Management Practices in Project-Based Design Environments
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Construction Management and Engineering
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jennifer Whyte (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Ewenstein B
(2009)
Knowledge Practices in Design: The Role of Visual Representations as `Epistemic Objects'
in Organization Studies
Harty C
(2010)
Emerging Hybrid Practices in Construction Design Work: Role of Mixed Media
in Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Jaradat S
(2013)
Professionalism in digitally mediated project work
in Building Research & Information
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2012)
Digital integration and prototyping in inter-organizational practices
in EGOS sub-theme 56: Practices of Inter-Organizational Collaboration: Designed or Emerging?
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2011)
The visual in strategy practices: Management, design and changing technologies of presentation
in Imagining Business Conference
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2010)
Strategies of project-based firms and the digital delivery of projects
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2010)
Software integration : complex products and project-based innovation in the digital economy
in British Academy of Management
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2011)
Deconstructing and Reconstructing Institutions: Episodes of Inquiry
in EGOS sub-theme 35 Deconstructing Institutions: Meaning, Technology and Materiality
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2010)
Co-ordination and control : digital objects as infrastructure in organizational settings
in Academy of Management
Jennifer Whyte (Author)
(2010)
Digital objects and management practices on engineering design projects
in Construction Matters
| Description | The contributions of this Fellowship are to a tradition of interpretive research on management practices: extending recent debates (e.g. Tengblad 2012) and building on classic studies (e.g. Mintzberg 1973). The main contributions are to related organization and management debates: • On boundary spanning in coordination: The work articulates how a digital infrastructure is becoming used for accountability and control on major projects, as well as for the kinds of cooperation that are documented in existing literatures on 'boundary objects', • On materiality and practice: The work highlights the hybrid practices that emerge across media and assesses how the visibility of information and auditability of decisions changes the locus and nature of decision-making, • On data handovers in coordination: The empirical work raises new questions about coordination over time. While the existing literature considers rapid handovers between professionals, this study has started to examine and consider the practices of handing over large data-sets between organizations. The research shows how in complex projects, integrated software solutions form this digital infrastructure for delivery (Whyte 2010; Whyte and Lobo 2010), and involve: a) repositories or storage technologies, b) standards for structuring and storing design data, c) transformational technologies for manipulating it, and d) the representations or models of the buildings and infrastructure. While there is significant management attention to compliance with workflows and structured processes associated with digital design work, and to reducing the workarounds that use email and social media to accomplish tasks, the increasing pervasiveness and use of these infrastructures is also striking. This research articulates how new hybrid practices emerge across media, with iteration between these different types of media (Harty and Whyte 2010). Whyte and Harty (2012) discuss strengths and limitations of the concept of 'boundary object' (Star and Greisemer, 1989; Star 2010). As work becomes digitally mediated, managers face new sensemaking challenges in visualizing and prioritising the information they need to accomplish their work. The consequences of emerging practices that break the mould of 1960s approaches to project delivery (Whyte and Levitt 2011) are assessed. These include the distribution of work across global offices; the prominence of the new roles of CAD managers and document controllers (Whyte 2011) and asymmetrical relationships between the digital models and established professions, with for example, architects directly inputting data into the system while engineers use CAD technicians to update their designs and feedback any issues. Promising organizational forms and arrangements have been surfaced in this research, particularly around the handover of data from projects to operations. Here the work with the London 2012 Olympics highlights the challenge of handing over larger data-sets, where professions have different conceptions of the underlying data and interact at different points in time, as well as some potentially promising practices. Comparisons with the USA and Denmark have been used to evaluate the significance of both practical and theoretical contributions. Further research has begun to examine information management practices in a major engineering programme, Crossrail, and to examine the transnational design practices that were observed in this research. |
