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The purpose of this paper is to report a study that explores the means through which cognitive power under team learning is exploited for generative learning in order to remain competitive in the challenging business environment and to examine the extent to which various types of teams are used for purposes of generative learning by construction contractors.

To ascertain the significance of cognitive power through various types of teams, a study was undertaken in Malawi, one of the countries in the Sub‐Saharan region. A questionnaire survey was employed to elicit data on the constructs of cognitive power from various types of business teams that were employed by construction contractors.

Using cognitive power under team application as an analytical lens, the research shows that construction contractors displayed low cognitive, social and physical competences in the various types of teams as critical determinants for generative learning. Innovative behaviour of construction contractors correlated positively to the overall physical, social and cognitive competences.

A comparative study of the three preconditions for team generative learning in other developing and developed construction business environments is recommended whose results could further enrich the industry with tools for enhancing innovative behaviour of construction contractors.

The primary implication of the research findings is that construction executives have an additional role of harnessing and managing cognitive power where mission‐pertinent learning and knowledge activities should be nurtured. In practice, it means that the objectives of utilizing various business teams need to be re‐conceptualized.

The article should be valuable to the leader of any construction organisation that is attempting to sustain superior competitive performance in the knowledge economy through effective engagement and utilization of business teams.

Some of the vital lessons that could have been learned from project reviews are lost by contractors because of lack of a structured framework for undertaking them. Even though the construction business environment has moved toward modernising some of its business processes, unnecessary loss of lessons still characterise the industry. This paper aims to report a study that explores the development of a structured tool for measuring the constructs of the project review process in order to ensure organisational learning.

To ascertain the significance of the project review process, a study was undertaken in Malawi. A questionnaire survey was employed to elicit data on the constructs of the project review process that was distributed to Malawian registered construction contractors. Of the 84 sampled construction contractors, 60 completed questionnaires were received.

The results suggest that size and experience play a significant role in the way that construction contractors appropriate lessons from the various constructs of project reviews. Furthermore, the enablers of project review were significantly correlated to lessons learned, shared and planned for implementation at p <0.01 for a correlation coefficient of 0.875. However, implementation plans and application of total quality management tools in conducting project reviews had by far the least mean scores.

The study forms the basis for further research; replication of this study to other parts of world could yield rich lessons for construction industry.

The constructs of project review process employed in this study can be used to design intervention frameworks for capturing lessons learned.

There is relatively low implementation of formal project risk management methods in practice, leading to the construction industry consistently suffering from poor project performance. This study aims to ascertain the extent to which current project risk management practices are used by construction contractors in one of the countries of the sub‐Saharan region – Malawi.

A management process tool with statement indicators linked to numerical scores was conceived that characterised a series of steps of project risk management process. To ascertain the degree to which project risk management processes were used, a questionnaire survey was employed. Data were elicited from registered Malawian construction contractors on the elements underlining a series of steps of project risk management process as espoused by the literature. Out of 84 sampled construction contractors, 51 completed questionnaires were received.

Apart from large‐sized and more experienced construction contractors, all the small and medium‐sized construction contractors – which constitute the largest proportion of the construction industry – were characterised by a low implementation of the various required steps for the project risk management process. The application of project risk management processes was significantly influenced by the various categories of size and experience of the surveyed construction contractors at p<0.01. Furthermore, contingence planning within the series of steps of project risk management process featured highly among the surveyed construction contractors. The majority of the variables under the series of steps of project risk management process were positively and significantly linked to progression in size and experience of construction contractors at p<0.01.

The study forms the basis for further research; replication of this study to other parts of world about how the actual implementation of the series of steps of project risk management process is undertaken could yield rich lessons for the construction industry.

The intentional move by industry towards measuring management processes as a precursor to uncovering the root causes that underlie project success or failure to provide quick feedback for remedial action is supported by an approach such as this.

The originality of this paper lies in its uniqueness for a systematic approach to quantifying the project risk management processes with the view to understanding the implementation behaviours of construction contractors in one country in the sub‐Saharan region.

