Theories in construction

Résumé du document

This document is a fully written reading note about two articles:

Epistemological Explanation of Lean Construction » de Lauri Koskela, Andrea Ferrantelli, Jarkko Niiranen, Ergo Pikas, Bhargav Dave, paru dans le « Journal of construction engineering and management », vol.45, février 2019, publié par l'American Society of Civil Engineers.

Agility in construction » de Robert Owen, Lauri Koskela, paru dans les actes du « 20th IPMA World Congress on Project Management », 2006.

In both articles, the question analysed is related to methods of engineering and management, particularly in lean construction and construction. The idea is to analyse the methods used and where their influences, Platonic and Aristotelian, come from, in order to point out strengths and weaknesses of both methods and find what could be used to improve society, business and engineers ‘work in future.

Extraits

[...] Plato's theory applied in our field of study is highly based on deduction and abstract concepts. On the other hand, the Aristotle's approach is based on induction, namely, observation of cases leads to the discovery of causes. Both conceptions are still used today in science and scientists have joined either one of these two methods over time. Although engineering is not the same as science, engineering and management areas have been influenced by three sources scientific engineering, economics and quantitative methods. [...]

[...] This acknowledgement goes hand in hand with what is discussed in the second article, "Agility in Construction". Indeed, to improve the organisation, it is essential to encourage the learning and training of the team, but also to encourage the partnership between suppliers and customers through the Agile Project Management method, based on a highly trained workforce which cooperates at all stages. In both articles, the question analysed is related to methods of engineering and management, particularly in lean construction and construction. [...]

[...] However, using only the Platonic approach leads to problems in the industry, while the other vision of engineering, the Aristotle's one which based on induction, is linked to the success of the Toyota system which led, in return, to lean construction. This approach, although not the only reference of the Japanese system based particularly on "tacit knowledge", allows failure and learning to improve efficiency, such as defended by the Agile Project Management method. Both articles support the lack of efficiency demonstrated by the Platonic-only approach, and defend the synergy of both methods to improve engineering and management in order to allow a long-term successful business. [...]

[...] On the other hand, the Aristotelian method is less popular in Western engineering and management. Yet, this Aristotelian approach, used in lean construction which is derived from the Toyota system, has proved to be effective in resolving problem caused by the "one-sided use of Platonic ideas". Indeed, subsequent stages of work are taken into account, deviations from the optimal plan are integrated, there is much more cooperation and collaboration and multiple ways of reasoning are accepted, even encouraged. Moreover, the "Agile Project Management" is aimed to bring something more to the efficiency of production, by starting value delivery at an early stage, "iterate and increment" both development and "delivery of value" and realise value for "as long as possible" through delivery and identification. [...]

[...] The first one is based on deduction, the latter on induction. While the Platonic approach has been mainly used within Western society, it is different in Japan, where the tacit knowledge is preferred and has been used in the "Toyota production system", which led to lean production. While Ranking and Shewhart are fathers to two different visions of engineering, it can be observed that these two visions are linked to two previous visions, much older, of Plato and his student, Aristotle. [...]