Search results

Through the study of visualizations, virtual worlds and information exchange, the purpose of this paper is to reveal the complex connections between technology and the work of design and construction. The authors apply the sociotechnical view of technology and the ramifications this view has on successful use of technology in design and construction.

This is a discussion paper reviewing over a decade of research that connects three streams of research on architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) teams as these teams grappled with adapting work practices to new technologies and the opportunities these technologies promised.

From studies of design and construction practices with building information modeling and energy modeling, the authors show that given the constructed nature of models and the loose coupling of project teams, these team organizational practices need to mirror the modeling requirements. Second, looking at distributed teams, whose interaction is mediated by technology, the authors argue that virtual world visualizations enhance discovery, while distributed AEC teams also need more traditional forms of 2D abstraction, sketching and gestures to support integrated design dialogue. Finally, in information exchange research, the authors found that models and data have their own logic and structure and, as such, require creativity and ingenuity to exchange data across systems. Taken together, these streams of research suggest that process innovation is brought about by people developing new practices.

In this paper, the authors argue that technology alone does not change practice. People who modify practices with and through technology create process innovation.

This paper discusses the communicative process of messy talk that enables collaborative problem-solving and tacit knowledge sharing among interdisciplinary team members. The paper aims to (1) trace relevant literature and lay out the conceptual and operational definitions of messy talk, (2) highlight messy talk as an enacted communication competence and (3) discuss the antecedents of messy talk and offer empirical propositions to guide future research.

This conceptual paper traces and integrates relevant literature from the construction, management and organizational and group communication disciplines to promote and foster research on messy talk.

Based on extant research on messy talk, the paper first provides clear conceptual and operational definitions of the messy talk construct. Second, using practice perspective, messy talk is presented as an enacted communication competence that focuses on the ongoing demands of the context and the situated practices of organizational members. Third, several factors including team members' technical expertise, task routineness, team history, time pressure and information sharing systems that influence the amount of messy talk conversations in teams are discussed. Lastly, the paper underscores the key implications of considering messy talk as an enacted communication competence on the performance and training of knowledge workers.

The presentation of messy talk as an enacted communication competence is a deliberate consideration of knowledge as an emergent, intersubjectively negotiated phenomenon that is deeply rooted in practice.

We explore the acceptance of new contingent work relationships in the United States to reveal an emergent entrepreneurial ideology. Our argument is that these new work relationships represent a new social order not situated in the conglomerates and labor unions of the past, but on a confluence of neo-liberalism and individual action situated in the discourse of entrepreneurialism, employability, and free agency. This new employment relationship, which arose during the economic and social disruptions in the 1970s, defines who belongs inside an organization (and can take part in its benefits) and who must properly remain outside to fend for themselves. More generally, the fusing of entrepreneurship with neo-liberalism has altered not only how we work and where we work but also what we believe is appropriate work and what rewards should accompany it.