The need for capacity building of construction industries in developing countries cannot be over‐emphasised in order to ensure quality of services and products as well as the application of innovative ways for delivering construction services. Accordingly, using systems institutional paradigm approach as a conceptual premise, this paper aims to make the case for a fundamental turnaround for construction developmental approach in developing countries, that identify levels which should be considered as instrumental for capacity building of the construction industry in the Sub‐Saharan region, for example Malawi.

To ascertain a quad‐level framework which should be considered essential for capacity building of the construction industry, a questionnaire survey was employed. Data were elicited from prominent heads of sections from five stakeholders of the construction industry that operated in Malawi on the constructs for capacity building of a construction industry. Sixty completed questionnaires were received with a response rate of 90 per cent to the designed sample size.

The quad‐level framework for capacity development of a construction industry for developing countries was validated by an overall level of 77 per cent of agreement from key and prominent heads of sections of the five stakeholders of the construction industry. The rankings of the variables for capacity building for each level of the framework have provided the key foci and orientations of the industry for one of the Southern African countries of the Sub‐Saharan region.

The study forms the basis for further research; future research could be directed towards other developing countries to further enrich the industry on the dynamics of capacity building of construction industries in developing countries.

This paper is the first to critically examine the antecedents and invoke a quad‐level framework for capacity development of construction industries.

This paper investigates the lean enabling human capacities and develops a framework integrating individual, organisational and environmental level strategies to build human capacities for successful lean implementation of small and medium contractors (SMCs) in Sri Lanka.

An interpretivism stance is adopted, and a qualitative research approach is used. The data collection technique adopted is semi-structured interviews. In total, 24 experts with experience in lean implementation of SMCs were interviewed, and data were analysed through code based content analysis using NVivo10.

Team working skills, critical thinking, leadership, communication skills, work ethics, knowledge and positive attitudes were identified as lean enabling human capacities for SMCs. The framework developed in this study provides individual, organisational and environmental level strategies that can be used to build human capacities necessary for enabling lean in construction SMCs.

The study will be beneficial to construction SMCs, academics, researchers and government institutions in developing countries, which share socio-economic, demographic or cultural traits similar to Sri Lanka.

A novel lean enabling human capacity building framework is developed with the strategies required for building those capacities in order to accelerate the lean implementation in construction SMCs. This contributes to the body of knowledge as it uncovers individual, organisational and environmental level strategies for enabling lean through human capacity building in Sri Lankan SMCs.

This paper highlights the importance of creating a learning culture for strategic partnering in construction. Theories of organizational learning and strategic partnering are interpolated to identify the related attributes that help to relate and intertwine the two concepts. With the emergence of a learning culture, organizations are able to undergo the transition from no organizational learning to integrated organizational learning, which in turn reinforces the embedded culture. Since learning from experience, continuous improvement and a learning climate are pre‐conditions for a learning culture, three models are presented respectively in dealing with issues relating to these conditions. These models help to attain strategic partnering.

A growing recognition that human capital is a more critical factor than physical capital in wealth creation has led to the drive for individuals, organisations, industries and societies to become knowledge producing entities. Africa’s growing population, high rate of urbanisation and demand for sustainable infrastructure development have highlighted the need for human capacity development (HCD). However, studies indicate that the supply systems for learning which African construction organisations rely on are weak and immature generating wide spread reports of skills shortages, skills mismatches, skill deficiencies and concomitant high unemployment. This paper forms the prologue in a wider research aimed at developing a workforce capability optimising model for construction firms and the purpose of this paper is to review literature relating to HCD to highlight needs and to explore the applicability of emerging workforce development (WD) approaches in project-based construction workplaces.

Literature review, limited to peer reviewed academic publications in English from 2000 to 2016.

Much of the literature reviewed focus on educational aspects and consequently basic entry skills into the construction workforce. Workplace learning (WL), though acknowledged, is not given much attention. However, life-long learning, WL and self-directed learning have taken on greater significance because of the transient nature of knowledge in the Knowledge Age. WD practices of construction firms in Africa range from non-existent to average particularly at intermediate skills levels.

