The current understanding of innovation is diverse, characterised by a variety of underlying theoretical perspectives. Positivist approaches tend to focus on the means by which innovation can be determined or measured. Whilst such approaches may provide indications of averages across large samples, they tend to ignore individual interpretations and the mediating effect of context, or at least to compress them into discrete variables. In recent years there has been an increase in research underpinned by social constructionist perspectives. Of particular interest is an expanding body of work which considers innovation as a narrative. Building upon and extending this theme, a sensemaking perspective is utilised that offers a shift closer towards understanding socially constructed and contested narratives of innovation. This perspective provides an explanation of how self-identities and embodied experiences of practitioners shape narratives of innovation that they mobilise. The purpose of the thesis is to explain how and why narratives of innovation are mobilised by construction sector practitioners from a sensemaking perspective. In order to achieve the aim, thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with UK construction sector practitioners whose self-identities are closely associated with the promotion of innovation. Enactments of innovation are seen to be shaped by self-identities and embodied experiences. The lived narratives of innovation mobilised by practitioners are socially and discursively constructed, and yet are shaped and constrained by the formal narratives mobilised at policy level. The empirical data demonstrate that organisational activities become labelled as innovations through the process of collective inter-subjectivity. Organisational activities become labelled as innovations retrospectively and make sense prospectively. As narratives of innovation can be repeated and recalled, storytelling lends to the process of sustaining legitimacy. The thesis makes a contribution to existing knowledge by applying a sensemaking perspective. Research implications for practice and policy are addressed, and future research directions are suggested.

The theory and practice of team integration has changed fundamentally over the last five years, driven by the growing demands of multi-cultural team working and greater understanding of cultural issues and diversity in the internationalised construction environment. According to the literature reviewed, the challenge to the construction industry in both developed and developing countries is to address its poor performance on people management by focusing on multicultural team working. Different reports published by governing bodies in developed countries such as the UK continue to highlight that clients need to improve their understanding of how construction can best meet their business needs and help lead the process of creating integrated teams. Consequently, there have been a number of empirical studies on project teams, particularly focussing on measures of team success. However, the consequences of transition from monoculture to multi-cultural project teams remain largely unexplored in construction management research.

The construction is large, yet split into many specialities, each with its own tiers of management. A successful construction project operates with each component acting as an inherent part of an undivided whole rather than as a separate group. However, major projects often encounter problems in the control of activities that will allow them to complete the project on time and to budget. There are many examples of projects that have overrun their budget or have completed late. Three significant examples are the Channel Tunnel, Sydney Opera House and Scottish Parliament. This research aimed to assess the project process and to establish the problems that make the project difficult to control and manage. A review of current literature highlighted the increasing interest in tools and techniques for improving efficiency and quality employed in other industries, as suggested by the Egan Report (1998). The Egan Report used examples from other industries to highlight construction's poor performance. The complexity of projects, created by the present construction process, generates large quantities of information. This information is often not integrated and frequently uses different terms for similar items. Current planning tools are able to represent a one-way progression of activities or tasks, but not the information required to perform the activity nor the roles and responsibilities of the participants in the project. Meanwhile, incomplete, inaccurate, and/ or untimely information may cause a disruption to the different phases of the project. The aims of the study are to identify the major management problems arising from poor integration in construction projects; to measure the significance of the problems on several case studies; to rank the hypothesis in order of significance between projects; and to develop a system that could help to reduce the problems identified. Seven hypotheses have been proposed and tested on four case studies. The key result arising from testing the hypotheses and ranking them in order of significance was the identification of three main dominant problems which in order of importance are Integration, followed by Mapping and Linear Responsibility Analysis. As a result of identifying the main problems in managing projects a model is proposed that can be used to manage and control the project process systematically, and to integrate all the elements of the project in one framework. This model addresses the main issues from testing the hypotheses and combines the planning systems in one framework, in contrast to the current systems which are used separately to plan the project. This proposed model may lead to the reduction and/or elimination of the most dominant problems arising from the use of traditional techniques to plan and control projects. The model was tested and validated on one case study. Site staff were shown how this proposed model could deal with the problems that occur on projects where traditional systems are used. The proposed model was shown to be successful in the planning of this case study, and in predicting and highlighting the source of problems.

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The success of any project depends upon accurate and timely information, and most construction related companies utilize computer systems for this purpose. However, these systems fail to provide a link to the physical movements of materials. Effective materials management is vital because of the contribution of materials' elements to the total cost of a construction project. Despite this the construction industry has a poor record in materials management. The reasons for this include delays in the delivery of materials to site and poor identification of materials on site. The severity of these problems and their impact on the construction industry highlighted the need for research in this area. At the initial stage, the research studied the clljTent systems of materials management in the manufacturing and construction industries. It was concluded that Automatic Identification offered advantages over other systems for controlling the physical movements of materials and related information. The traditional flow of materials and related information in the construction industry was examined and schematic diagrams were developed. The typical process of materials management through the life cycle of a typical project was determined. Automatic Identification technologies were reviewed with particular emphasis on bar coding techniques. These are widely used in other industries and provide significant benefits. Furthermore, they have greater flexibility over other Automatic Identification techniques. The potential applications of bar coding techniques in construction were identified as a result of a pilot study conducted with a local company. In order to determine the current status of bar coding techniques in the construction industry a questionnaire survey was undertaken. This survey revealed a high degree of interest from the respondents in implementing these techniques for applications such as material identification, stock control and delivery ticket automation. The research developed a generic barcoded delivery ticket, a goods received note and a standard bar code label for product identification. To investigate the feasibility of using bar coding techniques in construction, a case study was conducted with a local company to monitor and control pre-cast concrete beams from production through to delivery to the customer site. The study findings showed considerable benefits could be gained from the implementation of these techniques. To realize the full benefits of bar coding techniques, electronic data interchange, (EDI), was also considered. The proposed integration of these techniques produced in an improved methodology for materials management. This methodology was validated by a series of interviews, and evaluated during trials with the collaboration of a local company. The main outcomes of the research are: • A concepmal framework for an improved methodology for managing construction materials using automatic identification and in particularly bar coding techniques. • An understanding of the problems and benefits of the design, implementation, and verification of an Automatic Identification system. • An examination of how Automatic Identification and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) could be linked to improve the flow of materials information. • A generic bar code standard format for Delivery Ticket and Goods Received Notes. • A generic bar code standard label for product identification throughout the supply chain. • The identification of potential applications of bar coding techniques in construction.