Measuring Organizational Implementation Status: Development of the CII Knowledge Implementation Index (CKII)
Better competitiveness typically comes from continuous improvement and step change improvement of processes. One method of improving processes is to implement expert knowledge developed by industry, universities and/or research institutes such as the Construction Industry Institute (CII). Although there are many valuable practices available with excellent potential to improve construction project performance, and ultimately the organization’s business results, many have not been implemented to a significant extent on real world projects. Despite the importance of this implementation effort, little research has focused on the implementation of existing research products or methods of measuring the degree of the implementation effort.
In order to explore implementation improvement efforts, a survey was conducted by the CII Implementation Strategy Committee to evaluate organizational implementation status within CII. The survey was distributed to 88 CII member organizations in September 2001, including both owners and contractors. A total of 41 organizations responded. (Details of the study are given in CII Research Report 166-11.)
This document will outline results of this survey, including the CII Knowledge Implementation Index (CKII), which was developed in the research as a method to quantify the level of organizational implementation status. A significant and positive relationship was found between the CKII and project performance as measured in various performance variables. Among the conclusions of the study are that implementation generally has significant management support and corporate commitment, but the resources, self-auditing processes, and measurement of business results were found lacking. In general, CII organizations are implementing many CII Best Practices, but there is room for improvement. Policy implications of the study are discussed in this document, including a path forward to better organizational implementation.
Organizational implementation of project knowledge varies widely among the CII organizations in this study. Every organization has room for improvement. (RS166-1, p. 21)
Key areas for organizational implementation improvement include:
- Providing resources to the implementation effort including time, money, focus, and incentives
- Developing better documentation of processes and results of implementation efforts
- Using benchmarking and metrics extensively to understand opportunities for improvement
- Employing self-auditing programs to ensure that processes are being used and continuously improved
Organizations in this study with better implementation practices performed better on capital projects. Ultimately, the marketplace will differentiate organizations which can successfully implement new knowledge from those who cannot. (RS166-1, p. 22)
