Organizational change in Australian building and construction: rethinking a unilinear ‘leaning’ discourse

Over the past few decades there has been extensive reorganization of the construction industry in many developed countries including removal of head contractor companies from direct operational construction, elongation of the subcontracting chain, rising self‐employment, casualization of work and reduced investment in training. These trends are the subject of a prescriptive, industry literature directed at industry ‘improvement’ and an important British‐based critique of the underlying drivers of ‘leanness’ and organizational ‘re‐engineering’. Drawing primarily upon interviews with organizations across the breadth of the industry, this paper provides evidence concerning such key changes in the Australian context, revealing both ‘leaning’/‘re‐engineering’ tendencies but also counter‐tendencies necessitated by the goal of sustaining enduring enterprise and a viable labour force. A more reflexive approach by major companies to competitive pressures and risk shifting is revealed. Further, this evidence provides grounds for challenging the re‐engineering/lean construction critique which is discerned as succumbing to the unitarist and unilinear discourse which it seeks to challenge.