A critical look at integrating people, process and information systems within the construction sector

The problems that the construction industry faces are widely discussed over the years. The pressure is increasing on the industry to deliver projects with minimal buffers of time, space and resources; and with minimal negative impact on the surrounding environment. The industry has been slow to respond to these challenges and continues to be criticised for that reason. There have been a number of attempts to address these challenges within the research community with varying degrees of success. However majority of these projects tend to address specific areas within the construction process rather than looking at the process as a whole. Lean principles help address the inherent wastes lying within the construction process, however there is no evidence of widespread implementation of such principles. People, process and Technology are three important aspects from Lean perspective. However in construction, technology is mostly being applied to peripheral processes resulting in less than satisfactory outcomes. There is a need address the construction process as a whole with a view to integrate various areas and aspects involved. The goal of this paper is to provide a new conceptualization for doing this with a specific focus on application of ICT within construction. Based on a literature review, prior arguments and propositions for a holistic view are reviewed. Based on them, outline of a tentative new framework for integrating processes, people and information systems is presented.