EXPERIENCES OF THE PHENOMENON OF
INTERNET USE FOR INFORMATION SHARING ON
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AND SKILLS SET
IDENTIFICATION FOR EFFECTIVE PROJECT
PARTICIPATION
BY
ANDREW MAGUB
B.App.Sci (Built Environment) B.Arch (Hons) M.Proj.Man
A thesis submitted to the Queensland University of Technology
School of Construction Management and Property
in fulfilment of the requirements of a
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (IF49)
13 February 2006
Supervisor: Associate Professor Stephen Kajewski ABSTRACT AND KEY WORDS
The use of Information Technology in construction is below best practice when compared to other industries. The construction industry is now, however, on the verge of widespread acceptance of internet technology and the communications benefits this can bring.
Construction collaboration technology, where project teams use the internet as an interface for project communications, have emerged as a potentially valuable tool. Little research has been focused in this area, particularly on how this phenomenon is being experienced. The aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the way people experience the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and the preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities – KSAs) required for industry
members to effectively participate.
Phenomenography was selected as an appropriate research methodology to provide an empirical, representative and descriptive research approach and to provide a qualitative based study in a field dominated by quantitative studies. This is a ‘second-order approach’ which focuses on the experiences of the participants as described by them. A pilot and three major case studies were selected to identify research participants for interviews. A total of nineteen interviews were conducted and transcribed during 2003 in Australia, the United
States of America and the United Kingdom, which formed the research data.
A phenomenographic analysis was performed on the research data revealing seven
‘categories of description’ which describe the limited number of qualitatively different ways that the phenomenon is being experienced. A relationship exists between the different categories which can be structured in a logical framework called the outcome space. The preliminary identification of the skills set is then proposed from the research data and the phenomenographic outcomes to provide construction project participants and the industry a
ii first pass on what Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) may be required for effective participation.
Key Words: Phenomenography, Skills Set, Internet, Information Sharing, Construction,
Virtual Projects, Construction Collaboration Technology, Knowledge Skills
and Abilities (KSAs), Qualitative Research, Collaborative Websites
iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is indebted to the following organisations and people for their important contributions to this research project and the resulting degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
The ongoing encouragement, advice and guidance by Associate Professor Stephen
Kajewski, as Principal Supervisor, Professor Martin Skitmore and Dr Robin
Drogemuller and as Associate Supervisors and Associate Professor Christine Bruce as an associate supervisor and phenomenographic mentor, throughout this research and degree has been respected, gratefully accepted and is sincerely acknowledged. Appreciation and thanks are due to Dr Keith Hampson, CEO of the CRC for Construction Innovation, for providing advice, comment and the guidance and support required to start this journey. The support of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage - Project Grant with the Department of
Industry Science & Resources providing funding as the project's Industry Partner is also gratefully acknowledged. Gratitude for the support, understanding and confidence in the author and assistance in kind from ARTAS Architects and Planners and Phil Tait (Bligh
Voller Nield) towards this research and degree, and the ongoing support from the staff of the
Queensland University of Technology School of Urban Development is also acknowledged and appreciated. Appreciation is also due to Camille McMahon for her efforts in editorial review. Thanks are specifically extended to those persons and organisations that contributed valuable time to help organise and participate in interviews and for sharing their experiences and knowledge with the author. The significant contributions from individuals and organisations involved with the Ayers Rock Laundry
Project (Australia), National Museum of Australia Project, Times Square Project (UK) and the Hudson River Park Project (USA) in this research is also gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, the support, patience and understanding from my family is also gratefully
acknowledged and appreciated. Daddy’s back kids!
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract and Key Words ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v List of Tables ix List of Figures x List of Abbreviations xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Definition of Important Terms Related to This Research 1 1.3 Research Objectives and Scope 2 1.4 Research Methodology 4 1.5 Structure of the Thesis 5 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 Networks, the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) 7 2.3 Information Technology (IT) 12 2.4 The Use of IT in Construction 13 2.5 Human-Computer Interface (HCI) 17 2.6 Project Teams 18 2.7 Virtual Projects/Teams 21 2.8 The Internet for Information Sharing in Construction Projects 22 2.9 SkillS Sets 25 2.10 Field of Study 28 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Research Strategy 33 3.3 Research Objectives and scope 34 3.4 Research Methodology 35 3.4.1 Selection 35 3.4.2 Author’s Field of Research 38 3.4.3 Qualitative Methodologies 39 v 3.4.4 Phenomenography 41 3.4.5 Phenomenographic approach 44 3.4.6 Author’s Research 49 3.5 Hypothesis (Research Questions) 54 CHAPTER 4 PILOT CASE STUDY – AYERS ROCK RESORT PROJECT 4.1 Pilot Case Study Selection 55 4.2 Ayers Rock Resort Laundry Project 56 4.3 Participants 58 4.4 Interviews 59 4.5 Categories of Description 60 4.6 Outcome Space 70 4.7 Distribution of Categories 72 4.8 Implications of the Pilot Case Study 72 CHAPTER 5 PROJECT CASE STUDIES 5.1 Inroduction 75 5.2 National Museum of Australia Project, Canberra, Australia 76 5.2.1 Description of Facility / History 76 5.2.2 Location and Site 77 5.2.3 Project Timescale / Cost 79 5.2.4 Procurement Process 80 5.2.5 Project Team 80 5.2.6 Use of the Internet for Information Sharing 81 5.3 Times Square Project, London, United Kingdom 82 5.3.1 Description of Facility 82 5.3.2 Location and Site 83 5.3.3 Project Timescale / Cost 87 5.3.4 Procurement Process 87 5.3.5 Project Team 87 5.3.6 Use of the Internet for Information Sharing 88 5.4 Hudson River Park Project, New York, United States of America 89 5.4.1 Description of Facility 89 5.4.2 Location and Site 95 5.4.3 Project Timescale 95 5.4.4 Procurement Process 96 5.4.5 Project Team 96 vi 5.4.6 Use of the Internet for Information Sharing 97 CHAPTER 6 PHENOMENOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Second-order Approach 99 6.3 Interview Participants 100 6.3.1 Case Study Participants 101 6.3.4 Interviewee Characteristics 102 6.4 Interviews 103 6.5 Recording and Transcription 107 6.6 Analysis 107 6.6.1 Theoretical Base 107 6.6.2 Application 111 6.7 Validity of the Process 114 6.8 Communicability of the Outcomes 117 CHAPTER 7 CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION AND THE OUTCOME SPACE 7.1 Introduction 121 7.2 Categories of Description 125 7.2.1 Category 1: ‘Communications Tool’ 125 7.2.2 Category 2: ‘Resources’ 133 7.2.3 Category 3: ‘Inevitable’ 139 7.2.4 Category 4: ‘Archive’ 143 7.2.5 Category 5: ‘Tool-Box’ 149 7.2.6 Category 6: ‘Multiplier’ 155 7.2.7 Category 7: ‘Barrier’ 160 7.3 Outcome Space 168 7.4 Interjudge Communicability Test of the Outcomes (Reliability) 172 CHAPTER 8 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES FOR EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION 8.1 Introduction 175 8.2 Distribution of Categories 175 8.3 Knowledge, Skills and Abilities 176 8.3.1 Category 1 ‘Communications Tool’ 178 8.3.2 Category 2 ‘ Resources’ 181 8.3.3 Category 3 ‘Inevitable’ 185
vii 8.3.4 Category 4 ‘Archive’ 188 8.3.5 Category 5 ‘Tool-box’ 191 8.3.6 Category 6 ‘Multiplier’ 197 8.3.7 Category 7 ‘Barrier’ 200 8.3.8 Preliminary Identification of the Skills Set for Effective Participation 205 CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 9.1 Introduction 208 9.2 Research Summary 208 9.3 Conclusions 211 9.3.1 Major Research (Phenomenographic Research) Conclusions 211 9.3.2 Post Phenomenographic Research (KSAs) Conclusions 214 9.4 Contributions 215 9.4.1 Industry 216 9.4.2 Body of Academic Knowledge 216 9.4.3 Learning Framework 217 9.4.4 Recommendations for Future Research 217 APPENDICES Appendix A 220 Appendix B 226 Appendix C 231 Appendix D 237 Appendix E 240 Appendix F 242 Appendix G 246 REFERENCES
viii LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Three Eras in IT 14 Table 2.2 Literature Review Areas Plotted Against Authors 32 Table 3.1 Assessment Matrix of Potential Qualitative Methodologies 40 Table 4.1 Pilot Case Study Interview Participants 58 Table 5.1 National Museum of Australia Main Alliance Team Members 81 Table 5.2 Times Square Project Major Project Members 88 Table 5.3 Hudson River Park Approximate Segment Timescales 95 Table 5.4 Hudson River Park Project Major Project Members 96 Table 6.1 All Case Study Interview Participants 102 Table 7.1 Outcome Space Category of Description Summary 169 Table 7.2 Interjudge Communicability Test Results 173 Table 8.1 Preliminary Identified Skills Set (KSAs) for Effective Project Participation 205 Table 9.1 Preliminary Identified Skills Set (KSAs) for Effective Project Participation 215
ix LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Use of IT by Industry 15 Figure 4.1 Ayers Rock Resort and the Proximity to Ayers Rock 57 Figure 4.2 Category of Description 1 – Efficient Communications 62 Figure 4.3 Category of Description 2 – Another Communications Tool 64 Figure 4.4 Category of Description 3 – Effective Documentation 65 Figure 4.5 Category of Description 4 – IT Skills 67 Figure 4.6 Category of Description 5 – Barrier to Participation 68 Figure 4.7 Category of Description 6 – Multiplier of Communication 70 Figure 4.8 Outcome Space 71 Figure 4.9 Distribution of the Categories of Description 72 Figure 5.1 Acton Peninsula From Above Capital Hill 78 Figure 5.2 National Museum of Australia on the Acton Peninsula 79 Figure 5.3 Times Square Project, Queen Victoria Street Elevation – Looking West 84 Figure 5.4 Times Square Project, St Andrew’s Hill Elevation – Looking North 85 Figure 5.5 Times Square Project, Internal Glazed Atrium 86 Figure 5.6 Times Square Project, Internal lift Lobby 87 Figure 5.7 Hudson River Park Project Segment 2 90 Figure 5.8 Hudson River Park Project Segment 3 91 Figure 5.9 Hudson River Park Project Segment 4 92 Figure 5.10 Hudson River Park Project Segment 5 92 Figure 5.11 Hudson River Park Project Segments 6 and 7 93 Figure 5.12 Hudson River Park Map and Design/Construction Progress Fall 2003 94 Figure 6.1 Breakdown of Interviewees by Profession 103 Figure 6.2 Structure of Awareness 109 Figure 7.1 Category of Description 1 – ‘Communications Tool’ 131 Figure 7.2 Category of Description 2 – ‘Resources’ 138 Figure 7.3 Category of Description 3 – ‘Inevitable’ 142 Figure 7.4 Category of Description 4 – ‘Archive’ 148 Figure 7.5 Category of Description 5 – ‘Toolbox’ 154 Figure 7.6 Category of Description 6 – ‘Multiplier’ 159 Figure 7.7 Category of Description 7 – ‘Barrier’ 167 Figure 7.8 Outcome Space 170 Figure 8.1 Distribution of Quotes for Each Category of Description 176 Figure 9.1 Outcome Space 214 x Figure A.1 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Login Page 220 Figure A.2 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Start Page 221 Figure A.3 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ To Do List Page for a Specific User 222 Figure A.4 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Document Control Register (DCR) Page 222 Figure A.5 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Document Library Page 223 Figure A.6 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Drawing Viewer (PDF) 223 Figure A.7 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Drawing Viewer Zoomed Detail 224 Figure A.8 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ DCR Record Page 224 Figure A.9 Typical ‘ProjectWeb’ Request For Information (RFI) Page 225 Figure B.1 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Logon Screen 226 Figure B.2 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Headlines Page 227 Figure B.3 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Drawing Register 227 Figure B.4 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Drawing Viewer 228 Figure B.5 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Drawing Viewer Zoomed 228 Figure B.6 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Drawing Comments 229 Figure B.7 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ RFI’s 229 Figure B.8 Typical ‘BIW Information Channel’ Health and Safety 230 Figure C.1 Typical ‘Constructware’ Project Information – General Project Details 231 Figure C.2 Typical ‘Constructware’ Bid Management – Call Sheet 231 Figure C.3 Typical ‘Constructware’ Personal Organiser – Personal Inbox 232 Figure C.4 Typical ‘Constructware’ Document management – RFI 232 Figure C.5 Typical ‘Constructware’ File Director – File Management 233 Figure C.6 Typical ‘Constructware’ Cost management – Payment Applications 233 Figure C.7 Typical ‘Constructware’ Risk Management Workers Compensation 233 Figure C.8 Typical ‘Constructware’ Human Resources – Employee Information 234 Figure C.9 Typical ‘Constructware’ Dashboard Summary 1 235 Figure C.10 Typical ‘Constructware’ Request for Change Orders (RCOs) Summary 235 Figure C.11 Typical ‘Constructware’ Requests for Change Order (RCOs) by Project 236
xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AEC Architecture, Engineering and Construction
ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency
ASP Application Service Provider
B2B Business to Business
B2C Business to Consumer
CCT Construction Collaboration Technology
CERN European Laboratory for Particle Physics
CRC Cooperative Research Centre
DARPA Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency
DCA (United States) Defence Communications Agency
DNS Domain Name System e-commerce Electronic Commerce e-mail Electronic Mail
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GUI Graphical User Interface
HCI Human Computer Interface
HRPT Hudson River Park Trust
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
IT Information Technology
ITPO Information Processing Techniques Office
KSA Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
LAN Local Area Network
NCP Network Control Protocol
NSW New South Wales (a state of Australia)
xii OCO Owner Change Order
PC Personal Computer
PFI Private Finance Initiative
PPP Public Private Partnerships
QUT Queensland University of Technology
RCO Requests for Change Order
SCANS Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills
SPIRT Strategic Partnerships with Industry – Research and Training
TCP Transfer Control Protocol
TCP/IP Transfer Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
UK United Kingdom
URL Universal Resource Locators
USA United States of America
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
WWW World Wide Web
xiii
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.
13 February 2006 Signed:______Date:______
xiv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The evolvement of the internet as a complex, flexible and boundless communications tool has opened a number of opportunities for collaborative information sharing based on internet technology. The use of Information Technology in construction is below best practice when compared to other industries (Atkin et al. 1999). The construction industry is now on the verge of widespread acceptance of internet technology and the communications benefits this can bring. The aim of developing a further understanding of the way people experience the phenomenon of ‘the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects’ and identifying these new skill sets is to assist the construction industry participants in preparation for the likely widespread use of this type of technology in construction projects.
1.2 DEFINITION OF IMPORTANT TERMS RELATED TO THIS RESEARCH
A clear definition of some of the important terms related to the research is important to enable the reader to place these issues within the same context as the author.
Information Technology (IT) is defined for this research as ‘the management of information and knowledge through electronic systems’.
The internet is defined for the research as ‘a global network of computers operating on the set of rules for data exchange established by Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and
Internet Protocol (IP), TCP/IP’.
1 Virtual Projects have been defined for this research as ‘projects where participants are engaged in a common goal, communicating through electronic means, having considerable interaction on-line’.
Project Collaboration Websites are internet based project databases which allow project members to be able to connect, coordinate and manage project data while being geographically, logistically and/or time constrained.
Construction Collaboration Technology is:
A combination of technologies that together create a single shared interface between multiple interested individuals (people), enabling them to participate in creative processes in which they can openly share their collective skills, expertise, understanding and knowledge (information), and thereby jointly deliver the best solution(s) that meets their common goal(s), while simultaneously creating an auditable electronic record of the people, processes and information employed in the delivery of the solution(s) (Wilkinson 2005, p.7).
Phenomenography as a methodological approach has been defined for the research as ‘A
“second-order approach”, by which is meant that focus is on the experience-as-described, rather than on either the psychological process generating the experience of the ‘objective facts’ themselves’ (Ashworth et al. 1998, p. 415-416).
Generally in this thesis, the term Construction Collaboration Technology has been adopted to define the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects.
1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE
The construction industry has been deemed as a key priority for the Australian
Commonwealth by the former Minister for Industry Science and Tourism, the Hon. John
Moore MP, in his address ‘Taking the Lead – Australia’s construction industry Towards a
2 National Construction Strategy’ states that ‘I am convinced that ongoing skill formation and training are the keys to this industry’s future’ (Moore 1997, p.5).
Indeed other countries’ leaders share the same view for their construction industries.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr Mahathir has said in relation to Malaysia’s construction
industry that ‘Our future lies in IT’ (Alsagoff 2000, p.83).
The aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the way people experience
the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and the preliminary
identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities – KSAs) required for
participants to effectively participate. In particular, what new KSAs are required to
effectively participate in virtual construction projects? Are there any? A review of literature
suggests that there are. There is a need for a better understanding of the phenomenon of ‘the
use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects’ and a need for the
definition of relevant KSAs for effective participation. This will directly be able to help with
the:
– selection of participants for virtual construction projects
– training for participants of virtual construction projects and
– better understanding of this exciting and inevitable media.
These objectives and aims will be achieved through a Phenomenographic approach, summarised as:
– review literature and identify a gap in the current research
– prepare and execution of a pilot case study to test the methodology, interview process
and analysis
– identify and selection of three major international case studies and interview five
relevant project participants from each
3 – present major case studies to provide a rich background and contextual understanding
of the relevant construction project for the reader
– analyse participants’ experiences through the interview transcripts to provide an
insight into how the phenomenon is being experienced
– identify of the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities for construction industry members to
understand and prepare for the Information Technology and Human aspects required
for effective participation in virtual construction projects and
– recommend areas for further research.
1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research project has selected a qualitative approach to best serve the research goals and objectives. Phenomenography has been selected as an appropriate approach to:
– guide the current research
– provide an empirical, representative and descriptive research approach
– allow an appropriate investigation into the personal differences that affect skills
– produce valid, robust and generalisable research results and
– provide a qualitative based study in a field dominated by qualitative studies.
The primary phenomenographic research question has been defined as:
What are the critical aspects or ways of experiencing the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects that make people able to participate in more or less efficient ways?
The secondary research question which relates to the post-phenomenographic analysis of the outcome space is:
What KSAs can be identified from the ‘phenomenographic outcome space’ to provide a ‘Skill Set’ for people using the internet for information sharing on construction projects?
4 The phenomenographic research outcomes are the categories of description, which describe the different ways that the phenomenon being researched is being experienced, and the outcome space, which describes the logical relationship between the categories of description.
After the phenomenographic analysis and outcomes, the preliminary identification of a skills set has been established to help construction industry members plan for effective participation in virtual projects.
1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
The structure of this thesis is outlined in the following chapter overviews:
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the research, definition of important terms, research objectives, scope and methodology.
Chapter 2 reviews the available literature to investigate and discuss the history and importance of Information Technology, its uses in the construction industry, existing research and to define the area and need for this research.
Chapter 3 discusses the research objectives, scope, general overview of the selection of the
research approach, issues of validity and reliability and the structure of the analysis of the
research data.
Chapter 4 presents the pilot case study with a phenomenographic analysis.
Chapter 5 details the three major case studies.
5 Chapter 6 presents a detailed discussion of the research approach (phenomenography), the theoretical base and the application to this research and validity of the process.
Chapter 7 discusses the phenomenographic analysis outcomes (categories of descriptions and the outcome space) and details the communicability of the outcomes (reliability).
Chapter 8 presents the preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and
Abilities) for effective participation in construction projects that utilise ‘Project
Collaboration Websites’.
Chapter 9 presents a review of the main conclusions from the research, the contribution to
industry practice and the academic body of knowledge and suggests areas for further
research.
6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This literature review has been researched in the available time through the available resources. As with any literature review it can be considered out of date as soon as it is published, it this does provide a comprehensive review of the available literature and research in this area at the time of research.
2.2 NETWORKS, THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW)
In 1958 the United States Government formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA) as a response to the Sputnik embarrassment of the previous year. This was established as a central agency with a mandate for long-term strategic thinking and military research and development in order to leapfrog the USSR. In the early 1960s ARPA was restructured and reintroduced as the Information Processing Techniques Office (ITPO). The
ITPO funded the development of the world’s first multiple-site computer network, called the
ARPANET, which was launched in late 1969. By the end of 1970 this network was growing at one host per month, the rate at which the computers could be manufactured (Gillies et al.
2000; Kitchin 1998; Moschovitis et al. 1999; Naughton 1999).
The first Network Control Protocol (NCP) was launched in late 1970 to provide the base level of communication between computers on the network. In 1971 the first electronic message (e-mail) was sent from one computer to another. In 1972 the ARPA was renamed the DARPA with the addition of the ‘D’ for Defence and the consequential military
objectives for all research. In the same year the first File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was
developed and the ARPANET was first publicly demonstrated. By 1973, 75% of the
7 ARPANET traffic was e-mail (Gillies et al. 2000; Kitchin 1998; Moschovitis et al. 1999;
Naughton 1999).
Concurrently ARPA was also funding the development of a wireless network through the
University of Hawaii, called the ALOHANET, which started in June of 1971. This system connected computers through radio waves and was connected into the ARPANET by satellite at the end of 1972. In 1973 PACNET was established linking via satellite, computer sites around the Pacific in Alaska, Japan, Australia and California. This would eventually lead to portable internet terminals such as the current mobile phones (Gillies et al. 2000;
Moschovitis et al. 1999; Naughton 1999).
The French Government decided to also develop a computer network after the success of the
ARPANET was obvious. The French system was called ‘Cyclades’ and like the beginning of the ARPANET linked Universities and Government sites. By 1974 a change of
Government and Government focus spelt the decline of ‘Cyclades’ and by 1979 was defunct.
The legacy does however survive in the modern day internet (Gillies et al. 2000).
Local Area Networks (LAN) called Ethernets were developed in 1973 and used coaxial cable to network computers together. The popular spread of Ethernets helped reinforce the need for ‘internetworking’ to connect one LAN to another. This system would continue well into the 1990s as the world wide standard LAN system. In 1973 work started on a new host-to- host protocol for internetworking which was called Transfer Control Protocol (TCP). This protocol drew in features of the French ‘Cyclades’ and became the basis for the beginning of the internet (internetworking) (Gillies et al. 2000; Kitchin 1998; Moschovitis et al. 1999;
Naughton 1999).
In 1975 the ARPANET was handed over to the US Defence Communications Agency
(DCA) from DARPA, which allowed ARPA to concentrate on their next target defined as an 8 ‘Internetting’ project. In the same year Xerox developed an internet with their own protocol called XNS. By 1977 the DARPA-sponsored internet started and the TCP was made freely available once the number of hosts passed 100. Xerox, on the other hand, kept their XNS protocol a secret. By 1978 the TCP had developed into TCP/IP with the addition of a second protocol called Internet Protocol (IP). By the end of 1982 TCP/IP was included in the UNIX operating system and it was decided that all nodes connected to the ARPANET would switch to the new TCP/IP from the older NCP (Gillies et al. 2000; Kitchin 1998; Naughton 1999).
On 1 January 1983 the ARPANET, based on the TCP/IP, started the internet as we know it.
At this time the ARPANET was also split into two sections; ARPANET for civilian use and
MILNET for military use. From this time on all networks using the TCP were collectively known as the internet. By 1985 the Domain Name System (DNS) as we know it had been developed and adopted by the internet community. This system logically gave host computers a hierarchical name and was one of the technologies that led to the development of the World Wide Web (WWW). On 28 February 1990, the ARPANET was officially decommissioned and switched off. By this time the internet had developed into 2,000 networks and by 1996 had developed to over 94,000 networks (Gillies et al. 2000;
Moschovitis et al. 1999).
The internet now is a global network of computer networks connecting billions of people to
this resource. The internet today still operates on the set of rules for data exchange
established by Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), TCP/IP.
These rules establish an agreed system of communications between all stakeholders and
users of the internet. There also exist gateways to services and networks with differing
protocols. The internet represents a resource which is easily accessible almost anywhere a
computer can be plugged into a phone line, with content that grows by the minute (Harris et
al. 2001; Kitchin 1998).
9 The Personal Computer (PC) has had a significant impact on the internet as we know it
today. Laptops and PCs have enabled people to use the internet from their office, home or in
a remote location with a satellite or mobile phone (Moschovitis et al. 1999).
Today common uses of the internet include communication, interaction, e-commerce and
information sharing. These can include:
– Electronic Mail (e-mail). E-mail is one of the most common uses of the internet. This
system of electronic mail works like normal mail in that all participants have an address.
However, the real benefit is speed of communication (within minutes) and the ability to
attach other electronic documents
– File Transfer protocol (FTP). FTP was one of the first file transfer methods from one
computer to another. This system allows whole files to be transferred without
restrictions as to file type and size. These restrictions can sometimes limit the transfer of
files as attachments to e-mail
– Telnet. Telnet allows the use of one computer to log into another computer in a different
network and use the resources of that computer
– World Wide Web (WWW). The WWW or ‘Web’ was developed by CERN (the
European Laboratory for Particle Physics) in Switzerland, and launched in 1992. The
Web is a networked hypertext information system, where text has links to further
information. These hyperlinks are activated through a mouse click and the linked piece
of information can be anywhere in the world. This system uses Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Universal Resource
Locators (URL). The Web is in effect seamless, as the user does not need to know
where the next piece of information is stored and by whom. The information is simply
displayed by the use of Web Browser software (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape)
– Data Conferencing. Data Conferencing allows users to confer over text and graphic
pictures only
10 – Video Conferencing. Video Conferencing allows the live real-time connection of
multiple users with video, audio and data for interaction. This type of electronic
conferencing allows further aspects of communication such as body language and verbal
emphasis to be conveyed
– Electronic Commerce (e-commerce). E-commerce involves the combination of e-mail
and the processing and transmission of data to electronically perform business between
either Business to Consumer (B2C) and/or Business to Business (B2B). This type of
business includes electronic banking, electronic invoicing, payments and receipts,
electronic trading of goods and services, on-line delivery of digital data, electronic
procurement, collaborative project environments and many more (Cock 2004; Harris et
al. 2001; Moschovitis et al. 1999; Naughton 1999).
The benefit of the internet to the construction industry is the ability to easily connect to large amounts of data and communications from almost any geographic location (Harris et al.
2001). E-mail has been of particular benefit and is the most widely used computer-mediated communications tool. The growth of the internet has increased the importance of e-mail as an intra- and inter-organisational communications tool allowing dispersed people to communicate, source information and distribute knowledge (Kettinger et al. 1997).
An Intranet is essentially a business’s internal communications infrastructure which is based on the internet protocols and systems. Access to an Intranet is limited to the company employees and is not accessible from the internet. Intranets evolved at roughly the same time as the internet did and were a response to industry concerns over security of internal data over the internet (Harris et al. 2001).
An Extranet is again based on the protocols and systems of the Intranet but is accessible to authorised users (both company personnel and business partners) through the same public telecommunications systems as the internet. Extranets add the benefit over Intranets of 11 being able to connect business partners to large amounts of data and communications options
through a virtual network (Harris et al. 2001).
2.3 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)
A definition for Information Technology (IT) appears extremely elusive. Until recently, putting a personal computer on an employee’s desk was referred to as IT. The scope of IT includes electronic systems for the capture, storing, manipulating, retrieval and transmitting of data (Betts 1999b). Bjork (1999, p.4) defines IT as ‘the use of electronic machines and programs for the processing, storage, transfer and presentation of information’.
If IT is divided into two components – Information and Technology – these terms have the following meanings from the Collins Dictionary:
information n. 1. knowledge acquired through experience or study. 2. knowledge of specific and timely events or situations; news. 3. the act of informing or the condition of being informed. 6. Computers. a. the meaning given to data by the way it is interpreted (Hanks 1988, p.580).
technology n. 1. the application of practical or mechanical sciences to industry or commerce. 2. the methods, theory, and practices governing such application (Hanks 1988, p.1214).
Together, Information Technology has been defined in the Collins Dictionary as:
information technology n. the production, storage, and communication of information using computers and microelectronics (Hanks 1988, p.1214).
