Empowerment within the UK construction sector

Abstract

The feasibility and success of empowerment are to some extent determined by factors relating to the culture and structure of the industries within which organizations are embedded. The UK construction industry is an example that has a unique socio‐technical context, some aspects of which seem well‐suited to empowerment strategies. However, despite support for empowerment, it has not yet been universally embraced by construction organizations. Outlines the aspects of the industry that provide a suitable context for implementation of empowerment strategies. Suggests that, used selectively, it could play an important part in helping construction organizations to address increasing performance demands whilst mitigating the negative effects of the fragmented project delivery process. However, there remain many barriers to individual and team‐based empowerment strategies that require empirical investigation before the industry can benefit from their implementation.