusion, quality systems based on the ISO 9001 standard in the construction sector are used to varying degrees and the acceptance of the standard is increasing. The connection between the integration of these quality systems into the process and the use of this as the basis for innovation and learning in the further development of the construction sector is, however, neglected and should be considered in the future.}},
author = {{Landin, Anne}},
isbn = {{91-628-4454-7}},
keywords = {{Construction technology; Industriell ekonomi; Commercial and industrial economics; ISO 9000; Quality Management; Construction; Anläggningsteknik}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Department of Construction Management, Lund Institute of Technology}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Impact of Quality Management in the Swedish Construction Process}},
year = {{2000}},
}