Dossick, Carrie S.; Neff, Gina. (2010). Organizational Divisions in BIM-Enabled Commercial Construction. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management-asce, 136(4), 459 – 467.
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Abstract
Proponents claim that the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) will lead to greater efficiencies through increased collaboration. In this paper, we present research that examines the use of BIM technologies for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire life safety systems (often referred to as MEP) coordination and how the introduction of BIM influences collaboration and communication. Using data from over 12 months of ethnographic observations of the MEP coordination process for two commercial construction projects and interviews with 65 industry leaders across the United States, we find that BIM-enabled projects are often tightly coupled technologically, but divided organizationally. This means that while BIM makes visible the connections among project members, it is not fostering closer collaboration across different companies. We outline the competing obligations to scope, project, and company as one cause for this division. Obligations to an individual scope of work or to a particular company can conflict with project goals. Individual leadership, especially that of the MEP coordinator in the teams we studied, often substitutes for stronger project cohesion and organization. Organizational forces and structures must be accounted for in order for BIM to be implemented successfully.
Keywords
Technology; Implementation; Viewpoint; Integrated Systems; Construction Industry; Leadership; Information Systems; Information Technology; Communication; Constructability; Mechanical Systems; Electrical Systems
Pedersen, Katherine M.; Busch Isaksen, Tania M.; Baker, Marissa G.; Seixas, Noah; Errett, Nicole A. (2021). Climate Change Impacts and Workforce Development Needs in Federal Region X: A Qualitative Study of Occupational Health and Safety Professionals’ Perceptions. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 18(4).
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Abstract
Climate change is considered one of the top health threats in the United States. This research sought to (1) to understand the perceptions of occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals regarding the impacts of climate-related hazards on OHS in Region X, and (2) to explore the ideas of these OHS professionals regarding the content of future training programs that would better prepare OHS professionals to identify and mitigate climate-related hazards in Region X. Key informant (KI) interviews with 17 OHS professionals familiar with the climate-related hazards and impacts to OHS in Region X were coded and thematically analyzed. Climate hazards, social and economic impacts from climate-related hazards, and sector-specific worker and workplace impacts from climate-related hazards were described as having interacting relationships that influenced worker health and safety impacts. KIs further described how workplace controls could be used to mitigate OHS impacts of climate-related hazards, and how training of the OHS workforce could influence the ability to successfully implement such controls. Our findings suggest that OHS impacts are sector-specific, influenced by social and economic factors, and can be mitigated through workplace controls designed and implemented by a trained OHS workforce. The findings from this work should inform future educational and training programming and additional research and translation activities in the region, while our approach can inform other regions as they develop regionally specific OHS climate change training and programming.
Keywords
Heat-related Illness; Workers; Stress; Occupational Health And Safety; Climate Change; Climate-related Hazards; Pacific Northwest; Education; Training; Key Informant Interviews
Neff, Gina; Fiore-Silfvast, Brittany; Dossick, Carrie Sturts. (2010). A Case Study of the Failure of Digital Communication to Cross Knowledge Boundaries in Virtual Construction. Information Communication & Society, 13(4), 556 – 573.
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Abstract
When can digital artefacts serve to bridge knowledge barriers across epistemic communities? There have been many studies of the roles new information and communication technologies play within organizations. In our study, we compare digital and non-digital methods of inter-organizational collaboration. Based on ethnographic fieldwork on three construction projects and interviews with 65 architects, engineers, and builders across the USA, we find that IT tools designed to increase collaboration in this setting instead solidify and make explicit organizational and cultural differences between project participants. Our study suggests that deeply embedded disciplinary thinking is not easily overcome by digital representations of knowledge and that collaboration may be hindered through the exposure of previously implicit distinctions among the team members' skills and organizational status. The tool that we study, building information modelling, reflects and amplifies disciplinary representations of the building by architects, engineers, and builders instead of supporting increased collaboration among them. We argue that people sometimes have a difficult time overcoming the lack of interpretive flexibility in digital coordinating tools, even when those tools are built to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration.
Keywords
Digital Communications; Data Transmission Systems; Communication & Technology; Digital Electronics; System Analysis; Building Information Modelling; Collaboration; Qualitative Methods; Teams; Civil Engineering Computing; Digital Communication; Groupware; Knowledge Representation; Organisational Aspects; Virtual Reality; Case Study; Virtual Construction; Knowledge Barriers; Epistemic Community; Interorganizational Collaboration; Ethnographic Fieldwork; Interpretive Flexibility; Digital Coordinating Tool; Digital Collaboration; Technology; Objects; Design; Representations; Organizations
Peers, Justin B.; Lindell, Michael K.; Gregg, Christopher E.; Reeves, Ashleigh K.; Joyner, Andrew T.; Johnston, David M. (2021). Multi-Hazard Perceptions at Long Valley Caldera, California, USA. International Journal Of Disaster Risk Reduction, 52.
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Abstract
Caldera systems such as Long Valley Caldera, California; Taupo, New Zealand; and Campi Flegrei, Italy, experience centuries to millennia without eruption, but have the potential for large eruptions. This raises questions about how local residents' behavioral responses to these low-probability high-consequence events differ from their responses to events, such as wildfires and earthquakes, that have higher probabilities. To examine this issue, a multi-hazard mail survey of 229 households explored perceptions of-and responses to-volcano, earthquake and wildfire hazards in the Long Valley Volcanic Region. Response efficacy was the only significant predictor of emergency preparedness, which suggests that hazard managers can increase household emergency preparedness by emphasizing this attribute of protective actions. In addition to response efficacy, expected personal consequences, hazard intrusiveness, and affective responses were all significantly related to information seeking. This indicates that hazard managers can also increase households' information seeking about local hazards and appropriate protective actions by communicating the certainty and severity of hazard impacts (thus increasing expected personal consequences) and that they communicate this information repeatedly (thus increasing hazard intrusiveness) to produce significant emotional involvement (thus increasing affective response).
