Videnbank
December 2011
Building not Dwelling: Purposive Managerial Action in an Uncertain World
Graham Winch & Kristian Kreiner
This paper introduces a cognitive perspective on strategising drawing on the phenomenology of Alfred Schutz in complement to the analytic and behavioural perspectives. Developing from recent post-processual perspectives that take a phenomenological approach that emphasises dwelling, we propose a more cognitive approach that suggests that purposive managerial action is more like building in deploying future-perfect-thinking to orientate purposive managerial action. We then use secondary data from the Channel Fixed Link project to identify some of the actual practices used by actors to imagine and then create a future to take the project through to a successful conclusion.
December 2011
Dialogues and the problems of knowing: Reinventing the architectural competition
Daniel Toft Jensen, Kristian Kreiner & Peter Holm Jacobsen
We describe and analyze the introduction of legitimate dialogues in architectural competitions. What happens to the competition when the contestants are allowed to interact
with each other and with the competition jury? We consider dialogues to be a supplementary social technology that is becoming embedded in well-known forms of architectural competitions. By enabling feedback on preliminary design ideas and solutions, the dialogues are meant to accelerate processes of clarification and learning, and to enable the contestants to implement changes and improvements during the development of their final design entries. However, in an empirical study the actual effects proved less straight-forward. The feedback allowed thearchitects to react and adapt, but in some cases they reacted and adapted in ways which they later regretted. By showing that feedback may also mislead the architectural teams to draw wrong implications we are sensitized to the inherent problems in knowing certain things ahead of time. We elaborate on this dilemma and suggest some implications for the theory and management of architectural competitions.
with each other and with the competition jury? We consider dialogues to be a supplementary social technology that is becoming embedded in well-known forms of architectural competitions. By enabling feedback on preliminary design ideas and solutions, the dialogues are meant to accelerate processes of clarification and learning, and to enable the contestants to implement changes and improvements during the development of their final design entries. However, in an empirical study the actual effects proved less straight-forward. The feedback allowed thearchitects to react and adapt, but in some cases they reacted and adapted in ways which they later regretted. By showing that feedback may also mislead the architectural teams to draw wrong implications we are sensitized to the inherent problems in knowing certain things ahead of time. We elaborate on this dilemma and suggest some implications for the theory and management of architectural competitions.
December 2011
Asymmetric Information And Collective Ignorance: Dilemmas in Dialogue‐based Architectural Competitions
Peter Holm Jacobsen, Daniel Toft Jensen & Kristian Kreiner
By way of studying a unique type of architectural competitions, the dialogue‐based architectural competition, we elaborate on the idea and role of dialogue as a remedy to fundamental problems in the knowledge society. Dialogues have many possible effects, and one of them may be to foster illusions about what can be known in advance. Upon disclosure of such illusions, many seek refuge in the belief that the problems originate in an asymmetrical distribution of information, for which early dialogue is a potential cure. Our study of dialogue‐based architectural competitions allows us to address a few implications for
action and learning from experience if we take more seriously the fact that some things cannot be known ahead of time.
action and learning from experience if we take more seriously the fact that some things cannot be known ahead of time.
December 2011
Byggeriets Gengangere
Kristian Kreiner
”Gentagelsen af skandalen er den største skandale af alle.” Ordene er Kunderas, men de er gjort aktuelle af Det Kongelige Teaters opsætning af Henrik Ibsens skuespil Gengangere (programmet side 7). I byggeriet er vi langt fra krigens gru og slægters nedarvede forbandelse. Men vi er ikke fri for skandaler, og vi er ikke uden erfaring for, at de gentager sig.
December 2011
Between organisation and architecture: end-user
Marianne Stang Våland
This paper contributes to our sparse knowledge on the relationship between organisational and architectural design. It is based on an ethnographic study of the process of designing a municipality town hall, in which end-user participation constituted an integrated part of the design process. In this process, the open-office layout was introduced as a premediated design condition, a format that the users initially resisted. The paper discusses how end-user participation as a method and spatial design as a perspective may inform change in organisations. Although the users’ resistance toward the open layout remained, their perception of this solution concurrently modified.
November 2011
THE PROJECT OF SUCCESS
Kristian Kreiner
The ‘projectification’ of the firm and society (Midler 1995; Lundin and Söderholm 1998) implies a systematic translation of organizational goals into performance targets. Such targets offer not only direction for collective action, but also a solid foundation for the assessment of the achievements. To the extent that project success becomes a matter of meeting the explicit targets, it loses its relevance as independent phenomenon. For that reason, perhaps, project success is hardly ever discussed in the project management literature.
Marts 2011
Culture and Organization
Martin Kornberger, Kristian Kreiner & Steward Clegg
To date, organization theory’s attempts to understand architecture firms have focused by and large on debates about increasing managerialization and economization of the profession. This paper suggests an alternative approach by conceptualizing architecture as practice that does not adhere only to a narrow economic logic of value creation but also focuses on the production of aesthetic value. We will introduce the concept of style to understand how architecture practice routinely breaks routines and follows the rule of rule breaking. We will analyze architecture practice as a form of organized heresy – a hegemonic engine for the production of difference. In order to illustrate our points we will draw on qualitative empirical fieldwork with an architecture firm (synonym Earth Architects).
Februar 2011
How objects shape logics in construction
Kjell Tryggestad & Susse Georg
The notion of institutional logics is a key tenet in institutional theory but few studies have attended to the micro-foundations of logics. The sociology of associations is
used to explore the micro-foundations of logics, their emergence and temporal–spatial importance. A case study of the construction of the skyscraper, ‘Turning Torso’, in Malmö city, shows how technical objects and actions implicated in the material practices of building construction shape logics and identities associated with professions, economy, market, science and design. We summarize our findings by theorizing logics and identities as emergent and contingent outcomes of the material practices of building construction. The argument is concluded by considering the building construction as a materially mediated meaning structure.
used to explore the micro-foundations of logics, their emergence and temporal–spatial importance. A case study of the construction of the skyscraper, ‘Turning Torso’, in Malmö city, shows how technical objects and actions implicated in the material practices of building construction shape logics and identities associated with professions, economy, market, science and design. We summarize our findings by theorizing logics and identities as emergent and contingent outcomes of the material practices of building construction. The argument is concluded by considering the building construction as a materially mediated meaning structure.
