The Lean Construction Professional Profile (LCPP): Implementation in Chilean Contractor Organizations

Abstract

The consolidation of lean construction requires the active engagement of people able to implement this management philosophy. Therefore, a pioneering research study was carried out to define a Lean Construction Professional Profile (LCPP), which identifies three areas of competence that need to be developed simultaneously: enterprise vision, technical competence and social competence. This article presents an initial implementation of the LCPP in Chilean contractor organizations, based on the identification of the competences required by project team members’ roles. Also, new developments of the model are discussed, in order to provide recommendations for implementing the LCPP inside construction companies. Results revealed the coherence of the model in terms of what construction companies expect of their project staff and how—through the identification of specific competences—it is possible to address the three elements of lean management: business purpose (enterprise vision), processes (technical competence) and people (social competence). In the future, it is expected to obtain data which will allow organizations to manage individual performance according to the LCPP and implement the model in other human resource management processes.