Ordering systems in the construction industry
01-11-2008 - 31-10-2009Keywords
Description
Modern professional work settings are characterized by sophisticated practices of coordination that are predicated on vitally important and highly elaborate techniques of ordering (workflow specifications, production schedules, classification systems, naming schemes, notations, etc.). Recent studies of such work settings, in architectural work, health care, manufacturing, etc., that have begun to focus on these practices (e.g., Carstensen and Schmidt, 2002; Fitzpatrick, 2004; Schmidt and Wagner, 2004; Schmidt, Wagner, and Tolar, 2007) indicate that they have some very interesting common characteristics:
• Professional work practices rely on a large number of specialized ‘artifacts’ and closely related ‘protocols’ for their coordination.
• Such coordinative artifacts and protocols form complexes that have systemic character. The term ‘ordering systems’ has been used for these complexes.
• The interconnectedness of the manifold specialized artifacts and protocols that comprise ordering systems is typically, at an elementary level, facilitated by simple protocols such as ID codes that serve as a kind of ‘glue’.
• In addition, the interconnectedness is made manageable by what appears to be endless reuse and recombination of ‘syntactical’ elements (types of relation).
Ordering systems thereby enable work organization to coordinate their operations in face of the, sometimes enormous, heterogeneity and contingency of their field of work — and to do so in a distributed and incremental manner. That is, they make work organizations in complex domains robust as well as flexible. Information technology may on one hand have disruptive effects on ordering systems, in that IT systems may deprive workers of the ability to extend and adapt their coordinative artifacts and protocols in a distributed and incremental fashion, but could also, on the other hand, provide means for even more robust and flexible ordering systems.
First of all, a study of ordering systems in the construction industry will offer an new perspective on the ongoing effort in the industry towards the computerization of the coordination of construction projects (‘digitalt byggeri’).
Secondly, to bring the research of ordering systems forward, there is a need for additional studies of multiple domains so as to build a corpus of cases for comparative analysis. For this purpose a study of ordering systems in a domain as distributed and organizationally heterogeneous as the construction industry is invaluable.
To meet these objectives, an intensive study of one year will be conducted of the use and development of ordering systems in a construction project over time and across organizations, professions and trades. The study includes reporting. Upon completion of the investigation, an extension may be considered.
• Professional work practices rely on a large number of specialized ‘artifacts’ and closely related ‘protocols’ for their coordination.
• Such coordinative artifacts and protocols form complexes that have systemic character. The term ‘ordering systems’ has been used for these complexes.
• The interconnectedness of the manifold specialized artifacts and protocols that comprise ordering systems is typically, at an elementary level, facilitated by simple protocols such as ID codes that serve as a kind of ‘glue’.
• In addition, the interconnectedness is made manageable by what appears to be endless reuse and recombination of ‘syntactical’ elements (types of relation).
Ordering systems thereby enable work organization to coordinate their operations in face of the, sometimes enormous, heterogeneity and contingency of their field of work — and to do so in a distributed and incremental manner. That is, they make work organizations in complex domains robust as well as flexible. Information technology may on one hand have disruptive effects on ordering systems, in that IT systems may deprive workers of the ability to extend and adapt their coordinative artifacts and protocols in a distributed and incremental fashion, but could also, on the other hand, provide means for even more robust and flexible ordering systems.
First of all, a study of ordering systems in the construction industry will offer an new perspective on the ongoing effort in the industry towards the computerization of the coordination of construction projects (‘digitalt byggeri’).
Secondly, to bring the research of ordering systems forward, there is a need for additional studies of multiple domains so as to build a corpus of cases for comparative analysis. For this purpose a study of ordering systems in a domain as distributed and organizationally heterogeneous as the construction industry is invaluable.
To meet these objectives, an intensive study of one year will be conducted of the use and development of ordering systems in a construction project over time and across organizations, professions and trades. The study includes reporting. Upon completion of the investigation, an extension may be considered.