Social Network Analysis in Construction

Increasingly demanding and knowledgeable clients in construction require an approach to project management that recognises both the important role played by the client in the definition of a project and the lack of certainty that large and/or complex projects present.

Having identified the importance of managing relationships, both analysts and practitioners today need a sophisticated framework and methodology for observing systems and managing the complex relationships in major construction project coalitions.

Social Network Analysis in Construction shows how social network analysis (SNA) can be used to observe, monitor and analyse systems and relationships. Although this has been an established analytical technique in the US for some time, it is only now being developed in the UK.

Stephen Pryke spent nearly two decades investigating major project relationships using SNA and brings together here mathematical and sociological methods, and major project relationships in a manner that will inspire both academic interest and a desire to apply these concepts and techniques to live construction projects. Case studies include projects from two of the UK’s largest property developers – the UK Ministry of Defence, and a County Council.

SNA is innovative – but potentially inaccessible to project management analysts and practitioners. The author provides clear and relevant explanation and illustration of the possibilities of using SNA in a major project environment. In addition to offering the potential for sophisticated retrospective analysis of a wide range of systems associated with construction and engineering project coalitions, he also looks at how we might apply the network analysis findings to the design and management of project and supply chain networks.

Postgraduate students and academic researchers in Project Management and Construction Management, as well as practitioners from professional consultancies and project management companies will find here an excellent exposition of an often inaccessible subject.