Investigating the critical lean factors of interior design in the public building sector: The case of Bahrain

Abstract

This thesis aims to critically investigate the adoption of lean principles and sub-principles (TQM, visual management, inventory) in the interior design stage at the public construction industry, which ultimately lead to sustainable development and the extent to which lean process can help in reducing wastage. There are limited number of studies that have been conducted to assess the adoption of lean management in the construction industry and in particular in the Kingdom of Bahrain (Municipalities of the four Governates namely Capital, Muharraq, Northern and Southern Governate) specifically in the initial interior design stage. To achieve the aim, this study adopts a quantitative method approach using a questionnaire survey due to the gap found in previous literature, which entails the need for studies that measure the effect of lean adoption in the construction industries and its effect on sustainability. This research is conducted in the construction public sector. The data are collected from a total of sample of (328), managers (96), project managers (81), project officers (68) and project team members (83). In order to analyse the data, statistical measures are utilised to test the developed hypotheses to investigate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in such study. This study has applied structural equation modelling (SPSS-AMOS) to test the proposed research framework using the software SPSS V.23. The final developed framework was then refined and presented along with the findings. The findings highlight that, lean monitoring and controlling has a positive influence on only three of the factors (quality, people involvement, and leadership) while it exhibited a negative influence on the remaining factors (customer focus, supply, transparency, inventory, and talent). Lastly, the strategies that governments should use to address critical lean factors of interior design were identified based on the findings of the study. The study provides contribution to knowledge in the area of critical lean factors of interior design, by extending the literature, i.e., the theoretical framework by Bajjou and Chafi (2018). Also, it provides a contribution to practitioners working in the field of construction, in order to provide a foundation to which principles would be adopted in the Bahraini public construction industry. This has been done, through investigating the relationship between the principles and sub-principles with lean monitoring and controlling and its relationship with the adoption of lean sustainable development. Moreover, findings showed lack of adoption of lean monitoring and controlling in some lean pillars. This shows that, practitioners need to pay more attention to the processes of lean monitoring and controlling in order to achieve lean sustainable development initiative. Finally, the originality of this study is to try to provide new insights on the subject of critical lean factors of interior design in Bahrain, due to the limited studies on how lean factors of interior design effect the public building sector in Bahrain. This study attempts to provide a validated conceptual framework that integrates different related factors. Also, the impact of additional factors such as training, reduce process cycle time, and waste awareness are considered in this research, complementing and enhancing the existing literature on lean factors of interior design. This research offers several implications to practitioners (decision maker) and stakeholders who are involved in critical lean factors of interior design by providing new insights into such important industry to any economy.