Emerging standards in civil construction: standardization based on improvisation

Abstract

Standardisation is a management tool aimed at reducing variability in the production process through a set of rules that determine how a task must be performed. However, there are convergent ideas that parts of the work, not foreseen in the formal standards, emerge through adaptations carried out by the operators themselves andare good solutions for the purposes of standardization. The aim of this article is to understand the nature of these parts of work in construction and to categorize them through a set of constructs that represent their taxonomy. Based on the Design Science Research approach, were carried:an exploratory study developed in a company that assembles and installs custom furniture, an empirical study (EE1) occurred on the activity of laying floors and tiles, and an evaluation study (EE2) carried out on the assembly of pillar’s forms. The first study provided an initial characterization of these parts of the work. The constructs that explain the nature and taxonomy of these parts of the work were identified in the EE1. These parts of the work are called emerging standards (ES). The constructs identified were facilitation of actions and precaution, which were subdivided demonstrating the variety of situations in which ESs can be identified. Finally, the results were validatedin the EE2.

Keywords:
Variability in construction; Adaptation of standards; Positive improvisation; Emerging standards