Developing a Framework for Dynamic Organizational Resilience Analysis in Prefabricated Construction Projects: A Project Life Cycle Perspective

Abstract

Prefabricated construction has recently played an increasingly significant role in social, environmental, and economic developments in the construction sector. Because prefabricated construction projects (PCPs) are interorganizational in nature, their successful delivery, especially under uncertain circumstances, relies on organizational resilience performance throughout the life cycle. The purpose of this study is to develop an ethnography-based methodological framework for the PCPs to evaluate, analyze, and improve the dynamic organizational resilience regarding efficiency, flexibility, and robustness from a life cycle perspective. A two-part framework is developed. The qualitative first part identifies the roles and relationships of participating stakeholders during each project phase, and the second quantitative part measures and analyzes the PCP’s organizational resilience. A typical engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract PCP in China is used as a case analysis to assess the validity of this developed framework. The results show that the robustness and flexibility of the PCP should be improved. Such improvement can be achieved by managing and enhancing the workflow control and how stakeholders communicate. This scenario was examined via a comparative analysis of employing building information model (BIM) and decentralized collaboration platform (DCP) within the case project. Finally, this developed framework could be used as a practical decision-making tool for managers to improve the organizational resilience in the aspects of efficiency, flexibility, and robustness of PCPs in case unforeseen events are encountered. It contributes to the current knowledge body of PCPs by incorporating organizational resilience theory into its performance evaluation and improvements.