| Exploitation Route | The research has the potential to inform the delivery of the UK government's strategy to implement Building Information Modelling in all major projects by 2016, capturing lessons from projects, and more fundamentally articulating the management challenges and questions that arise in coordinating work across organizational boundaries and handing over data across time, as major building and infrastructures move from design to construction to operation. This research has been put to use to inform management practices in project-based design environments, with a number of workshops, including the "Engineering Managment in the Digital Economy" event held at the Institution of Civil Engineers, which is fully available online (http://www.ice.org.uk/digitaleconomy). Working papers, reports, and presentations to industry and government groups were all used to rapidly disseminate findings to key stakeholders and ensure that they could make use of the findings. |
| Sectors | Construction Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Transport |
| URL | http://www.managingdesigning.blogspot.com |
| Description | As project management is being radically transformed, there is real interest in the outcomes of this research on project-based design environments. Insights have practical implications; and this work has had impact on industry practice in the construction sector; as well as the shaping of policy making around the use of Building Information Management. The findings were used in policy on Building Information Modelling following a workshop Professor Whyte organized and hosted on Engineering Management in the Digital Economy (http://www.ice.org.uk/digitaleconomy/), co-sponsored by AIM and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) held December 2010 in Westminster, broadcast and recorded online. This workshop has, for example, motivated the American Society of Civil Engineers to set up a committee on digital project delivery. Findings also shape contributions to two working groups that Prof Whyte is involved in that shape government policy on Building Information Modelling. She has subsequently been a member of the Construction Industry Council BIM Forum, and attended two meetings of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) Strategy Task Group advising Cabinet Office and Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) (2012-), co-organizing a Workpackage on 'Learning from Others'. The project is having impact on major projects, notably through Professor Whyte's current interaction with Crossrail, where she is a member of the BIM Industry Panel, and through her membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Information Systems Panel (2008-). By offering a new perspective on the management practices using digital systems in project-based organizations, this work has had scientific impacts on related research debates on coordination, practices and project management. It show how managers practices are beginning to break the mould of the classic project management techniques developed in the 20th Century; with new modes of accountability and control arising alongside new digitally-enabled rapid and agile approaches; and hybrid practices being enacted across media. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Construction,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Other |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |
| Description | BIM Policy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Impact | The research of the Design Innovation Research Centre had impact on the BIM policy agenda through my involvement in associated national committees such as the CIC BIM Forum, and through engagement with industry partners such as those on the advisory board. This research included new understandings of patterns of practice and outcomes, particularly in areas such as the hand-over of information from projects to infrastructure owners. |
| Description | London 2012 Olympics Learning Legacy |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The work on data handover that formed part of the London 2012 Olympics learning legacy programme has had an impact on the policies for data handover in the next generation of large infrastructure projects including Crossrail. The BIM agenda has established that getting the right information at the right time has significant economic impacts and can improve environmental sustainability of construction. Our work on data handover informs the workforce, taking lessons learnt and situating them in a broader research literature to improve the educational and skill level of those delivering major projects in the UK. |
| URL | http://learninglegacy.independent.gov.uk/documents/pdfs/systems-and-technology/425009-231-data-trans... |
| Description | EPSRC Challenging Engineering |
| Amount | £1,250,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/H02204X/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2010 |
| End | 06/2015 |
| Description | Capacity Building Events |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Hosted capacity building events relating to, visits from Prof Martin Fischer (Stanford) ; Prof Mark Clayton (Texas A&M) and Profs Andrew Hargadon (UC Davis); Deborah Dougherty (Rutgers) and Paul Leonardi (North Western) as AIM Visiting International Fellows. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011 |
| Description | Engineering Management in the Digital Economy workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Engineering Management in the Digital Economy workshop, co-sponsored by AIM and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) held December 2010 in Westminster, broadcast and recorded online (http://www.ice.org.uk/digitaleconomy/ - URL is no longer active, but created wide online impact), for example, this workshop has motivated the American Society of Civil Engineers to set up a committee on digital project delivery. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | ICE Information Systems Panel |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The ICE Information Systems Panel seeks to disseminate best practice and research on use of BIM and other digital technologies in engineering practice to ICE members and wider industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 |