Towards a theory of construction as production by projects

This paper responds to the invitation to debate the theory of production in construction from the advocates of lean construction. In particular, it is a response to Koskela and Ballard's critiques of the theory of project management represented in the Project Management Institute's (PMI) PMBoK, and the ‘economics-based’ approach to construction project management presented by Winch. The paper reviews the theoretical and practical contributions of lean construction before addressing the specific criticisms made. It then suggests that lean construction theory has its own limitations and requires further development in the areas of the definition of process, the concept of organization, the theorization of risk and uncertainty, and its unitary concept of value. Cet article est la réponse des défenseurs de la construction « au plus juste » lorsqu'ils ont été invités à la théorie de la production dans la construction. Il réagit, notamment, aux critiques de Koskela et Ballard sur la théorie de la gestion de projet représentée dans le PMBoK du Institut de Gestion de Projet et à l'approche basée sur l'économie de la gestion de projets de construction présentée par Winch. Cet article passe en revue les contributions théoriques et pratiques de la construction ‘au plus juste’ avant de traiter des critiques spécifiques faites à ce sujet. Il suggère ensuite que la théorie de la construction ‘au plus juste’ a ses propres limites et nécessite d'autres développements dans les domaines de la définition des procédés, du concept d'organisation, de la théorie des risques et des incertitudes et de son concept unitaire de la valeur. Mots clés: construction ‘au plus juste’, gestion de projet, gestion des risques, économie des coûts des transactions, incertitude, valeur

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