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Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 1 May 2019

Emlyn Witt and Kalle Kähkönen

Creating a BIM-enabled learning space that spans both higher education and industry offers the possibility of immersive and integrated learning on the basis of real, up-to-date…

Abstract

Purpose

Creating a BIM-enabled learning space that spans both higher education and industry offers the possibility of immersive and integrated learning on the basis of real, up-to-date project data for a new generation of students who will be “BIM natives” and can “think in BIM”. This paper aims to elaborate the concept of BIM as a learning environment so that it can be produced for Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) educational purposes.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The complementary theoretical lenses of Experiential Learning, Structuration Theory and Systems Theory are adopted for conceptualising a BIM-enabled Learning Environment (BLE).

Findings

The BLE is proposed in the form of a social system embedded within both the education system and the industry system. The BLE is described in terms of its structures and component subsystems, inputs, outputs and flows at different scales.

Research Limitations/Implications

In this initial paper, the BLE is merely outlined and its constituent structures alluded to. Further investigation is required to fully detail the BLE.

Practical Implications

By describing the identified structures in still more detail, the BLE can be understood to the extent that it can be reproduced in practice for actual learning. This is the goal and expectation going forward.

Originality/Value

The derived BLE is described in social terms and this reflects the centrality of social activity to both building and learning. Technology, processes and traditional industry roles are subordinated into supporting functions. This potentially offers opportunities for learners to reflect on all of these and to consider ways of improving them.

Details

10th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-051-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 December 2021

Christina Fuchs and Astrid Reichel

This chapter examines how increased digitalisation shapes employee voice behaviour through informal digital channels. A growing body of literature found positive effects of…

Abstract

This chapter examines how increased digitalisation shapes employee voice behaviour through informal digital channels. A growing body of literature found positive effects of employee voice on organisational outcomes, and companies are offering various formal and informal channels for employees to speak up. However, despite the vast literature on employee voice, research on the role of the voice channel is limited. With digital voice channels gaining popularity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, investigating how the interaction of employees with communication technologies affects their willingness to speak up digitally is ever more important. To do so, the authors chose a qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews. Adaptive structuration theory (AST) guided the qualitative content analysis. Findings indicate that the shift from analogue to digital informal voice channels influences employees’ willingness to speak up. Despite an effort to mimic analogue face-to-face conversations through advanced technologies, employees perceive a missing spark when communicating digitally, which discourages them from speaking up through informal digital channels. In this chapter, the authors analyse which factors constitute the missing spark.

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2000

Huub J.M. Ruel

Within the field of work and organizational psychology, team research has received renewed attention since the 1980s with researchers showing increasing interest in developing…

Abstract

Within the field of work and organizational psychology, team research has received renewed attention since the 1980s with researchers showing increasing interest in developing team effectiveness models. These models have taught us much about which factors determine team effectiveness. However, we notice some important shortcomings also, for example, the lack of attention to how certain factors influence team outcomes. This limitation, in our view, is the result of restriction in the paradigm that has dominated team research in the field of work and organizational psychology in recent years. In this chapter, we attempt to broaden our view by describing approaches that originate from different paradigms, specifically that integrate differing assumptions. With the help of Giddens' structuration theory, DeSanctis and Poole (1994) and Poole & DeSanctis (1989, 1990) have developed adaptive structuration theory (AST), which is such an integrative approach. Originally AST focused on groups using group technology only. This chapter makes a case for using this approach to ground future team effectiveness research efforts in the organization sciences.

Details

Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76230-747-0

Book part
Publication date: 5 November 2021

Etiënne A. J. A. Rouwette and L. Alberto Franco

This chapter focuses on techniques and technologies to aid groups in making decisions, with an emphasis on computer-based support. Many office workers regularly meet colleagues…

