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This chapter describes how governments and regulators could introduce selective de-regulation based on exempting corporations from existing practices when they amend their constitutions to provide superior outcomes for investors and other stakeholders. An example is presented on how a company efficiently raised new equity through constitutional changes that also allowed the regulator to exempt it from the compliance processes and costs of changing auditors. System science is used to argue that the introduction of self-enforcing co-regulation based on outcomes rather than practices could introduce competition for developing the most efficient and effective regulation by both companies and regulators.

Building information modeling (BIM) is vital in the performance improvement of contracting firms. Thus, there is a need to stimulate its implementation in the construction sector with a view to meeting the competitive demands of the industry. However, there have been very few studies on BIM implementation among contracting firms in Nigeria. Hence, this study aims to examine the current BIM uptake among Nigerian contracting firms, assess the barriers to BIM implementation and examine the ways of improving BIM implementation within these contracting firms.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on contracting firms (comprising small-, medium- and large-sized firms) in Lagos, Nigeria. The obtained data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. These included percentage, mean score, standard deviation, the Kruskal–Wallis test and factor analysis.

This study revealed the current state of BIM implementation among contracting firms in Nigeria in terms of their knowledge of BIM, their usage of BIM as well as the BIM software adopted. Furthermore, the study identified 25 barriers to BIM implementation in contracting firms and identified 15 ways to improve BIM implementation in contracting firms. The relative importance of both the identified barriers and the ways for improving BIM implementation was gauged among contracting firms comprising small-, medium- and large-sized firms. The result of the Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that, except for two (out of 25) identified barriers, and one (out of 15) identified ways of improving BIM implementation in contracting firms, there is no significant statistical difference in the perceptions of the three respondents’ groups. The result of the factor analysis categorized the identified 25 barriers into seven main factors.

This study provides empirical evidence on the barriers to BIM implementation and the ways of improving its implementation among contracting firms, thereby providing a better insight of the Nigerian construction industry’s BIM environment.

This study’s findings can positively inform the decisions of construction stakeholders to formulate strategies capable of improving BIM implementation in the construction industry at large.

Designing learning environments is increasingly about mediating between the interactions in real and virtual space of largely self-organising learning communities. Traditional ways of briefing designers are less and less proficient, as the demands made on space become less timetabled, more probabilistic. ‘learning landscapes’ ¹ are proposed in which clusters of activity can be seen to be taking place across a field, that activity can be browsed, audited and fully engaged with. Such organic flows of interest and concentration are hindered by traditional demarcated space models, and attempts to enable the flows through ‘flexible’ interlinking of rooms fail.

There is evidence ² that the organic interactions between learners grow exponentially when these learners are connected together as virtual communities in open, robust virtual platforms. But this works best when these interactions are grounded from time to time in real places. How can designers best provide spaces that support learning in real and virtual space? Should design teams be composed of people with skills in devising real and virtual space?

Increasingly the answer is ‘yes’, and this places strains on procurement processes. Built form can take a long time to deliver. So can virtual platforms take time to devise and make operable. Can these processes be aligned? The concepts for RMIT’s Design Hub, a physical design research platform, were developed through research conducted twelve years before the building was completed. Many of the gap years were taken up with establishing the financial basis for constructing the Hub. During this time the concepts were validated by testing with various potential user groups, and a further tranche of international investigations validated the level of innovation being sought. The process for RMIT’s Swanston Academic Building (SAB) was smoother and shorter, but it involved a year in which a ‘learning landscape’ concept was moulded through intensive work with user client focus groups.

Neither of these projects has a virtual doppelganger, though both have sophisticated and evolvable IT systems. The Hub embeds a process of curating research interaction and dissemination that is hampered by this fact. The mediated learning landscape of the SAB falls short of the originating concepts, – because space constraints did not allow for an undivided, flowing landscape. A well designed virtual counterpart could have provided what the insertion of walls has obscured. Should all future innovative learning and researching environments have a virtual counterpart from the outset?

There is an emerging trend for such paired environments in creative city thinking and in museums. Surely briefing and procuring real and virtual environments in tandem will enliven future space use in universities?

This paper aims to present findings from a recent study examining current records management as fit for digital government in Australia.

This paper draws on findings from the first phase of research for a postdoctoral degree. This research was collected through an online quantitative survey of government records management professionals in Australia. The survey’s purpose was to understand whether the profession has kept pace with advances in, and expectations of, digital government. Building on the findings of the survey, this paper explores the concepts of methodology and methods and applies them to current digital records management in the Australian Government. Methodology for Australian Government digital records management is contained in the 2015 Digital Continuity 2020 policy. However, measuring method proved more difficult. The researcher supplemented data published by the National Archives of Australia and the Department of Finance with data from her own research to measure the validity of methods by examining suitability of current requirements.

Australian Government records management professionals overwhelmingly feel requirements, organisational culture and behaviour form a barrier to implementing successful records management programs. This paper finds that the Australian Government is buying ten times more digital storage per year than the sum of all of the digital Australian Government records known. This suggests perhaps not all records are recognised. While there will always be more storage than records, the ratio should not be so inflated. Further problems are found with requirements for records management being seen as mostly paper-based and too resource intensive to be of use. This research, combined with a contemporary literature review, shows that there is an imbalance with the current methodology and methods and asks the question: Has a methodology (Digital Continuity 2020) been created without suitable and known methods being in place?

The method for collecting survey data was based on self-reporting, which can lead to limitations in that the population sample may exaggerate their response or demonstrate bias. However, responses to the survey were common enough to eliminate bias. The study is based on the Australian Government; however, findings may translate to other governments. This paper presents findings from the first phase of research of a postdoctoral degree. Not all findings are presented, only those relevant to the topic.