Januar 2011
Magasinet Benspænd
Redaktion: Søren Houen Schmidt og Morten Misfeldt
Magasinet Benspænd knytter sig til læringsspillet Benspænd - et resultat af udviklingsinitiativet RENOVERING 2010, der er et partnerskab mellem Grundejernes Investeringsfond (GI) og Realdania.
Læringsspillet og dette magasin deler titlen ”Benspænd”. En titel der spiller på en udbredt myte om, at byggeriets aktører spænder ben for hinanden. Vi håber at både spil og magasin bidrager til at denne myte bliver diskuteret og forkastet.
Læringsspillet og dette magasin deler titlen ”Benspænd”. En titel der spiller på en udbredt myte om, at byggeriets aktører spænder ben for hinanden. Vi håber at både spil og magasin bidrager til at denne myte bliver diskuteret og forkastet.
December 2010
Prospect or Pain?
Marianne Stang Våland
New societal tendencies are currently affecting the professional architect in her design practice. This paper reports of organized end user participation as one such recent approach, and preliminarily discusses a few of the implications this phenomenon may bring to architectural practice.
November 2010
Længere væk og ekstremt tæt på
Marianne Stang Våland & Søren Houen Schmidt
Der er sket et skred i forholdet mellem arkitekt og bygherre, og det skrider stadig. Lidt karikeret kan man kalde det et skred fra den klassiske arkitektarrogance til en måske lidt for stor beredvillighed. Men hvad er det for faktorer, der er på spil i denne udvikling, og hvilke udfordringer repræsenterer det for arkitekten? I det følgende kigger vi kort på udviklingen af arkitektens selvforståelse, for så at rette blikket mod bygherren og undersøge, hvilke implikationer udviklingen af denne rolle har for arkitektens arbejde.
November 2010
Ledelse i en brydningstid: Tre lederprofiler i dansk arkitektur
Marianne Stang Våland & Kristoffer Lindhardt Weiss
Det er set før i branchen, men finanskrisen har ændret på noget ved spillereglerne. Efter en lang periode med vækst er der nu øget koncentration om at tjene penge. De markante ændringer i markedet har stillet tegnestuerne over for en række nye udfordringer, med større opmærksomhed på forretnings- og markedsudvikling, hvor fænomener som strategi, globalisering og talentpleje har fået større betydning.
November 2010
Konkurrenceinstitutionen anno 2010: Dyrk alternativerne
Søren Houen Schmidt & Marianne Stang Våland
Arkitektkonkurrencen er under pres som institution. Vejen, der igen skal gøre det attraktivt at gennemføre den ædle kappestrid om opgaverne, er endnu ikke fundet. Og måske finder vi den ikke, hvis ikke vi begynder at dyrke alternative tilgange, der kan få konkurrenceinstitutionen ud af den fastlåste situation.
Maj 2010
Konstruktiv konfliktkultur
Kristian Kreiner
Center for ledelse i byggeriet (CLiBYG) har fulgt et Realdaniafinansieret interventionsprojekt, Konstruktiv Konfliktkultur, hvor deltagerne i et byggeri blev uddannet til og coachet i at håndtere konflikter på en konstruktiv måde.
Observationer fra dette interventionsprojekt gav inspiration til den tanke, at konflikter måske ikke altid er så dårlige endda, og at udfordringen måske ligger i at gøre konflikterne konstruktive, i stedet for blot håndteringen af dem.
Observationer fra dette interventionsprojekt gav inspiration til den tanke, at konflikter måske ikke altid er så dårlige endda, og at udfordringen måske ligger i at gøre konflikterne konstruktive, i stedet for blot håndteringen af dem.
Marts 2010
The Chronoprogramme – Capital budgeting and motorway construction
Silvana Revellino & Jan Mouritsen
This study analyses capital budgeting practices where "matters of concern" condition capital budgeting decisions involving a particular category of investments, that of motorway building projects. Here, a central mediating instrument is the chronoprogramme which visualises the geography of "matters of concern".
Marts 2010
Constructing buildings and design ambitions
Kjell Tryggestad, Susse Georg & Tor Hernes
Project goals are conceptualized in the construction management literature as either stable and exogenously
given or as emerging endogenously during the construction process. Disparate as these perspectives may be,
they both overlook the role that material objects used in construction processes can play in transforming
knowledge and thereby shaping project goals. Actor-network theory is used to explore the connection between
objects and knowledge with the purpose of developing an adaptive and pragmatic approach to goals in
construction. Based on a case study of the construction of a skyscraper, emphasis is given to how design
ambitions emerge in a process of goal translation, and to how, once these ambitions are materialized, tensions
between aesthetic and functional concerns emerge and are resolved. These tensions are resolved through trials
of strength as the object—the building—is elaborated and circulates across sites in various forms, e.g. artistic
sketches, drawings and models. Given that initial goal accuracy is often seen as a key success factor, these
insights have theoretical and practical implications for the management and evaluation of the construction
project.
given or as emerging endogenously during the construction process. Disparate as these perspectives may be,
they both overlook the role that material objects used in construction processes can play in transforming
knowledge and thereby shaping project goals. Actor-network theory is used to explore the connection between
objects and knowledge with the purpose of developing an adaptive and pragmatic approach to goals in
construction. Based on a case study of the construction of a skyscraper, emphasis is given to how design
ambitions emerge in a process of goal translation, and to how, once these ambitions are materialized, tensions
between aesthetic and functional concerns emerge and are resolved. These tensions are resolved through trials
of strength as the object—the building—is elaborated and circulates across sites in various forms, e.g. artistic
sketches, drawings and models. Given that initial goal accuracy is often seen as a key success factor, these
insights have theoretical and practical implications for the management and evaluation of the construction
project.
