Comparison of Cultures in Construction and Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

This paper investigates and compares the culture found in a construction company with that found in two manufacturing companies because large differences in culture might reduce the potential for the construction sector to adopt management tools developed in the manufacturing sector. For the comparisons to be valid, the culture within the physical production process was observed. The results were obtained by use of questionnaires and intensive interviews with individual members of staff using a U.K. government sponsored questionnaire. A vertical section of each company was sampled such that equivalent organizational levels could be directly compared. The main findings are that the culture existing in construction has significant differences to that found within the manufacturing industries. It will not be possible to transfer management tools from one industrial sector to the other without substantial redesign. The culture within construction was found to be a “project culture” in comparison to manufacturing, which was found to be a “company culture.”