Gangatheepan, S; Thurairajah, N and Lees, L (2018) From information transmission to engagement in practice: A study on BIM enabled construction projects. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2018, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
The Construction industry is shifting towards digitalisation to tackle unexpected challenges of their fragmented nature. Building information Modelling (BIM) is proposed as a way of dealing with these fragmentation through improving information transmission within the collaborative working environment. In early studies information transmission refers to transmitting data from one place to another. However, merely information transmission is not enough to improve collaboration between project participants. Instead, using information transmission project participants need to create a negotiated meaning to carry out their work. Recently in construction projects BIM has been proposed as a way of dealing with information transmission nevertheless it has raised few interesting questions on challenges faced during transmitting information and how it could fail in practice. Therefore this paper with the use of fundamental information theories aim to explore the challenges faced during information transmission; and it also goes on to explore on how negotiated meaning is created in BIM enabled construction projects. Data has been collected through conducting twenty semi-structured interviews and a case study approach which encompasses two fully integrated BIM enabled construction projects which fall between £50-100 million. Findings showed that information overload and different level of information details used in BIM enabled construction projects make information difficult to transmit within the project environment. There is also wide spread of misinterpretation of information among stakeholders while transmitting information in BIM construction projects. It is concluded that project participant’s better project engagement and participation along with self-reflection on their actions can help to build negotiated meaning in this new information centric world.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building information modelling;construction;engagement; information transmission; meaning. |
| Index terms: | fragmentation, meaning, digitalization, case study, building information modelling, interview, construction industry, information theory, collaboration, construction project, reflection |
| Subjects: | knowledge organization and systems, digital technology, business, data collection methods, information systems, industry analysis, sociology, professional development, production management, management |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Information Management, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here