https://doi.org/10.24928/2021/0134

Potential of Gamification for Lean Construction Training: An Exploratory Study

Carla Pütz¹, Gunnar J. Lühr², Mona Wenzel³ & Manfred Helmus⁴

¹PhD student, civil engineering, dept. construction management, University of Wuppertal, Germany, +49 202 439 4190, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-0793-1428
²PhD student, Alma Mater Europaea – ECM, Maribor, Slovenia, +386 2/250 1997, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-7288-6133
³Student, civil engineering, dept. construction management, University of Wuppertal, Germany, +49 202 439 4190, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-8607-8911
⁴Professor, civil engineering, dept. construction management, University of Wuppertal, +49 202 439 4412, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-5421-9142

Abstract

For several years, Lean Construction has been an established management approach in the construction industry. Despite the high popularity of Lean Construction, the philosophy is far from being applied in all companies and projects. When changing the construction management methods, the use of Lean Construction represents a massive transformation of working methods and project culture. Studies show examples of failed implementations of Lean Construction and barriers like lacking understanding of Lean Construction methods. Thus, accompanying change by systematic change management processes is important in order to implement it successfully in the long term. Efficient and targeted training to enable the workforce to apply Lean Construction methods is one way to foster the change. Gamification supports a motivating design of such training. The concept pursues the game-like design of non-game contexts to transfer the motivation gamers show in videogames to those non-game contexts. Despite its success in other industries, gamification has not been used frequently in the construction industry. Nevertheless, approaches of the concept are already included in Lean Construction training. In this paper we propose an exploratory study to improve the effectiveness of training on Lean Construction using Gamification. Various trainings on different Lean Construction methods like the Last Planner® System, takt planning and takt control, 5S and A3, were observed and show the potential of gamification for Lean Construction, but also room for improvements. The presented exploratory study provides guidance for the integration of gamification in Lean Construction training. Applying the concept of Gamification can improve the learning outcome of trainings and employee’s motivation to use Lean Construction methods.

Keywords

Lean construction, gamification, training, change management

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Reference

Pütz, C. , Lühr, G. J. , Wenzel, M. & Helmus, M. 2021. Potential of Gamification for Lean Construction Training: An Exploratory Study, Proc. 29th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 259-268. doi.org/10.24928/2021/0134

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