IT could thus be defined as ‘the management of information and knowledge through electronic systems’. Management in this definition refers to the creation, capture, storage, transmission, manipulation, translation and communication of data. The ‘Data’ is information and knowledge.
12 Today IT has migrated from computerisation to a tool of strategic business enhancement.
Tilley (2000) asserts that the construction industry is information intensive with the entire
industry concerned about the effectiveness of information management.
Information and the relevant technologies provide the link between the business activities of the construction industry including; Marketing, Estimating, Tendering, Design, Construction,
Research & Development and Administration. The Design Phase of a construction project is essentially a transaction of information and knowledge with an output into the construction phase. The Construction Phase involves the input from the design phase as well as many information and knowledge transactions to facilitate the management and delivery of the built facility. The overall performance of a construction project should therefore be partially reliant on the effective management of information and knowledge resources (Harris et al.
2001).
Harris and McCaffer (2001) suggest that senior executives in the construction industry accept that information is a critical management resource and is the basis for all operations of construction companies. However, the management of information does not receive the appropriate level of attention from senior executives.
2.4 THE USE OF IT IN CONSTRUCTION
It is suggested by Kajewski and Weippert (2000) that the use of computer applications (IT) within the construction industry began approximately a decade after the first electronic computer was built in the 1950s. This time frame is similarly proposed by Gallagher (1988) in Table 2.1 illustrating the 3 eras in the general use of IT.
13 Table 2.1 Three Eras in IT
(Gallagher 1988, p.6-8)
This model is reflected in that of Harris and McCaffer (2001) who suggest that the introduction of IT in the construction industry has passed through 3 phases:
– First Phase – (up to the late 1970s). Use of IT for cost savings and efficiency in
information processing. This phase speeded up the manual processing of information at
an operational level rather that a reorganisation of this process.
– Second Phase – (late 1970s to late 1980s). Aligning of technology with the functions of
the construction industry with stand-alone systems.
– Third Phase – (early 1990s to present day). Consolidation of stand-alone systems to
maximise IT as a strategic resource. Use of IT as a communications tool with
capabilities to develop supply chain relationships.
Four decades later the use of IT in the construction industry has increased considerably but may still be less than other industries.
Betts (1999a) suggests that the shift in the use of IT to a strategic advantage has been less well accepted in the construction industry. The view that the construction industry has not been as committed to the use of IT as have other industries has been supported by a number
14 of other researchers globally (e.g. Alsagoff 2000; CICA et al. 1990; NSWDPWS 1998). The
Australian Bureau of Statistics has released research on the use of IT, illustrating that the
construction industry lags behind almost every other industry sector. Figure 2.1 illustrates
this point graphically by comparing the construction industry to all industries.
Figure 2.1 Use of IT by Industry
(ABS 1999, p.5)
Reasons for the Australian construction industry’s slow take up of new technology have been suggested to include:
– the diverse nature of the industry
– the numerous client organisations
– An industry operating on very low margins
– staff who are employees only for a single project
– project data being re-establishes at each phase of the project
– the limited nature of information sharing and
– the cyclical nature of industry activity (NSWDPWS 1998)
Australia is not alone and this trend appears to be global. Rosenbaum and Schriener (2000, p. 19) state that ‘The highly fragmented and litigious $3.2-trillion-per-year [construction] industry ranks 87th globally among industries in pace of technology adoption.’
15 Some areas of the construction industry have tended to advance their use of IT, but only in
certain areas. Weippert & Kajewski (2000) suggest that design offices have developed a
greater sophistication in the use of computer-assisted tools than compared to the construction
site.
Bjork (1999) identifies two different ways of using IT for aiding humans in performing
activities. The first is straightforward automation of enhancing a manual process with IT.
The second is a redesign of the process considering the possibilities made available through
IT. Bjork proposes a model of generic information processes within a construction project.
All activities which directly produce new information or alter previous information are
considered primary activities. Almost all primary activities are then supported by secondary
activities of communication and information retrieval.
Bjork (1999, p.7) proposes four generic activities as:
– Creation of new information (e.g. the decision making and design of a new building
by the architect)
– Person-to-person communication (e.g. communications, meetings and
correspondence with the other design sub-consultants, the client, the city council,
etc)
– Information search and retrieval (e.g. searching for the site survey drawings and title
searches to retrieve in formation of the site’s existing services, etc) and
– Information distribution (e.g. drawings, schedules and specifications are then
distributed, electronically and/or hard copy, to other design sub-consultants, the
client and ultimately the builder for construction).
Refer Bjork , p.8, Figure 3 for a graphical representation of the four generic information process activities and their interactions.
16 This model breaks the construction process up into sections which can be directly targeted
by IT. For example, word processors and CAD create new information; e-mail can be used
for person-to-person communications; databases are used to store, search and retrieve
information and the World Wide Web can distribute information.
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect Microsoft Corporation, (1996) has stated
that the construction industry is characterised by information continually moving between
offices and remote locations. He quite perceptively has reinforced that the internet has a
huge potential to the construction industry as many projects now require hundreds of people
and thousands of documents.
Wilkinson (2005) goes further by recently updating the use if IT within the UK construction
industry. By 2003 the role of IT was starting to be repeatedly reinforced by construction
industry change initiatives and the importance of IT was becoming increasingly apparent
within the industry. The adoption of IT within the construction industry is still however
apparent when compared to other industry sectors.
2.5 HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACE (HCI)
IT allows interaction with large amounts of information and functions. The interaction between humans and computers through controlling commands and responses is called a
Human-Computer Interface (BRE 1994).
The role of HCIs has increased with the complexity in development of computer hardware and software. Dillion (1989) suggested that the user and computer engage in a
‘communicative dialogue’ in order to complete a task. The interface is thus the communication channel between user and computer.
17 The shift from command line type instructions to a user friendly Graphical User Interface
(GUI) started with XEROX and was successfully brought to market by the Apple Macintosh.
The current generation of HCIs have widened the user base of IT and helped to increase the
effectiveness of the systems. The interface to an IT system can often make or break the
success of that system (BRE 1994).
The Microsoft Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) has now become the worldwide
standard interface for interaction between humans and computers. This standardisation has
helped to also standardise some of the skills which are required to interact with a computer
(BRE 1994).
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the interaction interface for construction project
participants to access information through their computers. These uses would typically
include Computer Aided Design (CAD), email, internet access, word processing,
Spreadsheets and desktop publishing.
2.6 PROJECT TEAMS
Although this is not a research project into the effectiveness of project teams specifically, all construction projects are team organised. A brief overview of a summary of research into teams will be useful when considering virtual teams and the construction project case studies in the later chapters.
Teams and team structures have increasingly been the focus of researchers with the ongoing popularity and documented success of using teams in organisations. Whilst this research touches generally on team research, it is primarily targeted towards the effectiveness of teams and team members within the available literature.
18 Cohen and Bailey (1997) summarised and reviewed the available literature on teams from
1990 to 1996 to develop a heuristic framework for team effectiveness (Figure 2.2). While
Environmental Factors directly impact on design factors, environmental, design, internal and external factors and group psychosocial traits all impact on group effectiveness.
Figure 2.2 A Heuristic Model of Group Effectiveness
(Cohen et al. 1997, p. 244)
Cohen and Bailey (1997, p.242-243) examined in detail four different team types:
– work teams (stable, full-time, continuous working units and produce services and/or goods. i.e. Mining crew) – parallel teams (assembled from different areas to complete tasks that the usual structure can not perform. i.e. Taskforce) – project teams (limited time, one-off results, non-repetitive and require expertise and knowledge. i.e. sub-consultant team for a building development) and – management teams (manage sub-section of their area of responsibility. i.e. Marketing team).
19 Construction projects will usually involve most of these team types, however for the purpose
of this research into the use of the internet for information sharing, this will generally occur
at Cohen’s third group, the ‘Project Team’ level, within the project consultant group
(consultants, sub-consultants, project managers and constructors).
The Cohen and Bailey (1997) review and analysis of 13 different research studies into
project team effectiveness produced a number of significant observations:
Task Design
– …project teams with higher autonomy were not the best performers (p. 261) – Group cohesiveness is positively related to performance (p. 281)
Product Characteristics
– When team design and processes are properly fit to product characteristics, performance can be high, but when they are not so, performance will suffer (p. 263)
Internal Processes
– Teams high in cooperation relied more heavily on informal modes of communication than did low cooperation teams (p. 264) – …task processes [group’s ability to develop plans, define goals, and prioritize work] were positively associated with team ratings of overall efficiency (p. 264)
External Processes
– …external communications [were found] to be positively associated with managers’ ratings (p. 264) – …it [external communications] was found to be negatively associated with a team’s assessment of its overall performance (p. 265)
Group Psychosocial Traits
– …in familiar technological situations, leaders can withdraw more from the team, letting them direct themselves. But when technology is unfamiliar, a less adaptive leader ensures that the team has the freedom to consider ideas (Cohen et al. 1997 p. 265).
20 2.7 VIRTUAL PROJECTS/TEAMS
One of the long term solutions offered by the New South Wales Government is for the establishment of shared project databases and advanced communications networks. The application of this technology is suggested to help create ‘Virtual Projects’ (NSWDPWS
1998).
Frust et al. (1999) and others suggest that the global economy of today’s business world forces many organisations to operate through a mix of intra- and inter-organisational boundaries. Through adapting new technologies, companies are discovering that virtual teams are able to effectively work through these boundaries. Warkentin and Beranek (1999) state that many organisations are using workgroups comprising members who communicate and collaborate through the use of technology to accomplish tasks – whilst they may not be organised as a traditional team, they are effectively a ‘virtual team’.
Virtual Teams have been defined as:
…groups of people engaged in a common task or goal communicating through electronic means, which may be electronic mail (e-mail), Web-based communications, video and/or audio, but in general having considerable interaction on-line (Warkentin et al. 1999, p. 271).
One viewpoint suggests that the adoption and adaptation of this technology is used to overcome the time and space requirements of face-to-face meetings, to improve the range and depth of information and knowledge access, to improve the effectiveness of group tasks, improve the range, speed and capacity of communications and to reduce costly expenses associated with distributed work groups (Warkentin et al. 1999).
Fruchter (1999) similarly argues that a geographical separation of project team members justifies the use of IT to accomplish the goals of the project though virtual teamwork.
21 Cohen and Bailey (1997) however approached this from a different perspective. Their
research indicates that physical proximity enhances information sharing and internal
cooperation and proposed that more research is needed in the area of virtual teams, lacking
physical proximity, to evaluate team performance and efficiency of these types of physical
proximity challenged teams.
Pauleen and Yoong (2001) also report that little research has been written on the building of
online relationships between virtual team members. They suggest that what research that has
been done has pointed to communication as the bases for effective virtual teams.
Frust et al. (1999) suggests an alternative viewpoint that as the importance of knowledge
management increases, the use of virtual teams may become a pre-requisite to successful
competition. Virtual teams would allow a company to distribute knowledge across
geographic boundaries quickly without the time and expense of travel.
Evbuomwan and Anumba (1998) in their concurrent life-cycle design and construction
framework suggest that all information relating to a project be stored in a common format
and environment, thus ensuring the project information is consistent and all participants have access to the same information.
Whilst some of these researchers have differing views on the success of virtual teams, the
use of IT appears critical and the lack of research in this area is acknowledged.
2.8 THE INTERNET FOR INFORMATION SHARING IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
In 1994, the Building Research Establishment stated that communication between project members is often restricted due to different work locations. They predicted that it will
22 become common place to transfer information between companies in digital format. There will also be a need to manage this information flow with increasing collaboration with other companies. They suggested that within five
years the infrastructure for ‘remote computer-based collaborative working’ should be readily available (BRE 1994).
Harrison, in evaluating e-mail in the New South Wales State Government Department of
Public Works and Services, suggests that the internet is a useful tool for communication between staff and clients anywhere in the world. This type of communication is readily available and relatively inexpensive and allows companies to offer services around the world easily and cost effectively (Harrison 1995). Bjork (1999) confirms the importance of this type of communication and comments that information transfer between project participants through all project life-cycle stages is a primary area for research.
The University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit also suggests that the use of the internet to share project information from a single project database is widely discussed in the
United States (Gann et al. 1996).
The need for information sharing in the construction industry is significant. McIntyre (1995) notes that it has been estimated that more than 20% of the cost of a building project is lost due to inefficiencies through inabilities to share information. Industry trends and increasing construction costs are pushing project participants towards increased cooperation and many are forming alliances to provide projects with a greater level of cooperation and information sharing in a global market. Information sharing ensures that all project participants are working from centralised shared project information, rather than each creating ‘islands’ of information with the many repetitions and potential sources of errors.
23 Jones & Riley (1993) propose that construction projects are contributed to by the knowledge of many experts. Time savings could be achieved if the project-specific knowledge can be readily recalled, reanalysed and rejustified.
Fruchter (1999) discusses ongoing research into a model for a distributed Architecture,
Engineering and Construction (A/E/C) learning environment and an Internet-based Web- mediated collaboration tool kit. This research proposed that the use of IT can produce better, faster and more economical buildings.
O’Brien (2000) has suggested that ‘project Web sites’ should provide access to project information for project participants that should surpass the traditional means of communications. He suggested that this concept has merit and that usage is growing.
Wilkinson (2005) provides a detailed and up-to-date account of construction collaboration technology (CCT) in the United Kingdom Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in terms of the technology involved, hosting options, providers, features, legal issues, some human aspects, benefits and the potential future of this technology.
There appears to be a couple of similar thoughts which appear to be emerging from a number of researchers within this area:
– Project information needs to be efficiently and effectively shared. Losses could be
minimised and savings generated if this is achieved
– IT has the ability to achieve the communications required and deliver more efficient
processes and
– Research is required in this area.
24 2.9 SKILLS SETS
Research has found that many senior managers are unable to predict what skills will be required for their staff to be competitive. Whatever the IT capability available to a company,
the fundamental challenge is the training and development of human resources to maintain
and operate the IT. Technological changes can and do require a new set of skills. (McCole
et al. 2001)
The rate of change in skill requirements is considerably higher than it was in
the past and is increasing. Intense competition and rapid technological
development are accelerating the challenge in skill requirements across almost
all industries. The ability to learn continually and update skills is becoming
more and more important (McCole et al. 2001, p.92).
In evaluating the benefits of using e-mail within the New South Wales State Government
Department of Public Works and Services, Harrison (1995) suggested that training was the second most expensive aspect of the integration as e-mail requires a cultural change in the way people communicate. It was also suggested that there was still resistance to the use of
IT as a work tool.
Herbert (1995) also notes that the human side to the use of Technology is just as important as the hardware. New technology and processes may present a cultural shift and resistance to change. He also suggests that the ownership of the process needs to be shared with staff through awareness and training (developing skill sets).
Pender (1995) highlights that any investment in IT is worthless without an appropriate balance of skills, culture and attitude. The Building Research Establishment (BRE 1994)
25 commented that with advances in IT, users may need to develop new skills. Bjork (1999)
also suggests that the ‘human aspects’ of IT are of particular interest; training, re-engineering
and motivation.
Liedtka (1998) discusses the changing nature of synergies in business with new emphasis on
capability development as a competitive advantage. Hamel and Prahalad (1990) add to this
argument through a company-wide consolidation of technologies and production skills.
Thompson and Guile (1994) state that the rapid rate of change through IT will continue
resulting in the requirement for a highly flexible (mind and attitude) and skilled workforce
with new styles of work where workers will be required to move from one skill to another
with confidence. They go as far as to suggest a summary of future skill requirements:
– Multi-skilling: Skilled across a range of operations
– depth of skill; Skilled in terms of particular operations and
– skill integration: Technical, conceptual and personal skills inextricably linked.
(Thompson et al. 1994, p.5)
The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report released by the
US Secretary of Labour in 1991 described what they consider to be specific competencies for workers of the 21st century which included the ability to comprehend complex social, organisational and technical systems. This and other studies confirm the changing nature of information processing and the need for professionals to expand their skills appropriately
(Stein et al. 1995).
Analysis from a recent New Zealand study found that research needs to consider the skills that employees require in team projects characterised by distributed and shared information systems and that the capacity to manage knowledge was the most highly valued skill (Hill et al. 1998). 26 Fruchter (1999) argues that because business of the future will be based on information, it is necessary to educate participants about the required tools that will control and manipulate information and support collaborative work. This will require training for participants in team dynamics and problem solving through IT. IT changes the traditional communication modes in an organisation and thus requires new communication skills to be developed at a business and social level.
Frust et al. (1999) propose that the context variables of training, development and information systems support must change as the impact of virtual teams are realised. Skills in the management and use of software and hardware may be just as important as the management of information. However, in addition to the functional knowledge required to effectively work in a virtual team, ‘…team members must possess the appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully in the virtual setting’ (Frust et al.
1999, p.256).
It has been suggested that in most cases, virtual team members receive no or very little, training to improve their effectiveness in participating in this environment. The training that does occur, usually covers software skills rather than relevant interpersonal communication skills (Warkentin et al. 1999).
Frust et al. (1999) also suggest through industry discussions and the limited research on
‘virtual groups’ and ‘computer-mediated communication studies’ that significant differences exist between face-to-face and virtual teams.
Nitithamyong and Skibniewski (in press) have developed and quantitatively refined a conceptual success/failure model for Project Management System – Application Service
Providers (PM-ASP) implementation. Their research has proposed the following 11 critical variables that can offer guidance for participants to increase their chances of successfully 27 implementing PM-ASP and provides insight into the pros and cons of the existing PS-ASP’s
available in the market place:
– project type
– project duration
– internet access availability
– type of internet connection
– level of internal support
– ability of the project manager(s)
– usage frequency of advanced features
– level of supports provided by a service provider
– functionality and reliability of PM-ASP
– data security and reliability and
– level of external integration of PM-ASP (Nitithamyong et al. in press p. 39).
Their research, however, appears to concentrate on the success of construction projects rather than how this phenomenon is being experienced by the project participants, nor the skills required to effectively participate.
2.10 FIELD OF STUDY
It is clear that the internet provides an ever-increasing source of information and communication channels. The widespread access to the internet makes it a suitable platform for the sharing of information by project teams.
Information Technology (IT) is now seen as a strategic business tool capable of leveraging competitive advantages for industry, firms and projects. The construction industry has been proven to be slow adopters of IT when compared to other industries. It is also apparent that
28 businesses and personnel need to think differently about the use of IT to be effective. While much research has been written on the strategic use and planning of IT in business and more specifically the construction industry, there appears to be little research on how this is being experienced by the participants and the skills required for effective participation.
Again, in the research on skill sets, much has been written on the human side of IT and the need for businesses and personnel to constantly update skill sets to effectively use IT. The human-computer interface has also been researched and the effects of computer programming to enhance this relationship. However the skills required for effective use of
IT appear to be under-researched.
Virtual projects and teams have been researched in recent years, particularly in the areas of trust and communications. These two areas, whilst touching on experiences and the skills, do not adequately define how the participants are experiencing this phenomenon and the skill sets required for effective participation in virtual project and teams. Frust et al. (1999) proposed that little empirical research exists into the inherent dynamics and factors that contribute to the success of virtual teams. Two reasons have been suggested for this lack of research; virtual teams are relatively new, and working in virtual teams may require new and different approaches that have not yet been appreciated by many managers.
The phenomenon of using the internet for information sharing has been the focus of a small amount of research, much of which is hypothetical future predictions. This technology is currently readily available and is being successfully utilised by a number of significant construction industry participants already. It is proving more likely that the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects will start to become common place in a number of years. However, there appears to be very little research on how this phenomenon is experienced and the likely skill sets required for building professionals to be able to adapt to this new technology and method of working. 29 Verheij and Augenbroe (2001, p. 3) suggest that:
…not a single project web site helps establishing ground rules, building team spirit, trust and commitment, takes in consideration the experience or seniority of individual team members, or accounts for the external social and business environment behind each team member.
Frust et al. (1999) state that further research is required to evaluate what knowledge, skills
and abilities need to be retained, modified and/or added to contribute to virtual team success.
They further stated that ‘the implications of this research gap are profound for managers’
(p.257).
There appears to be a gap in the research as to how the use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects is experienced and the likely skill sets required for effective
participation in this type of project. The gap represents the ‘human’ side of the phenomenon
of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects. Frust et al. (1999,
p. 257) suggests the following research question deserves further attention:
What team-member KSAs [knowledge, skills and abilities] are necessary for effective virtual team performance?
O’Brien (2000, p. 35) in his discussion of implementation issues of project Web sites has suggested that ‘not enough attention has been paid to the way in which individuals and teams are to incorporate the capabilities of project Web sites into their daily work activities’.
Nitithamyong and Skibniewski (in press) suggest that there are few studies that investigate the human side of Project Management System – Application Service Provider (PM-ASP).
Most research projects in this area have focused on technical issues or advanced improvements, ignoring the softer human issues.
30 Representing and viewing the existing research in a tabulated format (Table 2.2) illustrates the perceived gap in the research. The orange boxes represent areas of research from the literature review. Areas where researchers have suggested that further research is required are represented by the blue boxes. The column which has been defined with a heavier border, is the author’s area of proposed research.
31 Table 2.2 Literature Review Areas Plotted Against Authors
Author/ Research Area IT HCI Skill Sets Project Teams Project Teams technology (CCT) How CCT are being experienced / Skill Sets Skill / experienced Virtual Projects/Teams Virtual Projects/Teams Use of IT in Construction Use of IT in Construction Construction collaboration Networks, internet & WWW Gillies and Calliau Kitchin Moschovitis et al. Naughton Harris and McCaffer Cock Kettinger and Grover Betts Bjork Tilley Kajewski and Weippert Gallagher Harris & McCaffer Alsagoff CICA & KPMG NSWDPWS ABS Weippert & Kajewski BRE Dillon Cohen and Bailey Frust et al. Warkentin et al. Pauleen and Yoong Fruchter Evbuomwan et al. O’Brien Nitithamyong et al. Wilkinson Harrison Gann et al. McIntyre Jones and Riley McCole et al. Herbert Pender Hamel and Prahalad Liedtka Thompson and Guile SCANS Stein et al. Hill et al.
32 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter outlines the research strategy, objectives, scope and the selection of an appropriate research approach. A preliminary overview of the selected research approach is provided. The structure of the research project is then outlined in terms of the selected research approach (pilot and major case studies), and the primary and secondary research questions are proposed.
Chapter 3 is intended to provide an introduction to the selected research approach. A detailed review of the theoretical base of the selected research approach and the application to this research project is contained in Chapter 6.
3.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY
The research strategy for this study was to investigate the phenomenon of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects through a number of major case studies. Major project case studies which have actively used the internet for information sharing were seen as an ideal research situation to better understand this phenomenon.
Interviews of relevant project participants on each major case study were considered important to investigate how the phenomenon is actually being experienced. It is hoped that this analysis will help the construction industry to better understand and prepare for the specific Information Technology and human requirements, through the identification of the
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities, to allow effective participation in virtual construction projects.
33 3.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE
The objective of the research is to investigate the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and the preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge,
Skills and Abilities) to allow construction industry members to effectively participate in virtual construction projects. The objectives of the research can be summarised as:
– review literature and identify a gap in the current research
– prepare and execution of a pilot case study to test the methodology, interview process
and analysis
– identify and selection of three major international case studies and interview five
relevant project participants from each
– present major case studies to provide a rich background and contextual understanding
of the relevant construction project for the reader
– analyse participants’ experiences through the interview transcripts to provide an
insight into how the phenomenon is being experienced
– identify of the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities for construction industry members to
understand and prepare for the Information Technology and Human aspects required
for effective participation in virtual construction projects and
– recommend areas for further research.
The scope of the research is focused on the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects through interviews of relevant participants in major case studies. The scope of the research can be summarised as:
– interviews of relevant project participants from major international case studies
– analysis of the interview transcripts to determine how the phenomenon is being
experienced and
– preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) to allow
construction industry members to understand and prepare for the Information
34 Technology and Human aspects required for effective participation in virtual
construction projects.
3.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Methodology is a general term which can usually be assumed to have the meaning of a system of methods and principals. This section generally describes the processes and principles that the author’s research followed. For this research project it has been considered that the research plan is more of an approach, than a rigid methodology. For the purpose of this research the author has used the term ‘research design and/or approach’ to
represent ‘methodology’, as I believe this gives a more appropriate understanding of a
philosophical approach rather than following an inflexible system.
The selection of a research approach is crucial to any research project. The research approach will be evaluated just as closely as the research results. The approach selected needs to deliver results which are appropriate, robust, repeatable and defendable. Whilst a number of very different approaches were considered for this research, there was no ‘right or wrong’ answer as to which approach to select. The researcher needs to logically select the research approach that they believe is the most appropriate to their research, with the crucial understanding that the research results need to be valid and make a significant contribution to the field.
3.4.1 Selection
Much literature exists on research approaches, their application and the benefits of each.
The journey of research approach selection is just as important as the approach . One of the first research approach selection questions involves a choice between a qualitative or quantitative approach.
35 The difference between qualitative and quantitative methodologies is not always clear and there are often mixtures of both. That is, in qualitative research the recognition of amounts and difference in amounts can be significant. Likewise in quantitative research description and researcher interpretations are also significant. All research results (qualitative and quantitative) need to be interpreted. In Gillham’s (2000, p.10) words ‘”facts” do not speak for themselves – someone has to speak for them’.
In reality there is no ‘pure methodology’ for either qualitative or quantitative methodologies
(Stake 1995). Yin (1994) also suggests that case study research is not limited to either qualitative or quantitative, citing common ground between the two different types.
Stake (1995, p. 37) proposes 3 major differences in qualitative and quantitative methodologies as:
1) the distinction between understanding and explanation as the purpose of inquiry
2) the distinction between a personal and impersonal role for the researcher and
3) a distinction between knowledge discovered and knowledge constructed.
Understanding and Explanation
One of the fundamental differences between qualitative and quantitative methodologies is what knowledge each is striving to reach. Qualitative researchers seek to understand inter- relationships, against quantitative researchers seeking control and explanation. This difference can be simply described as understanding vs. explanation (qualitative and quantitative). Qualitative research investigates what is happening in key situations and represents happenings with interpretation and narrative. Extensive use of narratives provides the reader with a further level of understanding of the research. Quantitative research investigates through variables, measurement and scales to represent happenings (Stake
1995).
36 Personal or Impersonal
All research is dependent on interpretation, however the degree of interpretation varies between qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Qualitative research requires researchers to be ‘in the field’, collecting observations, experiencing phenomena, using judgement and making interpretations. Research usually targets case studies and/or phenomena, and is interested in anticipated and unexpected relationships. Relationships are experimental as opposed to defined. Quantitative research often tends to limit personal interpretation from when the research design is finalised through to the statistical analysis.
Typically, qualitative research attempts to define, bound and determine the relationships for a small number of variables and then apply interpretation and generalisation. It is clear that qualitative research requires ongoing interpretation by the researcher in a hands-on approach
(Stake 1995).
Knowledge Constructed and Discovered
The belief that knowledge is constructed, as opposed to discovered, is a common characteristic of qualitative research methodologies. People construct their understandings of the world from experience and learning. In Stake’s (1995, p. 100) discussion on
Constructivism, he states that, ‘no aspects of knowledge are purely of the external world, devoid of human construction.’
Qualitative research seeks to construct a clearer picture of the reality that is interpreted from the external world and stimuli. The constructionist approach provides readers with raw material (narrative) for their own interpretation. Quantitative research seeks to discover knowledge through the scientific search for cause and effect. These results are ultimately expressed in generalised grand theory. Quantitative research design aims to propose a hypothesis at the start of the research (often formed through qualitative style research) and discover through quantitative methods if this theory is correct or not (Stake 1995).
37 Stewart and Mickunas (1974) also suggest that studies into conscious thought can not be
investigated by quantitative methods because consciousness itself is not a tangible object and
there are conscious phenomena which can not be adequately investigated through
quantitative processes.
3.4.2 Author’s Field of Research
A majority of the research in the field of construction management, engineering and property
uses quantitative methodologies. This field of research is particularly technical and easily
suited to a cause and effect methodology in most cases.
The author’s field of research, while lying within the construction management, property and
engineering realm, is seeking to investigate experiences of, and the preliminary identification
of the skills set for the use of, the internet for information sharing on construction projects.
