RENEWING PRACTICES TOWARDS VIRTUAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION A paper presented in 8th Nordic Working Life Conference 2-4 November 2016, University of Tampere Finland Dr. Hannele Kerosuo Institute of Behavioural Sciences University of Helsinki, Finland Email:
[email protected] Keywords: development, re-mediation, activity theory, building information modelling, construction 1 Introduction The adoption of new building information modeling (BIM) is an attempt to increase the quality and productivity of construction industry BIM is a digital modelling technology (3D/4D models, object-related knowledge) currently used in virtual design The implications of BIM are predicted to change the prevailing practices (Hardin, 2009). However, breaking away from the routine practices, deeply rooted in the industry, is not easy (e.g., Harty & Whyte, 2010). The temporary form of project organization with various players is a challenging environment for the adoption of new tools as the multi-contracting practices creates tension-laden and adversarial contexts for project work (Crotty, 2012). We analyze the renewal of BIM-based practices in a construction company during 2011-2015. We take the perspective of a key player, a virtual design and construction (VDC) team. Its task was to support the adoption and use of BIM in the company. How does the VDC team enable the renewal of practices? What kinds of challenges emerge during the process of renewal? How are these challenges solved? The main data was gathered through thematic interviews with key persons of the company 2013 and 2015. 2 The activity-theoretical methodology of the study Activity theory is considered one of the practice theories (Nicolini, 2012). The concept of practice is here used in its general meaning as a carrier of human accomplishments whereas the concept of activity reserves a specific meaning of culturally mediated and object-oriented activity. The activity-theoretical methodology here is based on three theoretical sources. Firstly, according to Vygotsky’s (1978) formulation, signs and tools mediate the interaction between a human subject and an object. Tools are externally oriented and their function is to enable changes in an activity whereas signs are internally oriented aimed at mastering the acting subjects themselves. A subject assimilates cultural means through the process of internalization as a participant of a community and new activity can be created in processes of externalization. According to Lektorsky (2009), some actions can be “re-mediated” during a process of reflection and generate new activity. Miettinen and Virkkunen (2005) call a process “re-tooling” when “the shared creation of artefacts is used as means of reflecting practical transformation of activity, as a key to changing practices” (p. 443). Secondly, Leont’ev’s (1978) made a distinction between a collective object-oriented activity, goal-oriented individual and group actions, and
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automated operations. The concept of an object refers to its materially as independent existence and to its motive reflected on its material existence as subordinated to the human activity. An activity emerges in mutual constitution with situational actions and operations that carry multiple historical layers. For instance, the chains of actions and operations related to previous computer aided design (CAD) are present in BIM-based design and construction. Thirdly, Engeström’s (2015) idea of the role of tensions and contradictions deriving from previous practices create tensions and contradictions in an activity. The emergence of tensions and contradictions can trigger expansive learning and renewal of an activity. An object of activity and practice co-evolve during process of expansive learning. It is realized in the ideal-typical sequence of epistemic actions: (1) the questioning of the existing practices, (2) analyzing the situation, (3) modeling the new solution, (4) examining the new model, (5) implementing the new model, (6) reflecting on the process, and (7) consolidating the new practice. 3 The data and the methods of the study Our entrance point to the company was the observation of BIM use in the project meetings in 2011. We1 also observed the activities of the VDC team during one day in 2012. The data of this study was, however, collected 2013 and 2015 in the interviews with two BIM experts, the key actors of the virtual design and construction team (VDC team). The method of interview was an open interview in which the interview questions enable the interviewees’ own constitution of the phases and events of the activity. In that sense, the method resembles narrative or ethnographic interviews. The extensive ethnographic data gathered during 2011-2013 is used to give context and in-depth understanding of situated actions of the VDC team. The method of historical analysis was guided by activity-theoretical methodology (Engeström, 2015; Kerosuo, 2006). Three methodological questions were settled in the analysis. First, which features of an activity are focused in the analysis? Second, how is the development of an activity divided into periods? Third, how are the transitions from one period to another explained? 4 Findings on the renewal of BIM-based practices in a construction company The renewal of BIM-based practices is divided into four phases according to the VDC team’s object of activity. The phases are 1) the pioneering (2006-2008), 2) the implementation (2009-2010), 3) the diffusion (2011-2013), and 4) the stabilizing phase (2015) of the adoption and use of BIM. 4.1 Phase 1: The pioneers of BIM use in the company (2006-2008) The ‘VDC team’ was founded in 2006. During the first year of its existence, the team had only two members and third member joining in. The main object of the team’s activity was the technical development of BIM. The team tested the validity of the information by comparing the calculations retrieved from native BIM models (e.g. architectural models) with the calculations created by Excel formulas. The team also tested different information transfer standards and software applications for the integration of native expert models into one combined model. Some software applications were unreliable for calculation and information transfer. The team found two pilot users to test the calculations in the cost accounting of the building projects. They also organized training to