Februar 2010
Design ambitions and logics in construction – a performative approachk
Susse Georg, Tor Hernes and Kjell Tryggestad
Skyscrapers are often often seen as powerful symbols and important symbols of power; views which generally render the skyscraper as nothing more than a passive object representing people’s design ambitions. Rather than continue in this representational vein, the paper develops a performative approach emphasizing the role of materiality in constructing design ambitions.
Februar 2010
What we talk about when we talk about space
Marianne Stang Våland
In the thesis, Marianne Stang Våland explores the construction of mutual links between two design processes that have traditionally been considered separated and sequentially organized: the organizational and the architectural design processes.
Februar 2010
3D Digital Modelling
Jesper Hundebøl
Based on empirical probes (interviews, observations, written inscriptions) within the Danish construction industry this paper explores the organizational and managerial dynamics of 3D Digital Modelling.
Februar 2010
Organisational Learning with Technology
Jesper Hundebøl
Based on multi-site ethno-methodological field studies in the Danish construction industry this paper examines the relational effects of 3D object-based modelling.
Februar 2010
Constructing buildings and design ambitions
Kjell Tryggestad, Susse Georg & Tor Hernes
The aim of this study is threefold: (1) to describe and analyze how project goals and ambitions are actively shaped and established by a variety of objects, (2) to develop an adaptive and pragmatic approach to goals in construction, and (3) to discuss implications for the management and evaluation of the construction project.
December 2009
Campus og Studiemiljø
Danmark skal have universiteter i verdensklasse. Et vigtigt parameter i denne bestræbelse er et levende og udfordrende fysisk forsknings- og studiemiljø.
Den fysiske planlægning har en væsentlig betydning for kvaliteten af studie- og forskningsmiljøet på og omkring universiteterne. Nye læringsmetoder, nyt kreativt arbejdsmiljø, internationalisering, digitale muligheder og ikke mindst byudvikling og skærpede energikrav stiller stadig større krav til de fysiske rammer. Universiteternes planlægning skal derfor nytænkes for at kunne leve op til denne udvikling.
Denne publikation er essensen af et projekt i Universitets- og Bygningsstyrelsen under Ministeriet for Videnskab, Teknologi og Udvikling, som gennem to år har sat fokus på potentialerne ved fysisk planlægning af universiteter. Projektet består af undersøgelser af internationale og danske eksempler og af en række temamøder samt en konference, som landets universiteter har deltaget i.
Den fysiske planlægning har en væsentlig betydning for kvaliteten af studie- og forskningsmiljøet på og omkring universiteterne. Nye læringsmetoder, nyt kreativt arbejdsmiljø, internationalisering, digitale muligheder og ikke mindst byudvikling og skærpede energikrav stiller stadig større krav til de fysiske rammer. Universiteternes planlægning skal derfor nytænkes for at kunne leve op til denne udvikling.
Denne publikation er essensen af et projekt i Universitets- og Bygningsstyrelsen under Ministeriet for Videnskab, Teknologi og Udvikling, som gennem to år har sat fokus på potentialerne ved fysisk planlægning af universiteter. Projektet består af undersøgelser af internationale og danske eksempler og af en række temamøder samt en konference, som landets universiteter har deltaget i.
December 2009
Energy Efficiency And The Construction Sector In The Danish Media
Satu Reijonen
This paper inquires into how energy efficient construction, its achievement or the lack of this is portrayed in the Danish newspaper media. The focus of this paper is in the discursive stabilization and destabilization of different themes involved in the achievement or dispelling of energy efficiency. This paper maps these themes and analyzes their evolvement in the texts produced by the Danish print media between 1999-2008. The discursive stabilizations of themes, problems and solutions given in the Danish media are seen as interesting as for their significant role in the society: they participate in categorizing, naming and enrolling actors and their relations and thereby defining the meaning of energy efficiency (Fairclough 1995).
December 2009
Energy Efficiency and the Construction Sector in the Danish Media
Satu Reijonen
This paper inquires into how energy efficient construction, its achievement or the lack of this is portrayed in the Danish newspaper media.
November 2009
End User Participation as an Input to Shape the Brief in Architetural Competitions
Marianne Stang Våland
In this paper the potential relationship between two design processes that are traditionally regarded as independent: the architetural and the organizational respectivelyis being considered and discussed through the implications that end user participation might have onthe written brief, upon which architectural competitions is being based.
Oktober 2009
Valuable value: Transformations through architectural enactment
Rune T. J. Clausen
This paper is set out to study the value creation of a public building.
September 2009
Manufacturing competition: How accounting practices shape strategy making in cities
Martin Kornberger & Chris Carter
Purpose – Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of cities develop corporate strategies. Strategy has become an obligatory point of passage for many city managers. This paper starts by posing an ostensibly simple question: Why do cities need strategies? The commonsense answer to the question is: because cities compete with each other. This paper aims to problematise the seemingly natural link between cities, competition and strategy.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the role that calculative practices play in creating city league tables that, in turn, function as the a priori condition that generate competition between cities. It is interdisciplinary and draws on accounting, organization theory and strategy. The argument unfolds in four steps: first, it briefly provides some theoretical background for the analysis and relates it back to strategizing and accounting as a calculative practice; second, scrutinizes league tables as an a priori of competition; third, it discusses the implications of the argument for city management and accounting studies; finally, it concludes with a discussion of the power effects of those calculative practice that shape strategizing in cities through the production of competition.
Findings – City strategizing is best understood as a set of complex responses to a new competitive arena, one rendered visible through calculative practices that manifest themselves in city rankings. The paper makes five key contributions: one, league tables reduce qualities to a quantifiable form; two, league tables create an order amongst a heterogeneous ensemble of entities; three, league tables stimulate the very competition they claim to reflect; four, once competition is accepted, individual players need a strategy to play the game; five, league tables have important power effects that may result in unintended consequences.
Practical implications – The paper contributes to understanding how calculative practices relate to strategy; it explores the organizational environment in which city managers strategize; in addition, it discusses the problem of civic schizophrenia.