Keywords
Households Expected Responses; Risk Information-seeking; Volcanic Risk; Earthquake; Model; Adjustment; Mitigation; Communication; Preparedness; Predictors; Volcano Hazard Perception; Earthquake Hazard Perception; Wildfire Hazard Perception; Emergency Preparedness; Information Seeking
Lin, K. Y.; Levan, A.; Dossick, C. S. (2012). Teaching Life-Cycle Thinking in Construction Materials and Methods: Evaluation of and Deployment Strategies for Life-Cycle Assessment in Construction Engineering and Management Education. Journal Of Professional Issues In Engineering Education And Practice, 138(3), 163 – 170.
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Keywords
Sustainability; Design
Comu, Semra; Iorio, Josh; Taylor, John E.; Dossick, Carrie Sturts. (2013). Quantifying the Impact of Facilitation on Transactive Memory System Formation in Global Virtual Project Networks. Journal Of Construction Engineering & Management, 139(3), 294 – 303.
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Abstract
Building strong ties between geographically dispersed project participants is crucial to project success. In global project networks, many firms have adopted virtual collaboration tools to address the challenges imposed by temporal and geographical distance. Some researchers have examined the role of facilitators and found that process facilitation can improve collaboration. Research has also shown that facilitators can be drawn into content interactions, which may negatively impact collaboration effectiveness in virtual workspaces. Research to date has not quantified this negative impact. In this study, the formation and maintenance of transactive memory systems (TMS) in two facilitated and two nonfacilitated global virtual project networks were investigated, each executing a 2-month project. Using TMS formation and cohesive subgroup formation as a proxy for performance, quantitative evidence was found that demonstrates a negative impact on collaboration effectiveness when facilitators engage in content facilitation in virtual project networks. This paper shows that this negative impact restricts the establishment of TMSs. These findings have important implications for understanding and designing appropriate facilitator interactions in global virtual project networks. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000610. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Globalisation; Groupware; International Collaboration; Production Engineering Computing; Project Management; Process Facilitation; Transactive Memory System Formation; Global Virtual Project Network; Virtual Collaboration Tool; Temporal Distance; Geographical Distance; Content Interaction; Virtual Workspace; Tms Cohesive Subgroup Formation; Content Facilitation; Knowledge Transfer; Group Cohesiveness; Group Cohesion; Performance; Teams; Models; Globalization; Networks; Project Networks; Social Network Analysis; Transactive Memory Systems; Virtual Teams
The 2019 UW Resilience and Compassion Initiatives Seed Grant supported a project called “Raising Resilience: Connecting Compassion + Well-Being with Pedagogy in the College of Built Environments”. This grant allowed a group of CBE faculty to collaboratively explore their pedagogy and support for students through the lenses of resilience and well-being, systems thinking, and biophilic design. Seed Grant leads include Julie Johnson, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Brooke Sullivan, Landscape Architecture Lecturer. The project sought to continue the work…
The SHARE Lab (Safety and Health Advancement through Research and Education) has produced two ergonomics best practice booklets and two training videos on the use of 4-wheel carts in the roofing trade. Housed in the Department of Construction Management, the mission of the SHARE Lab is to promote construction safety and health through evidence-based innovative research, education, and practices. For more information, please contact Contact Dr. Ken-Yu Lin, Associate Professor, if you’d like access to the guide book or the…
SHARE Lab (Safety and Health Advancement through Research and Education Laboratory) embarks on innovative research that promotes the wellbeing of the construction taskforce and/or reduces occupational injuries and illnesses for the construction industry.
The lab is housed in the Department of Construction Management at the University of Washington and is a part of the Pacific Northwest Center for Construction Research and Education (PNCCRE). The mission of the lab is to promote construction safety and health through evidenced-based innovative research, education, and practices. In particular, the SHARE lab is specialized in creating new knowledge, learning resources, and practical solutions using technology interventions such as wearable sensors, visualization, serious gaming and tablet computers.
Projects completed at the lab include: sensor based physiological status monitoring on construction workers, video gaming development for the training and education of construction safety, information communication technology for field safety inspection, machine-learning based solutions for retrieving and classifying safety resources, and Total Worker Health.
SHARE Lab’s work is supported by domestic stakeholders as well as national institutions and global corporations.
The Integrated Design Lab (IDL) is operated by the Department of Architecture in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. IDL’s mission is to discover solutions that overcome the most difficult building performance barriers, and to meet the building industry’s goals of moving towards radically higher performing buildings and healthy urban environments. The IDL advances their mission through interconnected research, technical assistance, and professional educational and tour programs.
The Integrated Design Lab carries out research to advance knowledge and policies that support the healthiest and highest performing buildings and cities. It measures and analyzes modeled and actual building performance data so as to influence the building industry’s understanding of how to radically improve the design and operation performance of buildings. The performance research includes energy efficiency, daylighting, electric lighting, occupant energy use behavior, human health and productivity in buildings, and advanced building management systems.
The Integrated Design Lab connects its discoveries and the transformative knowledge of others to the building industry and public through education. These offerings include classes, workshops, focus-group meetings, leadership forums, and exhibits of breakthrough technologies intended to transform the market for the highest performing buildings by reaching out and educating current and future leaders on meeting 21st century building performance challenges with the knowledge and policies that favor renewable and regenerative buildings, neighborhoods and cities.
The IDL is a self-sustaining organization that includes interdisciplinary faculty, staff, students, professional collaborators, and partner organizations.