Akintola, A A; Venkatachalam, S; Root, D and Oti, A H (2021) Distilling agency in BIM-induced change in work practices. Construction Innovation, 21(3), pp. 490-522. ISSN 1471-4175
Abstract
Critics of claims about building information modeling's (BIM's) capability to revolutionize construction industry practices describe it as overhyped, fallacious and therefore suggest that there is need for a more critical examination of its change impacts. Others have posited that the changes BIM induces are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In this vein, the purpose of this paper was to undertake a careful analysis of the nature of such changes to distil actual changes that happened, and the type of agency that brings such changes about. Drawing from appropriate qualitative research strategies, data was collected through key informant interviews from consulting organizations in South Africa that have implemented BIM within their organizations and on projects. Changes in organizations' work practices were evident in their workflows, formal/informal methods of interaction, norms, leadership and authority structures, remuneration and the way work was conceived or conceptualized. Furthermore, changes in organizational work practices do not solely occur through the direct agency of the BIM tool's implementation. Instead, BIM-induced change occurs by delegated, conditional and needs-based agency – which are not mutually exclusive. The nature of changes in professional work practices could be misconstrued as being solely because of the actions of agents who actively participate in implementing BIM. The discussion in the literature has, therefore, been advanced from general to specific theoretical understandings of BIM-induced change, which emphasize the need for construction stakeholders to actively participate in developing the innovations that drive change in the industry rather than hand the power to drive change to BIM authoring and management application developers who have less stake in the industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | activity theory; agency; building information modelling; change; constraints; work practices |
| Index terms: | qualitative research, work practice, norms, construction industry practice, agent, agency, workflow, South Africa, interview, drawing, strategy, authoring, interaction, implementation, building information modelling, professional work, activity theory |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, research design and methodology, practitioner, technical documentation, contractual arrangements, management, theoretical framing, Geography, coding, professional development, sociology, behavioral psychology, information systems |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Design Practice, Organizational Design, Information Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Procurement, Roles and Professions |
| 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