Originality/value – The paper seeks to open up an agenda for studying city management, strategy and accounting.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the role that calculative practices play in creating city league tables that, in turn, function as the a priori condition that generate competition between cities. It is interdisciplinary and draws on accounting, organization theory and strategy. The argument unfolds in four steps: first, it briefly provides some theoretical background for the analysis and relates it back to strategizing and accounting as a calculative practice; second, scrutinizes league tables as an a priori of competition; third, it discusses the implications of the argument for city management and accounting studies; finally, it concludes with a discussion of the power effects of those calculative practice that shape strategizing in cities through the production of competition.
Findings – City strategizing is best understood as a set of complex responses to a new competitive arena, one rendered visible through calculative practices that manifest themselves in city rankings. The paper makes five key contributions: one, league tables reduce qualities to a quantifiable form; two, league tables create an order amongst a heterogeneous ensemble of entities; three, league tables stimulate the very competition they claim to reflect; four, once competition is accepted, individual players need a strategy to play the game; five, league tables have important power effects that may result in unintended consequences.
Practical implications – The paper contributes to understanding how calculative practices relate to strategy; it explores the organizational environment in which city managers strategize; in addition, it discusses the problem of civic schizophrenia.
Originality/value – The paper seeks to open up an agenda for studying city management, strategy and accounting.
September 2009
Learning and Imagination in Construction
Kristian Kreiner & Lise Damkjær
In this paper Kristian Kreiner and Lise Damkjær offer a minor, but slightly significant change in perspective on some very old and persistent problems in construction practice.
September 2009
Empirical Observations and Strategic Implications for Architectural Firms
Kristian Kreiner
This paper explores architectural competitions as processes of participation and choice.
September 2009
Constructing buildings and design ambitions
Kjell Tryggestad, Susse Georg & Tor Hernes
Project goals are conceptualized in the construction management literature as either stable and exogenously given or as emerging endogenously during the construction process. Disparate as these perspectives may be, they both overlook the role that material objects used in construction processes can play in transforming knowledge and thereby shaping project goals. Actor network theory is used to explore the connection between objects and knowledge with the purpose of developing an adaptive and pragmatic approach to goals in construction.
Based on a case study of the construction of a skyscraper, emphasis is given to how design ambitions emerge in a process of goal translation, and to how, once these ambitions are materialized, tensions between aesthetic and functional concerns emerge and are resolved. These tensions are resolved through trials of strength as the object – the building – is elaborated and circulates across sites in various forms, e.g. artistic sketches, drawings, and models. Given that initial goal accuracy is often seen as a key success factor, these insights have theoretical and practical implications for the management and evaluation of the construction project.
Based on a case study of the construction of a skyscraper, emphasis is given to how design ambitions emerge in a process of goal translation, and to how, once these ambitions are materialized, tensions between aesthetic and functional concerns emerge and are resolved. These tensions are resolved through trials of strength as the object – the building – is elaborated and circulates across sites in various forms, e.g. artistic sketches, drawings, and models. Given that initial goal accuracy is often seen as a key success factor, these insights have theoretical and practical implications for the management and evaluation of the construction project.
Juli 2009
On the emergence of roles in construction: the qualculative role of project management
Susse Georg & Kjell Tryggestad
Within construction, roles are generally thought of in terms of a division of labour, tasks and responsibilities, established through contractual and/or cultural relations. Moreover, roles are also presumed to be relatively stable. Drawing upon actor network theory, roles are re-conceptualized and it is argued that roles are emergent and that they depend upon the tools and devices with which the project managers are equipped. A case study of the construction of a skyscraper, the ‘Turning Torso’, in Malmö, Sweden highlights the hybrid role of project management. In some instances project management may act as a mediator having qualitative effects on the project while in other instances project management may only be an intermediary, merely speeding up the process by conveying the concerns of others. The concept of qualculative project management is introduced to account for this emerging hybrid role. The analysis shows the ways in which the budget and other devices participates in enacting a qualculative role for project management, while simultaneously being involved in negotiating boundaries between professional roles in construction as well as the qualitative and quantitative properties of the building.
Juni 2009
Shape Shifting - the Story of a 3D Model in Construction
Jesper Hundebøl, Stefan Christoffer Gottlieb, Jens Stissing Jensen, Casper Schultz Larsen & Kristian Birch Sørensen
In this paper, the authors are concerned with the specific effects of a 3D building model produced and reproduced in the planning and construction phases on a particular construction project.
Juni 2009
Proceedings of 5th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation
Stefan Christoffer Gottlieb, Jesper Hundebøl, Jens Stissing Jensen, Casper Schultz Larsen & Kristian Birch Sørensen
In this paper, we are concerned with the specific effects of a 3D building model produced and reproduced in the planning and construction phases on a particular construction project. We contrast these effects with the policy intentions expressed within a state funded, public initiative that aims to promote so-called ‘digital construction’ in Denmark.
One of the main objectives of this initiative is to ensure better coordination between the different phases of the building project through the application of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM). The intentions are to improve the construction phase by providing pervasive on-site planning and logistics, where the 3D building model combined with process-data developed and maintained by the individual contractor should facilitate the production of detailed step-by-step production planning in the form of ‘production cards’. The empirical findings from the case-study reveal a much less pervasive and more coincidental utilization of the 3D model than envisioned programmatically. We show how the 3D model is introduced into the construction phase in the form of paper based isometric drawings – as a supplement only to the existing practices. While this modest utilization may resemble a failure from the viewpoint of the policy intentions, we suggest that it allows the craftsmen on the building site to actively translate and contextualise the technology in a form relevant to their activities. We suggest that the top-down regulatory intentions of the policy program may be hampered if there is a failure to create room for such local ‘contextualization’ processes.
One of the main objectives of this initiative is to ensure better coordination between the different phases of the building project through the application of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM). The intentions are to improve the construction phase by providing pervasive on-site planning and logistics, where the 3D building model combined with process-data developed and maintained by the individual contractor should facilitate the production of detailed step-by-step production planning in the form of ‘production cards’. The empirical findings from the case-study reveal a much less pervasive and more coincidental utilization of the 3D model than envisioned programmatically. We show how the 3D model is introduced into the construction phase in the form of paper based isometric drawings – as a supplement only to the existing practices. While this modest utilization may resemble a failure from the viewpoint of the policy intentions, we suggest that it allows the craftsmen on the building site to actively translate and contextualise the technology in a form relevant to their activities. We suggest that the top-down regulatory intentions of the policy program may be hampered if there is a failure to create room for such local ‘contextualization’ processes.
