Conceptions and renewal in Swedish construction companies

The authors argue that the renewal process in organisations originates in the mental structures and capacities of its members. Starting out with experiences from a case study on renewal in a Swedish construction company, they analyse reasons for the apparent consensus in the construction sector that 'renewal' is likely to be very slow within that sector. At the same time, it seems that shared 'conceptions' about the construction business are very strong among people in that trade. The authors also explore possible relations between this feeling of the unlikely event of 'renewal' and such strong 'shared conceptions' involved in construction. One conclusion is that strong 'conceptions' appear natural for an industry where the main resource is people, the knowledge embedded in them, and in the way they organise work. Any 'renewal' attempt might be seen as a threat against those strong 'conceptions'. Such 'conceptions' condense the experience and the tacit knowledge of the organisation and are the cement of the loose organisation of the construction industry. The lack of the real capital hardware (machinery) makes the knowledge embedded in individuals and organisations, expressed by 'conceptions', the key factor in the renewal process. This conclusion is quite remarkable if one refers to traditional economic growth theory, where capital accumulation and technical change is the prime motor in the renewal process.