Abstract:

Project learning recognition has additional barriers in construction industry due to its fragmented nature. This paper aims at identifying the role of boundary objects in enabling project learning practice and reducing fragmentation’s negative impact. In addition, the paper aims to discover the factors that enable project team integration, namely project collaboration, trust, and communication. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 top management individuals whom work in the Malaysian construction industry. Findings reveal that the roles of boundary objects, consisting of information technology (IT), construction contract, set of drawings, specifications, and reports, could play important role to enable project team learning. Factors including participation, contract and procedures, relationships, togetherness, project leader role, and coordinator role were found able to increase the collaboration, trust, and communication and hence, lessen the impact of project fragmentation. The paper developed a conceptual model of the role of boundary objects and integration in enabling project learning within fragmented projects. The significance of this model stems from its ability to connect both the characteristics of construction industry and the project learning theories using the boundary objects notion.