April 2009
Prækvalificering af arkitektkonkurrencer i Danmark – Del 2: Arkitekternes perspektiv og erfaringer
Kristian Kreiner & Majken Merete Gorm
Denne rapport er en fortsættelse af en rapport fra januar 2008, hvor praksis omkring prækvalificering til arkitektkonkurrencer blev analyseret ud fra bygherrernes synspunkt. Denne rapport laver en parallel analyse, men denne gang ud fra arkitektfirmaernes synsvinkel.
Hvis man læser begge rapporter i sammenhæng, får man det bedste indblik i...
Hvis man læser begge rapporter i sammenhæng, får man det bedste indblik i...
April 2009
Hold døren åben for konflikter
Tanja Schou Hartmann
Se kriser i projekter som værdifulde elementer i værdiskabelse og læringsprocesser. Sådan lyder det fra forskere fra Københavns Handelshøjskole, der stiller skarpt på kriser som vejen til mere relevante og interessante projekter.
Marts 2009
The triple visual
Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen
In this paper Justesen and Mouritsen analyze relations among different kinds of visualization in annual reports and trace their interaction with activities in marketing and sales, in design and planning, and in operations.
Februar 2009
Robust Arkitektur - phd afhandling
Ultik Stylsvig Madsen
Arkitekturen som en aktiv del af organisationers identitetsskabelsesproces
Flere og flere organisationer ønsker at gøre deres bygning til en vigtig brik i organisationens identitet. Samme stigning genfinder man i hastigheden, hvormed en ’tidssvarende identitet’ ændrer sig. I sin aktuelle phd afhandling har Ulrik Stylsvig...
Flere og flere organisationer ønsker at gøre deres bygning til en vigtig brik i organisationens identitet. Samme stigning genfinder man i hastigheden, hvormed en ’tidssvarende identitet’ ændrer sig. I sin aktuelle phd afhandling har Ulrik Stylsvig...
Januar 2009
Kronik: Byggesektorens mindreværdskomplekser er grundløse!
Peter Holm Jacobsen & Kristian Kreiner
Mange ting, som i princippet burde ske, lader sig ikke gøre i praksis. Det er en alment menneskelig erfaring, men også en sandhed i byggeriet. I princippet burde byggeriet blive industrialiseret og produktionen flytte indendørs, men ingen lykkes med at gøre det. Alligevel bliver alle ved med at tale om industrialisering som løsningen på byggeriets...
November 2008
DISORGANISING BUREAUCRACIES
By asking how real bureaucracies’ (government agencies, i.e.) action vis-à-vis digitalization of construction effects the order of work in the design phase I am going to discuss how the introduction of 3D modelling disturbs work routines, methods and processes. The discussion appears relevant because, as a matter of fact, several Danish practices rush to 3D digital modelling in response to, among others, public clients’ request for 3D building models. In the transition from 2D CAD (Computer Aided Design) to 3D BIM (Building Information Modelling) several complicated issues call for the attention of partners and e.g. CAD managers. Object oriented modelling challenge existing work procedures, methods and routines and puts strain on the users’ competences, e.g. their capacity to ‘work around’, to communicate and coordinate, to structure creative processes. Along with the debatable advantages of building modelling comes a plethora of challenges, namely the unforeseeable effects of socio-material associations. Sometimes 3D modelling transforms practice in surprising ways. Dealing with the managerial difficulties associated with adopting a 3D modelling practice the focus lies on the distribution of work and the composition of teams. In three relatively short story lines I illustrate how partners need to pay further attention to the manning up or down of project teams, to the breakdown of phases and to quality assurance procedures. As such, the underlying question that I want to discuss is the disruptive power of BIM – the 3D modelling tool’s capacity to destabilize the organisation: How does BIM disorganise practicing?
November 2008
The triple visual - Translations between photographs, 3-D visualizations and calculations
Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze relations among different kinds of visualization in annual reports and to trace their interaction with activities in marketing and sales, in design and planning, and in operations. For this purpose it is intended to produce insight into the referents that make up a particular image found in the annual report: the 3-D visualization.
Design/methodology/approach – It is a case study of a firm that uses different kinds of visualization in many parts of its activities. The case study is based on different kinds of empirical data, such as annual reports, interviews and field observations. This allows a better understanding of relations and translation between visualization and organizational practices. The paper draws on theoretical work on photography and 3-D visualizations and is inspired by the actor-network theory approach in its analysis of how various kinds of visualizations interact.
Findings – It is suggested that visualization is important in all aspects of the firm’s activities such as accounting, communication, selling, planning and operations. It is shown how the visualizations interact with one another and are superimposed on one another to develop even stronger modes of reporting in the annual report and stronger coordination towards the market, production and operations. Visualizations in annual reports are not merely window dressing but also their traces and referents have to be found elsewhere than in the financial reporting system.
Research limitations/implications – This is a single case study, and more cases need to be analyzed to understand the complexities of interactions between visualizations.
Originality/value – The paper produces insight into the referents that make up a particular image found in the annual report: the 3-D visualization.
Design/methodology/approach – It is a case study of a firm that uses different kinds of visualization in many parts of its activities. The case study is based on different kinds of empirical data, such as annual reports, interviews and field observations. This allows a better understanding of relations and translation between visualization and organizational practices. The paper draws on theoretical work on photography and 3-D visualizations and is inspired by the actor-network theory approach in its analysis of how various kinds of visualizations interact.
Findings – It is suggested that visualization is important in all aspects of the firm’s activities such as accounting, communication, selling, planning and operations. It is shown how the visualizations interact with one another and are superimposed on one another to develop even stronger modes of reporting in the annual report and stronger coordination towards the market, production and operations. Visualizations in annual reports are not merely window dressing but also their traces and referents have to be found elsewhere than in the financial reporting system.