Abstract

This chapter focuses on techniques and technologies to aid groups in making decisions, with an emphasis on computer-based support. Many office workers regularly meet colleagues and clients in virtual meetings using videoconferencing platforms, which enable participants to carry out tasks in a manner similar to a face-to-face meeting. The development of computer-based platforms to facilitate group tasks can be traced back to the 1960s, and while they support group communication, they do not directly support group decision making. In this chapter we distinguish four technologies developed to provide support to group decisions, clustered into two main traditions. Technologies in the task-oriented tradition are mainly concerned with enabling participants to complete tasks to solve the group's decision problem via computer-supported communications. Group Decision Support Systems and social software technologies comprise the task-oriented tradition. Alternately, in the model-driven tradition, participants use computers to build and use a model that acts as a referent to communicate, mostly verbally, about the group's decision problem. System modeling and decision-modeling technologies constitute the model-driven tradition. This chapter sketches the history and guiding ideas of both traditions, and describes their associated technologies. The chapter concludes with questioning if increased availability of online tools will lead to increased use of group decision support technologies, and the differential impact of communication support versus decision support.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Group and Team Communication Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-501-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 August 2017

Johan Gregeby and Mårten Hugosson

This chapter addresses a lack of theory building in electronic-HRM (e-HRM) research and attempts to contribute with a (re-)conceptualisation of e-HRM as a nexus of practices and…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter addresses a lack of theory building in electronic-HRM (e-HRM) research and attempts to contribute with a (re-)conceptualisation of e-HRM as a nexus of practices and their material arrangements.

Methodology/approach

The work draws on theories from information systems research, science and technology studies, and sociology and organisation studies.

Findings

The (re-)conceptualisation indicates that future research should make further enquiries into the role of human agency and political processes in e-HRM.

Practical implications

As a methodological pathway a combination of ethnography and philosophical hermeneutics is proposed, enabling the achievement of a required pertinent sensibility in the study of social practices and human intentionality. Action research is also considered to be relevant for an engaged e-HRM scholarship.

Social implications

The social implication of this research is the advancement of theories that emphasise the importance of human agency, morality and materiality in organisational processes.

Originality/value of the chapter

The conceptualisation may thus facilitate research that reveal insights about involvement, reciprocity and power in e-HRM projects – knowledge that can direct the development of e-HRM project teams and thus facilitate strategic HRM.

Book part
Publication date: 27 December 2016

Arch G. Woodside and Roger Baxter

This chapter points out that the use of a wide range of theoretical paradigms in marketing research requires researchers to use a broad range of methodologies. As an aid in doing…

Abstract

This chapter points out that the use of a wide range of theoretical paradigms in marketing research requires researchers to use a broad range of methodologies. As an aid in doing so, the chapter argues for the use of case study research (CSR), defines CSR, and describes several CSR theories and methods that are useful for describing, explaining, and forecasting processes occurring in business-to-business (B2B) contexts. The discussion includes summaries of six B2B case studies spanning more than 60 years of research. This chapter advocates embracing the view that learning and reporting objective realities of B2B processes is possible using CSR methods. CSR methods in the chapter include using multiple interviews (2 + ) separately of multiple persons participating in B2B processes, direct research and participant observation, decision systems analysis, degrees-of-freedom analysis, ethnographic-decision-tree-modeling, content analysis, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fs/QCA.com). The discussion advocates rejecting the dominant logic of attempting to describe and explain B2B processes by arms-length fixed-point surveys that usually involve responses from one executive per firm with no data-matching of firms in specific B2B relationships – such surveys lack details and accuracy necessary for understanding, describing, and forecasting B2B processes.

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2000

Gerardine DeSanctis, Marshall Scott Poole and Gary W. Dickson

In a longitudinal field study we tested several hypotheses of adaptive structuration theory, which predicts the impacts of advanced information technologies on work teams. We…

