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Keywords
Production management, Construction industry, Management theory, Construction management, Brazil, United Kingdom
Abstract
In the past 100 years production management has evolved from a set of heuristic ideas to a portfolio of somewhat developed concepts and principles. "Just-in-time" and "total quality management" integrate most of the modern concepts and principles in the field. Furthermore, seminal studies carried out within production, such as the Gilbreth/ Taylor, Hawthorne and Tavistock studies, have given significant contribution to the evolution of management theory. This paper presents the context of production management evolution and assesses the application of some heuristic production approaches within construction sites of Brazil and England. The study revealed that, although the production management theory evolved significantly, construction practices do not apply the theory in a systemic and comprehensive manner. Clearly, lack of motivation and poor instruments for enabling "learning" are the central cause of this problem.
Introduction
Management theory evolves constantly with the continuous stream of new ideas that come from the attempts to transform theory into practice, and vice versa. Hence, a theory could be considered as a "condensed learning" of reflections in practice. Understanding its history is a fundamental step for identifying the problems and origins of current paradigms (Koskela, 1999).
However, the study of the management history is a complex task since the field boundaries are not exact and there are many different interpretations of its evolution and content. The word management itself does not have a universally accepted standard definition. According to McFarland (1979) the word "manage" seems to have come into English usage directly from the Italian word "maneggiare", that means "to handle". This word, in turn, traces back to the Latin word "manus" (hand). In the early sixteenth century the word "manage" was quickly extended into the common language of war situations and used in the general sense of "taking control", "taking charge", or "directing". Later, in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, it became confused with the French word "menage", meaning "to use carefully" (McFarland, 1979).
Nowadays the meaning of management is tempered by these early variations, depending on the specific situation. Management "as a process", for example, is understood as the fundamental integrating processes used to achieve organised, purposeful results. From such process, managers create,...