Research limitations/implications – This is a single case study, and more cases need to be analyzed to understand the complexities of interactions between visualizations.
Originality/value – The paper produces insight into the referents that make up a particular image found in the annual report: the 3-D visualization.
November 2008
Disorganising Bureaucracies
Jesper Hundebøl
By asking how real bureaucracies’ (government agencies, i.e.) action vis-à-vis digitalization of construction effects the order of work in the design phase Hundebøl discusses how the introduction of 3D modelling disturbs work routines, methods and processes.
November 2008
A question concerning the sacred and profane: In pursuit of an economic rationale
Rune T. J. Clausen
This paper discusses the economic reasoning of an architectural practice. The aim of the paper is to develop a snapshot picture of the economic awareness of the firm of architects by looking at how management and employees rationalize their economic perceptions.
September 2008
Constructing the Olympic Dream
Stewart Clegg
The presentation reports a uniquely complex organizational context—that of the fast-tracked large-scale project management of a significant piece of Sydney 2000 Olympic infrastructure, which we researched in terms of its management through the “future perfect.” In a grounded analysis we resolved to track how the future perfect developed in the...
September 2008
Future Perfect Strategy: The Role of Imagination and the Risk of Empty Horizons
Kristian Kreiner & Graham Winch
Can ‘future-perfect-thinking’ be turned into a management strategy? Can trivial, every-day projects, like getting a letter to a friend, serve as model for huge, complex construction projects? These questions were made current when Clegg et al (2003) created a bridge between Alfred Schutz and project management theory. In this paper we revisit this...
Juli 2008
End User Participation as an Input to Shape the Brief in Architectural Competitions
Marianne Stang Våland
In this paper, the potential relationship between two design processes that are traditionally regarded as independent: the architectural and the organizational respectively, is being considered and discussed through the implications that end user participationmight have on the written brief, upon which an architectural competition is being based.
Juli 2008
Organisational Learning with Technology - The case of 3D working methods in the Construction Industry
Jesper Hundebøl
Based on multi-site ethno-methodological field studies in the Danish construction industry this paper examines the relational effects of 3D object-based modelling. In describing how that technology is being introduced, shaped and enacted, how it associates with, mediates and translates existing practices, I discuss how it has effects for work methods and routines in an (inter-)organisational setting, namely that of architects and consulting engineers. The technology is introduced in the practices in question, in part because of a program referred to as Det Digitale Byggeri (Digital Construction). Among others, the program demands that architects and consulting engineers embrace a new breed of computer-based software programs allowing for 3D object-based modelling.
In this paper I will describe the program and the network of (non-)human actors engaged in the promotion hereof with a view to examine various ways in which 3D object-based modelling relates and associates itself with the wider socio-material actor-network. This is done in two interrelated sections that serve as a backdrop against which to understand on the one hand, how the program is sought stabilized, at least temporarily, and on the other hand, how the program is challenged by a number of unforeseen translations – Digital Construction manifests itself in ways not anticipated in the original program. In continuation hereof follows a couple of analytical descriptions that illustrate in detail how 3D object-based modelling is enacted in practice. I will discuss these cases with a view to understand the implications for organising, learning and knowing in the design phases of a construction projects.
In this paper I will describe the program and the network of (non-)human actors engaged in the promotion hereof with a view to examine various ways in which 3D object-based modelling relates and associates itself with the wider socio-material actor-network. This is done in two interrelated sections that serve as a backdrop against which to understand on the one hand, how the program is sought stabilized, at least temporarily, and on the other hand, how the program is challenged by a number of unforeseen translations – Digital Construction manifests itself in ways not anticipated in the original program. In continuation hereof follows a couple of analytical descriptions that illustrate in detail how 3D object-based modelling is enacted in practice. I will discuss these cases with a view to understand the implications for organising, learning and knowing in the design phases of a construction projects.
Juli 2008
End user participation as a vehicle for co-designing buildings and organizations
Marianne Stang Våland
In this paper, the connection between the architectural and the organizational design processes is being explored through the implications of end user participation.
Juni 2008
Ledere er uundværlige. Behøver de være det?
Kristian Kreiner
”Har du en godt designet organisation?” Sådan spørger forfatterne i en artikel i Harvard Business Review fra 2002. De lægger ikke skjul på, at svaret som oftest vil være NEJ. Organisationsstrukturer udvikler sig typisk over lang tid gennem små, tilfældige eller opportunistiske skridt. Resultatet er sjældent særligt velfungerende. Når få alligevel...
Juni 2008
Constructing city ambitions – the building project as a narrated time folding machine
Kjell Tryggestad
Abstract prepared for the SCOS Conference in Manchester1-4 July 2008
Can cities have ambitions? Can their buildings have ambitions? Or is it only humans that can? And how do ambitions emerge and become a possession? The aim of this paper is to inquire into this question on the emergence and distribution of ambitions by drawing upon a case study of the construction of the skyscraper Turning Torso in Malmö city Sweden.
Can cities have ambitions? Can their buildings have ambitions? Or is it only humans that can? And how do ambitions emerge and become a possession? The aim of this paper is to inquire into this question on the emergence and distribution of ambitions by drawing upon a case study of the construction of the skyscraper Turning Torso in Malmö city Sweden.
Maj 2008
Agency and institutions: A review of institutional entrepreneurship
B. Leca & J. Battilana & Eva Boxenbaum
Harvard Business School Working Paper 08-096:
This paper analyzes the literature that has been published on institutional entrepreneurship since Paul DiMaggio introduced the notion in 1988. Based on a systematic selection and analysis of articles, the paper outlines an emerging consensus on the definition and process of institutional...
This paper analyzes the literature that has been published on institutional entrepreneurship since Paul DiMaggio introduced the notion in 1988. Based on a systematic selection and analysis of articles, the paper outlines an emerging consensus on the definition and process of institutional...