Experiences and skills sets are essentially personal, belonging to the individuals involved.
As such, different people will have different experiences and perceptions of what skills they
have and what further skills they need based on their construction of knowledge from their
experience and learning.
Stevens and Campion (1994) suggest in their extensive research into the Knowledge, Skills
and Abilities for teamwork (non virtual) that their research has been spread across socio- technical systems theory, organisational behaviour theory, industrial engineering and social psychology. Many of these areas of research rely heavily on qualitative research methodologies.
The author considered that the proposed area of research:
– was relatively new and required a methodology that would investigate and describe
what was happening to allow greater level of understanding by the author and readers
– was to focus on experiences and personal skills of case study participants which
required a ‘hands-on’ approach (by the author) and 38 – would require a methodology that allowed for different perceptions, experience and
learning of the case study participants.
Based on these research requirements, the author considered that the research would be better served by a qualitative methodology.
The research field of construction management, engineering and property is dominated by quantitative research. It is also considered that the juxtaposition of qualitative research within this field is a healthy proposition. This in itself is anticipated to provide a valuable insight into the use of a relatively underused methodology type within this field of research.
Sandberg (2005) and Prasad and Prasad (2002) suggest that interpretive (qualitative) approaches have allowed new research questions to be answered, thus producing new knowledge within a field.
The author believes that the use of a qualitative approach within an academic realm of quantitative methodologies will be itself a valuable exercise.
3.4.3 Qualitative Methodologies
There are a number of qualitative methodologies which could be applied to this research.
The key to selection is to select the most appropriate type based on the requirements of the research, not the methodological process. Table 3.1 illustrates the qualitative methodologies that were considered.
39 Table 3.1 Assessment Matrix of Potential Qualitative Methodologies
Methodology Description Relevance Grounded Theory Seeks unconscious intent of Medium interviewee through analysis of only transcript excerpts Phenomenology Seeks to articulate a High collection of separate individuals’ experiences of a phenomenon Phenomenography Seeks to describe the High different ways that a group of people experience a phenomenon Hermeneutics Seeks to study and interpret Low the prephilosophical understandings of a body of knowledge Ethnography Seeks to scientifically Low describe individual human societies/cultures
Hermeneutics and Ethnography were firstly rejected as having a low relevance due to the emphasis on preunderstandings and culture (Dunkin 2000; Feagin et al. 1991; Stewart et al.
1974). Grounded Theory was next rejected due to limitations on analysis from only parts of transcripts, other more interpretative data collection methods and a basis of seeking
unconscious intent (Dick 2002; Dunkin 2000; Kvale 1996).
Phenomenology and Phenomenography are two qualitative methodologies that are often
confused. There are a number of differences however, which will produce markedly
different research results.
Phenomenology is essentially a collection of separate individuals’, or even just one person’s,
conceptions of a phenomenon. Typically the sample size is very small and the description of
detail particularly ‘thick’. Van Manen (1984, p. ii) described Phenomenology as ‘a
philosophy of the unique, the personal, the individual which we pursue, against the
background of an understanding of the logos of Other, the Whole, or the Communal’.
40 Phenomenography is essentially a study of variation between different ways of seeing,
understanding and experiencing the same phenomenon. Phenomenography develops a
spread of perspectives within a system of categories and descriptions designed to highlight
the different ways of experiencing a phenomenon. Typically the sample size is larger than
Phenomenology with approximately 15 people interviewed. The description concentrates on
the differences in how people experience, as opposed to how a single person experiences, a
phenomenon. The results are categories of descriptions which demonstrate the different
ways of understanding a phenomenon in a hierarchical and interrelated system (Dunkin
2000; Hasselgren et al. 2002).
Marton (1994, p. 4424), (one of the founders of phenomenography) describes
phenomenography as ‘…the empirical study of the limited number of qualitatively different
ways in which various phenomena in, and aspects of, the world around us are experienced,
conceptualised, understood, perceived and appreciated’.
The phenomenology approach was considered inappropriate due to the limited sample size.
The phenomenographic approach was preferred to allow a greater spread of interaction and
understanding of people who are actively involved in using the internet for information
sharing on construction projects.
3.4.4 Phenomenography
The author believes that phenomenography is a suitable methodology to:
– guide the current research
– provide an empirical, representative and descriptive research approach
– allow an appropriate investigation into the personal differences that affect skills
– produce valid, robust and generalisable research results
– provide a qualitative-based study in a field dominated by quantitative studies and
– allow a hands-on approach through the use of project case studies. 41 The following section provides an overview of the history and processes of
phenomenography, illustrates how this has been recently used and outlines how this
methodology will be used for this research project.
History of Phenomenography
Phenomenography was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s through educational
research at the University of Göteborg in Sweden. The initial research questions were
focused on what does it mean and why are some people better learners? Of particular importance to the emergence of this type of research were the studies of learning by Marton and Säljö in 1976. Although phenomenography developed through studies of learning, it can be, and has been, successfully applied in other research areas inside and outside the realm of education (Bowden 2000b; Hasselgren et al. 2002; Marton 1994).
The aim of phenomenography was developed to see the world from the students’ perspective
based on their experience. Experience was seen to include understanding, perceiving,
appreciating and conceptualising, however the main focus was on experience that could be
described and discussed – conscious experience (Ashworth et al. 1998).
Refer Chapter 6 for a more detailed discussion into the background and theoretical base of
phenomenography.
The Meaning of Phenomenography
Kroksmark (1987, p.226-227) has provided an etymological derivation of
‘phenomenography’ as follows:
The word is a compound of two roots: phenomenon and graph. Phenomenon comes from the Greek verb fainesqi (faihesthai) which means to appear, or to become manifest, and gives noun fainemonon (fainemonon) which means the apparent, or that which manifests itself. The verb comes from fainw (faino), which means to bring to light, or to elicit, the fa-stem implying 42 approximately that which can be revealed and made apparent. The concept phenomenon must therefore be taken to mean that which appears in its own right, or that which is manifest. Phenomenon thus refers to the collected totality of that which is made apparent or manifest… Graph also comes from the Greek, from the verb grafia (graphy), which means to describe in words or pictures that which designates, for example, an aspect of reality or an experience of reality. In combination with phenomenon, graphy becomes the act of representing an object of study as qualitatively distinct phenomena. Translation by (Marton et al. 1997a, p.110)
Phenomenography is most often not termed a methodology, and this in itself has previously caused great discussion with phenomenographic and non-phenomenographic researchers.
Phenomenographic researchers refer to phenomenography as a ‘research specialisation’, often describing it as an ‘approach’ (Hasselgren et al. 2002; Marton et al. 1997a).
Research Context
The roots of phenomenography started in the realm of educational research. Alexandersson
(1994), cited in Sandberg (1997), states that [to that period of time] more than 50 doctoral theses and between 500-1000 research reports had been published using phenomenographic approaches. Phenomenography has been successfully applied in research areas outside the educational context. Bowden (2000b) states that while the roots of phenomenography lie in learning research, the approach can, and has been, applied to a variety of other areas.
Marton and Booth (1997a) cite examples of phenomenography research outside the realm of educational research including:
– Theman (1983), political power
– Wenestam (1984), death
– Marton, Fensham and Chaiklin (1992), scientific intuition and
– Dunkin (2000), organisational change.
Other recent phenomenography research outside the realm of educational research includes:
– Baker (2001), nurses clinical decision making
– Bourne (2003), psychodynamic group art theory
43 – Kirk (2002), information use and
– Schembri (2002), medical ethics.
Ruth Dunkin (2000, p. 150) is quoted as:
… I believe that phenomenography as a research approach potentially has wider application than educational research. This is because it respects the uniqueness of individual experience and subjectivities, as well as the diversity of influences shaping that experience, while at the same time providing a sensitive way of comparing and categorising across individual experiences. Phenomenography is thus a research approach suited to any setting where there is both an exploratory or descriptive and more prescriptive intent.
The phenomenographic research by Ruth Dunkin (2000) is of particular interest and relevance (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). Her PhD research sought to further the understanding of organisational change and trialled phenomenography as an appropriate research approach for management research. The research and results adequately fulfilled the research goals and made a significant contribution to the body of knowledge in understanding organisational change and change agents. Dunkin also comments that the phenomenographic approach allowed for flexibility to adapt supplementary approaches for analysis and/or interpretation.
3.4.5 Phenomenographic approach
The Phenomenographic approach to research has been described as ‘A “second-order
approach”, by which is meant that focus is on the experience-as-described, rather than on
either the psychological process generating the experience of the ‘objective facts’
themselves’ (Ashworth et al. 1998, p. 415-416).
Marton and Booth (1997a) explain the difference between a first and second order approach as a first order approach requiring the object of study to be about the world and a second order approach requiring the object of the study to be about the world as it is experienced. 44 This ‘second-order’ approach needs to be adopted from the time the research is designed through to the end of the analysis phase. This means that the researcher needs to consciously step back from their own experiences of the phenomenon and use it to only ‘illuminate’ the experience, dialogue and understanding of the research interview subjects (Marton et al.
1997a).
Refer Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of the theoretical basis of phenomenography.
Research Question
This type of research approach starts with a research question. Phenomenographic research usually starts with a question like ‘What are the critical aspects of ways of experiencing the world that make people able to handle it in more or less efficient ways?’ (Marton et al.
1997a, p. 117).
Data Collection
The standard data collection approach of phenomenography is through semi-structured individual interviews which are recorded and transcribed verbatim. Strong reasons for this approach are to allow the discussion of the interviewees’ experiences of the relevant phenomenon and the ability to explore their awareness (Bowden et al. 1999; Dunkin 2000).
Phenomenography is empirical research. The interview is focusing on the awareness and reflection of the interviewee. Typically phenomenographic interviews do not start with an exhaustive list of predefined questions. Most questions are open-ended and tend to follow on from the interview dialogue to establish the phenomenon as experienced, to explore its depth, to allow for further elaboration and to maintain focus. The lead interview question may focus directly or indirectly on the relevant phenomenon (Ashworth et al. 1998; Dunkin
2000; Marton 1994).
45 Analysis
Once all interviews have been transcribed verbatim, the analysis starts. During this analysis, the researcher needs to ‘bracket’ (see Ashworth and Lucas 1998 for a detailed discussion of bracketing) perceived ideas of the relevant phenomenon and whether or not the responses demonstrate an understanding of the relevant phenomenon. ‘Bracketing’ requires:
…a renunciation by the researcher of a number of assumptions and presuppositions which would tend to import ‘objective’ of ‘first order’ matters into the descriptions. (Ashworth and Lucas 1998, p. 418)
(refer section 6.7 for details on the author’s approach to bracketing within this research)
The key focus of the analysis is on the similarities and differences between the ways that the phenomenon was experienced by the interviewees (Marton 1994).
The unit of analysis is not the individual and the bounds of the individuals are temporarily discarded. The actual individual transcripts, together, form the data for analysis.
The phenomenographic analysis has been defined in seven steps by Marton (1986), further evolved by Dahlgren & Fallsberg (1991) and discussed in Baker (2001, p.89) as follows:
Stage 1: Familiarisation – requires the researcher to read the transcripts of interviews in order to become familiar with the text. The step also enables corrections to be made to the transcripts.
Stage 2: Condensation – involves identifying significant statements in the transcript. The statements become the data to be analysed.
Stage 3: Comparison – selected significant statements are compared and sources of variation or agreement are noted.
Stage 4: Grouping – similar responses are grouped together.
Stage 5: Articulating – an attempt is made to describe ‘the essence of the similarity within each group of answers’.
46 Stage 6: Labelling – categories are identified and named.
Stage 7: Contrasting – categories are compared for similarities and differences.
(Dahlgren et al. 1991, p.152)
These analysis steps need to be considered to be related to each other as each step will
impact on the next. The analysis steps will usually need to be run through a number of times
to refine the outcomes (particularly steps 4 and 5). All steps of analysis and each pass are
hence, interactively related (Dunkin 2000; Marton 1994).
Categories of Description and Outcome Space
When people reflect upon a phenomenon (in the interviews), their experiences are expressed
in a limited number of qualitatively different ways. The categories of description reflect the
different ways of experiencing the relevant phenomenon and are observed to be logically
related. A relationship will exist between the different categories which can be structured to
a logical framework or hierarchy. A hierarchy can be determined to order the categories of
description to represent that some ways of experiencing the relevant phenomenon are more
efficient in relation to a given criteria. The term ‘Outcome Space’ has been developed to
represent this ordered set of categories of description, (often) graphically illustrating the
(often) hierarchical relationship (Marton 1994; Marton et al. 1997a; Säljö 1988).
Marton and Booth (1997a, p. 121) summarise this process as:
They [phenomenographers] seek the totality of ways in which people experience, or are capable of experiencing, the object of interest and interpret it in terms of distinctly different categories that capture the essence of the variation, a set of categories of description from the second-order perspective. In other words, the second-order categories of description that are the fundamental results of a phenomenographic investigation describe how the phenomenon in question is experienced.
Refer to Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of the phenomenographic analysis process.
47 Research Outcomes
The main outcomes of phenomenographic research are the categories of description and the
outcome space. These research outcomes can then be reapplied to the original transcripts to
develop the distribution of the frequencies of each categories of description. The categories
of description and the outcome space represent how a phenomenon is being experienced.
From this data we are better able to understand the phenomenon under research and develop
better ways to approach it in the future.
Validity and Reliability
Marton and Booth (1997a) pose the often asked question, would another researcher
examining the same data come up with the same results? They propose that this type of view
considers the analysis as a procedure of measurement and, as such, repeated measurements
should produce similar outcomes. However they also argue that the phenomenographic
analysis is a procedure of discovery rather than that of measurement.
The process of discovering the different ways that a phenomenon can be experienced is
unique, however the categories of description and the outcome space can be delivered to
allow other researchers to recognise the different ways of experiencing the relevant
phenomenon in their research.
Common criticisms raised by a number of critics of the phenomenographic approach are ‘a
perceived lack of validity, researcher bias and denial of the voice of the individual through
categorisation and variation in practice’ (Griggs 2000, p. 125).
Validity and reliability need to be established to ensure rigour in phenomenographic research.
48 There have been different thoughts on the validity and reliability of phenomenographic research (Booth 1992; Bowden 1995; Bruce 1997; Cope 2004; Gerber 1993; Kirk 2002;
Morse et al. 2002; Säljö 1988; Sandberg 1994; Sandberg 1995). There are also many phenomenographic papers which only briefly mention validity and reliability, if at all. Like many qualitative approaches, the rigour of this style of research is often contentious and different to quantitative research. Validity and reliability are, however, critically important to all research approaches. Cope (2004) discussed a not uncommon occurrence of difficulties in publishing phenomenographic papers due to questions of validity and reliability of the phenomenographic approach. Without an understanding of the phenomenographic approach or perhaps in the face of poorly structured phenomenographic research, these concerns could be understandable.
Cope (2004) proposed eight different validity strategies to ensure the validity of the research process and interjudge communicability as an appropriate measure of reliability. This approach has been adopted to engender validity and reliability to this research project.
Validity of the phenomenographic research process used in this research is detailed in
Chapter 6. The reliability (communicability) of the phenomenographic outcomes is discussed in more detail in Chapter 7.
3.4.6 Author’s Research
The proposed title for this research project is Experiences of the Phenomenon of Internet Use for Information Sharing on Construction Projects and Skills Set Identification for Effective
Project Participation. The specialist research approach of phenomenography has been selected as being appropriate to deliver the required research goals and legitimate and acceptable outcomes.
49 Research Question
The research entitled Experiences of the Phenomenon of Internet Use for Information
Sharing on Construction Projects and Skills Set Identification for Effective Project
Participation requires a focus on the critical aspects of the ways of experiencing the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects that allow project members to participate in more or less efficient ways.
In this research project the relevant phenomenon is the:
use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects
The primary phenomenographic research question is:
What are the critical aspects of ways of experiencing use the of the internet for information sharing on construction projects that allow project team members to participate in more or less efficient ways?
The secondary research question which relates to the post-analysis of the phenomenographic
‘outcome space’ is:
What KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) can be identified from the ‘phenomenographic outcome space’ to provide a ‘Skill Set’ for construction industry members to effectively participate in projects using the internet for information sharing on construction projects?
Data collection
It is vital that the case studies selected and hence the interviewees have been or are actively involved in using the internet for information sharing on construction projects. Without this direct contact with the relevant phenomenon, the research results would be considered irrelevant as the interviewees would have been inappropriate.
Further to the hands-on approach that case studies allow, the author chose to use major case studies to identify and select relevant interviewees. The case study selection sought projects that will be particularly relevant to this research. Some of the research participants have used the internet for information sharing on construction projects for the first time and others 50 have had a greater exposure over a number of projects. It was anticipated that this range of
participation with the phenomenon would produce a good spread of different experiences.
A pilot case study was selected to test the phenomenographic interview process and
techniques. This has been detailed in Chapter 4.
Major case study projects were selected, one from each of Australia, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America. This allowed for the research to capture experiences from
three of the major construction research countries and to provide a degree of
internationalisation. The following are the major case study projects selected. A full
description of each is contained in the relevant sections of Chapter 5.
– National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia. This project was selected as a
major case study due to the use of Bovis Lend Leases’ ‘ProjectWeb’ system for
information sharing across the internet for all project participants, many of whom were
located geographically remote. It is also the major project focus of the Australian
Research Councils’ SPIRT Grant that has been made available for this research. Much
research has already been performed on this project and it is envisaged that this existing
research will help this research.
– Times Square Project, London, UK. This project was selected as a major case study
for the use of the ‘BIW Systems’ for information sharing across the internet for all
project participants. Some consultants were located in other countries and many
consultants were geographically spread through the United Kingdom. Although some
were relatively close to the project (within greater London) the time required to
commute to the site was considered a constraint.
– Hudson River Park Project, New York, USA. This project was selected as a major
case study for the use of the ‘Constructware’ system for information sharing across the
internet for all project participants. Up to 200 project participants may be involved in 51 the project phases at any one time. Again, although some project participants were
relatively close to the project (within greater New York) the time required to commute to
the site was considered a constraint.
All the major case studies were large projects of national and international importance and
with significant usage of a system for sharing project information across the internet.
Within each major case study, approximately 5-6 participants were selected as interviewees
for in-depth phenomenographic interviews. Typically, from each case study the following
types of research participants were selected for interviews to allow for a broad range of
experiences with the phenomenon:
– Architect
– Engineer
– Project Manager
– Other building consultants (i.e. Quantity Surveyor, etc)
– Contractor
– Sub-contractor and/or
– Client.
The identity of all interviewees was coded to ensure anonymity. Each interview was
approximately 40-60 minutes (average 43 minutes) long and was recorded by two separate
devices. Digital video and analogue audio was used on each interview to allow for a backup
recording should one device fail. The interviews were then transcribed verbatim by a
transcriber for analysis. The transcripts were then checked for accuracy by the author and
the transcriber. Further details of interviewees are discussed in Chapter 4.
52 Analysis
Following the interviews and verbatim translation, the analysis followed the steps discussed
in section 3.4.5 Phenomenographic Approach. The analysis was an iterative approach to
refine the data. Based on the success of the pilot case study, the interview transcripts from
the pilot case study were added to the transcripts from the major case studies to provide a
total of 19 interview transcripts as the data for analysis. The phenomenographic analysis is
detailed in Chapter 6.
Phenomenographic Research Outcomes
The phenomenographic research outcomes are the categories of descriptions and the
outcome space. The categories of description reflect the different ways of experiencing the
relevant phenomenon. The outcome space graphically illustrates how the categories of
description are logically related. The categories of description are also reapplied to the
interview transcripts to determine the distribution of frequency of each of the categories of
description. The phenomenographic research outcomes are discussed in more detail in
Chapter 7.
Skill Sets
Based on the phenomenographic research outcomes, the preliminary identification of the
skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) for efficient use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects were qualitatively deduced from the categories of
description and the outcome space. The preliminary identification of the skills set (KSAs)
will directly be able to help with the:
– selection of participants for virtual construction projects
– training for participants of virtual construction projects and
– presentation and understanding of this exciting and inevitable media.
53 A more detailed discussion of the Knowledge Skills and Abilities for effective participation
is presented in Chapter 6.
This type of developmental application of phenomenographic outcomes, where the use of the
outcomes is to help the research subjects, has been termed ‘Developmental
Phenomenography’ by John Bowden (Bowden 2000a).
3.5 HYPOTHESIS (Research Questions)
Qualitative research can be either hypothesis testing or exploratory. Hypothesis testing qualitative research through interviews generally follows a particularly structured interview design. Exploratory research through interviews will generally introduce an issue, problem or phenomenon and then follow the responses from the interviewee to delve for further information and understanding and/or follow another topic through an open, relatively unstructured interview design (Kvale 1996).
Phenomenography uses the exploratory type of unstructured interview to follow the interviewee’s experiences of the phenomenon being researched. To introduce the phenomenon, a primary phenomenographic research question was defined as:
What are the critical aspects of ways of experiencing the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects that make people able to participate in more or less efficient ways?
A secondary research question which relates to the post-phenomenographic analysis of the research data and phenomenographic outcomes was defined as:
What Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) can be identified from the ‘phenomenographic outcome space’ to inform the preliminary identification of the ‘skills set’ for effective participation for people using the internet for information sharing on construction projects?
54 CHAPTER 4 PILOT CASE STUDY – AYERS ROCK RESORT PROJECT
A pilot case study was determined to be a necessary and useful tool to test the interview process and methodology before starting the major case studies. In terms of the interview, the pilot case study allows the interviewer’s technique, the interview structure and the technical recording process to be developed, reviewed and adjusted within a working case study environment. In terms of the methodology, the pilot case study allows the author to trial the phenomenographic process through the phases of interview transcription, analysis, development of categories of description and formation of an outcome space within a working case study environment.
4.1 PILOT CASE STUDY SELECTION
The selection of the pilot case study was based on a number of factors to enable the areas of interviews and methodology to be tested in a working case study environment and to ensure interview participants with broad levels of experience in the use of the internet for information sharing. The pilot case study selection factors were that the project needed to have:
– Significantly utilised the internet for information sharing to maximise the experiences
of the participants
– Some geographically removed project participants to ensure that the use of the internet
for information sharing on the project was a communications requirement rather than
an option
– Been close to completion so that the participants had received as much exposure to the
use of the internet for information sharing on all phases of the project as possible in
order to maximise the differences in the experiences of the participants
55 – A client / project manager who was cooperative and supportive of the study to permit
their project to be used as a research case study and
– Wide selections of project participants with significant relevant experiences with the
use of the internet for information sharing that are willing to participate in the
interview process.
The Ayers Rock Resort Laundry project was selected with Bovis Lend Lease
(Project/Construction Managers) as an appropriate project.
4.2 AYERS ROCK RESORT LAUNDRY PROJECT
The Ayers Rock Resort Laundry project is the development of a large scale commercial laundry facility to service the five resorts at Ayers Rock Resort township (also known by its
Aboriginal name ‘Yulara’). The Ayers Rock Resort is the purpose-built service township servicing over 300,000 yearly visitors to Ayers Rock (also known by its Aboriginal name
'Uluru') and this region of central Australia. Ayers Rock is one of Australia’s major popular tourist destinations and is the world’s largest monolith at 348 meters above the surrounding desert and with a circumference of approximately 9 kilometres. Ayers Rock Resort is located approximately 22km from Ayers Rock, and is located in approximately 94 square kilometres of freehold land. The Ayers Rock Resort is the only resort permitted within several hundred kilometres of Ayers Rock (GPT 1997).
Figure 4.1 Illustrates the Ayers Rock Resort and the proximity to Ayers Rock.
56 Figure 4.1 Ayers Rock Resort and the Proximity to Ayers Rock
(Source: Bovis Lend Lease)
The Ayers Rock Resort comprises eight different accommodation options ranging from backpackers and campers to five star hotels, all within an integrated township situated around a ‘town square’. The old laundry facility that serviced the Ayers Rock Resort
(originally commissioned in 1984 and expanded in 1992, 1996 and 1998), while adequate for current operations, was considered an impediment to the further expansion of the resort and a liability to continued operational stability. The initial project investigation considered a number of options from short-term expansions, long-term upgrades, complete replacement, a
57 new facility at Alice Springs (approximately 340km away) and outsourcing to Adelaide
(approximately 1200km away) (BLL 2001; GPT 1997).
The consultant and sub-contractor teams were engaged from as far a field as Sydney (3 hr
flight), Brisbane (4.5 hr flight), Darwin (2.5 hr flight), Adelaide (2.5 hr flight), Melbourne
(3.5 hr flight) and Alice Springs (1 hr flight).
Bovis Lend Lease choose to utilise their in-house project collaboration website ‘ProjectWeb’
for information management including management of documents, images, drawings and
workflow documents (site instructions and Requests for Information). ProjectWeb is
accessed by the project team through an internet interface without proprietary hardware and
software requirements (Duyshart et al. 2003).
The pilot case study interviews were performed from 24 March 2003 to 4 April 2003. The
project was completed, commissioned and handed over in June 2003.
4.3 PARTICIPANTS
Interview participants were selected for the pilot case study as project team members who had developed significant experiences from the use of the internet for information sharing.
Five project team members were approached for participation, four of which agreed to be involved in the study. Table 4.1 includes a brief description of the four case study interview participants.
Table 4.1 Pilot Case Study Interview Participants
Participant Description A Client – Interview Conducted in Sydney, Australia B Engineer – Alice Springs, Australia C Project/Construction Manager – Ayers Rock Resort, Australia D Sub-Contractor – Brisbane, Australia
58 All participants were e-mailed a copy of the ‘Project Information Sheet’ for their information
and the ‘Consent Form’ for completion and return to the author before the interviews took
place.
4.4 INTERVIEWS
All interviews were:
– qualitative, focusing on the experiences of the participants through the use of the
internet for information sharing on the Ayers Rock Resort project
– recorded with two different systems, a digital video recorder and an analogue audio
cassette recorder to ensure a successful recording in the event of failure in a recording
device
– relatively unstructured to allow the participants to express their experiences and
– transcribed verbatim before analysis.
A number of questions were developed to provide prompts though the interview to realign and/or redirect when the interview was straying and/or when a particular area of discussion was exhausted by the interviewee. These prompting questions included for example:
– Can you tell me about some of your experiences with using the internet for
information sharing where you felt the system worked well?
– Can you tell me about some of your experiences with using the internet for
information sharing where you felt the system did not work well?
– Can you tell me about communications where they have not been face-to-face?
– Can you tell me about relationships that have developed with other consultants?
– Can you tell me about the development of trust?
– Can you tell me about how conflict has been handled?
– Can you tell me about the uptake of the internet for information sharing amongst the
project team?
59 – Can you tell me about what training you have had for the use of the internet for
information sharing?
– Can you tell me about your IT knowledge and how this has helped with the use of the
internet for information sharing?
– Can you tell me about how you think you have developed professionally through
using the internet for information sharing?
– Can you tell me about your general work efficiency when using the internet for
information sharing?
– Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your experiences with using the
internet for information sharing?
Although the number of participants can be considered relatively small, the duration of each interview (30 – 40 minutes) and the richness of the data produced transcripts which allowed for a relevant level of testing of the interview process and phenomenographic approach appropriate to a pilot case study.
Other recent successful published phenomenographic studies (McMahon et al. 2002) have achieved appropriate levels of analysis for exploratory studies with a similar number of participants. As this case study was a pilot study, the number of participants was considered appropriate for testing the interview and methodological processes.
4.5 CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION
The phenomenographic analysis established six conceptions of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects which are described in the categories of description below. Each category of description has been demonstrated through quotes from the transcripts. In each case the transcript is represented by the interview number, the role of the interviewee and the line number of the quote from the transcription (i.e. Interview-3,
60 ln.36 indicates a quote from Interview 3, and the quote can be found starting on line 36 of the transcript).
Each category of description is also represented by a structure of awareness diagram. These diagrams illustrate the focal and background issues within each category.
