University of Twente Student Theses
Consultants as systems integrator?! - a case study in the Dutch construction industry
Grooters, W. (2018) Consultants as systems integrator?! - a case study in the Dutch construction industry.
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| Abstract: | The current role of the consultant in the construction industry is often passive and involves consultancy or the elaboration of designs. Consultants believe that a lot of professional in-house knowledge is not used and opportunities may remain unused. Nowadays, governments are transferring more tasks and responsibilities to the market offering consultants the opportunity to change their role. Nevertheless, when taking the systems integrator perspective, a major question still remains, namely to what extent consultants can move away from its consultancy role and can take a more directing, coordinating and risk-bearing role in the construction industry. This paper presents a case study about bouwteams1 (hereafter referred to as the CB-team) in the Dutch construction industry. The results from the case study show that consultants can take a more directing, coordinating and risk-bearing role in CB-teams. It depends on the type of client and client’s needs to what extent consultants can take this role. Furthermore, this research concludes that becoming a systems integrator in CB-teams is a step too far, especially in the public market. Some thresholds need to be removed by the consultant such as the willingness of consultants to abandon the limitations of their design liability, contractors who process themselves to be the ‘central’ party in the process and the traditional attitude of public clients. In addition, this research has found that ‘CB-team’ and ‘systems integrator’ must be kept separate and cannot be integrated, as the fundamentals of both terms contradict each other. Therefore, it is not possible to become a systems integrator in CB-teams. This research shows that participating in CB-teams could be the first step to develop into a systems integrator. A model is presented which describes the different steps consultants must take to develop from a jobber to a systems integrator. The model appoints which competences the consultant needs to develop and which limitations should be taken into account. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ET: Engineering Technology |
| Subject: | 56 civil engineering |
| Programme: | Construction Management and Engineering MSc (60337) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/75861 |
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