April 2008
Det skal kunne betale sig at tænke sig om
Kristian Kreiner
I denne kronik vil jeg illustrere, hvordan man i byggeriet kan komme galt af sted, når man tænker sig om og gør sig umage. Jeg vil også diskutere, hvad man kan gøre, så det bliver mere sandsynligt, at det kan betale sig at udvise rettidig omhu.
Februar 2008
Rationelle beslutninger med irrationelle konsekvenser
Kristian Kreiner
Det fleste af os ønsker os et værelse med udsigt, men jeg kender en, som har købt en udsigt med værelse i Brighton. Da udsigten var betalt, var der ikke råd til ret meget af resten. Hun er glad og tilfreds, fordi hun selv valgte prioriteringen mellem udsigt og lejlighed.
Men det er ikke altid, at de endelige prioriteringer blandt forskellige...
Men det er ikke altid, at de endelige prioriteringer blandt forskellige...
Januar 2008
Prækvalificering til arkitektkonkurrencer i Danmark - Del 1: Bygherrernes perspektiv og erfaringer
Kristian Kreiner og Majken Merete Gorm
I dette arbejdspapir søger vi at afdække, hvad eller hvem der bestemmer sammensætningen af den gruppe af arkitektfirmaer, der bliver prækvalificeret til en bestemt opgave. Arbejdspapiret bygger på en gennemført spørgeskemaundersøgelse med bygherrer og arkitektfirmaer. Materialet behandles i fem overordnede problematikker, som repræsenterer hver...
November 2007
3D Digital Modelling - Transformation of Cooperative Practices in Construction
Jesper Hundebøl
Lack of productivity in construction is a well known issue. Despite the fact that causes hereof are multiple, the introduction of information technology is a frequently observed response to almost any challenge. ICT in construction is a thoroughly researched matter, however, the current wave of new building information modelling tools demands further investigation, not least because of industry representatives' somewhat coarse parlance: Now the word is spreading - 3D digital modelling is nothing less than a revolution, a shift of paradigm, a new alphabet…
November 2007
Learning as an Aspect of Changing Practice
Klaus Nielsen
In this paper it is argued that learning in practice is situated in processes of conflictual cooperation. The paper gives a short outline of human rationality as a matter of following plans and it is argued how this perspective is mirrored in some of the dominant conventional learning theories.
Inspired by Lave and Wenger’s (1991) approach to...
Inspired by Lave and Wenger’s (1991) approach to...
November 2007
Developing Praxis in Conflictual Cooperation
Erik Axel
The present and the ensuing chapter argue that change and learning are two related aspects of praxis. The present chapter will investigate the relation between developing praxis and its organization, while the ensuing will investigate the relation between learning and changing praxis.
November 2007
The Architecture of Success and Failure in Construction
Mette Løth Frederiksen & Kristian Kreiner
How are project achievement and project success related?
The paper builds on research conducted on successful projects. It is observed that successful projects do not necessarily end on time, on budget and on targeted utility. If this is a fact, how can we explain that some projects are being scandalized on the basis of such underperformance,...
The paper builds on research conducted on successful projects. It is observed that successful projects do not necessarily end on time, on budget and on targeted utility. If this is a fact, how can we explain that some projects are being scandalized on the basis of such underperformance,...
November 2007
Construction Matters: The Qualqulative Role of project Management
Kjell Tryggestad
Within the literature the ‘project manager’ is often referred to as a rational and powerful person with a clear objective. The project manager and other actors in
the building process are recognized when they perform these roles. The roles and their internal structure are assumed to be stable properties of the actors.
This paper aims to enrich...
the building process are recognized when they perform these roles. The roles and their internal structure are assumed to be stable properties of the actors.
This paper aims to enrich...
November 2007
Concrete Innovations: Prefabrication in Denmark and France
Eva Boxenbaum & Thibault Daudigeos
The point of departure for this paper is an interesting divergence in the market creation for prefabricated elements in Denmark and France.
This technology, regarded as highly innovative in the 1950s, lost market shares in France in the late 1950s and 1960s while the market for it continued to grow in Denmark in the same period. We explore five...
This technology, regarded as highly innovative in the 1950s, lost market shares in France in the late 1950s and 1960s while the market for it continued to grow in Denmark in the same period. We explore five...
November 2007
The traditional standard contracts - do they deserve their status as the black sheep in Lean Construction?
Kenneth Brinch Jensen
Summing up, there are 3 objectives in this paper:
- Question Ballard & Howell (2005), Miles & Howell (1997) interpretation of relational contracts
- Question the hypotheses on changed contract forms as premises to reaching lean ideals
- Exploring relational contracting theory mechanisms as well as agency theory mechanisms, proposing that...
- Question Ballard & Howell (2005), Miles & Howell (1997) interpretation of relational contracts
- Question the hypotheses on changed contract forms as premises to reaching lean ideals
- Exploring relational contracting theory mechanisms as well as agency theory mechanisms, proposing that...
November 2007
Budget-variances and circulating accountability: Mobilising the budget in a construction project
Annie Bekke Kjær & Jan Mouritsen
This paper is concerned with an unfavourable budget variance of almost 30%. The budget variance is a simple mathematical achievement: It is the difference between a budget and realised results in cost, revenues, profits or spending. It requires an initial budget sum and a later accounting statement. The 30% is a spending variance. There is time...
August 2007
En dobbelt designproces
Marianne Stang Våland
Introduktion til et par centrale udfordringer og mulige ressourcer i mødet mellem organisation og arkitektur.
Juli 2007
Constructing buildings and ambitions – and folding market time
Kjell Tryggestad
Can technical objects have ambitions? Or is it only humans that can? And how do ambitions emerge and become a possession? The aim of this paper is to inquire into this question on the
emergence and distribution of ambitions. The inquiry is furthered by a case based investigation of the skyscraper Turning Torso in Malmö Sweden.
emergence and distribution of ambitions. The inquiry is furthered by a case based investigation of the skyscraper Turning Torso in Malmö Sweden.
Juli 2007
Constructing the Client in Architectural Competition. An Etnographic Study of Revealed Strategies.