Category 1: Efficient Communications
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be seen as an efficient communications system. This conception relates to the ability for the research participants to communicate with the other members of the project team, to share information and to develop professional working relationships where they may be geographically removed from each other and/or the project site. This conception can be illustrated through the following quotes from the interview transcripts:
And we like to follow a quality procedure, with making sure the drawing is approved for construction and with ProjectWeb we’re able to, you know, bring the consultant up, the drawing’s amended, load it up, approve construction issue within sort of, you know, 6 to 8 hours if necessary (Interview-3 2003, ln.36).
The more efficient from the whole shop drawing approval process. And also the issuing of drawings from consultants. I mean faxes, faxes are just as quick as – from an immediate correspondence point of view, just as quick – but faxes obviously require someone to file them, someone to archive them. And so that’s where your time gets extended with using the fax. Whereas with ProjectWeb straight away it’s filed, it’s in there it’s got its own unique number. And it’s there (Interview-3 2003, ln.257).
…you’re online, sitting there and here’s a message coming, bang – just shoot it off. I think it’s much better than having to say I’ve got to type out a fax, I’ve got to print out the fax, I’ve got to take it to the machine, send it through (Interview-4 2003, ln.341).
It is a very timely and convenient way to ship the data or to send the data for review, discussion, etc, etc between the two points. I see it is especially valuable where we remote or removed from the site (Interview-1 2003, ln.22).
61 …I would say it has probably, if anything, altered me to how much easier that style of technology can make the communication information… (Interview-1 2003, ln.279).
The structure of awareness diagram (Figure 4.2) illustrates Project Communications as a focal item with the internet. Other project communications are depicted in the background, illustrating a less significant focus.
Figure 4.2 Category of Description 1 – Efficient Communications
Category 2: Another Communications Tool
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be seen as
another communications tool to be used with existing communication channels. This
conception illustrates that in terms of information sharing on construction projects, the
internet is another communications tool to be added to the existing communications options.
The internet is often enhanced or replaced as a medium for sharing information depending
62 on the situation and/or circumstance. This conception can be illustrated through the following quotes from the interview transcripts:
I think that where there has been conflict the key for me has been… not to conduct that exercise via a database, rather have a chat maybe telephone, where necessary have a one-on-one, whether that be a meet and if it is a substantial amount of conflict obviously that needs to happen (Interview-1 2003, ln.111).
…I would say probably 95 times out of 100 I would call and I would then document that outcome of that call, to, again It’s protecting I suppose or preserving – the word that I’m looking for is not integrity rather the feelings the esteem of the other person (Interview-1 2003, ln.152).
…I could definitely never get the feel for what a person’s like trustworthy wise by just correspondences over the web I’d need to talk to them on the phone (Interview-3 2003, ln.171).
Because usually, if I’ve got a query about something with a consultant, I’m usually on site when the query develops, so I’ll phone them using my mobile to get them working on it by the time I get back from the job, back to here – usually they’ve called me with an answer and then they say “Righto – I’ll confirm in writing on ProjectWeb” (Interview-3 2003, ln.232).
…I’m slow on a keyboard. Much easier to ring someone up and chat about something. But of course there’s no record of that, you know – so (Interview- 2 2003, ln.132).
And I just feel it would have been so much easier if they had just taken prints off there, bundled them up and stuck them in the mail to us. We would have had them a day or two later and it wouldn’t have made any difference, you know. (Interview-2 2003, ln.321)
The structure of awareness diagram (Figure 4.3) illustrated the internet and other communications with a similar focal significance. Overall project communications is illustrated in the background with less significance.
63 Figure 4.3 Category of Description 2 – Another Communications Tool
Category 3: Effective Documentation
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be seen as an effective documentation tool for project archiving. This conception illustrates the confidence that the research participants demonstrated in the system’s ability to record, archive and retrieve project information. This conception can be illustrated through the following quotes from the interview transcripts:
…I guess you can say, there’s always a record there of everything you do and quite easy to find, to go back and get something (Interview-1 2003, ln.12).
…cause everything’s got to go on our system. Even faxes and everything that gets sent here, we get them loaded on to ProjectWeb, so the full filing system is on there (Interview-3 2003, ln.53).
It has definitely increased the project’s efficiency because you know that you are able to retrieve the data very quickly – no doubt about that. And most definitely increased my efficiency in terms of productivity – as I have mentioned earlier, searching through an arch lever file for a bit of
64 correspondence that went over a year or year and a half ago, is far, far easier if you can pull up for instance – correspondence, [person’s name], a quick search through or if you have some of the criteria throw that in and out it will pop in a couple of minutes. As opposed to many more minutes if you can find the bloody thing in an arched lever file (Interview-1 2003, ln.334).
…I’ve known that there’s been some information out there and I think “Oh, how am I going to find that?” And all of a sudden it will pop into my head – Ah, do a quick search. Invariably the information’s been there in some form and that’s I think clarified a number of issues that have arisen over the past couple of years where I’ve been able to point to that and so we’ll that’s correspondence of such and such, such and such and such and such. And vice versa where I’ve heard someone said well if we go back to that, we’ve made that decision and we’ve moved on. So that’s been a pleasant experience rather than having to debate the issues through again (Interview- 1 2003, ln.390).
The structure of awareness diagram (Figure 4.4) illustrates documentation / archiving with a high focal significance and the internet with less significance. The background illustrates overall project communications with lesser significance.
Figure 4.4 Category of Description 3 – Effective Documentation
65 Category 4: IT Skills
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be seen as an
extension of existing IT skills. This conception illustrates the participants’ understanding
that the use of the internet as an interface to a project communications system is an extension
of their existing IT skills. This can be reflected as either within their existing skill levels or
partly outside their existing skill levels. This conception can be illustrated through the
following quotes from the interview transcripts:
I think most of it’s very user friendly – its not as if you’re writing code. You’re in there, you click around and no problem (Interview-1 2003, ln.262).
…anyone that can use a computer can use ProjectWeb quite honestly – anyone that could use dBase or Access can use ProjectWeb – click, click, click, click. A little bit of instruction and that’s it, so you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, it’s very, very simple (Interview-1 2003, ln. 266).
I had trouble with it right from the start because we didn’t have training. And um, so I was shown bits and pieces of what it was thought I needed to know and then I’ve learnt things by trial and error, at times I’ve asked them on site (Interview-2 2003, ln.9).
But, if it’s just normal correspondence they’ll just put it on ProjectWeb, but they, can’t attach sketches. Which is a problem (Interview-3 2003, ln.121).
And I had to train myself by downloading information from ProjectWeb. And learning how to scale the drawings, etc, etc, convert to PDF and all the rest (Interview-4 2003, ln.101).
The structure of awareness diagram (Figure 4.5) illustrates IT skills with a significant focus and the internet with a lesser focus. The background illustrates project communications with less significance.
66 Figure 4.5 Category of Description 4 – IT Skills
Category 5: Barrier to Participation
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be seen as a barrier to effective participation. This conception illustrates that these systems can be a barrier to effective project participation in terms of cost and technology. This conception can be illustrated through the following quotes from the interview transcripts:
Our problem at the moment is the amount of time it consumes. And I think that’s more down to – we’re on a dial up connection (Interview-4 2003, ln.38).
Probably the worst is not being able to download things. Now, we never really worked out whether it’s a function of our – our hardware here, which is pretty antiquated, or whether it’s to do with the ProjectWeb software (Interview-2 2003, ln.51).
There are people out there that haven’t yet embraced the technology that still cling – for whatever reason, whether it be financial or simply the old school. Don’t want to move away from the faxes and the phone calls and what have you (Interview-1 2003, ln.352).
67
We feel that we’ve lost an awful lot of money with ProjectWeb. Just in time, with hassles – things that have gone wrong. Trying to sort them out – also with downloading things (Interview-2 2003, ln.282).
It doesn’t work well for us again as a training thing. … And because we might only work again, as I said, with the builders once every year or two, it’s hardly worth investing on training people up on a particular system (Interview-4 2003, ln.186).
And I think [person’s name] sort of advised right at the start to allow 30% to the cost of the job to allow for ProjectWeb (Interview-2 2003, ln.326).
The structure of awareness diagram (Figure 4.6) illustrates the internet and project communications in significant focus, but separated. The background illustrates project participation in less significance.
Figure 4.6 Category of Description 5 – Barrier to Participation
68 Category 6: Multiplier of Communications
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be seen as a
multiplier of communications. This conception represents an understanding that these
systems multiply the amount of project communications, not necessarily for the benefit of
the participants. The multiplication can be in a second set of files (database and lever arch)
and/or through non-relevant communications to a project participant. This conception can be
illustrated through the following quotes from the interview transcripts:
At our end we keep a permanent record of it anyway even though we probably don’t need to because it’s still in the database somewhere on ProjectWeb (Interview-4 2003, ln.18).
You just hit the button and include everyone – so you get a whole lot of message that are totally irrelevant to you. It wastes a lot of time. You see a messages there for you and you waste a lot of time getting on to the internet and reading that message and then saying, “Why the hell did he send me that?” and then just deleting it, you know. That’s one of the hassles with it (Interview-2 2003, ln.287).
Probably 50% are irrelevant. … So many of them I’m sure if they were sending a fax, they wouldn’t send another one to me (Interview-2 2003, ln.296).
The structure of awareness diagram (Figure 4.7) illustrates the internet and number of communications in equal significant focus. The background illustrates all project communications in a lesser focus.
69 Figure 4.7 Category of Description 6 – Multiplier of Communication
4.6 OUTCOME SPACE
The ‘Outcome Space’ represents graphically the relationship between each of the categories of description (refer Figure 4.8). This relationship describes the phenomenon under investigation – The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects. In the context of the pilot case study, the outcome space demonstrates a hierarchal structure based on effective project participation. The top level (Category 1) represents an awareness of effective project participation. The lower level (Category 5) represents an awareness of ineffective project participation.
Two themes are common to all categories, the ‘Internet’ and ‘Project Communications’. At the top level (Category 1), project communications has a focal awareness. At the lower level
(Category 5), project communications and the internet are separated within project participation, demonstrating a focal awareness of the barrier to effectively communicate.
70 The internet remains in semi or main focal awareness as it is the interface for all project communications.
Figure 4.8 Outcome Space
71 4.7 DISTRIBUTION OF CATEGORIES
The small sample size of this pilot case study would not allow statistical analysis or generalisations, which was not the purpose of the study. The distribution of categories of description can however be represented by the number of quotes for each category against the total number of quotes. Figure 4.9 illustrates the distribution of the categories of description.
Figure 4.9 Distribution of the Categories of Description
8% 12% 12%
12% 29%
27% 1. Effective Communications 2. Another Communications Tool 3. Effective Documentation 4. IT Skills 5. Barrier to Participation 6. Multiplier of Communications
This distribution illustrates that approximately 56% of the total quotes related to the
Category 2 – Another Communications Tool and Category 3 – Effective Documentation.
This provides an indication of a greater importance to these two categories of description than the other four.
4.8 IMPLICATIONS OF THE PILOT CASE STUDY
The pilot case study has been a useful tool for the author’s interview technique, the interview structure and the technical recording process to be tested, reviewed and adjusted. It was also useful to trial the phenomenographic process through the phases of interview transcription, analysis, development of categories of description and formation of an outcome space. This
72 process and feedback from reviewers has led to the following adjustments to the
phenomenographic case study process:
– A prospective interviewee was not interested in participating and the extra participant
that had been identified was approached and consented. Extra participants will need
to be identified for each major case study as a precaution for prospective interviewees
declining involvement.
– Some interviewees wanted to be involved in the research, but did not want to be
recorded onto audio visual format (digital video). The ‘Consent Form’ was modified
to allow an interviewee to request a preference for recording devices. The default
situation is both audio visual and audio devices, however an interviewee can choose to
participate with only one recording device if so desired. At least one recording device
is always required, however, to enable transcripts of the interview to be prepared.
– Sample transcriptions were mocked up to test the transcription process and format. A
previously used phenomenographic transcription format (Bruce 1997; Bruce 1998;
Bruce 1999a; Bruce 1999b; Bruce 2002) was adopted as a base and line numbers (in
multiples of five) were added to allow detailed referencing to the transcript quotes
during analysis.
The interview structure and the prompting questions have developed appropriate transcripts, rich in data and descriptions of experiences. The prompting questions have proven to be appropriate for the interviews to allow enough scope for the interviewee to discuss their experiences freely and to provide redirection where necessary.
The phenomenographic analysis of the transcripts has produced rich categories of description which are believed to reflect the interviewees’ conceptions of the phenomenon. The outcome space has produced a valuable graphic explanation of the phenomenon. The pilot case study and the phenomenographic outcomes have also been presented at an international refereed conference and subsequent printed proceedings (refer Magub et al. 2003). 73 The adjustments and reviews have provided valuable feedback from the industry and the phenomenographic community to add further validation to this research project and the appropriateness of the selected methodological process.
Due to the success of the pilot case study and the appropriateness of the outcomes, the pilot case study interview transcripts have been included in the pool of interview transcripts for the main analysis.
74 CHAPTER 5 PROJECT CASE STUDIES
5.1 INRODUCTION
This research project undertook to identify interview candidates for phenomenographic research through the selection of a number of major case study projects. The major case study projects were selected, one from each of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United
States of America; all major players in the global construction industry and significant contributors to construction research. Each major case study selected:
– was a significant project of international interest
– significantly utilised the internet for information sharing
– was resourced by team members who could be said to be faced with geographic,
logistical and time-based constraints
– was close to completion or recently completed so that the participants had received as
much exposure to the use of the internet for information sharing on all phases of the
project as possible in order to maximise the differences in the experiences of the
participants and
– had a wide selection of different types of project participants (architects, engineers,
clients, project managers, etc) who were willing to participate in the research.
It was hoped that the case study format for the selection of the interviewees would provide
the reader with a rich description as a detailed introduction to each project, adding a further
dimension to the research and international relevance. The project case study descriptions
detailed in this chapter are intended to provide the reader with a little of the background to
each project and the project context within which the interviewees have been participating.
Each of the three major case studies selected used different software packages as the
facilitator for the use of the internet for information sharing. Although the software
75 packages are proprietary different systems, they all have some significant similarities, they
all:
– were ‘Application Service provider’ (ASP) solutions (the software is hosted remotely
from the project participate)
– the program/software (project information) is accesses by the project participants
through their internet browser (from anywhere where they have a browser and an
internet connection) and
– had relatively similar functions such as correspondence, drawing management, drawing
viewing capabilities, requests for information, to-do lists, project calendars, project
information and project team details lists.
Due to the similarities in the method of accessing the project data (through an internet
browser) and the similar types of tasks that the project participants are required to perform
and the software facilitate, the different proprietary software solutions used on each major
case study was not considered a significant influencing factor in the participants experiences
in the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects.
5.2 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA PROJECT, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA
5.2.1 Description of Facility / History
First considered in the early 1970’s, the National Museum of Australia was established in
1980 by the Australian Federal Government through the National Museum of Australia Act
1980. The museum existed without a home until the completion of the current new facility detailed in this case study (Casey 2002; Keniger et al. 2003; Peters et al. 2001a).
The new national Museum of Australia has been described by the Director of the museum:
76 The National Museum of Australia is the nation’s first national social history museum. It tells the nation’s stories through a unique fusion of architecture, landscape design, contemporary exhibition techniques, and live and media- based programs (Casey 2002, p.19).
The National Museum of Australia’s facilities can be broken into 6 segments (refer Figure
5.2) plus the surrounding parklands and bikeways with full public access:
– Temporary Gallery
– Administration Wing
– Main Hall
– Permanent Gallery
– Gallery of the First Australians and
– Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) (Casey
2002).
5.2.2 Location and Site
The National Museum of Australia project is located in Canberra (the capital of Australia) on the Acton Peninsula, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin (named after the architect, Walter
Burley Griffin who, in 1912, won and conceived the urban design for Canberra as a new city to be the nation’s capital).
The Acton Peninsula was originally settled by the Ngunnawal Aborigines. The site was the main physical link across the Molongolo River before the river was dammed in 1964 to create Lake Burley Griffin. In the early phases of the development of Canberra as the national capital, the site was an administration centre and later the home of the Canberra
Hospital, which was demolished in 1997 to make way for the construction of the National
Museum of Australia (Reed 2002a).
77 Figure 5.1 illustrates the Acton Peninsula (circled in light blue) in relation to other major
facilities in Canberra. Figure 5.2 illustrates the National Museum of Australia facilities
(Acton Peninsula circled in light blue).
Figure 5.1 Acton Peninsula From Above Capital Hill
(Casey 2002, p.24) Photographer: John Gollings
78 Figure 5.2 National Museum of Australia on the Acton Peninsula
(Casey 2002, p.25) Photographer: John Gollings
5.2.3 Project Timescale / Cost
The Acton Peninsula was determined to be the preferred site for the National Museum of
Australia project (initially called the Acton Peninsula Project) in December 1996. In June
1997 an international design competition was launched by Australia’s Prime Minister Hon.
John Howard and Minister for Communications and the Arts, Hon. Richard Alston. After the stage 1 shortlisting to five entries and stage two submissions, the winning entry was announced at the end of October 1997. Building and Services Contractor proposals were called in May 1998, with short-listing and interviews in July 1998 and the preferred alliance
79 team notified in August 1998. The Alliance agreement was executed by all parties in August
1998 and work started on site in early 1999 with a scheduled two year construction period
and fixed opening date of 12 March 2001. The facility was officially opened by Australia’s
Prime Minister on 11 March 2001 in time for the Australian Federation of Centenary
celebrations (Keniger et al. 2003; Peters et al. 2001b).
In 1996 the facility was briefed at a minimum of 22,000m2, including 8,000 m2 (net) of
exhibition space for the National Museum of Australia and 4,128 m2 (net) for the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies at a construction cost of A$112.4m and A$12.7m respectively (Peters et al. 2001a).
Construction of the National Museum of Australia met the strict time, cost and quality requirements of the project and client (Peters et al. 2001a).
5.2.4 Procurement Process
The National Museum of Australia project was procured through ‘Project Alliancing’ which has been described by Walker et al. (2001, p. 336) as:
…the core principle is to achieve a positive outcome for all parties to the alliance through shared commitment to a common goal of project realisation that delivers best value to the client while delivering acceptable reward outcomes to project participants. The assumption made is that all parties can achieve a win-win situation provided they work together to help each other gain not only a realistic reward for their input but to gain a competitive edge as a result of their experiences on this project.
This project was one of the first major public buildings in Australia to be procured through this process.
5.2.5 Project Team
The project team was selected through two separate tenders, the first for a design team and the second for a Building and Services Contractor. The two teams were required to work
80 together and complete the project alliancing agreement. The main project team members are
outlined in table 5.1.
Table 5.1 National Museum of Australia Main Alliance Team Members
(Peters et al. 2001a; Reed 2002b)
5.2.6 Use of the Internet for Information Sharing
Bovis Lend Lease, on the National Museum of Australia project, instigated the use of their proprietary project collaboration website ‘ProjectWeb’. Bovis Lend Leases’ commitment to this technology has been described as follows:
This company [Bovis Lend Lease] has been effectively utilising the internet since 1997 and has recognised the requirement for project members to be able to connect, coordinate and manage projects while faced with increasing numbers of geographic, logistical and time-based constraints (Duyshart et al. 2003, p.132).
For the National Museum of Australia project, ‘ProjectWeb’ was the primary information management tool. ‘ProjectWeb’ provided numerous tools for the management of different modules of information such as personal to-do lists, project calendar, project contacts, correspondence, document libraries, drawings registers, file transfers (CAD), multimedia/images, requests for information (RFI), site instructions (SI) and other
81 transmittals. Appendix A includes Figures A.1 to A.9 to illustrate typical ‘ProjectWeb’
modules and other project information. This version of ‘ProjectWeb’ depicted in the figures,
is the current version which has been further refined since the National Museum of Australia
project. It is, however, essentially the same system used on the Ayers Rock Resort Laundry
project.
Access to 'ProjectWeb' does not require any proprietary hardware or software, just an
internet connection and an industry standard web browser. This means that 'ProjectWeb' can
be accessed from anywhere in the world, providing access to project data without being on
site, in your office or even in the same country. Project team members are required to adopt
the project standards and formats for all information, which is stored centrally on dedicated
Bovis Lend Lease servers (Duyshart et al. 2003; Tucker et al. 2001).
Typically ‘ProjectWeb’ was used for many of the project communications. These can all be
stored, viewed, managed, forwarded and printed if required (Duyshart et al. 2003; Tucker et
al. 2001).
5.3 TIMES SQUARE PROJECT, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
5.3.1 Description of Facility
The Times Square Project is a commercial office accommodation project providing 500,000 sq ft (approximately 46,450 m2) gross internal area. The office space is primarily suited to financial, corporate and professional services tenants and has been designed as a major single tenant headquarters or can be divided vertically and/or horizontally for a number of smaller tenants. The development is planned over nine floors, seven above ground level.
Due to the development’s proximity to St Paul’s Cathedral, there was a maximum height limit of 25m (Currie&Brown 2003; SOM 2003).
82 5.3.2 Location and Site
The site is an entire city block close to St Paul’s Cathedral and the River Thames in central
London, United Kingdom. The site was originally developed for the Times Publishing
Company in the 1960s with numerous buildings located on the site. The development continues a pedestrian route at street level from Queen Victoria Street through the site to the
Apothecary’s Hall conservation area through an atrium (Currie&Brown 2003; SOM 2003).
Figures 5.3 to 5.6 illustrate the completed Times Square project.
83 Figure 5.3 Times Square Project, Queen Victoria Street Elevation – Looking West
(Source: Nick Baster)
84 Figure 5.4 Times Square Project, St Andrew’s Hill Elevation – Looking North
(Source: Nick Baster)
85 Figure 5.5 Times Square Project, Internal Glazed Atrium
(Source: Nick Baster)
86 Figure 5.6 Times Square Project, Internal lift Lobby
(Source: Nick Baster)
5.3.3 Project Timescale / Cost
The project was started in 2000 and construction was completed in 2003. The project cost has been reported as £200m (Currie&Brown 2003).
5.3.4 Procurement Process
The Times Square project was procured as a ‘Construction Management’ process. Within the UK construction industry the term ‘Construction Management’ usually refers to a procurement process where the head contractor is paid an agreed fee to manage all of the sub-contractors in an open book approach on behalf of the client to deliver a project.
5.3.5 Project Team
The main project team members are outlined in table 5.2.
87 Table 5.2 Times Square Project Major Project Members
(Currie&Brown 2003)
5.3.6 Use of the Internet for Information Sharing
During the tender process, the successful construction manager proposed to utilise a third party project collaboration website called ‘BIW Technologies Information Channel’ to manage the project team communications and information. BIW technologies describe their
Information Channel as:
… designed to foster collaborative working throughout the life cycles of capital investment projects. It enables team members, unrestricted by location or technicality, to share their own dynamic on-line information repository. BIW provides a secure, simple-to-use application service via the internet (BIW 2004, p.1).
The BIW Information Channel is an Application Service Provider (ASP) solution. The
Information Channel software and data is accessed by subscribers through an internet connection and an industry standard web browser. All software and data is stored on the
BIW secure servers. The subscribers are not required to load the Information Channel software onto their computers and any software advances by BIW only need to be updated on the secure servers. This provides subscribers with 24 hours per day, 7 days per week access to the project information from any computer terminal with an internet connection and web browser (BIW 2004).
Subscribers have access to numerous customisable modules which may, for example, include:
88 – ‘Headlines’ (Project Summary, project Weather, Project Details, Project Calendar, Standards Summary and In Box) – ‘Standards’ (Contracts, Public Relations and Security) – Documents (Draft Drawings, Correspondence, Drawings, Minutes, Programme, Specification, O&M Manuals, Early Warning Notice, Instructions, RFI’s and Team Mail) – Comments (Drawing review comments, etc) – Reports (All project reports and reporting summaries) – Team Members (Details for all team members) – Publish (Publishing documents singularly or by batch process) – Process Basket (For Batch Processing a groups of files) – Project Diary (Project milestones) – News and Forum (For the Project and the Information channel) and – Health and Safety File (Health and Safety manuals compiled on-line).
Appendix B includes Figures B.1 to B.8 to illustrate typical screen shots from the BIW
Information Channel.
The BIW Information Channel can also be used in a ‘whole of project’ approach from inception/feasibility, through design and construction to operation and maintenance for extended periods, of up to 20 to 30 years (for example Public Private Partnerships – PPP and
Private Finance Initiative projects – PFI) (BIW 2004).
5.4 HUDSON RIVER PARK PROJECT, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
5.4.1 Description of Facility
The Hudson River Park project involves the construction of a five mile long (8 km) park along the Hudson River on the south-western side of Manhattan Island in New York, USA.
The park starts at the Battery (lower Manhattan) and finishes at 59th Street (Clinton),
covering an area of 550 acres (Refer Figure 5.12). This development is Manhattan’s largest
89 open-space development since Central Park. The park will include 13 public piers, upland
parks and a marine sanctuary (HRPT 2000; HRPT 2004h).
The Hudson River Park project has been divided into 6 separate smaller projects as follows:
Segment 2 (Battery Place to Chambers Street). While all other segments of the project have
waterfront access, Segment 2 does not front the Hudson River. This segment runs along the
eastern side of the Battery Park City development and the western side of the World Trade
Centre Site (currently being cleared for the reconstruction). The design for Segment 2 will
not be started until the design for the reconstruction of the West Street façade to the World
Trade Centre site has been completed. The likely future uses will include childrens’ play
areas, a dog run, community gardens and lawns (HRPT 2004a). Figure 5.7 illustrates
Segment 2.
Figure 5.7 Hudson River Park Project Segment 2
(Source: HRPT 2004a)
Segment 3 (Chambers Street to Houston Street). The design of this segment of the park is anticipated to be ready in early 2005 and includes two of the longest piers in the park (25 and
26), and an ecological pier adjacent to Canal Street. The design emphasis for Segment 3 has been the environment, active recreation and small boating activities. Public facilities include boat dock, boat house, ‘estuarium’ education and research area, habitat planting area,
90 childrens’ play area, mini golf, open lawn, restaurant, skate park and volleyball courts
(HRPT 2004b). Figure 5.8 illustrates Segment 3.
Figure 5.8 Hudson River Park Project Segment 3
(Source: HRPT 2004b)
Segment 4 (Hudson Street to Ganesvoort Street), also called the ‘Greenwich Village
Section’. This segment of the park has been completed and opened for public use. Segment
4 includes three large piers: 45, 46 and 51 containing large lawn space, a recreational field and a playground respectively. The piers and this segment are linked to the greater park through landscaped areas, gardens and features (HRPT 2004c). Figure 5.9 illustrates
Segment 4.
91 Figure 5.9 Hudson River Park Project Segment 4
(Source: HRPT 2004c)
Segment 5 (Ganesvoort Street to West 26th Street). The design for this segment will include significant recreation spaces including ball fields, a beach, lawns and small boating facilities.
Four piers will be redeveloped for public recreation including one pier celebrating historical ships. Piers 59, 60 and 61 will continue to operate as the ‘Chelsea Piers Sports Complex’
(HRPT 2004d). Figure 5.10 illustrates Segment 5.
Figure 5.10 Hudson River Park Project Segment 5
(Source: HRPT 2004d) 92 Segment 6 (26th Street to 44th Street). The design of this segment includes a large ecological
habitat area, a major civic plaza, a rocky beach, two boathouses and a new ferry terminal pier
(79). Currently Pier 84 is under construction (near 44th Street), due for completion in 2005.
The existing commercial activities located on the Hudson River, such as the Circle Line
Sightseeing Cruises and World Yacht Cruises will continue to operate from Piers 81 and 83 respectively (HRPT 2004e). Figure 5.11 illustrates Segment 6 (and 7).
Figure 5.11 Hudson River Park Project Segments 6 and 7
(Source: HRPT 2004e)
Segment 7 (46th Street to 59th Street). Construction in this segment started in 2003 with an area known as ‘Clinton Cove’ including a ‘Get-Down’ facility at Pier 95 (a facility to sit close to and enjoy the Hudson River) and a kayak launch facility and boathouse at Pier 96.
Eventually Pier 97 will be redeveloped for historical ships and active recreation uses.