The paper makes a case for improved WD systems applicable to the African construction workplace and introduces elements of a proposed capability optimising framework that supports sustained effective learning environments and learners. Significantly, the model will incorporate HCD for intermediate skills and learning at the project level of the organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of tacit knowledge in construction and to underline the significant contribution of tacit knowledge towards the organisational performance.

Includes a review of literature on principal insights of dominant views on knowledge and organisational resources to highlight the strategic nature of tacit knowledge. Further, intrinsic characteristics of the construction industry are discussed to underline the people factor and the role of the tacit knowledge.

Valuable human and knowledge resources will be wasted unless organisations make better use of these prime resources. Tacit knowledge in particular is still considered to be relatively unexplored and proper understanding and management of this resource are of immense importance for better organisational performance. In this context, this paper reveals the labour and knowledge intensive nature of the construction industry and highlights the importance and the significant role of people factor and tacit knowledge in construction.

Owing to paucity of literature and inadequate empirical research done, this paper provides the basis for more empirical research on finding importance of tacit knowledge towards organisational performance in the construction industry.

Implementation of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in African projects is inundated with a number of capacity building challenges which affects growth and project performance. Further, there is paucity of empirical studies on the strategies for overcoming these challenges. Therefore, this research addresses that knowledge gap by examining the human capacity building (HCB) strategies for improving PPP implementation in construction projects in developing countries, with a focus on Tanzania.

HCB strategies identified from the scoping review were administered to 81 handpicked Tanzanian practitioners attending PPP training course. To examine the differences in the perception of the identified HCB strategies, and the relationships between different pairs of the HCB strategies, the data were subjected descriptive statistics, parametric tests, Kendall’s concordance and Pearson correlational analysis, including group wise correlation analysis.

Based on the overall sample, “Engagement of stakeholders on capacity development”, “Organization of PPP seminars and training” and “Introduction of in-house training to Public institutions expected to undertake PPP projects” are the top ranked HCB strategies. “Development of study tours to stakeholders involved in PPP projects” is the least ranked. Significant differences between the sub-groups of “no PPP experience” and “some PPP experience” were evident for “Invitation of International experts to share experiences” and “Sharing of responsibilities” HCB strategies. The “no PPP experience” group rated both strategies higher than those with “some PPP experience”.

The identified HCB strategies can be used as a “road map” for the development of appropriate engagement strategies with various stakeholders for the successful implementation of PPP thereby, enhancing the performance of the construction firms.

Eight strategies have been identified from the literature and tested for the Tanzanian context. The uniqueness of Tanzanian PPP implementation context arising from varying cultural, organizational, political and economic conditions differentiates the priority of HCB strategies when compared to other contexts where these strategies were investigated. This is germane to the PPP research.

This paper seeks to address the importance of knowledge production and capabilities for the construction industry; and the implications of the challenges associated with their effective exploitation for the construction industry in China.

A thorough review of extant literature and 31 detailed semi‐structured interviews with practitioners from 14 large, medium and small organisations in the UK construction industry. Content analysis was adopted as the analytical approach.

The main triggers of knowledge production in the construction industry are: the need to effectively deal with complex projects; the effective use of new, innovative building materials, systems, services; managing change (both project change and organisational change); coping with the uniqueness of projects; and managing team member interfaces (e.g. consultant‐contractor). Knowledge production is a complex process which can occur through a number of ways (e.g. formal research, reflective practice, transformation and combination of existing knowledge). Organisational culture influences knowledge production both positively and negatively.

This paper addresses the main ways in which knowledge production can benefit construction organisations and can impact positively to organisational innovations. It addresses the role of leadership and culture in knowledge production in organisations. Skilled and competent workforce is key in knowledge production, especially in addressing problem‐solving situations. Appropriate and focused training programmes (e.g. continuing professional development events, other short courses, in‐house programmes‐mentoring, coaching, and job rotation) are important in stimulating approaches for improved knowledge production in organisations. As shortages of skilled personnel are rife in construction in China, organisations need to take the issue of knowledge production more seriously.