As the Australian Government moves to become a true digital government, records management is still required to ensure accountability of government actions and decisions. However, while the government transitions to digital, and information stores continue to grow, the question of whether records management has kept up with the rapid pace of digital information flow and expansion does not need to be asked. Instead, the time has come to ask, “What can we do to keep up?”

Through a systematic literature review covering 15 years, this paper aims to identify and annotate the barriers that hinder the career development of women working in the construction industry. Furthermore, it describes publication trends that have contributed to the evolution of the topic.

A systematic literature review of credible sources in different databases has been carried out for the period from 2000 to 2015. By means of thematic analysis, a data set of 60 articles has been analysed.

The topic has been and still is of interest to the research community. Women who work in the construction industry in different countries confront numerous career barriers, the more frequent being the difficulty of balancing work and family, and the lack of professionalism in human resource management.

Some publications related to the topic might have been inadvertently omitted. Hopefully, this paper can be valuable for informing future research directions.

The paper is useful to human resource managers to understand how their practices influence women’s career development, gender equity and organisational injustice, and how to improve them. It informs policies to reduce gender discrimination and guides researchers interested in gender diversity in the industry.

A clear vision of career barriers affecting women is required to find solutions and improve the fairness and justice of business practices.

Previous studies do not offer a comprehensive and up-to-date review covering such a wide time period and so many countries. It will have implications in the identification of initiatives critical to achieving lasting change in gender equity in the construction industry.

The concepts of environmental education and education for sustainability have been acknowledged by many tertiary institutions for over a decade. An appreciable number of institutions have signed agreements to educate students in all disciplines about sustainability. Although several Australian institutions of higher education have signed the Talloire Declaration, a recent survey finds little indication that their curricula have been changed to include sustainability education. Despite the apparent widespread support for the concept of student education in sustainability, there is little implementation. The experience of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University suggests that those concerned about education and environment/sustainability need more than conviction and vision. A strategic approach – based on change management and supported by staff development – is needed to implement these sorts of changes. Rather than attempting to outline a grand plan or model for implementation, this paper identifies key issues and looks into the current experience associated with implementation approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of two climates for innovation constructs, namely, leadership and organisational culture, on workplace innovation and career satisfaction.

This study used structural equation modelling to test the data from 3,125 engineering professionals in the Australian Public Service (APS).

The structural model indicated that leadership for innovation and ambidextrous culture for innovation influenced workplace innovation which, in turn, improved career satisfaction. Moreover, modelling revealed a significant relationship between ambidextrous culture for innovation and career satisfaction. This study also investigated mediation effects and revealed both simple and sequential mediation paths in the model. It was found that improving workplace innovation and career satisfaction through recognition of an engineer’s contribution to their agency would assist in retaining and advancing in-house engineering expertise.

The structural model could be used to address current shortages of engineering professionals in the Commonwealth of Australia departments. The findings emphasise the importance of Commonwealth departments providing opportunities for their engineers to engage in creative and innovative projects which enhance their professional career.

This study fills the gap in the innovation literature by exploring the relationships through which socio-psychological factors affect workplace innovation and career satisfaction on the innovation process for engineering professionals in the APS.

The purpose of the paper is to analyse non‐indigenous student resistance to indigenous history and to improve non‐indigenous students’ engagement with indigenous history.

The paper, based on praxis, is a theoretical discussion of the reasons for non‐indigenous student resistance to indigenous history.

The paper argues that non‐indigenous imaginings of national self creates indigenous history into a “un‐history” (a history that could not be). The paper suggests non‐indigenous teachers of indigenous history may undertake a broader perspective to prepare students for indigenous history, including fostering a critical appreciation of histiography, Australian colonial art, literature and popular culture, to enable a critical understanding of the national imagining of Australians (as non‐indigenous) in order to enable engagement with indigenous history.

The paper's focus and findings do not presume relevance to indigenous educators of indigenous history, as previous research has shown non‐indigenous students’ reactions to an indigenous educator may differ from an to a non‐indigenous educator.

The paper moves beyond discussions about content of indigenous history to issues of resistance and engagement found amongst non‐indigenous students with regard to indigenous history. The paper suggests a twenty‐first century political approach where there is non‐indigenous ownership of the shared history in (indigenous) Australia history, enabling indigenous history to move from the periphery to the centre of Australian colonial history.

The purpose of this paper is to present the extant literature relating to the social processes of innovation in built environment design teams. The paper connects the relevant and significant work in the field of social psychology and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) to derive a theoretical framework which can be used to direct further research, towards development of the behavioural facet of design management.

First, the paper establishes which aspects of social processes of innovation are already present within the AEC field and examine concepts/ideas in social psychology that are likely to be important in understanding group processes within AEC, applying three emergent themes of social climate; risk attitudes and motivation and reward. Second, the paper identifies which elements of social psychology may be used to expand, consolidate and develop our understanding and identify gaps in AEC specific knowledge.

The paper suggests that whilst the AEC literature has supplanted some key elements of social psychology, this discipline offers a further and significant theoretical resource. However, whilst some aspects of social climate and motivation/reward are well‐represented in the AEC field, these have not yet been fully explored. Furthermore, how collective attitudes to risk can influence design decision‐making is identified as having a limited presence.

This paper is the first to bring together the two disciplines of AEC and social psychology to examine the social aspects of innovative design performance in built environment teams. The paper fulfils an identified need to examine the social processes that influence innovative design performance in construction