Clinton Cove is due for completion in early to mid 2005. Other existing commercial uses including the ‘Intrepid Air-Sea-Space Museum’ (Pier 86), passenger ship terminals (Piers 88,
90 and 92), trade Show facilities (Pier 94) and various Municipal uses will continue (HRPT
2004f). Figure 5.11 illustrates Segment 7 (and 6).
93 Figure 5.12 Hudson River Park Map and Design/Construction Progress Fall 2003
(Source: HRPT 2000, p. 5; HRPT 2003, p. 1)
94 5.4.2 Location and Site
Over the past two decades the lower west side of Manhattan along the Hudson River was
considered to be in decline through the downturn of waterfront commerce, under-utilisation
and failed development proposals such as the ‘Westway’ project. The need for urban
renewal was recognised with the formation of the ‘Westside Task Force’ and the ‘Westside
Waterfront Panel’ who developed a design concept for the Manhattan west side waterfront
(HRPT 2004g).
In 1998 the Governor of the State of New York, George E. Pataki, signed the ‘Hudson River
Park Act’. The act created the guidelines for the creation of the park, permitted uses within
the park and the ‘Hudson River Park Trust’ to oversee the project (HRPT 2004g).
The ‘Hudson River Park Trust’ (HRPT) is a partnership of the State and city of New York,
created to manage, design, construct and then operate the Hudson River Park for the people
of New York (HRPT 2000).
5.4.3 Project Timescale
Table 5.3 generally describes the project segment timescale with reference to Figure 5.12.
Table 5.3 Hudson River Park Approximate Segment Timescales
Segment Timescale 2 Design waiting for finalisation of the World Trade Centre reconstruction plans 3 Design to be completed early 2005 4 Completed and opened in September 1999 5 Design approximately 15% complete in late 2003 6 Design approximately 65% complete in late 2003 and Pier 84 due for completion in 2005 7 Design approximately 75% complete in late 2003 and Clinton Cove due for completion in early to mid 2005 (HRPT 2004a; HRPT 2004b; HRPT 2004c; HRPT 2004d; HRPT 2004e; HRPT 2004f)
95 5.4.4 Procurement Process
The Hudson River Park Trust, as a New York State agency, is required under the ‘Office of
General Services’ procurement guidelines to advertise for tender all projects over US$5000.
All tenders for the Hudson River Park Project are full public tenders based on a fully
complete set of contract documents (drawings and specifications) describing the works.
Tenders are publicly opened and the lowest tender price is read out. All tenders are then
accessed and the successful company awarded the contract.
In the State of New York, all sub-contracts (electrical, mechanical, etc), as well as the main
general contract, have to be publicly tendered by the Hudson River Park Trust in the same
fashion.
5.4.5 Project Team
The main project team members are outlined in table 5.4.
Table 5.4 Hudson River Park Project Major Project Members
(Source: HRPT 2004)
96 5.4.6 Use of the Internet for Information Sharing
The Hudson River Park Trust chose to use ‘Constructware’ on the Hudson River Park
Project for their project collaboration website software. Constructware describe their
product as:
…dedicated to providing collaboration technology solutions that help construction-related companies achieve business success. Our internet- based ASP suite provides building professionals with enterprise-wide collaboration from design and preconstruction through project management and closeout (Constructware 2001, p. 2).
‘Constructware’ is an internet-based Application Service Provider (ASP) solution, requiring users to not need to load specific software at each computer. All relevant project information is available from any computer with an internet connection and an industry standard browser. The ‘Constructware’ suite is a scalable approach allowing toolsets to be added or deleted depending on client and user requirements and project size. Toolsets may include:
– Dashboard (project summaries across one or multiple projects)
– Personal Organiser
– Cost Management
– Document Controls
– File Management
– Project Information
– File Management
– Project Information
– Bid Solicitation
– Risk Management and
– Human Resources (Constructware 2001).
97 Appendix C includes Figures C.1 to C.11 to illustrate the typical screen shots from the
Constructware modules.
98 CHAPTER 6 PHENOMENOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS
6.1 INTRODUCTION
The phenomenographic approach, the method and history have been described generally in
Chapter 3. This chapter describes the process and application of the phenomenographic approach as specifically applied in this study. The first part of this chapter will address the phenomenographic approach to the interviews and transcription. The second part will describe the phenomenographic analysis process. The analysis outcomes, the categories of description and the outcome space are presented in Chapter 7.
Chapter 4 has detailed the Pilot Case study. Chapter 5 has already described the major case studies and the reasons for their selection. The interviews from the successful pilot case study have been included with the interviews from the major case studies for the phenomenographic analysis as the changes from the pilot case study to the major case studies could be considered as fine tuning only.
6.2 SECOND-ORDER APPROACH
As mentioned in Chapter 3, phenomenography is considered as a ‘second-order approach’.
To comment a little further, Marton and Booth (1997a, p. 120) elaborate on the differences between the first-order and second-order approaches.
If we adopt the alternative, second-order perspective, we focus on peoples’ experiences of the world, whether physical, biological, social, cultural, or whatever. … We have to look at the statements, acts, and artefacts to find out what ways of experiencing particular aspects of the world they reflect, regardless of their validity, skilfulness, or functionality. Such a search has to be carried out in the light of other things we know about peoples’ ways of experiencing the world.
99 It is this second-order perspective which needs to be adopted throughout phenomenographic
research. From the initial planning of the research, to the interviews, the analysis, the
categories of description and outcome space, the researcher needs to try to see the
phenomenon and the context through the eyes of the interviewee. At every step of the
process, the phenomenographic researcher is required to take a step back from their own
experiences of the phenomenon. They must only use their personal experiences to illuminate
the different ways in which the interviewees are experiencing the phenomenon (Marton et al.
1997a).
Through the second-order perspective, it can be seen that the interview is actually part of the
analysis process. During the interview (as the first contact with the interviewee and hence
the first opportunity to begin to investigate their experiences) the researcher is already trying
to see the interviewees’ experiences of the phenomenon through the interviewees’ eyes. As
the interview progresses, the researcher is looking for variation in the ways of experiencing
the phenomenon.
Although there are a number of differences between phenomenography and other qualitative
approaches (refer Chapter 3), it is the second-order approach that many phenomenographers
claim to be one of the key differences (Cope 2004; Marton et al. 1997a).
6.3 INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS
The interview participants were selected from the case studies as project team members who have developed significant experiences from the use of the internet for information sharing.
On each case study research participants were selected by profession to ensure a broad range of experiences in relation to the phenomenon (for example; an architect, a project manager, an engineer or a sub-contractor). This broad range of research participants ensures
100 maximum variation across their experiences. The following section details the interviewees for each major case study.
A number of methods were used to ensure that all interview participants were guaranteed anonymity, privacy and protection. All participants were given a ‘Project Information Sheet’ to read, to understand the research and the approach (refer Appendix D). All participants were given a consent form to complete and return to the researcher before the interview started (refer Appendix E). Participation was voluntary and any participant could withdraw from the research at any time without penalty. The participants’ confidentiality was maintained by ensuring the video and audio tapes were recorded over and/or erased after the transcripts had been checked. All interviewees’ names were not recorded on or with the transcripts, and codes were used when referring to the participants (for example Participant
A, Participant B). Codes were used to track the data from each transcript in the analysis stages (for example Interview 1, Interview 2). The participant coding and the interview coding are not related. The research was approved under the Ethics review/approval process of the Queensland University of Technology.
6.3.1 Case Study Participants
Five project team members were identified from each major case study and invited to participate. All agreed to involvement in the study. Four project team members were identified in the pilot case study and invited to participate. Table 6.1 includes a brief description of all case study interview participants, in no particular order.
101 Table 6.1 All Case Study Interview Participants
Participant Description/Role 1 Architect – Interview conducted in Melbourne, Australia 2 Architect – Interview conducted in London, UK 3 Architect/Project Manager – Interview conducted in New York, USA 4 Client – Interview conducted in Sydney, Australia 5 Construction Manager – Interview conducted in New York, USA 6 Document Controller – Interview conducted in London, UK 7 Engineer – Interview conducted in Alice Springs, Australia 8 Executive (Civil Engineer) – Interview conducted in New York, USA 9 Executive (Landscape Architect) – Interview conducted in New York, USA 10 Project Manager – Interview conducted in Canberra, Australia 11 Project Manager – Interview conducted in London, UK 12 Project/Construction Manager – Ayers Rock Resort, Australia 13 Quantity Surveyor – Interview conducted in Canberra, Australia 14 Senior Engineer – Interview conducted in New York, USA 15 Services Engineer – Interview conducted in London, UK 16 Structural Engineer – Interview conducted in Melbourne, Australia 17 Sub-Contractor – Interview conducted in Brisbane, Australia 18 Sub-Contractor – Interview conducted in regional NSW, Australia 19 Sub-contractor – Interview conducted in London, UK
A further interviewee was identified for each case study as a reserve in the event any of the initial selected interviewees decided to withdraw from participation. All interviewees were e-mailed a copy of the ‘Project Information Sheet’ for their information and the ‘Consent
Form’ for completion and return to the author before the interviews.
6.3.4 Interviewee Characteristics
Of the nineteen interview transcripts that were analysed, Figure 6.1 represents the breakdown by interviewees’ profession.
102 Figure 6.1 Breakdown of Interviewees by Profession
7% 7% 20%
13%
20%
26% 7% Architects (3) Project/Construction Managers (3) Quantity Surveyors (1) Engineers (4) Sub-Contractors (2) Document Controllers (1) Landscape Architects (1)
The spread of professions is considered to give a good balance of research participants at all stages of the project. For example, the consultants (architects and engineers) have more intense project involvement in the front (design) and middle (documentation) stages of a project. The sub-contractors and the project/construction managers have a more intense role in the later stages of the project (construction). Although different groups of research participants have different levels of intensity at different stages of a project, most do have an ongoing involvement throughout the project, often for a number of years.
The mix of three female interviewee participants (15.8%) to sixteen male interviewee participants (84.2%) is not considered unusual and is partly reflective of the gender balance within the construction industry. Male or female participants were not specifically identified in the interviewee selections. All interview participants were identified through project involvement and profession.
6.4 INTERVIEWS
Chapter 3 has touched briefly on the phenomenographic interview process. This section will detail the phenomenographic interview process used for this research project.
103 The phenomenographic interview is a qualitative type of interview (refer Chapter 3),
typically starting with the interviewer asking the subject to respond to an open-ended
planned question. This approach allows the interviewee to determine which dimensions of
the question they would like to respond to. The researcher needs to design the questions
and/or prompts to help reveal the different ways of experiencing the phenomenon being
researched (Bowden 2000b). Marton (1986, p. 42) describes this process:
…interviewing has been the primary method of phenomenographic data collection. What questions are asked and how we ask questions, of course, are highly important aspects of the method. For present purposes it will suffice to say that we used questions that are open-ended as possible in order to let the subjects choose the dimensions of the questions they want to answer. The dimensions they choose are an important source of data because they reveal an aspect of the individual’s relevance structure. Furthermore, though we have a set of questions at the start of the interview, different interviews may follow somewhat different courses.
The interviews for this research were structured along these principles. They were qualitative, focusing on the participants’ experiences of the use of the internet for information sharing on their relevant project. The interviews were also relatively unstructured to allow the participants to express their experiences and answer the areas of the questions that they wanted to answer.
The pilot case study tested a series of prompting questions (refer Chapter 4). The preliminary analysis and review of the interview process revealed that the prompting questions were appropriate to guide the interviews and allow the interviewees to freely express their experiences. The pilot case study prompting questions were adopted for the major case studies.
The interviews were initiated by asking the interviewees to describe some of their experiences with using the internet for information sharing where they felt the system worked well on their particular construction project. They were then asked to describe some
104 of their experiences with using the internet for information sharing where they felt the
system did not work well on their particular construction project. All interviewees were able
to talk at length reflecting on these two initiating questions. The following quote from the
transcript demonstrates a typical open-ended question by the researcher and an interviewee
determining the area they wish to discuss.
Researcher: So I think, what I’d like to do, is start with, perhaps, you describing some of your experiences – when you’ve found the system to be good or helpful or beneficial?
Interviewee: Ok, probably using the Times Square as a first case, or maybe BIW. From our point of view, where – my experience is as an engineering consultant, where we design systems for buildings. Which then has to be sent out to various people – architects, contractors, managers, whoever to then use that information for their own purposes. The benefit of the internet is the speed of it. Because it’s –It’s very quick, it’s very easy to, have a record of what you’ve done. You can pull back on previous information very quickly. And also another very big benefit for us is that it’s not location specific so you can – you can basically be based as well at our office, as you can be on site, as you can be at home or can be on another job somewhere else but still have all the relevant information and access to it. So they’re the key things that I find are probably most beneficial about the internet site. The other side is having electronic information like that is we come to the end of the job and we want to archive it, the space requirements are much smaller because we haven’t got a load of paper to try and archive. So I find the office becomes smaller, space requirements become much smaller. And also trying to find something – like a drawing is much easier because it’s electronic, you can do a data sort and whatever.
Further prompting questions were also asked to the interviewees as follows:
– Can you tell about communications where they have not been face-to-face?
– Can you tell me about relationships that have developed with other consultants?
– Can you tell me about the development of trust?
– Can you tell me about how conflict has been handled?
– Can you tell me about what training you have had for the use of the internet for
information sharing?
– Can you tell me about your IT knowledge and how this has helped or not with the use
of the internet for information sharing?
105 – Can you tell me about how you think you have developed professionally through
using the internet for information sharing?
Follow-up questions were also used to probe further into the interviewees’ experiences, such as:
– Could you tell me some more about that?
– Can you please explain that a little further? and
– Is there anything else you would like to say about the use of the internet for
information sharing on your project?
The following quote from the transcripts demonstrates the nature of the follow-up questions.
In this instance the interviewee is discussing the transparency and record keeping ability of the system. The researcher has followed this up with a short follow-up question to delve further into the issue of the integrity of the project data. The interviewee has responded with a discussion about the consequences of the ease of access to data.
Interviewee: It works really well because it actually stops people – it keeps people honest. Because you can’t say, “Oh, I sent that last week. It must have got lost in the post”. Because it can’t. You can’t say that you changed it back in March because you can easily check when it was changed. You can’t – you know, the system is so transparent, the information is so easily accessible, that actually in a sense, it builds up trust because it’s almost impossible to lie about anything.
Researcher: So the integrity of the data on the system as such is trust?
Interviewee: Yeah, you’d have to be absolutely mad to – so no, I don’t think it causes any problems at all from that point of view. It’s actually a very – it actually if anything because of the integrity of the system and because you can so easily access information to prove or disprove issues, it actually makes it much – it actually made – when there was an error on the job, it actually made it very easy to identify whose fault it was.
106 6.5 RECORDING AND TRANSCRIPTION
All interviews were recorded with two different systems, a digital video recorder and an analogue audio cassette recorder to ensure a successful recording in the event of failure in a
recording device (due to the travel required, a re-interview of a participant was not
considered possible). The recording devices were small and unobtrusive and no interviewees
in the major case study interviews objected to either. (One interviewee in the pilot case
study did not wish to be video recorded. This interview was recorded on audio cassette
alone without incident).
All interviews were subsequently transcribed verbatim, by a third party transcriber, from the audio and video recordings. English (UK) and American accents in the spoken English language actually proved difficult to transcribe at times. The digital video recordings proved particularly useful in helping to determine actual words and phrases spoken with an accent, through being able to watch the particular mouth movements combined with the recorded sound.
The nineteen interviews averaged 42 minutes and 10 seconds in length.
6.6 ANALYSIS
Before describing the application of the analysis process for this research project, a more detailed discussion of the theoretical base is required to help explain the application of the
theory to this research project.
6.6.1 Theoretical Base
At the core of phenomenographic research is the need to describe a phenomenon as other people see it, experience it and understand it. A critical aspect of experiences is that they
107 comprise an internal relationship between the person and the phenomenon (Marton et al.
1997a). Cope (2004, p. 10) describes this relationship as follows:
When contemplating some phenomenon in the world at a particular time and in a particular context, an individual’s awareness is likely to consist of aspects of the phenomenon triggered by the context.
The structure of awareness is one of the core principles of phenomenography, and the research history started well before the recognised start of phenomenography (late 1960s and early 1970s). The respected psychologist, William James (1952), was one of the initial researchers into the structures of awareness with his theories on the ‘topic’, ‘fringe’ and
‘margin’. Noted phenomenological psychologist Aron Gurwitsch (1964) drew heavily on
James and other noted psychologists (Gestalt and Husserl) to further the theories of the structure of awareness through his theory of ‘theme’, ‘thematic field’ and ‘marginal data’.
Amongst other noted researchers, the structure of awareness was also furthered by phenomenographer Shirley Booth (1992). Figure 6.2 graphically illustrates the structure of awareness and has been adapted from Gurwitsch (1964), Booth (1992), (Marton et al. 1997a) and Cope (2004).
108 Figure 6.2 Structure of Awareness
Gurwitsch’s (1964) research suggested that a person’s awareness will be informed by features of the relevant phenomenon they are considering, influenced by the context. As a person is considering a phenomenon at a particular time and in a particular context, the structure of their awareness is comprised of the three areas of the ‘Theme’, ‘Thematic Field’ and ‘Margin’ (refer figure 6.2). The features which inform a person’s awareness have been termed the Thematic Field. From the features which comprise the thematic field, some of these features will be related and will emerge to become the ‘Theme’ of awareness. These related features will be the central focus of the person’s awareness. The theme represents how the person perceives the phenomenon (within that context). Their context will determine which features become related and in the central focus of their awareness. The same phenomenon with a different context may produce a different theme and/or thematic field in a person’s awareness. Within both the thematic field and the theme of awareness, the different features present will be simultaneously present in the person’s awareness
(Booth 1992; Cope 2004; Gurwitsch 1964).
109 Booth (1992) also proposed that the structure of awareness is, in fact, not static and may evolve over time. What a person may be aware of in relation to a particular phenomenon may change over time, hence changing the theme and/or thematic field. It would be fair to say that time would impact on the context, and that changing the context may change the theme and/or thematic field (Gurwitsch 1964).
A person will also be aware of other aspects of the world which are not relevant to the phenomenon (i.e. the sound of an air-conditioner’s hum). Due to their lesser relevance (or even non-relevance) to the phenomenon, these aspects are considered to be in lesser focus within their awareness and have been collectively termed the ‘Margin’ of awareness (Booth
1992; Cope 2004; Gurwitsch 1964).
Marton and Booth (1997a) described the structure of awareness in terms of internal and external horizons (added to figure 6.2). The external horizon is composed of all of the features that are part of a person’s awareness but not thematic (the margin of awareness).
The external horizon forms the context for the thematic field and the theme of awareness.
The internal horizon is composed of the features of the phenomenon that are thematic (the thematic field and theme) and their relationships (Cope 2004).
The features of the phenomenon present in the inner horizon have been termed ‘dimensions of variation’ (Marton et al. 1997a). This term describes the variation required to perceive the features of the phenomenon in the relevant context. Each feature needs to have the possibility for variation. For example, for a person watching a red car drive past down a road, the colour red is a value in the ‘colour’ dimension. The person knows that this is a dimension of variation because they have experienced different coloured cars. There will be a number of dimensions that will be simultaneously present in the person’s awareness. For example, the person will simultaneously be aware that the object is a car (‘object’
110 dimension), that it is moving (‘physical state’ dimension) and that it is red (‘colour’
dimension).
Marton suggests that the structure of awareness is an appropriate method for describing the
way a person experiences a phenomenon. Cope (2004, p. 7) detailed this as:
The description should incorporate a structural aspect (the internal and external horizons), and a referential aspect (the meaning inherent in the structure). The detail of the structural aspect should include the dimensions of variation simultaneously present in the internal horizon, the “values” of each dimension of variation, the existence and nature of relationships between dimensions of variation, and the nature of the boundary between the internal and external horizons.
Previous phenomenographic research demonstrates that there is a limited number of qualitatively different ways of experiencing a phenomenon (Marton 1994). In a further development of the structure of awareness theory, it was proposed that each of the different ways of experiencing a phenomenon (often termed conceptions) can also be described individually through the use of the structure of awareness. Each conception will have an internal and external horizon and a unique set of relationships (Bruce 1997; Bruce 2002;
Cope 2004; Marton et al. 1997b; Sandberg 1994).
The next section illustrates how this theory has been applied to this research project.
6.6.2 Application
The phenomenographic analysis was performed on the interview transcript data as a whole and the transcripts were considered the only evidence of the participants’ experiences of the phenomenon. The researcher was conscious of the fact that he needed to have no preconceptions as to what the categories might be. The analysis was approached with an
‘open mind’ (as opposed to an ‘existing structure’) to allow the development of the categories of description to emerge from the data (Cope 2000).
111 Cope (2000) suggests that the researcher’s background (scholarly knowledge of the
phenomenon) should be presented in relation to the analysis, as apart from best intentions of
an open minded approach, the researcher’s personal experiences are part of the analysis
process. As background to this research, the author’s experience with the phenomenon
extends from approximately four years of hands-on involvement with a number of
proprietary systems (project collaboration websites) for the use of the internet for
information sharing on actual construction projects. The author is a registered architect and
qualified project manager who has worked within the construction industry (in Australia and
internationally) for approximately fifteen years. In relation to project collaboration websites,
the author has been trained in, and used, a number of different systems on active construction
projects.
The seven methodological steps of phenomenographic analysis as developed by Marton
(1986), and further evolved by Dahlgren and Fallsberg (1991), were followed as an
underlying structure to the analysis and are listed below.
Step 1 – Familiarisation. The analysis process was started with full readings of the
transcripts to help develop a familiarity with the data, develop an understanding of the
context and as a final check of the transcription.
Step 2 – Condensation. The second pass looked for statements of interest in relation to the phenomenographic question being researched (What are the critical aspects of ways of experiencing the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects that make people able to participate in more or less efficient ways?) and were marked within the transcript data. Each utterance was considered within the context of that from which it was taken, the transcript data.
Step 3 – Comparison. Statements were compared against each other to start identifying similarities and differences. 112 Step 4 – Grouping. This next pass made tentative classifications of the statements into draft categories, in relation to their interpretation. An iterative process of refining the categories of description was then applied to group statements with similarities together in the draft categories.
Step 5 – Articulating. The categories were differentiated from each other through their differences. Here the similarities and differences in how the phenomenon is experienced started to be expressed through the core meaning of the categories of description. The essence of the similarities was defined. This step is also an iterative process.
Step 6 – Labelling. Each category was labelled and identified. Both short and long labels are created to reflect the content and meaning of the category.
Step 7 – Contrasting. The relationship between the different categories of description was then investigated to understand the dimensions of variation and the way in which the categories of description were logically related. This is called the outcome space and represents the categories of description and the structure of their logical relationship. The outcome space is often represented graphically.
Although these steps are dated and have been further adapted by some researchers to suit their own studies, they provide a good basic proven structure to the analysis. The phenomenographic analysis was an iterative process involving numerous passes over the data in the basic seven steps. Whilst these steps illustrate quite separate phases, the analysis phases are less clear cut than these distinct phases would suggest. For example, a number of iterative passes was required before the concept of horizons and the structure of awareness were clearly defined in terms of this research project. The more iterative passes, the clearer the analysis and the concept of phenomenography became.
113 6.7 VALIDITY OF THE PROCESS
Chapter 3 briefly outlined some of the issues in relation to validity and reliability in phenomenographic research and stated that Cope’s methods for establishing validity and reliability would be adopted to ensure rigour in this project.
Cope (2004), in his paper on establishing validity and reliability in phenomenographic research, discussed contrasting views on validity in phenomenographic research. Booth’s view (1992) is that the validity in phenomenographic research is derived from a full and open account of the research approach and results. The person reading the research is then responsible for a judgement of trustworthiness and credibility. In contrast, Morse et al.
(2002) propose that it is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure and justify validity in phenomenographic research. Further to the Morse et al. proposal, a number of validity strategies have been proposed by Cope (2004) to accept the responsibility of ensuring and justifying validity in phenomenographic research. These are outlined below with comments on their application to this research project to establish an acceptable level of validity.
1. The researcher’s background (experiences and scholarly knowledge) needs to be
acknowledged to help establish the context for the analysis.
Despite the best intentions of approaching data analysis with an open mind,
a researcher’s prior experiences are part of the process. Describing the
researcher’s scholarly knowledge of a phenomenon is a means of
illuminating both to the researcher themselves and to readers of the study,
the context within which analysis took place (Cope 2004, p. 8).
This has been presented in section 6.5.
2. The means by which an unbiased sample was chosen is reported. In cases where
convenience samples are used the characteristics of the participants should be clearly
114 stated, providing a background for any attempt at applying the results in other
contexts (Cope 2004, p. 8).
The details of the sample selection for the case studies and subsequent interviewees
has been presented in Chapter 5 and section 6.2 to demonstrate that an unbiased
sample to achieve a wide spread of participant experiences was achieved. The details
of the sample characteristics have been discussed in section 6.2.4.
3. The design of interview questions is justified (Cope 2004, p. 8).
The design of the interview questions was planned from research into the literature,
the phenomenographic approach and qualitative research techniques. A pilot study
was undertaken to test the interview questions, the interview process and the
subsequent phenomenographic analysis and outcomes. The process and results from
the pilot case study were reviewed by an experienced phenomenographer and found to
be appropriate and justified. The pilot case study and the phenomenographic results
have been published since (refer Magub et al. 2003).
4. The strategies taken to collect unbiased data be included. (Cope 2004, p. 8)
The collection of unbiased data has been achieved through a conscious effort by the
researcher to not influence the interviewees and allow them to answer and discuss
issues to which they choose to respond. The initial interview question of ‘Can you tell
me about some good experiences with using the internet for information sharing…’
allowed the interviewees to talk about any experience they chose to share. Follow-
up/prompting questions were used to guide the interviewee back to the research area.
At all times the interviewees experiences and the difference in experiences was
sought. The interview process sought to minimise the interviewer’s prior knowledge
of the phenomenon.
115 5. Strategies used to approach data analysis with an open mind rather than imposing an
existing structure be acknowledged (Cope 2004, p. 8).
The researcher approach to the data analysis was based on a structured approach as
detailed by Dahlgren and Fallsberg (1991) (refer section 6.6). This structured
approach was adopted to engender rigour through a demonstration of the researcher’s
concern for validity and because the structure has been used successfully in previous
phenomenographic research projects.
6. The data analysis method be detailed (Cope 2004, p. 8).
The data analysis process has been detailed in section 6.6 and is a structured process
which has been used successfully in previous phenomenographic research projects.
7. The researcher accounts for the processes used to control and check interpretations
made throughout analysis (Cope 2004, p. 8; Sandberg 1997).
The structured data analysis process allows the researcher’s interpretations during the
analysis to be controlled and checked through the iterative process. The numerous
passes over the data during the analysis allow the researcher’s interpretations to be
confirmed, refined and justified.
8. The results are presented in a manner which permits informed scrutiny. Categories of
description should be fully described and adequately illustrated with quotes (Booth
1992; Cope 2004, p. 9).
The phenomenographic outcomes have been adequately presented and described with
text and figures to allow scrutiny (refer Chapter 7). The categories of description have
been presented in terms of the referential and structural aspects. The outcome space
presents the logical relationship between the different categories of description.
116 The validity of the research process has been established with regard to the eight validity
strategies proposed by Cope (2004) to identify and correct issues of process and
interpretation which may have impacted on the rigour of this research project. A full and
open account of this research has been presented to illustrate the process, the interpretations
and the use of the validity strategies. The author believes that this approach has yielded
results which are faithful to the phenomenon, the process, the data and the research
participants.
6.8 COMMUNICABILITY OF THE OUTCOMES
Sandberg (1997) suggests that validity and communicability (reliability) are closely related in phenomenographic research. Validity has to be established before communicability is possible and in establishing validity, part of the communicability is achieved.
In terms of qualitative research, including phenomenography, reliability has a different interpretation to that of quantitative research. Reliability in quantitative research refers to the scientific ‘replicability of results’. Booth (1992, p.64) defines reliability for qualitative research as ‘if another researcher repeated the research project … what is the probability that he or she would arrive at the same results.’
