Innovating 'assimilation process': the role of client leadership in fostering effective information flows in contruction management supply chains

The effects of the cultural and structural fragmentation normally inherent in construction project teams, can be offset to a large extent, by effective communications. However for this to happen, it is first necessary to understand the detailed context that a particular project provides, before those communication channels can be optimised and the use of a supply chain model - in this case Lambert and Cooper (2000) - can provide the mechanism for developing this understanding. Issues of commercial motivation, information needs and specific requirements of effective communication channels can be analysed and understood from each participant's perspective. This paper details the implementation of such an approach within a single case study of a distribution warehouse for an experienced major client engaging with six other key project participants. It utilises ethnographic interviews combined with thematic analysis and abstraction, and finds that the client's role in managing informal information flows within the project supply chain, was critical to project success. Specifically, the client's role was pivotal in cementing together positive working relationships across the first tier of the project team: this proactive activity that established the assimilation of all parties into a shared understanding is entitled 'Assimilation Process'. It is argued that clients trigger innovative informal processes through 'Assimilation process'.