Operations Strategy and –Innovation? -A Contractor Implementing Lean

Traditional strategic management and operations strategy wants us to believe that the implementation of management concepts is a simple strategic choice made by top managers. In this paper we introduce the story of Lean Construction entering into the organisation of a Danish contractor. Lean Construction is viewed as a management concept and the journey into the construction company witness not only that top management is very little involved, but also that the concept is negotiated and promoted by a number of actors and coalitions competing for attention and resources with a number of other concepts. The paper presents findings from empirical work in collaboration with a large Danish contractor. The case is analysed from the perspective of operation strategy and political process. It is observed how the management concept is socially constructed and negotiated through political action of key actors/brokers and coalitions. Lean Construction is shaped in the process of emergence in the organisation, where also explicit corporate strategies and other initiatives of the organization interact with the concept and the actors and coalitions surrounding it. It is analysed how Lean Construction as a management concept interact with people and coalitions within the organisation on its journey to being accepted as an embedded practice. It is argued that strategy should be replaced by governance of the gartnering type.