In the context of phenomenographic research, Cope (2004, p.9) has suggested that this definition of reliability would translate as ‘…replicability of the outcome space(s). Given a particular set of data, would different researchers report the same outcome space?’
There is, however, some comment from phenomenographers (Booth 1992; Cope 2004;
Johansson et al. 1985; Säljö 1988) that this would be an unreasonable expectation:
… although broad methodological principles are adhered to, the open, explorative nature of data collection and the interpretative nature of data
117 analysis mean that the intricacies of the method applied by different researchers will not be the same. Data analysis, in particular, involves a researcher constituting some relationship with the data. A researcher’s unique background is an essential part of this relationship. Consequently, replication of outcome spaces by different researchers is unlikely and not necessary (Cope 2004, p. 9).
In the quest for reliability, a number of phenomenographers have utilised inter-rater reliability, sometimes referred to as interjudge reliability, as a reliability test. This process
involves independent researchers classifying the research data (interview transcripts) against
the categories of description. The goal of this test is to determine if other independent
researchers can see the defined categories of description in the interview transcripts.
Achieving 100% agreement with the independent researchers is difficult. It has been
suggested that an appropriate level of reliability of an outcome space can be claimed through
80-90% agreement after consultation with the independent researchers (Cope 2000; Cope
2004; Säljö 1988; Sandberg 1997).
Interjudge reliability has, however, been criticised in qualitative research and specifically in phenomenography. In Sandberg’s (1997) criticism of the use of interjudge reliability in phenomenographic research he cites two areas of concern:
1. Interjudge reliability overlooks researchers’ procedures.
…interjudge reliability does not take into account the researcher’s procedures for achieving faithful descriptions of the individuals’ conceptions of reality (p. 206)
For example the researcher may have acquired poor data effected by the researchers
own pre-understanding and/or may have acquired only superficial data capturing the
interviewees general opinions rather than fundamental conceptions. Even though a
high level of agreement may be achieved with independent researchers, the poor
quality of the data is not recognised.
2. Interjudge reliability produces theoretical and methodological inconsistency.
…in establishing reliability of the findings produced in phenomenography, it is inappropriate to rely on the criteria based on an objective epistemology. 118 Instead, the criteria must accord with phenomenological epistemological assumptions underlying phenomenography, that human knowledge is intentionally constituted through individual’ experience of their reality (p. 208).
Interjudge reliability was derived from an objectivistic epistemology.
Phenomenography is based on an phenomenological rather than an objectivistic
epistemology. Within the objectivistic epistemology knowledge is considered to
exist within reality. Within the phenomenological epistemology, however,
knowledge is considered to be intentionally constituted through the interviewees’
conceptions of reality. Sandberg’s research suggested that interjudge reliability was
not intended to measure the results of research from the phenomenological
perspective of knowledge.
Säljö (1988, p.45) suggested that interjudge reliability in phenomenographic research ‘is a check of the communicability of categories and thus gives the researcher information that someone else can see the same differences in the material as he or she has done’.
In a variation of purpose, some phenomenographers (Cope 2000; Cope 2004; Säljö 1988) have used interjudge reliability (sometimes appropriately renamed ‘interjudge communicability’) as a test of communicability of the description of the outcome space.
This measure is used, not as a test of whether an independent researcher would produce the same outcome space, but as a measure of the reliability of the description of the outcome space. Typically, selected quotes and the outcome space (categories of description) are given to independent researcher/s. The quotes need to be carefully selected as they may only represent part of a category of description. The independent researcher/s are asked to classify the quotes into the different ways of experiencing the phenomenon (categories of description). Differences in the classifications are discussed with the researcher/s and changes made as required. An agreement of over 80% is sought (Cope 2000; Cope 2004;
Säljö 1988). 119 An interjudge communicability test has been performed on the research outcomes and the results have been detailed at the end of Chapter 7.
120 CHAPTER 7 CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION AND THE OUTCOME SPACE
7.1 INTRODUCTION
As outlined in Chapter 3, the outcomes from the phenomenographic analysis are the categories of description and the outcome space. These outcomes represent the different ways of experiencing the phenomenon being researched; The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects.
When people reflect upon a phenomenon, their experiences are expressed in a limited number of qualitatively different ways. In phenomenography, the categories of description reflect the researcher’s analysis and description of the variation in the ways that the research participants have experienced the relevant phenomenon. A single ‘category of description’ illustrates one way of experiencing the phenomenon being researched (Cope 2000; Marton
1994; Marton et al. 1997a; Sandberg 1997).
Marton and Booth (1997a) suggest a set of criteria for categories of description:
1. A distinctly different feature of the participants’ experiences of the phenomenon should
be described in each category of description
2. The different categories of description should be logically related and
3. The minimum number of categories of description needed to effectively portray the
similarities and differences in the participants’ experiences make up the outcome space.
A relationship exists between the different categories which can be structured in a logical framework. The logical framework is called the outcome space and is discussed later in this chapter.
121 The phenomenographic analysis in this research revealed seven categories of description which demonstrate the variation in the experiences of the research participants in the use of the internet for information sharing in construction projects. Each category of description is summarised below and is detailed in Section 7.2. Quotes from the interview transcripts are used to help describe the experiences. Quotes are not intended to represent an entire category, however will represent an element from within that category. All quotes from the interview transcripts are referenced as per the following example; (Interview-7 2003, l. 101).
This reference refers to interview number 7 (of 19) and the quotation starts at line 101 of the transcript. The identity of each interviewee is purposely masked.
For the purpose of continuity in the cited transcript quotes, all instances of ‘umm’ and ‘ahh’ have been removed.
The selected quotations are followed by a description of the ‘structure of awareness’ for each category. This aims to describe the balance between the ‘internal relations’ (foreground focus) and the ‘external horizon’ (background) (Marton 1994). Bourne (2003, p.81) describes this well in his phenomenographic research investigating art therapy:
The internal relations are the meanings the individual receives from becoming aware of the dynamics of the phenomenon between themselves (the subject) and their works of art (the object). This is called the referential aspect of the phenomenon. The external horizon is the way the phenomenon fits into the environmental context. This is the external experience of the individual to the phenomenon. Both the internal relations and the external horizon form the structural aspects of the experience. A structural change cannot come about without a change in meaning, nor can a change in meaning come about without changes in the structure. The structural and referential aspects of the research are dialectically related to each other.
Different terms have been widely used in phenomenographic research for the ‘internal relations’ or ‘internal horizon’ and the ‘external horizon’ as described above and in Chapter
6. This research will use the terms the ‘foreground focus’ for the internal horizon (thematic field and the theme) and ‘background’ for the external horizon (the margin) as it is expected 122 that a majority of readers of this research will not be phenomenographers and these terms
provide a lay person’s perspective, whilst still providing a link to the structure of awareness
for phenomenographic readers.
The structure of awareness is also represented graphically in a diagram for each category of description, and then the outcome space.
The following is a summary of the seven categories of description. A detailed discussion of each category is presented in section 7.2.
Category 1 – ‘Communications Tool’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as using an efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. This conception relates to the ability of the research participants to effectively communicate with the other members of the project team and to share and have access to current information with limited extra training.
Category 2 – ‘Resources’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as using a flexible tool to help save resources. This conception demonstrates that the phenomenon can help to save resources through actual reductions of materials, reductions in travel and minimising wastage.
Category 3 – ‘Inevitable’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as a competitive advantage in an inevitable industry-wide trend. This conception describes the phenomenon as a competitive advantage for both the company and individuals. It is also recognised that the phenomenon is an inevitable industry trend.
123 Category 4 – ‘Archive’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as using a reliable, centralised project data archive. This conception describes the phenomenon’s capacity to provide a single point for all project information with excellent archiving/searching/retrieval capabilities.
Category 5 – ‘Tool-Box’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as using another communications tool. This conception illustrates that in terms of information sharing on construction projects, the internet is another communications tool to be added to the existing suite of communications options.
Category 6 – ‘Multiplier’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as a multiplier of communications and documentation. This conception represents an understanding that the phenomenon can multiply the amount of project communications, not necessarily for the benefit of the participants. The multiplication can be in a second set of files (database and lever-arch) and/or through non-relevant communications to a project participant.
Category 7 – ‘Barrier’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects can be experienced as a barrier to effective project participation. This conception illustrates that the phenomenon can be a barrier to effective project participation in terms of cost and technology.
124 7.2 CATEGORIES OF DESCRIPTION
The following sections provide detailed descriptions of each category of description.
7.2.1 Category 1: ‘Communications Tool’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as using an efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. This conception relates to the ability for the research participants to effectively communicate with other members of the project team and to share and have access to current information with limited extra training.
This category is constructed of a number of features which illustrate different ways of experiencing this conception:
– Currency of the project information
– Accessibility of data
– Efficient communications tool
– Minimal extra training and
– Helps develop honesty.
Referential Aspects
The following three quotes from the interview transcripts illustrate the ‘Currency of project data’ feature of this category. The currency of project data is vitally important on any construction project, particularly where there are large teams of consultants relying on
‘backgrounds’ upon which to base their design1, or when a project is under construction. An efficient and easy-to-use communications system allows research participants to access
1 For example an Architect will issue their plans to the mechanical engineer who, in turn, will draw their mechanical design over the top of the architectural drawings, therefore using them as a background. The architectural drawings hence become part of the mechanical drawings so their currency is paramount. 125 current project data, and this is seen as a benefit of the use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects.
…this way as soon as it’s uploaded it’s current, it’s there, it’s ready to use, it can be downloaded and sent out on site (Interview-5 2003, l.22).
You’ve got three racks and you’re trying to find a specific drawings and somebody’s got to go through it and replace it with the most current drawing and the rest of it. It, it becomes a difficult job to try and keep track of. Once there’s a delay and the recent drawing coming through and making it to the rack. Whereas, BIW can come up with, the most current drawing straight away. And you know that it is the most current drawing. Without “has something else come in since this date?” It’s very easy to manage in that respect (Interview-7 2003, l.569).
Well the currency of the data is very important as well because previously there’s always a danger that what you’ve got lying around on your desk is not the most up-to-date drawing. And to actually check that is again another involved process. You have to go back, find letters and drawings issues, assuming that you’re looking at the latest drawing issue, find out what the latest issue of the drawing is. Whereas with this system, you just go onto the channel and the channel will give you automatically the most up-to-date version. So the risk of looking at superseded drawings has really disappeared (Interview-9 2003, l.38).
The participants also indicate perceived increases in efficiencies and reduction in risk of using superseded data through the virtually instant access of current project data.
The ‘accessibility of data’ is a feature of this category. Good accessibility of project data indicates an efficient and easy-to-use communications tool. The internet interface of the systems allows research participants to access project data from any computer in the world as long as it has an internet connection and an industry standard web browser. Participants expressed this capacity as an advantage that provided a level of flexibility to enable them to effectively participate whilst not being at their normal desk.
…it’s just the centric point of one information source. No matter where you are in the world, what you’re doing, or wherever it is – it brings communication, it just improves everything – the project communication (Interview-5 2003, l.29). 126 I found that you can do anywhere, you don’t have to be at the office, at your desk. As long as there’s a computer, the internet provider you can work anywhere you want (Interview-6 2003, l.39).
The ability for research participants to virtually instantly access all the project data, should they need to or not, is seen as a benefit. This also allows multiple people to view the same piece of data at the same time. In the traditional system of drawings, only one person could be using a particular drawing at once. The participants have expressed as a benefit, the ability to access project data straight away and the ability to access other project data, which may not be relevant at the current time, but nonetheless is available should they need to access it.
But one of the best things about the internet based system, is, or the electronic system is, any information you need, if it’s on the net, you can get hold of it straight away (Interview-8 2003, l.34).
Secondly, it speeds up the way we can access anyone else’s information. Because you’ve got all the drawings that any of the other consultants or any of the trade contractors have done, available all on one site. With a search engine to help you actually find what you are looking for. In which we can access trade contractors’ drawings, structural engineers’ drawings much, much quicker. We can then download them. So instead of having to go through the process of ringing someone up to try to find something and get them to send it to you, and delaying the whole process, all the information’s already available on the computer (Interview-9 2003, l.14).
I’ve always known that you could get on the web and get the latest information all the time. Because drawings control and knowing that you’ve got the latest revision available and those sorts of things that often, you know often issues – having to thumb through reams and reams of paper or multiple, multiple e-mails, at least when you know you’ve got one library, one drawing library of up-to-date information that you know that you can pick-off the latest revisions. Means you’ve got the best access to information all the time (Interview-14 2003, l.540).
Yeah. No it’s more to do with the fact that it’s all there and it’s all one system. So even though you know, as architects we may never actually need to look at some shop drawing that’s been issued from somebody to somebody else in the project, least we know we could. Whereas in the old system it’s sort of impossible. You wouldn’t even necessarily know it even exists (Interview-11 2003, l.51).
127 ‘Efficient communications tool’ is a feature of this category. Research participants have experienced significant savings, particularly in project time, through the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects. Efficiencies through not using traditional methods of information delivery (for example, post, courier, mail) appear common and are considered a benefit. Particular efficiencies are experienced when there is a turn-around time for documents between research participants.
Sub-contractors out here are a lot different to the east coast. When they build out here they (go) 100 miles an hour and they don’t – they don’t necessarily wait for amendments to drawings. And we like to follow a quality procedure, with making sure the drawing is approved for construction and with ProjectWeb we’re able to, you know, bring the consultant up, the drawing’s amended, load it up, approve construction issue within sort of, you know, 6 to 8 hours if necessary. So, there’s no other way we could have done it like that, ‘cause like I said, for an overnight courier out here, it’s two days if you’re lucky (Interview-3 2003, l.34).
Perhaps, people’s efficiency has gone up. Because obviously we can draw a drawing on an afternoon and get it uploaded that same afternoon and I can be reviewing it the evening. As opposed to you know waiting – they draw it up in the afternoon we then have to wait for the post delivery and a day goes past (Interview-5 2003, l.311).
I mean the time periods have dropped substantially because I mean, you’ve still got two weeks for approval. And you don’t – the guy’s got to post it, you’ve got to receive it, you’ve got to copy it, you’ve got to comment on it, you’ve got to copy it again, you’ve got to post it back. We’re now down to, on Times Square we’re now down to ten days and, on 10 Exchange Square, using BIW, they’re now down to five days. So the review process time is coming down and down and down, down and down. And that – I mean there’s no argument does that speed up the project (Interview-9 2003, l.417).
…I just bring one example, with the request for information. The first job in Greenwich Village, they were averaging fourteen days to do the RFI’s, the fourteen days averaging on the request for information, the new job where they require Constructware, they were averaging five and a half days and that was a night and day, from a productivity standpoint, where the general contractor was required to use the product and they did use the product because we put it in the contract documents and stated, “You will use Constructware”. We definitely saw productivity gains, which ultimately, gets the park built quicker…(Interview-15 2003, l.271).
128 Participants have also experienced personal efficiencies through the use of the internet for
information sharing on their projects. Efficiencies are being experienced through being able
to immediately respond to project information, saving the time and effort to fax/mail and file
pieces of project information. This is perceived as a benefit to both the project and the
participants.
It’s more efficient from the whole shop drawing approval process. And also the issuing of drawings from consultants. I mean faxes, faxes are just as quick as – from an immediate correspondence point of view, just as quick – but faxes obviously require someone to file them, someone to archive them. And so that’s where your time gets extended with using the fax. Whereas with ProjectWeb straight away it’s filed, it’s in there it’s got it’s own unique number (Interview-3 2003, l.252).
I’m basically working the same amount but I’m being more productive. I’m doing more work (Interview-19 2003, l.36).
‘Required minimal extra training’ is a feature of this category. Whilst each system does require some familiarisation, project participants appear to be utilising the systems with only minimal extra training. Many participants refer to experiencing the systems as an extension of their existing knowledge.
I think most of it’s very user friendly – its not as if your writing code. You’re in there, you click around and no problem (Interview-1 2003, l. 262).
People can – if you can type you can use the system. You don’t have to have any knowledge of Excel or Word or how a computer works, or what’s running it or anything like that. It’s quite self-explanatory. You know, you go into a web page, you type in your address, your username and password and you’re into your – straight into your headlines page (Interview-5 2003, l.492).
In terms of the sort of, core technology well you wouldn’t need to know what it was. It’s just – it’s an internet interface and that’s it. And everybody could already use that so I – it didn’t need any technical knowledge to use the interface. But that was pretty simple really (Interview-11 2003, l.617).
I pretty much had the tools to do it and I found Constructware doesn’t throw any curve balls at you if you have basic knowledge. Actually that’s one of 129 it’s strengths, it doesn’t require a great deal of, of special skill set going into it let’s call it (Interview-15 2003, l.499).
Participants expressed little desire to understand how the system works behind the user interface. The internet is experienced as an everyday interface which provides the project participant with the interaction with the project data.
‘Helps develop honesty’ is a feature of this category. Participants are experiencing the transparency of information in the system which they feel tends to make people honest. As all project data is stored centrally and each participant has a personalised login, it is possible to determine when a piece of information was sent or when a piece of information was opened by the recipient. Honesty is developed because the accountability is open for all to see and becomes very obvious.
It works really well because it actually stops people – it keeps people honest. Because you can’t say, “Oh, I sent that last week. It must have got lost in the post”. Because it can’t. You can’t say that you changed it back in March because you can easily check when it was changed. You can’t – you know, the system is so transparent, the information is so easily accessible, that actually in a sense, it builds up trust because it’s almost impossible to lie about anything (Interview-9 2003, l.565).
…it actually if anything because of the integrity of the system and because you can so easily access information to prove or disprove issues, it actually makes it much – it actually made – when there was an error on the job, it actually made it very easy to identify whose fault it was (Interview-9 2003, l.574).
…we find that it’s a great tool to track accountability of people. This gives us the ability to see all the documents that are flowing between the architect, the construction managers, the general contractors at any given time. We can quickly track who’s reading those documents because they’re all time stamped and dated into the, into the software. So essentially if someone sends you an e-mail in Constructware you can tell if they actually read, read the e-mail or not and we can see from our workflow, minutes of meetings, requests for information, submittals, if people aren’t responding to those documents, as an owner perspective, we can call them and say, “You’re not doing the job that we asked you to do” (Interview-15 2003, l.24).
130 The openness and accountability experienced by the participants is also being used to monitor project team performance.
Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘Efficient
Comminations’ as the foreground focus. Within the foreground focus there are a number of features in simultaneous awareness (currency of the project information, accessibility of data, efficient communications tool, minimal extra training and helps develop honesty). The
‘Internet’ resides within the thematic field. The participants appear to be aware of the internet, again as the medium for interacting with the project data, however it is still the ‘by- product’ (efficient communications) which has the foreground focus. ‘Other project communications’ is situated in the background (margin of awareness) as the juxtaposition to the efficient communications (for example, fax, mail, courier). These relationships are graphically represented in Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.1 Category of Description 1 – ‘Communications Tool’
131 The following quotation demonstrates the focal aspects of the structure of awareness. The
project participant is demonstrating the foreground focus (theme of awareness) through their
belief that this system is a ‘better way to approach it’ with the electronic delivery of
correspondence and the recipients’ password access to the information. The internet as the
enabler of this system, and security, are within their awareness but not focal. Other
communications options, such as fax, are seen here in the background and there is a
suggestion here that this type of communications is unfavoured.
I think it’s probably a better way to approach it because it – it lands as a personalised e-mail rather than there’s a fax on the machine, or parts of the cross or there’s problems here, just had a blue with this guy. At least it goes directly to the source and he’s got his own code, his own password. So there’s a personal – more personal way of approaching it. Same as a phone call, much better than a fax (Interview-4 2003, l.218).
The next quotation illustrates the relation between the two foreground focus components,
‘Efficient Communications’ (theme of awareness) and the ‘Internet’ (thematic field). The project participant here has a strong emphasis on the efficiency of this type of communications to deliver fast, current information. The internet is, however, also a strong aspect of this quotation through the upload/download comments and the utterance of the broadband access at the site office. The efficiency of the communications is very closely related to the internet as the enabler of this type of communications. Without the internet, these efficiencies would not be realised.
…this way as soon as it’s uploaded it’s current, it’s there, it’s ready to use, it can be downloaded and sent out on site. And not just in our office, we’ve got broadband and the like, outside – on-site. Really good, really – you can access information quicker and that was the key, one of the key reasons why I thought it was such a great technology (Interview-5 2003, l.22).
To summarise Category 1 – ‘Communications Tool’, the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is experienced as an efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. The participant quotations demonstrate a foreground focus of the ‘Efficient
132 Communications’ (theme of awareness) and the ‘Internet’ (thematic field) as the medium
through which all interaction with the project data occurs. ‘Other project communications’
are seen in background focus (margin of awareness) as the juxtaposition for the efficient
communications. The ‘other project communications’ are the more traditional forms of
project communications such as fax, mail and courier. This category is seen as a positive
experience of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects in terms
of project participation and communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 1 – ‘Communications Tool’ demonstrates
the internet in foreground focus (within the thematic field) and suggests that this category is
seen by the research participants as a positive experience in terms of project participation
and communications.
7.2.2 Category 2: ‘Resources’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects as a flexible tool to help save resources. This conception
illustrates that the phenomenon can help to save resources through actual reductions of
materials, reductions in travel and minimising wastage/maximising resources.
This category is constructed of a number of features which illustrate different ways of
experiencing this conception:
– Saves resources
– Enables remote working and
– An active tool to monitor participant performance.
Referential Aspects
‘Saves resources’ was a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as creating savings in project resources 133 of time, cost, materials and travel. Participants expressed experiences of savings on issues such as paper/printing, time/response time, lost productivity through travel, physical space for archiving/filing, postage/couriers and an increase in participants’ productivity.
Sometimes then you would go to the plotter and plot it out. But nine times out of ten I’d leave it electronically. Cause there’s no point – I create enough paper as it is without having any more added to it (Interview-5 2003, l. 602).
The other side is having electronic information like that is we come to the end of the job and we want to archive it, the space requirements are much smaller because we haven’t got a load of paper to try and archive. So I find the office becomes smaller, space requirements become much smaller (Interview-7 2003, l. 24).
In terms of the time saving I mean it certainly took out the postage side. I mean that’s one of the biggest issues with BIW. I mean you know, on every – I don’t know what the knock-on effects on a project are – but you’re buying yourself time, all the time. Because every time you don’t have to do the transfer of drawings. I mean the time periods have dropped substantially because I mean, you’ve still got two weeks for approval. And you don’t – the guy’s got to post it, you’ve got to receive it, you’ve got to copy it, you’ve got to comment on it, you’ve got to copy it again, you’ve got to post it back. We’re now down to, on Times Square we’re now down to ten days and, on 10 Exchange Square, using BIW, they’re now down to five days. So the review process time is coming down and down and down, down and down. And that – I mean there’s no argument that does speed up the project (Interview-9 2003, l. 412).
…but we sort of did the business case analysis to say, “We will save X amount of money on paper. We’ll save X amount of money printing off, A1 drawings, we’ll have less meetings because the communications will be over the machines”. And you know, we proved it up in a business case, presented it up to the board of directors if you like, which is what the sort of alliance leadership team was which is made up of senior members of every member of the alliance and we convinced them to make that investment. So we didn’t spend the money over here, we spent it here. And, looking back we would – whether we’re ever able to quantify whether that was the right investment decision, you know the project came out, you know, under budget on time all that sort of stuff. So I suppose without doing the business, the analysis you’d say it was the right decision (Interview-13 2003, l. 125).
I think filing was, was significantly reduced. We produced less paper, now if you can get your workers to work from home, I don’t want to say that, that structure’s your question – no question about it. Significantly less paper (Interview-13 2003, l. 647).
It was saying, “I’ve got these drawings, they’re in Melbourne. It’s much smarter to send them – to post them on Project Web and print them there”, 134 than traditionally run off six copies of sixty drawings and put in on a courier. You know, one it’s quicker. Two it’s cheaper (Interview-13 2003, l. 239).
Our situation is we know that we’re working on a unique project, to build a park in Manhattan is a, a significant, big deal and I think it’s just you know, your work ethic allows you to care about your job and I know most of the people on this job site do check from home. Their jobs and of course from a productivity standpoint, from a company standpoint, dollars. You’re getting additional productivity, that’s a good investment into technology (Interview- 15 2003, l. 63).
‘Enables remote working’ is a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as an enabler of remote working capabilities. Participants expressed experiences of being able to work from home, in other offices, on site, on holidays and from any computer with internet access. There were expressed benefits of increased productivity, work structure flexibilities, instantaneous communications, project data transfer and the ability to use team members and support from geographically removed locations and/or different time zones without travel.
Well, I suppose the biggest thing is that we’re out here in the middle of Australia, and to Sydney is 3000km away. So all of our consultants are based in Sydney. We’ve got consultants based in Sydney, sub-contractors based in Darwin and Brisbane and they all use ProjectWeb to transfer drawings, correspondence, RFI’s all quite instantaneously between us all (Interview-3 2003, l. 24).
So I try not to do it at home. But you know, I can if I need to. Like if I need to check – if I’ve got to go somewhere or I had to take the day off, or something, but I’m a bit worried about something’s urgent coming in – and whether it – we’re shooting it out and can sort of go into it at home, and sort it out there. Or wherever I am as long as I’ve got internet access (Interview- 6 2003, l. 50).
The other thing of course it meant was that we could work in very disparate locations. So particularly when we were going through the shop drawing stage, we had people doing shop drawings in New Zealand and Perth, here in Victoria and in New South Wales. And so they were all shop drawings they were sending them to use for checking, we were looking at them and we were sending them back. And because it was all done on the web it really didn’t matter that they were in different time zones and different places (Interview- 10 2003, l. 66).
135 So we do allow for telecommuting at home and to use the internet you know, there’s so many other environmental things that, that – healthful, you don’t have to worry about pollution and, and you spend an hour you know, in Manhattan you spend an hour back and forth on your commute, so you essentially wasted two hours of your day and without any productivity. So I’m convinced that if you can avoid that two hours’ commute, an hour back and forth, you may be able to get an extra hour out of somebody, from home (Interview-15 2003, l. 74).
‘An active tool to monitor participant performance’ was a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as a tool to monitor performance and track accountability of project participants. The audit trail ability of the systems, which are able to record when a piece of project data has been opened by a participant, allows the performance of participants to be monitored and reviewed. For example, if a participant failed to respond to a project communication, the sender can check if the participant had in fact even opened the communication, and then follow up with the participant.
It works really well because it actually stops people – it keeps people honest. Because you can’t say, “Oh, I sent that last week. It must have got lost in the post”. Because it can’t. You can’t say that you changed it back in March because you can easily check when it was changed. You can’t – you know, the system is so transparent, the information is so easily accessible, that actually in a sense, it builds up trust because it’s almost impossible to lie about anything (Interview-9 2003, l. 565).
Because potentially I mean, the information that the project managers’ got available. You can look and see the status of all the drawings being submitted to all packages. So basically you know, if he sets the system up at the beginning he can actually see right through the design phase, exactly the status of the job. You know, you can look at any trade contractor or any consultant and you can see how many drawings they’ve got loaded (Interview-9 2003, l. 716).
…we find that it’s a great tool to track accountability of people. This gives us the ability to see all the documents that are flowing between the architect, the construction managers, the general contractors at any given time. We can quickly track who’s reading those documents because they’re all time stamped and dated into the, into the software. So essentially if someone sends you an e-mail in Constructware you can tell if they actually read, read the e-mail or not and we can see from our workflow, minutes of meetings, requests for information, submittals, if people aren’t responding to those
136 documents, as an owner perspective, we can call them and say, “You’re not doing the job that we asked you to do” (Interview-15 2003, l. 24).
It’s – and also it’s a good way of – let’s say if I write a letter about something and send it to five people, I can actually track if they read it and when they read it. So they cannot come back and tell me they didn’t get it or didn’t read it. It takes that whole argument out of the way. You know exactly when they got it, exactly when they read it and ahh so, it gives you a little check that people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing (Interview-17 2003, l. 76).
One of the other drawbacks would be, for my part if I was slacking, if I was slow in responding everyone would know. So, it’s advantageous you know, if you’re the person putting the pressure on everyone else but, if you’ve got a lot of work, you can’t do it. Everyone knows that, but the ball’s in your court and that’s another drawback (Interview-19 2003, l. 119).
Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘Saving
Resources’ as the foreground focus. Within the foreground focus, there are a number of features in simultaneous awareness (saves resources, enables remote working and an active tool to monitor participant performance). The thematic field is represented by the ‘Internet’.
The internet (with the software) is providing the medium to save resources through the instantaneous communications, transfer of project data, remote access and productivity gains. ‘Project Communications’ is experienced in the background (margin of awareness).
Whilst the act of saving resources is in foreground focus, the savings and efficiencies are, in reality, in project communications. These relationships are represented in Figure 7.2.
137 Figure 7.2 Category of Description 2 – ‘Resources’
The focal aspects of the structure of awareness of this category can be illustrated through the following quotations. The participant is demonstrating the foreground focus of this category through their comments on remote access (foreground focus) to the project data. They were able to work on the original project even though they had left the project to work on another project. The internet (thematic field) is enabling the remote access to the original project data without leaving the new project site. Project communications (background) have been successfully continued but not directly mentioned in the quotation.
With the way that MACE operate their systems, we’ve got remote access to our e-mail; remote access to BIW and it’s – wherever you are. I subsequently left this project two weeks ago to work on another one now it’s finished. And I was on that job, and we got an e-mail through from a document controller to say that you need to clear your actions. And on that job, just dialled up the web site, finished – completed my actions, logged off. And it didn’t matter – I didn’t have to be here. It was just the remoteness and just that level of access (Interview-5 2003, l. 120).
To summarise Category 2 – ‘Resources’, the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is experienced as a flexible tool to help save resources. The participants demonstrated a foreground focus of ‘Saves Resources’ (theme of awareness) and the ‘Internet’ (thematic field). Within the theme of awareness are simultaneously present features of ‘Saves resources’, ‘Enables remote working’ and ‘An active tool to monitor
138 participant performance’. ‘Project Communications’ are experienced in the background
(margin of awareness). This category is seen as a positive experience of the use of the
internet for information sharing on construction projects in terms of project participation and
communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 2 – ‘Resources’ is similar to Category 1 in
that it demonstrates the internet in foreground focus (within the thematic field) and suggests
that both categories are seen by the research participants as a positive experience in terms of
project participation and communications.
7.2.3 Category 3: ‘Inevitable’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects as a competitive advantage in an inevitable industry-wide
trend. This conception describes the phenomenon as a competitive advantage for both the
company and individuals. It also recognises that through the participants’ experiences, they
believe that the phenomenon is an inevitable industry trend.
The category is constructed of a number of features which illustrate different ways of
experiencing this conception:
– A competitive advantage and
– Inevitable for future projects.
Referential Aspects
‘A competitive advantage’ is a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as a competitive advantage for companies and project participants. The participants saw advantages for their companies in having developed experience with construction collaboration technology and tendering for future projects where construction collaboration technology is proposed. Participants also 139 saw experience with construction collaboration technology as advantageous for themselves
in the job market and seeking further employment.
I mean, obviously it’s not a competitive advantage if you haven’t done the right thing by the builder. But if they’re comfortable to know that your – there’s no training involved and you’re going to warm to the system immediately, you know it. Then that’s one little hurdle out of the road – to say well, you know obviously you’re on the short list, therefore if your price is right, then you’re going to get the job. But if your price is right and you’re completely unfamiliar, they’d have to think “Well we don’t know these guys, they don’t know our system, maybe we pay a premium to get this bloke on board because he knows our – knows the ropes.” (Interview-4 2003, l. 382)
You have to fill out a pre-qualification for projects and your – if, if they’re wanting an internet-based system the fact that you have knowledge and have used that system or other systems is certainly an advantage (Interview-8 2003, l. 465).
So I think it’s going to be used much more widely and I think not having any experience on one of these systems. It’s going to be itself a disadvantage (Interview-9 2003, l. 859).
The benefit – one benefit we have had though is for example, we’ve been doing working with Multiplex who’ve now developed their own system. Project Centre I think it’s called or I think it’s Project Centre. And we were able to slip into that very, very easily with having had the knowledge of Project Web. So I guess in terms of being able to work for different clients, and knowing that you know, how these systems work and being able to, to use them pretty much from day one. That’s a benefit to us for sure (Interview-14 2003, l. 644).
We have to use some product that will increase productivity because we saw the trend two years ago. So from a competitive edge standpoint, I’m definitely convinced that we have a competitive edge over any other of our city, state agencies that are, are now just starting to come on board now with the concept of using it. And now they’re just researching which product to use (Interview-15 2003, l. 348).
This, you know, my allegiance is to myself. You know, no one else is going to look after me and, this is a marketable skill that I feel that I am very comfortable saying that, that the trend clearly is to use an ASP solution to do construction (Interview-15 2003, l. 711).
‘Inevitable for future projects’ is a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as inevitable for future
140 projects. Through the participants’ experiences, they expressed the belief that construction collaboration technology will become a main stream feature of the construction industry in a greater range of project sizes than are currently utilised.
If you’re not going to jump on board with the internet side of things, you’re going to be left behind. You really are. Like I said before, just the expediency and information sharing. I know a lot of companies that don’t have something setup like this and it will start affecting them, if not immediately then in the future. Yeah, definitely (Interview-3 2003, l. 377).
I think initially we saw this type of stuff on projects like this one, but it’s starting to get down to the smaller sort of projects now. Ok, there’s a lot less drawings, but the process is – the benefits of the process are being picked up. And I think it will become industry-wide soon that unless it’s a small refurb, one room one or something like that, where the outlay of the money to run the system doesn’t warrant it. As I say, we’re using these systems – all sorts of these systems on any number of our projects at the moment. And we’ve got about five or six sites on the go at any one time, for different construction projects that we’ve got (Interview-7 2003, l. 511).
I think now – but I mean, I don’t know whether the financial limit is, but I would have thought now any project over ten-million is going to be working on one of these systems. And not having worked on one of these systems is going to start becoming a disadvantage (Interview-9 2003, l. 832).
But yes, a number of people were affected by the inevitability of the system. And I think the guys on site were very reluctant – very, very reluctant initially, but they just got banged on the head a bit and just got into it (Interview-10 2003, l. 618).
So, I think it’s just one of those things that’s going to happen whether we like it or not. So a lot of my projects use some – some sort of extranet or project system (Interview-10 2003, l. 639).
As I’ve already said it certainly convinced us that’s the way of the future. It probably saved us from having to develop our own filing and you know, so on systems for that project. Because that project was a lot bigger than projects we’d done previously. So that was good (Interview-11 2003, l. 743).
I think that the trend is clearly showing, like I mentioned before, an ASP solution on the internet, is here to stay (Interview-15 2003, l. 918).
141 Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘future
industry direction’ as the foreground focus. Within the foreground focus, there are two
features in simultaneous awareness (a competitive advantage and inevitable for future
projects). The thematic field is represented by the ‘Internet’. The internet as the medium for
the construction collaboration technology communications is seen as the enabler of the
advantages of these systems. ‘Project Participation’ is experienced in the background
(margin of awareness). Whilst project participation is not in the participants’ awareness it is
in direct relationship with the competitive advantages for an inevitable future direction.
These relationships are represented in Figure 7.3.
Figure 7.3 Category of Description 3 – ‘Inevitable’
The focal aspects of the structure of awareness of this category can be illustrated through the following quotations. The participant is demonstrating the foreground focus of ‘Future
Industry Direction’ through their comments such as ‘…just has to be the way to go, in the future’. The ‘Internet’ (thematic field) has been expressed in the participants’ awareness though the reference to the communications and lag time of traditional communication options as opposed to how project communications on the construction collaboration
142 technology. ‘Project Involvement’ (background) is one of the key issues for future projects
assuming that the construction collaboration technology become used industry-wide.
To suggest that it isn’t a way forward is just wrong because if you look at realistically how things are done – or have been done traditionally, you know the ability to communicate and the lag time taken to distribute information, that just has to be the way to go, in the future (Interview-12 2003, l. 669).
To summarise Category 3 – ‘Inevitable’, the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a competitive advantage is an inevitable industry-wide trend. The participants demonstrated a foreground focus of ‘Future Industry Direction’ (theme of awareness) and the ‘Internet’ (thematic field). Within the theme of awareness are simultaneously present features of ‘A competitive advantage’ and ‘Inevitable for future projects’. ‘Project Communications’ is experienced in the background (margin of awareness). This category is seen as a positive experience of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects in terms of project participation and communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 3 – ‘Inevitable’ is similar to Categories 1 and 2 in that it demonstrates the internet in foreground focus (within the thematic field) and suggest that these categories are seen by the research participants as a positive experience in terms of project participation and communications.
7.2.4 Category 4: ‘Archive’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as using a reliable, centralised project data archive. This conception describes the phenomenon’s ability to provide a single point for all project information with excellent archiving/searching/retrieval capabilities.
143 This category is made up of two features which illustrate different ways of looking at the
conception:
– Single point of information and
– Good project data archive.
Referential Aspects
The ‘single point for all project information’ was a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is to provide a single point of information storage/filing for the project participants. There appears to be an expressed perceived benefit in locating all the project information in a single source and the ability to use the project database as a project archive.
…cause everything’s got to go on our system. Even faxes and everything that gets sent here, we get them loaded on to ProjectWeb, so the full filing system is on there (Interview-3 2003, l. 53).
But at the end of the day, at the end of the job, that filing system won’t necessarily need to be archived, because all logged on ProjectWeb (Interview-3 2003, l. 194).
…it’s just the centric point of one information source (Interview-5 2003, l. 29).
So, on those very early ones, we had to have the large hardware store for all these files to be downloaded and stored somewhere. Whereas now it’s all being kept centrally by BIW, which makes our IT a lot easier to sort out (Interview-7 2003, l. 530).
There were perceived and expected benefits of all project team members utilising a single system for all project information. The approach of a single system for all project information has the benefits of simplified searching (particularly across other disciplines) and consistent data input by all parties.
144 So, I think you know, the principle of it – all data in one place accessible to the different parties to the level the security that, you know, project management team decide they have, is a very good principle (Interview-11 2003, l. 60).
…it’s one system for the project. It’s not you know, the engineers have their own transmittal system. The architects have their own transmittal system. The builders have another one. The builders number their RFI’s one way, the architects number their instructions – you don’t have all that stuff. It’s just one way to do it. It’s – it’s you know, entirely and utterly logical and it’s a beautiful thing (Interview-11 2003, l. 565).
I think the good thing about – whether it’s Project Web or some other system, I think the good thing about it was the entire team had one single system. I think that was more the key for me (Interview-13 2003, l. 34).
The organised filing of project information in categorised areas within the project database is delivering benefits allowing project participants to save time searching for data and stay organised within the ever–increasing project information.
That’s where Constructware it helps us just finding documents and that’s where it’s organised to the point where daily reports are in their own place. Letters are in it’s own place, minutes of meetings, RFI’s are all broken down into separate modules and it helps us stay organised, for a project of this size (Interview-15 2003, l. 525).
The good experiences were mainly involved with the retrieval of information, for instance, many times in the past where a claim is made by the contractor, you would have to assemble all the project records related to a certain event, letters that were written, minutes of meetings and so forth. And Constructware makes it easier to do a story on all the correspondence, all the minutes of meetings, submittals, transmittals, RFIs, everything is in one place where you can retrieve it fairly quickly (Interview-17 2003, l. 8).
‘Excellent archiving/searching/retrieval capabilities’ is a feature of this category. The audit trail abilities and evidentiary side of project documentation is of particular importance on
construction projects where project relationships are often guided by contractual conditions.
The ability to look back at project decisions and/or correspondence is strongly emphasised.
145 I also see it as a valuable method of documenting the decisions that are made or the requests for information, which is an integral part of ProjectWeb (Interview-1 2003, l. 25).
ProjectWeb filled in a very – what would have been quite a large vacuum, again, primarily because not only did it provide the means for pushing the documentation, through an intranet, but also the evidential side of that. Which is all important as the laundry has been going for probably the full duration of the stage 1 project, some 2 years – for more than 2 years for a number of reason – analyses, feasibilities and what have you. So we have, if one chose to look back, an extensive library or trail of documentation. So it’s been quite invaluable. Quite invaluable (Interview-1 2003, l. 50).
If it’s an issue it’s got to be documented some how. And the web’s quick and easy, once you’re in. To make your point and have it recorded (Interview-4 2003, l. 263).
The perceived ease of searching for data in the project information, even long after the fact, is emphasised in the quotations and even a saving of time and effort is suggested.
But, ‘working well’ I guess you can say, there’s always a record there of everything you do and quite easy to find, to go back and get something (Interview-2 2003, l. 11).
It’s much easier to use the system rather than, you know, having to keep walking around to the drawing cabinet. Finding the drawing, pulling it out. You can just put searches in for…when you’ve got like – we had something like 5000 drawings on the system. And when you went into say, core details, you can just type in core and bang up it would come up with everybodys’ drawing on it that was relating to core. And to do that under traditional method would be a nightmare. A real nightmare. It would take you forever. It would take you an hour to pull out everyones’ drawings, at least – about 5000 drawings. And then you’ve got to review each one. Whereas now, when you’ve got 5000 odd drawings on there, you type in ‘core’, sort it into a bundle, you pull it out (Interview-5 2003, l. 525).
The benefit of the internet system was the, was the long term storage of that paper trail and the sequence of events and, being able to go back and re- access information that would otherwise be in the messy end of your desk (laughs) and that type of thing. I mean if you knew there’d been a memo sent that you could find it as opposed to there being phone call versus faxes, versus e-mail, versus some other form of communication. Or you’ve almost got to look for the same thing in four different places (Interview-14 2003, l. 511).
146 The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects provides an excellent facility for the archiving of project data. There is clearly an expectation and reliability that the project data can not be deleted or lost and that it is a permanent archive, available for accessing as required. The use by the participants of phrases such as ‘the data in
Constructware is permanent’, ‘they never delete any document’ and ‘it’s archived forever’ illustrate a significant level of confidence in this aspect of the system.
Cause again, it was just impractical to maintain libraries of that many drawings on-site. And certainly in terms of memos and project data we, we didn’t make any effort to try and maintain a hard copy file of everything that was there. And the expectation was that if we needed it we could access it when we needed it (Interview-14 2003, l. 675).
It eliminates the problem of, you know things like e-mails, faxes or phone message or transient – the data in Constructware is permanent, it’s protected, it’s always going to be there, you can void it so you don’t see it, but it’s there (Interview-16 2003, l. 177).
Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘Centralised
Project Archive’ in the theme of awareness and ‘Project Data’ in the thematic field. These two features are the foreground focus. Within the theme of awareness are the two features of
‘Single point of information’ and ‘Good project data archive’. The relationship between these two features is that they are both simultaneously present within the theme of awareness.
The ‘Internet’ is situated in the background (margin of awareness) as the medium through which all project data is sent, stored, searched and retrieved. Without the internet, the access to the project data would immediately stop. The internet, the medium for data access, is virtually taken for granted in this category of description. These relationships are graphically represented in Figure 7.4.
147 Figure 7.4 Category of Description 4 – ‘Archive’
The following quotation provides evidence of the theme of awareness. The participant is demonstrating a foreground focus on the archiving of the project data and the fact that ‘it’s archived forever’. The ability to do this, however, is through the internet (Constructware) which, while it is seen in the background, is required to achieve the archiving to the project database (that is, all data has to travel through this medium to be archived, retrieved and read).
So clearly, one of the advantages of using Constructware was that they never delete any document. And it’s archived forever (Interview-15 2003, l. 389).
The next quotation demonstrates the typical relationship between the two theme of awareness features; ‘Centralised Project Archive’ and ‘Project Data’. The participant here has a particular emphasis on the project data as a key element in a project (and after it has been completed). The benefits of the centralised project archive are made very clear. While the project data is the key element sought, the centralised project archive provided the ease of access, the interface. The internet is the medium though which all the project data is transported and sourced but is in the background.
148 So when you want to, if you have to go ten or twelve years down the line and you need to do a claim, or something – investigate something, not a claim, but you have to investigate something. Then you’ve got that…you’ve got that level of technology there that you can just zip, unzip it, look at it… and then print it out should you need it (Interview-5 2003, l. 659).
To summarise Category 4 – ‘Archive’, the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is experienced as a reliable, centralised project data archive. The participants demonstrate a foreground focus of ‘Centralised Project Archive’ (theme of awareness) and ‘Project Data’ (thematic field). Within the theme of awareness are the simultaneously present features of ‘Single point of information’ and ‘Good project data archive’. The internet, as the medium though which all interaction with the project data occurs (for example sending, receiving, searching and retrieving), whilst crucial to the operation of the system, is seen in the background (margin of awareness), and almost taken for granted. This category is seen as a neutral experience of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects in terms of project participation and communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 4 – ‘Archive’ differs from Categories 1, 2 and 3 through the position of the internet in the participants’ awareness. Category 4 demonstrates the internet in the background (within the margin of awareness) as opposed to the foreground as per Categories 1, 2 and 3. Category 4 also differs from Categories 1, 2 and
3 by being seen by the research participants as a neutral experience in terms of project participation and communications.
7.2.5 Category 5: ‘Tool-Box’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as another communications tool, secondary in importance to the people and processes. This conception illustrates that in terms of information sharing on construction projects, the internet is another communications tool to be added to the existing
149 suite of communication options. The person-to-person relationships are still considered very
crucial and result in a significant amount of importance placed on face-to-face
communications.
The category is constructed of a number of features which illustrate different ways of
experiencing this conception:
– Another communications tool
– Irrelevant to the development of trust and
– Secondary in importance to the people and processes.
Referential Aspects
‘Another communications tool’ was a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as another communications tool within the suite of available communication options. Participants expressed experiences where they considered that the traditional forms of communications such as face-to-face, telephone, hardcopy and facsimile, were all required. Experiences of using traditional forms of communication due to limitations on IT skills/hardware, culture, development of personal relationships, have all been expressed.
No, I would say probably 95 times out of 100 I would call and I would then document that outcome of that call, to, again it’s protecting I suppose or preserving – the word that I’m looking for is not integrity rather the feelings the esteem of the other person (Interview-1 2003, l. 151).
There are people out there that haven’t yet embraced the technology that still cling – for whatever reason, whether it be financial or simply the old school. Don’t want to move away from the faxes and the phone calls and what have you (Interview-1 2003, l. 352).
The only reason they do that, is you’ll find that every fax is something that has a sketch or an attachment – they don’t have a very good scanning facility up there. But, if it’s just normal correspondence they’ll just put it on ProjectWeb, but they, can’t attach sketches. Which is a problem (Interview-3 2003, l. 119).
150 So instead at the moment the problem we’ve got on MACE projects, we’ve got e-mails coming in, with drawings attached and other weird data. You’ve got faxes coming in, you’ve got phone calls, you’ve got post, you’ve got BIW (Interview-9 2003, l. 124).
I think the – well ProjectWeb would have been the primary method of transferring drawings. It wouldn’t have been the primary method of decision-making. That would have been done by face-to-face meetings and phone calls, second to face-to-face meetings I think. So the real decisions were made in face-to-face meetings. And other, lesser decisions were made in phone calls (Interview-11 2003, l. 427).
I guess that’s – the idea of having a piece of paper pushed around a table, a round table with everybody having a bit of a sketch on it, is very hard to achieve in the internet based scenario (Interview-14 2003, l. 311).
So ultimately the face-to-face meeting on the conflict happen one-on-one or on the phone, but ultimately we mandate that the legality of it gets transposed, gets written in electronic format, and is – Constructware is the media that we shift-sent if over to them. Of course print it out, sign it, put it in the mail so there’s a letter as well. So a lot of that still exists involving legal contracts where you need a signature (Interview-15 2003, l. 627).
It doesn’t, doesn’t substitute for face-to-face. You still have to have – you still have meetings as much as we do on any other job that doesn’t have Constructware. That didn’t diminish at all. If anything it increased the meetings. Cause sometimes we had meetings just to talk about Constructware problems (Interview-17 2003, l. 203).
‘Irrelevant to the development of trust’ was a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is seen as irrelevant to the establishment and/or development of trust within the project team. Participants expressed that in their experience trust was established through face-to-face and/or telephone communications, project performance and even general banter.
I get to know people pretty well just by talking to them over the phone as well and I know whether or not I can trust them. I mean, you’re right – when you look at someone in the eyes it’s a different story than talking to them over the phone or sending e-mails. I mean – I could definitely never get the feel for what a person’s like trustworthy wise by just correspondences over the web I’d need to talk to them on the phone (Interview-3 2003, l. 168).
151 There’s no additional trust because of the BIW, it’s certainly still important to have these face-to-face meetings. Cause that’s the only way you can look someone in the eye and get your message across as to what you’re after (Interview-7 2003, l. 264).
Yeah it’s interesting – As I mentioned before with the New Zealand experience, we sent one of our guys over there just to give them a bit of a boost and certainly once we’ve been over there, contact’s a lot easier. Cause once you’ve met people and built up that relationship you know, find out whether they drink coffee or tea you know, what team they support and that kind of stuff makes a big difference and you can’t do that purely by web based stuff and e-mail. Yep that made a big difference (Interview-10 2003, l. 266).
I don’t think it had anything to do with it – Project Web. I don’t think it had anything to do with the establishment of trust. That’s a human to human you know, interaction. Yeah. I don’t think it had anything to do with Project Web. Project Web’s just a tool (Interview-11 2003, l. 478).
‘Secondary in importance to the people and processes’ was a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is seen as not as important as the people and processes involved in the project. The participants’ experiences reflected that they considered the human side of the equation more important in such areas as management and creative thoughts. The project collaboration systems are experienced as a tool. The project could continue without the project collaboration system, but could not continue without the people.
I think the people and the processes on the project team have still got to be massively more important than the actual system in itself. Because if the system crashed for any reason or they stopped using it, you know they say, “right, we’re no longer using it”. The job would be stopped. You know the project would still be ongoing but instead of everything being done electronically you go back to the old system of paper method and doing all that (Interview-8 2003, l. 193).
It really is – it’s really just an information tool. It’s not a substitute for quality design or documentation or performance by the people actually producing it (Interview-12 2003, l. 431).
Sort of say people are still the strength. There’s no question I think. If the IT can be the tool and the sort of glue that holds that team together you know, as I said you need to be careful. It’s a tool and needs to be used as a tool. 152 Not as the saviour. It’s not going to be the saviour. You’re still going to have people to use it as a tool and to take over (Interview-13 2003, l. 770).
I think the people are more important only because we’re the thinkers and the computer is only a tool for us to use, people are more important and I’d say the internet is secondary. But I think the internet, Constructware, makes it easier for us to do our work. The computer’s never going to be able to think on its own. Just going to be a tool for us (Interview-19 2003, l. 672).
Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘Project
Communications’ as the foreground focus. Project communications represents all forms of communications available to the participants (for example project collaboration system, phone, meeting, fax, meeting and courier). Within the foreground focus, there are a number of features in simultaneous awareness (‘another communications tool’, ‘irrelevant to the development of trust’ and ‘secondary in importance to the people and processes’). The thematic field is represented by the ‘Project Participation’. Project participation for participants directly relies on effective project communications, in whatever mode they may be. The ‘Internet’ is experienced in the background (margin of awareness). Whilst the internet represents one of the communications options, it is not considered the primary mode and is just another communications tool. It is apparent that the project and project communications would continue if the internet–based system stopped. These relationships are represented in Figure 7.5.
153 Figure 7.5 Category of Description 5 – ‘Toolbox’
The focal aspects of the structure of awareness of this category can be illustrated through the following quotations. The participant comments on a number of different modal options for project communications (theme of awareness) including face-to-face meetings phone calls and the internet (construction collaboration technology). The traditional modes do not appear to be replaced by the Internet (construction collaboration technology) mode. This is demonstrating the foreground focus of this category, that there is a suite of project communications tools. Each communication mode is a usable tool; however, the traditional tools do not appear to have been replaced. Project Participation (thematic field) is the result of successful project communications, which have been experienced through the use of a number of project communications tools.
I would have said – the way the system’s being used at the moment, I would say that the face-to-face stuff really doesn’t change. Because it’s really being used, a communication tool to issue information. It’s not replacing meetings, it doesn’t replace phone calls. It doesn’t replace the need to have that – sit round a table with a drawing in front of you and say, “Right, this happen here, this happen here. What’re the issues?” (Interview-7 2003, l. 182).
154 To summarise Category 5 – ‘Tool’, the use of the internet for information sharing on
construction projects is seen as another communications tool, secondary in importance to the
people and processes. The participants demonstrated a foreground focus of ‘Project
Communications’ (theme of awareness) and the ‘Project Participation (thematic field) as the
result of effective project communications. Within the theme of awareness are
simultaneously present features of ‘Another communications tool’, ‘Irrelevant to the
development of trust’ and ‘Secondary in importance to the people and processes’. The
‘Internet’ is experienced in the background (margin of awareness). This category is seen as
a neutral experience of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction
projects in terms of project participation and communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 5 – ‘Tool’ is similar to Category 4 but differs from Categories 1, 2 and 3 through the position of the internet in the participants’ awareness.
Category 5, similar to Category 4, also demonstrates the internet in the background (within the margin of awareness) as opposed to the foreground as per Categories 1, 2 and 3.
Category 5 is similar to Category 4 and also differs from Categories 1, 2 and 3 by being seen by the research participants as a neutral experience in terms of project participation and communications.
7.2.6 Category 6: ‘Multiplier’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects as a multiplier of communications and documentation. This
conception represents an understanding that the phenomenon can multiply the amount of
project communications, not necessarily for the benefit of the participants. The
multiplication can be in a second set of files (database and lever arch) and/or through non-
relevant communications to a project participant.
155 The category is constructed of a number of features which illustrate different ways of
experiencing this conception:
– Another filing system in parallel to a hard copy system and
– Multiplier of communications.
Referential Aspects
‘Another filing system in parallel to a hard copy system’ is a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as another filing system in addition to a hard copy filing system. The participants’ experiences demonstrated that this was due to a number of reasons including mistrust of the system, personal preference to work from paper copies, quality assurance requirements or legal requirements (such as a physical stamp on drawings). Participants appeared to understand
that the project collaboration system stored an accessible electronic copy of the project data,
even though they kept a second hard copy.
We print it and do a hard copy, which I feel should be enough. But our ‘systems’ man insists that we also file it in our separate job files as well (Interview-2 2003, l. 210).
You can’t afford – and I think that’s just good management really. I don’t – until technology becomes 100% reliable which, who knows when that is, until technology becomes 100% reliable we can’t leave it in the hands of computers. It needs something as a backup plan. It’s an A3 drawing that we can take information from, that we can look at should we need to, in the event of an electronic meltdown (Interview-5 2003, l. 663).
Yeah, it’s part of our ongoing QA system that we – that we have to have. That we will maintain documents for up to twelve years. And so – so we print it all off. It goes into the project file. We archive the project files. They go away. Then if we have an audit for our QA, it’s all in one place (Interview-8 2003, l. 505).
I do print off drawings from information channel to review them, depending on what they are. Some drawings you need to see the whole drawing so it’s good to get a print off. Some drawings, like details – for example if I’m doing – reviewing some details, I’d probably print off the big drawings that showed me where they went. And I’d view the details on the screen. Because 156 it’s quite – I think there’s an element there I remember when I used to write essays, I couldn’t write essays on the computer screen. Because I – my brain didn’t like it. It liked to see it on paper. So I had to like type it and then print it off and read it and then (Interview-9 2003, l. 918).
Because of course in terms of the ProjectWeb system it’s all sitting there and we can access it, which is great. But for our internal QA system we had to print off a hard copy of everything. So we had some pretty rigorous debate about that. But ultimately the decision was no. We – and particularly as it’s not our server, that the information’s sitting on, we had to print everything off. Hard copy into the main filing (Interview-10 2003, l. 507).
Anything that was important, the files are still there. I mean, a lot of that comes down to trusting the system and – but if there was anything really important – I mean we still have subcontractor files for every subcontractor. Anything of importance – of contractual importance, was printed in hard copy and filed (Interview-12 2003, l. 607).