Abstract

In a longitudinal field study we tested several hypotheses of adaptive structuration theory, which predicts the impacts of advanced information technologies on work teams. We observed 47 technical and administrative work teams in a large, multinational energy company. The teams varied in their structural properties—team size and geographical dispersion—and in their degree of interaction with one another. We tracked the extent to which the teams used advanced information technologies, and we assessed the impacts of technology use practices on teams' views of the quality of their coordination and their overall group effectiveness. The teams in our study had access to a range of traditional and advanced technologies, and we observed the impacts of team structural properties on technology use practices and outcomes across a three-year period. Use practices varied between the two types of teams. We found that, early on introduction of technology, team size, geographic dispersion, and meeting frequency predicted advanced technology use by administrative teams. Larger administrative teams reported more comfort with technology use, and they were more likely to use the technology to dominate one another rather than to collaborate. These effects diminished over time, however, and the influence of team structure and interaction patterns on advanced technology use were not clearcut. Use practices, which we label “appropriation,” impacted perceptions of coordination quality, especially in the case of technical teams. The most consistent pattern was that use of technology to dominate rather than to collaborate was negatively related to outcomes. Surprisingly, teams with relatively high use of advanced technologies grew in their use of the technology for domination purposes over the course of our study. Our findings suggest the need for more in-depth study of technology use practices in teams over time.

Details

Research on Managing Groups and Teams
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-052-4

Book part
Publication date: 2 February 2018

Benjamin B. Dunford and Matthew B. Perrigino

Workarounds represent informal modifications to rules and procedures that individuals will engage into navigate around a process block in order to make their job easier. Although…

Abstract

Workarounds represent informal modifications to rules and procedures that individuals will engage into navigate around a process block in order to make their job easier. Although workarounds have been primarily studied from an individual-level perspective, this chapter argues that workarounds are a socially constructed, multilevel phenomenon, meaning that they are influenced by others (e.g., group norms and coworkers) and can result in the emergence of workaround climates. We find empirical support for the view that workarounds are shaped by a variety of social influences. Moreover, based on an inductive exploratory study, we suggest that workarounds are related to informal training and troubleshooting behaviors. We conclude by outlining several theory-based directions for understanding how workarounds spread throughout all levels of an organization as an incubator for future research.

Details

Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, 2017: Shifts in Workplace Voice, Justice, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution in Contemporary Workplaces
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-486-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 December 2010

Alexandre Schwob and Kristine de Valck

Purpose – The first purpose of this chapter is to better understand, and to propose a means to understand the ways selves are constructed in daily contingencies during consumption…

Abstract

Purpose – The first purpose of this chapter is to better understand, and to propose a means to understand the ways selves are constructed in daily contingencies during consumption experiences. To do so, the second purpose, which aims to bring an additional contribution, is to investigate the materiality of consumer experiences in a technological context.

Methodology/approach – We have investigated materiality (as conceptualized by Miller) of experiences in online discussion forums in a community of video games enthusiasts. Grounded theory is elaborated from an ethnography mixing interviews and nonparticipative online observation. The focus is on consumers' perceptions of their constructions as subjects in relationship to the various objects and practices they face.

Findings – The process through which subjects are contingently constructed follows three intertwined logics. Each of these logics, namely (1) finding a position, (2) building “appropriation logics” and accomplishing practices, and (3) enacting meaning empowerments, is detailed in its specific contingencies and modalities.

Research limitations/implications – Contribution of this research relies mostly on findings from one online community.

Practical implications – This research opens new ways to understand technological consumption experiences as they are lived by consumers, and it allows for an understanding of structuration in experiences characterized beforehand by their indeterminacy.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter belongs to the few ones that propose a methodological approach to tackle with the construction of the self in daily contingencies and with dynamic materiality. It also opens new ways to de-essentialize ordinary consumption activities.

Details

Research in Consumer Behavior
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-444-4

Book part
Publication date: 8 April 2005

Kevin Real and Marshall Scott Poole

This chapter develops a framework for classifying approaches to conceptualizing and measuring implementation of innovations. It first develops a typology that distinguishes…

Abstract

This chapter develops a framework for classifying approaches to conceptualizing and measuring implementation of innovations. It first develops a typology that distinguishes rollout, modification, programmatic and transformation conceptualizations of implementation. The implications of each conceptualization for measurement of implementation are discussed. Following this a classification scheme for implementation measures is presented that distinguishes measures on the basis of their: (a) criterion for success of the implementation; (b) innovation unit; (c) source of data; (d) measurement scale; and (e) level of analysis. Issues related to various measurement choices are discussed along with recommendations for future research and development in the measurement of implementation.

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-167-5

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