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cost accountants for testing the calculation of building costs. Besides the training the team organized hands-on learning for single pilot users. Learning to use the new models and tools was not easy; it was difficult to the accountants to give up their prevailing practices under the circumstances. As a consequence, their interest to adopt BIM-based practices evaporated. 4.2 Phase 2: The implementation of BIM in building production (2009-2010) The recession was a new beginning for the adoption of BIM. Four new team members were recruited during this phase. They created new concepts for the BIM adaptation. One concept was called the “spoon model” directing the adoption of BIM in “small things that would support the daily activities.” The object of the VDC team changed from supporting the adoption of BIM in cost accounting to the production phase of building projects. The site mangers began to use BIM in renovation projects. The site engineers found the previously created calculation tools (Excel formulas) and methods especially useful for quantity survey. The VDC team also continued the testing different new software applications and the development of new tools. For instance, the crosschecking reviews for different expert models were developed and other tools such as the platform for managing the phases of a building project was created. Besides development and training the VDC team supported site managers in the project meetings of building projects. The VDC team provided training of basic skills for using BIM to the site managers and engineers. They also trained and advised architects and structural designers, and negotiated the main principles of modelling with HVAC-E designers subcontracted to the projects. The increasing number of projects created tensions to the VDC team in service provision for the construction site management. 4.3 Phase 3: The expansion of BIM use in building projects (2011-2014) There were fifty on-going BIM projects in the company all over Finland in 2013. A new BIM expert joined and one member left the team during 2013.The increase of BIM-based projects required the VDC team to re-define their object of activity and the division of labour between the site managers, site engineers and themselves. The object of VDC team was to provide “back office” services to the building projects. The services included the development of meeting practices to serve BIM use in different phases of a project. Furthermore, the ‘back office’ team created instructions and templates of BIM use to the projects. The technical development of BIM and testing new software applications was also on the responsibility of ‘back office’ team. The responsibilities of site managers (or site engineers) increased to include the use of BIM in project work and meetings. The software applications in use provided integrated models (of expert models), areal plans to construction sites, and quantity listings. The need to expand the BIM-based practices to other fields of activity created tensions for the VDC team to provide its services to other players of the company and its networks. 4.4 Phase 4: Towards the stabilization of BIM use (Fall 2015) The company had many competent BIM users in the fall, 2015. The quality of users’ competence defined the use of BIM in building projects. The object of the VDC-team was to support a worthwhile use of BIM models in different projects. The tools VDC team used supported the embodiment of BIM-based practices as templates and BIM manuals. The meeting practices had also been settled. The meetings had become situations in which the scale and precision of
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modelling was negotiated and agreed among project participants. However, there were still challenges and tensions related to the expansion of BIM-based practices in the company and its providing networks. For instance, the competence of sub-contractors’ uses of BIM was not taken account in the tendering. The consequences of incompetence fell on competent providers but the rewards did not. BIM experts concluded learning to use BIM requires the employees to do modelling themselves. Delegating BIM-based tasked to experts slowed down learning to use BIM. 5 Discussions and conclusions Technologies are not “predefined possibilities, but a situated and recursive process of constitution” (Orlikowski, 2000, p. 409). Technologies are “sociomaterial assemblages” and their uses are constituted and renewed in related social practices. The activity of the VDC team supported the emergence of the examining and implementing phases of expansive learning in the adoption and use of the new modelling technology. The process involved the expansion of the object of activity from one activity (renovation projects) to other projects and project networks. BIM-based practices created were disseminated to other phases and network of a building project. For instance, the use of Excel formulas disseminated from cost accounting to renovation projects and the providers started to use BIM in the project network. Solving the emergent tensions and contradictions is an important part of the adoption of new virtual technologies. The continuous testing and creation of additional tools such as Excel formulas solved the tensions of unreliability of the new software applications. The division of labour between the VDC team and BIM users settled the tensions raised by the expansive use of BIM. The successful adoption of BIM led to the diffusion of BIM to other projects and enabled the move towards stabilization of BIM-based practices in construction. New technology-based practices may become institutionalized over time, although, the stabilization is only temporary. Therefore, the developers need to involve themselves constantly to the reconfiguration of technology and related practices and not to take for granted the uses that are already stabilized. REFERENCES Crotty, R. (2012). The Impact of building information modelling—Transforming construction. London and New York: Spon Press. Engeström, Y. (2015). Learning by expanding, 2nd edition. Cambridge: University Press, Hardin, B. (2009). BIM and Construction Management. Proven Tools, Methods, and Workflows. Indianapolis, Indiana, US: Wiley Publishing, Inc. Harty, C. & Whyte, J. (2010). Emerging hybrid practices in construction design work: Role of mixed media’, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 136(4), 468-476. Kerosuo, H. (2006). Boundaries in Action: An Activity-theoretical Study of Development, Learning and Change in Health Care for Patients with Multiple and Chronic Illnesses. Helsinki: University Press, Helsinki. Lektorsky, V. A. (2009). Mediation as a means of collective activity. In A. Sannino, H. Daniels & K. D. Gutierrez, (eds.), Learning and expanding with activity theory, 75-87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Leont’ev, A. N. (1978). Activity, consciousness, and personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
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Miettinen, R. & Virkkunen, J. (2005). Epistemic objects, artefacts and organizational change. Organization, 12(2), 437-456. Nicolini, D. (2012). Practice Theory, Work, and Organization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Orlikowski, W. J. (2000). Using technology and constituting structures: A practice lens for studying technology in organizations. Organization Science, 11(4), 404-428. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes: Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1 The members of the research group led by professor Miettinen were docent Sami Paavola, PhD student, MSc. (Civ. Eng), MA (Educ.) Tarja Mäki, MSc. Jenni Korpela, PhD student, MA (Educ.) Jiri Lallimo and the current author.
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