Kristian Kreiner
This essay describes and analyzes architectural teams as they prepare their design proposals in architectural competitions. It focuses on the routines and heuristics involved, not least in relation to the mental and social
construction of the client’s preferences, the design task, and the rules and conditions of the competition.
It seeks to...
construction of the client’s preferences, the design task, and the rules and conditions of the competition.
It seeks to...
Maj 2007
Constructing power; powering construction
Stewart Clegg
While power is unavoidable in organizational life it does not have to be a negative experience. Two approaches to power, familiar from the social and political science literature, are contrasted. These are a view of power as positive and negative, respectively. Following this presentation, two empirical encounters with construction will be...
Januar 2007
Strategic Choices in Unknowable Worlds
Kristian Kreiner
This paper explores ways in which the strategies that guide architects in architectural competitions may be evaluated ex ante. It starts by constructing a simulation model that shows that ex ante evaluations of strategies are in principle possible. In spite of the fundamentally stochastic nature of the model, we are able to differentiate stable...
December 2006
Architects in the 21st century – Agents of Change?
Marianne Stang Våland
This article presents a generalized discussion of American and Dutch architectural positions.
November 2006
Architectural Competitions
Kristian Kreiner
This is a case study of an architectural competition. It documents and discusses the various processes involved in selecting the winning entry.
November 2006
Budgeting, Risk and Inter-organisational Politics: Assembling the Budget of Animal House
Annie Bekke Kjær & Jan Mouritsen
This paper discusses budgeting as a practice in the construction industry. It explains budget making thorough relationships between the budget-amount, reputation and time.
All budgeting work is inter-organisational because the actors that inform budgeting come from near and afar in time and space. Politics is concerned with the formation of...
All budgeting work is inter-organisational because the actors that inform budgeting come from near and afar in time and space. Politics is concerned with the formation of...
November 2006
Constructing buildings and ambitions – The Turning Torso case
Kjell Tryggestad
Can buildings have ambitions? Or is it only humans that can? And how do ambitions emerge and become a possession? The aim of this paper is to inquire into this question on the emergence and distribution of ambitions. The inquiry is furthered by a case based investigation of the skyscraper Turning Torso in Malmö Sweden. The inquiry accounts for the...
Juli 2006
The Communicational Aspects of the Building Process - A Necessary Expansion of the Scope
Charlotte Krenk
Co-operation, coordination, and clear communication are aspects of the building process related to human interaction, which are now gaining priority within the field. The growing interest in the human interaction aspect of the building process can be seen as a sign of recognition of the need for adjusting to the change in the marked conditions....
Juni 2006
DOUBLE-LOOP FALSE LEARNING
Kristian Kreiner
The micro-processes of learning under uncertainty
Paper submitted to EGOS 2006 – sub theme 35: The Social Complexity of Organizational Learning: Dynamics of micro-practices, processes and routines.
In this paper Kristian Kreiner analyse an example of a temporary collapse of the joint effort before the building was successfully completed. A...
Paper submitted to EGOS 2006 – sub theme 35: The Social Complexity of Organizational Learning: Dynamics of micro-practices, processes and routines.
In this paper Kristian Kreiner analyse an example of a temporary collapse of the joint effort before the building was successfully completed. A...
Juni 2006
Læringssvigt i Byggeriet
Kristian Kreiner i samarbejde med Mette Løth Frederiksen og Lise Damkjær
En empirisk analyse af nogle gode grunde til dårlige resultater. Rapporten er udarbejdet til Erhvervs- og Byggestyrelsen.
Maj 2006
Ledelsesteknikker i byggeprojekter
Annie Bekke Kjær & Jan Mouritsen
Procesledelse og budgettering hos arkitekterne Frank Gehry og Jørn Utzon:
Er budgetafvigelser gode udtryk for en aktivitets fremdrift eller mangel på samme? Budgetafvigelser er centrale i de fleste budgetteringssystemer, fordi de skal skabe læring og ansvarsplacering, men gør de det? I en analyse af ledelsesteknikker i forbindelse med design og...
Er budgetafvigelser gode udtryk for en aktivitets fremdrift eller mangel på samme? Budgetafvigelser er centrale i de fleste budgetteringssystemer, fordi de skal skabe læring og ansvarsplacering, men gør de det? I en analyse af ledelsesteknikker i forbindelse med design og...
Maj 2006
Towards a Research Design for the Emergence of New Practices
Eva Boxenbaum
This paper contrasts three explanatory frameworks on how and why new practices emerge. The three frameworks are sociological institutionalism, evolutionary economics, and new institutional economics. The paper also makes suggestions for a research design that could test their relative explanatory power.
April 2006
Managing system products: A case study of prefabricated building parts
Majken Merete Gorm in collaboration with Kristian Kreiner
This paper examines the business of supplying prefabricated system products, i.e. multitechnological building parts which can be cost-effectively delivered in variable designs. Certain aspects of construction work support the spread of such products, including an often mentioned complexity on construction sites and a prevalent tendency towards...
September 2005
Knowledge Management Challenges in the Construction Sector
Kristian Kreiner
My analysis of the knowledge management challenges in the Danish construction sector is based on the following assumptions:
1. Construction is a sector of unique characteristics, e.g. in the form of temporal structures, highly complex processes, and high environmental turbulence.
2. These characteristics influence the possibilities for...
1. Construction is a sector of unique characteristics, e.g. in the form of temporal structures, highly complex processes, and high environmental turbulence.
2. These characteristics influence the possibilities for...
Juli 2005
Kreativ projektledelse i kaos
Kristian Kreiner
På et fortov i Rom spurgte min søn mig engang, om der overhovedet ikke fandtes regler i den italienske trafik. Han så kun et virvar af mennesker, scootere og biler; han hørte kun den infernalske larm af bilhorn og hvinende bremser; og han følte sig utryg, fordi han ikke kunne genkende et mønster, en orden, og derfor heller ikke kunne finde ud af,...
Maj 2005
Forprojekt om Arkitekters Strategi
Marianne Muff Førrisdahl i samarbejde med Kristian Kreiner
Et empirisk studium af praksis omkring projektkonkurrencer.