Bilge Erdogan

Collaboration Environments for Construction: Management of Organizational Changes

AbstractThe implementation of a new collaboration environment initiates many changes to an organization and to the end users as a result of the new way of working and the use of new technologies. Unless these changes are well managed at the organizational level, it will not be possible to achieve the full benefits expected from the implementation of the collaboration environment. This paper presents a framework for managing the organizational changes brought into construction organizations by the introduction of a new collaboration environment. The framework consists of five primary stages: initiation of change, development of change vision, planning of organizational change, implementation of change, and evaluation of change. The processes for each stage are detailed in integrated definition function modeling diagrams. The evaluators in construction organizations have found the framework to be successful in managing organizational changes.

Construction in year 2030: developing an information technology vision.

Emerging technologies offer new solutions to the construction industry, improving processes, enabling automation and effective decision-making mechanisms and changing current ways of work. Previous research has tended to consider a direct causal relationship between the emerging and prospective technologies and the future of construction. However, the future of construction will be influenced not only by the developments in the information technology (IT) industry, but also by other technological changes. Societal, economic, environmental and political factors will shape the future, together with emerging technologies. This paper presents a scenario-planning exercise that aimed to identify possible futures that the construction industry might face. In order to achieve the aims of the research, a literature review was carried out on scenario planning and future studies related to construction and construction IT, which was followed by a mini survey and two prospective workshops as part of the La Prospective scenario-planning approach. In a future study, it is important to understand the forces, issues and trends in order to inform and enable further thinking and action towards achieving a preferred future state whilst being prepared for what might be round the corner. Therefore, the paper first investigates the driving forces of change, main trends, issues and factors that might shape the future, focusing on factors related to society, technology, environment, economy and politics. Secondly, four future scenarios that were developed keeping these factors in mind are presented. The scenarios start from a global view and present the images of the future world in year 2030. They later focus on the construction industry, imagining how it will be shaped by the future world and trying to visualize the information and communication technology implications for construction. Finally, a preferred future scenario for 2030 is introduced based on the principle that the future can be influenced if we know what we want it to be. Focusing mainly on the IT vision, the paper concludes with recommendations in the areas related to innovation, communication and collaboration, education and training, process improvement, interoperability, user-centred IT and sustainability, in order to reach the desired state determined by the vision.

Using structural equation modelling (SEM) to understand the relationships among critical success factors (CSFs) for stakeholder management in construction

Purpose Stakeholder management plays a significant role in successfully delivering construction projects. However, being able to carry out effective stakeholder management in construction is contingent upon understanding the interrelationships among critical success factors (CSFs) for stakeholder management in construction and how they are related to project success (PS). This would enable the persons responsible for stakeholder management to know the logical process for addressing the CSFs in order to get stakeholder management right. The understanding of this relationship has not been addressed. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationships between the CSFs for stakeholder management and PS in construction. Design/methodology/approach From an extensive literature review, 23 CSFs for stakeholder management in construction were identified. A conceptual structural equation model (SEM) of the relationships between CSFs was developed (including measurement and structural models) using the groupings of the CSFs for stakeholder management in construction. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data from construction industry practitioners. The data so collected were analysed using SEM in analysis of moment structures (AMOS). Findings The SEM analysis of data collected resulted in the best fitting measurement model comprising 16 CSFs as indicators of four latent variables, namely, stakeholder characteristics and project characteristics (SCPC); stakeholder analysis (SA); stakeholder dynamics (SD); and stakeholder engagement/empowerment (SE). Furthermore, it was found that only SE has a direct positive impact on PS. The other three constructs SCPC, SA and understanding SD collectively impact on PS through the construct, SE. Research limitations/implications The research reported in this paper was carried out in the UK; hence, the findings may have portrayed the UK construction professionals’ opinion. However, the theoretical principles on which the research was based are general and similar research could be replicated in different countries whose construction procurement processes and industries are structured like those of the UK or otherwise. Practical implications The main contribution of this study to existing knowledge is an empirical evidence of the interrelationships among the CSFs for stakeholder management in construction through their latent variables which is portrayed in the best fitting structural model showing the relationships between the constructs of CSFs for stakeholder management and PS. This should serve as a guide to construction project management team or responsible professionals for undertaking stakeholder management in construction projects. Originality/value The paper contributes to theory by empirically identifying the interrelationships among the CSFs for stakeholder management linking to PS which will serve as a guide to construction professionals.

Collaborative working and its effects on the AEC organisation

The 21st century is the time for the construction industry to embrace new ways of working if it is to continue to be competitive and meet the needs of its ever demanding clients. Collaborative working is considered by many to be the basis for new management paradigms such as concurrent engineering and lean production and is essential if architects / design and construction teams are to consider the whole lifecycle of the construction product. Much of the recent work on collaborative working has focused on the delivery of technological solutions with a focus on web (extranets), CAD (visualisation), and knowledge management technologies. However, it is now recognised that good collaboration does not result from the implementation of information technology solutions alone. The organisational and people issues, which are not readily solved by pure technical systems, need to be resolved. However, approaches that exclusively focus on organisational and people issues will not reap the benefits derived from the use of technology, especially in the context of distributed teams which are the norm in construction. Work currently being undertaken at Loughborough University aim s to bring together the benefits enabled by the technology, with the organisational, and its people issues to provide tools and methods to enable high level strategic decisions to be made to implement effective collaboration. This paper reports on the initial studies carried out in the project, the literature review and survey in the topics of collaborative working (existing technologies and methods), organisational culture and change, implementing ICT into the organisation, and there effects on business processes.

An innovative integrated framework towards effective collaboration environments in construction

The research reported in this paper was aimed at exploring the introduction of IT enabled collaboration environments to construction organisations and managing the changes required to obtain full benefits. The paper firstly presents the results of a literature review on the factors affecting the success of collaboration environment implementations. Secondly, it summarises the results of case studies providing the perspectives of the construction organisations on the implementation of collaboration environments. It then presents the implementation of collaboration environments and management of organisational changes (ICEMOCHA) framework developed to enable the planning and implementation of collaboration environments on construction projects whilst carrying out the organisational changes in each organisation. The paper also provides the evaluation results of the ICEMOCHA framework.

Integration of visualisation and mobile technologies in construction

This paper provides an overview of wireless technologies, communication mechanisms, research and development in the field, and reviews the advantages that mobile IT provides to collaborative engineering and construction activities. It then discusses visualisation, research and practical applications developed for different construction problems. The possibility for a communication system transferring visual data using mobile technologies is explored and three scenarios are suggested. Finally, as a case study, the applicability of the proposed scenarios to the Turkish construction industry is investigated. Conclusions are then drawn on the benefits of integrating visualisation and mobile communication technologies in the construction industry.

Key factors for successful corporate entrepreneurship: a study of Indonesian contractors

Abstract Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is considered as an effective means to support the success of business in a competitive market. Although CE can be a solution for contractors to come up with the right corporate strategy, the concept of CE is very new and there is very little guidance. This paper is aimed at clarifying the CE concept for contractors and identifying key factors for CE in order to enable the implementation. To address this, firstly theoretical concepts and previous research on CE were explored, followed by 19 interviews with top managers of contractors in Indonesia. The data was analysed using thematic analysis to identify the key factors for successful CE in Indonesian contracting business. 21key factors of CE have been identified, which are discussed under five categories: autonomy, competitive aggressiveness, innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking. All these key factors are found to be related to one another and hence have to be managed as a system for successful CE.