It’s all supposed be there, filed, whatever. But anything important there was a level of mistrust that something would get deleted or go missing. So there was probably a lot of printing that was done unnecessarily because of that (Interview-12 2003, l. 615).
But clearly we mandate everything in writing and not only in writing, we still mandate that the architect stamps those plans, the PE stamps those plans, those, those trade mark stamps are still part of the legal, procedure that a government agency has to do business. That’s a physical emboss. So as much as we wanted to go to the electronic world, there’s still a – I don’t want to say a duplication of effort, but there’s still the traditional mailing is still part of the project. It’s definitely reduced but there’s still, the drawings still have to be completed and printed, printing and sent over, reviewed (Interview-15 2003, l. 391).
‘Multiplier of communications’ is a feature of this category. The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as a multiplier of communications to project participants. This conception represents an understanding that the phenomenon can multiply the amount of project communications, not necessarily for the benefit of the participants, through non-relevant communications to a project participant.
This appears to be mostly due to the ease of being able to simply ‘click’ the recipients of the communication; in many instances participants who do not really need to see the communications, get copied in.
157 One of the things I think is a bit of a problem with it is that people CC things to everyone. You just hit the button and include everyone – so you get a whole lot of messages that are totally irrelevant to you. It wastes a lot of time. You see a message there for you and you waste a lot of time getting on to the internet and reading that message and then saying, “Why the hell did he send me that?” and then just deleting it, you know. That’s one of the hassles with it. Probably 50% are irrelevant (Interview-2 2003, l. 284).
One of the other problems – actually one of the biggest problems with Project Web is you get sent a whole lot of information that is not applicable to you. Because what you do, whenever you download something and send it, you put your list of people you want to send it to, and I was getting engineers sending me all sorts of stuff that – it’s just a waste of time to even open it and read it. So I found a lot of the time I was just deleting stuff before I’d even read it. Cause I’d look at the title and I’d say, “Look, I just don’t need to be in the loop for all this sort of stuff” (Interview-12 2003, l. 493).
There’s a bit of a tendency because – because you can send copies of things to lots of people, people tend to do it. You know, cause it’s very easy to just click on you know, “I’ll make sure that he knows and he knows and he knows and he knows”. And I think there was actually some research done on this on the Acton project on the volume of transmission of, you know, RFIs and memos and stuff like that. It tended to fall off after a while because I think you know, people cracked it getting so many copies of things they really didn’t need a copy of. So it actually generated – when it’s new it generates over–communication probably. People aren’t discriminating enough about who they really need to communicate something to. They just tend to broadcast it. Because like, it doesn’t cost anything, it hardly takes any more time so they say, “Better more than less”. And that’s probably ok as a principle but it just becomes a pain in the neck because – where they’re typically slow these systems is in, opening them up you know, in your web browser, downloading the interface then downloading the e-mails. And if you’ve been sent you know, a whole lot of e-mails that you can’t necessarily tell just by looking at the title of the e-mail how relevant it is. You’ve got to open them and they take three times as long to open in a web browser as they do in Outlook or something like that. So you know it’s tedious and it gets up your nose if you’ve been sent a whole lot of junk that you really just didn’t need to know about and the person who sent it should have known that you didn’t need to know about it (Interview-11 2003, l. 186).
Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘Numbers of copies or communications’ as the foreground focus. Within the foreground focus, there are two features in simultaneous awareness (another filing system in parallel to a hard copy system and multiplier of communications). The thematic field is represented by the
158 ‘Internet’. The internet is the medium for all communications through the project
collaboration system. The internet (and the project collaboration system) is involved in the
participants’ awareness through the ‘mistrust of the system’, ‘ease of sending
communications to many participants’ and in the way that it facilitates the access to the
electronic version of the project files. ‘Project communications’ are experienced in the
background (margin of awareness). These relationships are represented in Figure 7.6.
Figure 7.6 Category of Description 6 – ‘Multiplier’
The focal aspects of the structure of awareness of this category can be illustrated through the following quotations. The participant has demonstrated a foreground focus of ‘number of copies or communications’ (theme of awareness) through comments about ‘reams of e- mails’ and ‘it’s too easy to copy stuff to people’. The ‘Internet’ (the margin of awareness) has been expressed in the participants’ awareness through the comparison of fax communications against the electronic communications. ‘Project Communications’
(background) are the essence of this category, however, are not generally in the participants’ awareness.
159 And I mean I guess that was one of the things that was a bit frustrating. Is – and it’s a general thing about e-mails – it’s too easy to copy stuff to people. So you end up getting copied into stuff that you really didn’t need to see. And you’d end up some days you come in, in the morning and you’d have reams of e-mails on stuff that you would really didn’t need to know about. And if someone had been faxing that information out, they wouldn’t have sent it to you (Interview-10 2003, l. 539).
To summarise Category 6 – ‘Multiplier’, the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is seen as a multiplier of project communications. The participants demonstrated a foreground focus of ‘Number of copies or communications’ (theme of awareness) and the ‘Internet’ (thematic field). Within the theme of awareness are simultaneously present features of ‘Another filing system in parallel to a hard copy system’ and ‘Multiplier of communications’. ‘Project Communications’ is experienced in the background (margin of awareness). This category is seen as a negative experience of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects in terms of project participation and communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 6 – ‘Multiplier’ is similar to Categories 1, 2 and 3 in that it demonstrates the internet in foreground focus (within the thematic field).
Category 6, however, differs from Categories 1 through to 5 as it is seen as a negative experience in terms of project participation and communications.
7.2.7 Category 7: ‘Barrier’
This category illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a barrier to effective project participation. This conception illustrates that the phenomenon can be a barrier to effective project participation in terms of cost, technology and general IT skills.
This category is constructed of a number of features which illustrate different ways of experiencing this conception:
160 – Limited by the speed and quality of the internet connection
– Difficult to learn and/or unwilling to change
– Need all participants to participate to be an effective tool
– Not flexible enough to be able to be effectively utilised on smaller projects and
– Justification of the costs involved.
Referential Aspects
‘Limited by the speed and quality of the internet connection’ is a feature of this category.
This feature relates to the inability of research participants to effectively access the system and hence, the project data, quickly and efficiently. These problems mostly relate to the speed and quality of the participants’ internet connection, but also relate in part to actual computer hardware and infrastructure as well.
Probably the worst is not being able to download things. Now, we never really worked out whether it’s a function of our – our hardware here, which is pretty antiquated, or whether it’s to do with the ProjectWeb software. But often they were sending me files from site and we just couldn’t download them. And I spent a long time – you know it would say ‘its downloading, it’s downloading’ and it might take 20 minutes or so and then it would ‘bomb – out’ and you’d lose it. You try that a couple of times, and get back on to them, and they’d say they’d sent it again. And it would go on and on. And in the end you’d say “Look, for Christ’s sake – fax it to me” (laughs) you know. Sometimes it was just a sketch or something, but a pretty big file (Interview-2 2003, l. 51).
Although – I mean we still use it now on a number or projects and sometimes it can be very slow depending on the time of day, like particularly last thing on a Friday can be quite hard (laughs). And we used to find you get to know the times when it’s much better – much easier to log on – It was faster. Like first thing in the morning – lunch time was a terrible time because particularly all the guys on site would be back at the site office and they’d all be logging on to the system and it would get very, very slow. So you sort of got to know when were the good times (Interview-10 2003, l. 163).
The step – the single biggest complaint is always speed. Cause they’re slow usually. And I think people find that a bit tedious. And that is a thing that tips people into using unauthorised systems because, there’s no doubt even with most systems now, it’s still actually faster to just send someone an e- mail than it is to send a memo inside the project management system. Almost, without question (Interview-11 2003, l. 92). 161 The real problem that I think happens worse than Constructware going down, cause that’s very rare, very rare, is the – those hundred and fifty companies that I have, they can lose their internet connection and if they lose their internet connection, which is out of my control, I’m not going to be able to troubleshoot [company name], you know, network. But when they go down, they can’t do their work. So that is definitely, it’s a double-edged sword. The internet can be a wonderful tool to increase productivity, but if your connectivity goes down to any of those, on any of those a hundred and fifty buildings, which I’ll say grossly is a wider area network there to the internet, that hurts the project (Interview-15 2003, l. 196).
Whilst these problems may not completely stop a project, they can and do affect the efficiency of the project and the project team members’ ability to effectively participate.
‘Difficult to learn and/or unwilling to change’ is a feature of this category. This feature relates to participants having difficulties with the technology and/or simply resisting change to a new method of working based on the application of new technologies. A number of participants expressed concern over difficulties in getting to grips with how the system worked and a perceived lack of organised training. In a number of cases the participants were forced to use the system. There was also obvious resistance to change from some participants who were used to traditional methods of working and communicating within a project team. These issues tended to lead some participants to circumvent the system through the use of traditional communication methods (such as fax, mail and courier).
For some people in the office it’s very difficult. You know, they don’t know it’s one mouse clicks or two mouse clicks, they’re on a web base, and usually things are hyperlinks so you click once and not twice”, and it’s, sometimes I seem to spend more time using my computer than to hand write something. It’s a requirement, they’ve got to use it. Sometimes it takes the person, I hate to say this, but ten minutes to like figure out how to bold something. Something like that, it’s crazy you know (Interview-19 2003, l. 510).
It’s still is a bit – you know, I’m slow on a keyboard. Much easier to ring someone up and chat about something (Interview-2 2003, l. 132).
95% are embracing it and they use it, some just fundamentally don’t want to understand it and don’t want to use it and you’re always going to get that. Even – it’s not so much the, say, the management of the subcontractor, I mean the sub-contractor’s management course I’ve agreed with, and they’ve 162 got the systems to do it. But it’s the guy – their project manager or their foreman who we’re dealing with – day-to-day, he just can’t use it. And that’s where the problem is – I mean the sub-contract management does use it, but then the guys who we deal with who are on the site here who’ve got a computer in their side office just fundamentally can’t use it. I mean, I’ve shown them how to do it, but they can’t use it (Interview-3 2003, l. 361).
Ahh, what you’ll find, in each company depending on what your – there’ll be certain people, especially the older construction managers, who aren’t interested in this nonsense, you know. They’ll – they’ll use it when they have to. But if they can avoid using it, they will avoid using it. They’ll still phone you up and deal on a face-to-face basis (Interview-8 2003, l. 580).
Because my sense is that some of the biggest players that we deal with here are basically neanderthals as it relates to, technology. And, have no real impetus to change. You know they used Constructware because we’ve made them, but you can tell they’re not interested in it (Interview-16 2003, l. 206).
‘Need all participants to participate to be an effective tool’ is a feature of this category.
Many of the functions of these systems (for instance searching, backup, retrieval and remote working) require all project data to be communicated in the one system and stored in the one place. When project data and communications circumvent the system, the effectiveness of the system suffers. As discussed in the previous feature some participants were reluctant to use the system for a number of reasons and project data/communications circumvented the system. In a number of cases a simple lack of A3 scanning capabilities meant that A3 project data passed around the system. In some cases proactive participants then entered other participants’ project communications so that the project records would be intact. Some projects contractually required the project participants to use the systems, with varying degrees of success.
The biggest – the biggest problem we have is, is getting everyone universally to upload the data and, but we’re getting there we’re getting there with that. You know there’s problems there. There’s things that have to be scanned, that presents problems (Interview-16 2003, l. 49).
I think, I think the biggest problem we were having with Constructware is that, is you know, there’s – you’re prescribing its use. And people begrudgingly use it. It’s, I think the biggest problem you have with any kind of a sea change such as this, is that nobody wants to use it…they, 163 they…they’re contractually obliged aren’t they? They’re contractually obliged to do it and – but that’s an open–ended type of situation because you have to accept as contract compliance, any usage. Then you have to focus on your key players, the project managers and the like. You have to be pretty strict with them to help them understand that any usage is good, but smart, intelligent, logical, you know, fully functional use is really what you’re after (Interview-16 2003, l. 106).
The biggest problem I’ve got is shop drawings. And on ProjectWeb you’ve got a review function on shop drawings – so the sub-contractor will load up the shop drawing and I’ll send a transmittal to the consultant to get that drawing approved. And ideally, what I’d like them to do is print that out at A3 size and put their mark-ups and stamp it. And then scan it at A3 size and load it back on to the web underneath that drawing as a review comments and allocate its appropriate approval status. But what I find is that not many of the consultants have A3 scanning facilities – and that’s the problem (Interview-3 2003, l. 125).
I have received, items from the contractor via external e-mail only because he wasn’t required to use Constructware. In a way he thought Constructware is the stupidest thing in the world. You know, that’s what he thinks about everything. So he’ll just send it externally and I’ve received it. I can’t do much about it because there wasn’t a requirement for him to use it. So I just have a folder that and what I do is that I would just take any attachments he would give me and input it myself into Constructware, just so the record’s there (Interview-19 2003, l. 301).
‘Not flexible enough to be able to be effectively utilised on smaller projects’ is a feature of this category. Construction collaboration technology is not seen as appropriate for all construction projects. Smaller projects are seen as an inappropriate application of this type of technology due to the IT skills required, the costs involved, the limited amounts of project data and correspondence, the smaller nature of the participant companies and the shorter duration of the projects. The cost of implementing the IT requirements appears to be a major factor.
Because one of the – some of the issues you get is; one they need a decent AutoCAD system; two in order to upload and download drawings in the system you do actually want to have a pretty good internet connection. You do actually want to have some pretty fast machines. And if I went home and tried to do this at my home – I’m going to try it actually – I’ll just do it for a laugh. I think you’d be there most of the day downloading most of our core drawings. So I think, for a small user, it does do – present problems. I mean, some of them would have to invest in additional technology to get the systems to work (Interview-9 2003, l. 680). 164 And that’s where I think – one of the issues that we have with the system – where it won’t work on smaller projects. And we need to try and develop or – the service providers need to try and develop something to make it more accessible for the small – the SMN (Interview-5 2003, l. 143).
So in order to actually get it up and running there’s an upfront investment and there’s quite a lot of cost, and quite a bit of planning. So you’ve actually go – you actually are certain the project’s happening before you set-up the system. And – so I think on smaller projects or very short duration projects, it’s probably – it might not be appropriate, yet (Interview-9 2003, l. 1027).
I think it will still take quite a bit of time, quite a few years to – for it to filter down. Once the cost base comes down for setting up the systems and a lot more of the smaller projects more involved in it. I don’t think you’ll get your job-in builder involved (laughs) in this sort of system. But you know, but on projects where they are twenty-five million upwards, I think most of them. And major contractors in London, which is most of our experienced ones most of them work in London. Apart from major projects throughout the country. They all use them (Interview-8 2003, l. 624).
‘Justification of the costs involved’ is a feature of this category. Participants highlighted the additional costs involved to be able to effectively participate in projects using construction collaboration technology. These costs are not trivial and the question of who pays and where it is accounted or transferred to within a project cause some problems. Owners expressed concerns over project participants inflating prices to cover extra requirements for using this type of technology.
People, a client may not want to spend whatever, how many hundred thousand pounds on the set-up and cause obviously all the trade contractors are going to be covering costs through the project – they’re not going to suffer that cost on their own, or their overheads. So effectively, it comes up to client’s budget at the end of the day. And the client may not want to pay for all of that money – he would rather put that into his development (Interview-5 2003, l. 136).
There are some big companies out there – and we had a couple of issues on the job – that you know, we had one come in which was £500,000 package and they’d never used BIW before. Never used the internet for anything like that. And in their premiums it was quite a – well when we got their premium document in, their premiums were substantially higher than anybody else’s who were – who MACE has used before, on that element of work. Cause they were buying plotters, they were buying lease lines, they were buying new computers and A3 printers and all the things that go along with it. And dedicated CAD staff to operate the system. And they were buying that in 165 their premiums and trying to recover it in one job and that’s where conflict occurs (Interview-5 2003, l. 344).
We look to have all the paperwork forms and other things, we put hard copies of that in the document as well as have a corresponding document in Constructware. If we can get them to do it in Constructware, we will. But if you know, I can’t in good faith impart – what I’m trying to avoid, I don’t want to impart cost on the project if I can help it. Because contractor could rightfully say, “Well, ok great. You want me to do this, here’s why I charged you a hundred thousand dollars in general conditions cause you said I had to do this” (Interview-16 2003, l. 217).
Oh yeah. I think the cost of the software is, is a cost and it’s not insignificant. But I think it’s easily matched by the investment you have to make in, in some kind of – I mean it depends on the size of your undertaking. For us it’s a four hundred million dollar project with hundreds of companies, potentially hundreds of users. So the scale of it, requires that (Interview-16 2003, l. 311).
A contractor very aware of how much time they spend on contract supervision and so on, it comes out of their overhead and it’s the bottom line and if it takes too long, they’re just not going to do it. Cause they don’t see any profit in it and so they won’t do it (Interview-17 2003, l. 309).
Structural Aspects
The structure of awareness for this category of description is characterised by ‘The Internet and IT’ as the foreground focus. Within the foreground focus, there are a number of features in simultaneous awareness (limited by the speed and quality of the internet connection, difficult to learn and/or unwilling to change, need all participants to participate to be an
effective tool, not flexible enough to be able to be effectively utilised on smaller projects and justification of the costs involved.). The thematic field is represented by ‘Project
Communications’. When participants do not fully participate or consciously avoid using the construction collaboration technology, project communications are affected. ‘Project
Participation’ is experienced in the background (margin of awareness). A participant’s
ability to effectively participate in the project is minimised through the barrier to
participation. These relationships are graphically represented in Figure 7.7.
166 Figure 7.7 Category of Description 7 – ‘Barrier’
The focal aspects of the structure of awareness of this category can be illustrated through the following quotation. The project participant is demonstrating the foreground focus of this category through their comments on a participant attempting to participate through using a dial-up modem (56k) and that this type of access is too slow to be effective. Project participation, or in this case, the lack of project participation, is within their awareness, but not focal. It is the lack of an internet access speed (foreground focus) that is delivering the participant’s ineffective project participation (thematic field).
Internet connection, we were quite lucky – again £80 million project, we had an opportunity to put a 2Mb meter-line in. But the majority of trade contractors and people like that, don’t. And therefore try and use something on a 56K dial-up modem, which doesn’t work. It just, it can’t do, it needs broadband. This kind, that kind of information sharing needs broadband or another source (Interview-5 2003, l. 67).
To summarise Category 7 – ‘Barrier’, the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is experienced as a barrier to effective participation. The participants demonstrated a foreground focus of ‘Internet and IT’ (theme of awareness) and ‘Project
Communications’ (thematic field). Within the theme of awareness are the simultaneously present features of ‘Limited by the speed and quality of the internet connection’, ‘Difficult to
167 learn and/or unwilling to change’, ‘Need all participants to participate to be an effective
tool’, ‘Not flexible enough to be able to be effectively utilised on smaller projects’ and
‘Justification of the costs involved’. ‘Project Participation’ is experienced in the background
(margin of awareness). Although project participation is effected by the barriers to
participation, the participants are focused on the problems at hand, rather than the wider
issues of participation. This category is seen as a negative experience of the use of the
internet for information sharing on construction projects in terms of project participation and
communications.
In relation to dimensions of variation, Category 7 – ‘Barrier’ is similar to Category 1, 2, 3
and 6 in that it demonstrates the internet in foreground focus (within the theme of
awareness). Category 7 is similar to Category 6, but differs from Categories 1 through to 5
as it is seen as a negative experience in terms of project participation and communications.
7.3 OUTCOME SPACE
This section describes the outcome space as one of the outcomes of the phenomenographic analysis. As discussed earlier, a relationship exists between the different categories of description which can be structured to a logical framework. This framework is called the
‘Outcome Space’. The outcome space is useful to describe the differences in variation between the categories. Table 7.1 describes in summary the different categories in terms of referential and structural aspects.
168 Table 7.1 Outcome Space Category of Description Summary Background (Margin of awareness) (Margin of awareness) ‘Other Project Communications’ ‘Project Communications’ ‘Project Participation’ The ‘Internet’ The ‘Internet’ ‘Project Communications’ ‘Project Participation’
(Thematic field) Structural Aspect Foreground Focus The ‘Internet’ The ‘Internet’ The ‘Internet’ ‘Project Data’ ‘Project Participation’ The ‘Internet’ ‘Project Communications’ Foreground Focus (Theme of awareness) ‘Efficient Communications’ ‘Saving Resources’ ‘Future Industry Direction’ ‘Centralised Project Archive’ ‘Project Communications’ ‘Numbers of communications or copies’ The ‘Internet and IT’ wide trend – on construction projects as… projects on construction Participants see the use of Referential Aspect (Meaning) internet for information sharing using a reliable, centralised project data archive another communications tool, importance to the secondary in people and processes a multiplier of communications and documentation a barrier to effective project participation using an efficient, easy-to-use communications tool to help save a flexible tool resources an a competitive advantage in inevitable industry
Category Category 1: ‘Communications Tool’ Category 2: ‘Resources’ Category 3: ‘Inevitable’ Category 4: ‘Archive’ Category 5: ‘Tool-Box’ Category 6: ‘Multiplier’ Category 7: ‘Barrier’
169 The outcome space is presented graphically in Figure 7.8.
Figure 7.8 Outcome Space
Category 1 ‘Communications Tool’ – An efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. Category 2 ‘Resources’ – A flexible tool to help save resources. Category 3 ‘Inevitable’ – A competitive advantage in an inevitable industry–wide trend. Category 4 ‘Archive’ – A reliable centralised project data archive. Category 5 ‘Toolbox’ – Another communications tool, secondary in importance to the people and processes. Category 6 ‘Multiplier’ – A multiplier of communications and documentation. Category 7 ‘Barrier’ – A barrier to effective project participation.
The outcome space demonstrates the major variations of dimension within the categories of descriptions. The first is represented in the ‘X’ axis of Figure 7.8 and relates to the position of the internet on the structure of awareness. The internet is common to all categories, however is experienced in differing levels of focus within the participants’ awareness. In
Categories 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 the participants experienced the internet in foreground focus
(theme of awareness or thematic field). In Categories 4 and 5 the participants experienced the internet in the background (margin of awareness).
The second variation is represented on the ‘Y’ axis of Figure 7.8 and related to whether the experience is a positive, neutral or negative experience. This dimension is closely related to the level of project participation and communications for the project participants. A
‘positive experience’ is considered to represent a positive contribution to project participation and communications for the project participants. A ‘negative experience’ is considered to represent a negative contribution to project participation and communications
170 for the project participants. A ‘neutral experience’ is considered to neither positively nor negatively impact the on project participation and communications for the project participants. Categories 1, 2 and 3 were considered to be positive experiences. Categories 4 and 5 were considered to be neutral experiences. Categories 6 and 7 were considered to be negative experiences.
Figure 7.8 also illustrates the seven categories plotted against the two major dimensions of variation in the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes. The categories can be seen to be logically related when considered in this format. When the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a positive experience, the internet was seen in the foreground focus (theme of awareness or thematic field). This is the case for Categories 1, 2 and 3. These categories are clustered in the upper right quadrant of Figure 7.8 with no hierarchy between them. When the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a neutral experience, the internet was seen in the background (margin of awareness). These categories have been clustered in the central left of Figure 7.8 with no hierarchy between them. When the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a negative experience, the internet was seen in the foreground focus (theme of awareness or thematic field). This is the case for Categories 6 and 7. These categories are clustered in the lower right quadrant of
Figure 7.8 with no hierarchy between them.
When the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects has a significant impact on the project participation and communications for project participants
(positive or negative), the internet is experienced in the foreground of the participants’ awareness. When the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects has neutral impacts on the project participation and communications for project participants the internet is experienced in the background of the participants’ awareness. In terms of impact, on project participation and communications, the greater the impact the greater the focus 171 within the participants’ awareness. The less the impact on project participation and
communications, the less the focus within the participants’ awareness.
7.4 INTERJUDGE COMMUNICABILITY TEST OF THE OUTCOMES (RELIABILITY)
The process of ‘interjudge communicability’ (as detailed at the end of Chapter 6) was adopted to measure reliability in this research project. Fourteen quotes were selected to represent a broad variation in the different ways of experiencing the phenomenon from the interview transcripts (refer Appendix F). The fourteen quotes and the categories of description were presented to three independent researchers (two phenomenographers and one non-phenomenographer with a construction industry research background) who were asked to classify the quotes into the different ways of experiencing the phenomenon as
demonstrated in the categories of description. The results were discussed with the
researchers and, in the case where classifications differed from that of the research, the quote
and the relevant categories were discussed in more detail and the researcher was allowed to alter their classification if appropriate. Table 7.2 illustrates the results of this process. The results in red represent incorrect classifications by the independent researchers.
172 Table 7.2 Interjudge Communicability Test Results
Quotes Researcher’s Independent Researchers’ Classifications Classifications (1) After (2) After (3) After (1) Before (2) Before (3) Before Consultation Consultation Consultation Consultation Consultation Consultation 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 7 3 3 3 3 1 2221 4 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 2 4 4 4 4 4 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 9 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 12 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 13 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 14 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 Agreement 85.71% 100% 78.57% 100% 85.71% 92.86%
In the case of two out of the three independent researchers, over 80% agreement was achieved (average 83.33% across the three). After consultation all three researchers were above 80% agreement (average 97.62%). These results provide evidence of the reliability of
the categories of description as a measure of the reliability of the research outcomes.
Through the interjudge communicability testing a number of comments were made by the independent reviewers in areas of confusion or misunderstanding. The comments can be summarised into the following points, including the action taken by the researcher to incorporate them into the research.
– The use of the word ‘Efficiency’ in Categories 1 and 2 was confusing. All of the
independent researchers made this type of comment. The name of Category 2 was
changed from ‘Efficiency’ to ‘Resources’ to remove the confusion.
– The use of the word ‘Tool’ in Categories 1 and 5 was confusing. The name of
Category 1 was changed from ‘Tool’ to ‘Communications Tool’ to provide some
173 further definition of the use of the word ‘Tool’ in Category 1. Category 5 – ‘Tool-
box’ was unchanged.
– The question was asked if Category 6 – ‘Multiplier’ was a ‘subset’ of Category 7 –
‘Barrier’? Further discussion into the detail of each category resolved this query. The
category descriptions given to the independent researchers for the interjudge
communicability test were only summaries.
The interjudge communicability testing is considered successful. The three independent researchers were able to agree on the distribution of the fourteen questions into the seven categories of description with over 80% agreement. Some minor adjustments to the category titles/descriptions were made following comments from the interjudge communicability tests.
174 CHAPTER 8 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES FOR EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION
8.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter will generally discuss the phenomenographic outcomes in an attempt to begin to define appropriate Knowledge, Skills and Abilities for each category of description. The defined KSAs would provide an excellent starting point for further detailed research in this field.
This chapter is not part of the phenomenographic analysis (the phenomenographic process concluded at the end of Chapter 7). It is, however, intended to draw a tangible connection between the industry, practitioners and users of construction collaboration technology and the phenomenographic research outcomes (categories of description and the outcome space).
The distribution of categories will initially be investigated, followed by general comments on each category of description in terms of the preliminary identification of the KSAs. The preliminary identification of the skills set for effective participation in construction projects that use the internet for information sharing (construction collaboration technology) will be
presented.
8.2 DISTRIBUTION OF CATEGORIES
The sample size of the phenomenographic analysis would allow some statistical analysis or generalisations. Although not the main focus of the study, this does provide some interesting insight into the frequency of the quotes related to each category of description. The distribution of categories of description can be represented by the number of quotes for each category against the total number of quotes. Figure 8.1 illustrates the distribution of the categories of description for the nineteen interview transcripts.
175 Figure 8.1 Distribution of Quotes for Each Category of Description
21% 24%
9% 11% 6% 21% 8% Category 1 'Communications Tool' Category 2 'Resources' Category 3 'Inevitable' Category 4 'Archive' Category 5 'Tool-box' Category 6 'Multiplier' Category 7 'Barrier'
The three ‘positive experience’ Categories (1, 2 and 3) represent 41% of the total quotes from the interview transcripts. The two ‘neutral experience’ Categories (4 and 5) represent
29% of the quotes from the interview transcripts. The two ‘negative experiences’ categories
(6 and 7) represent 30% of the quotes from the interview transcripts.
While it is encouraging that the ‘positive experience’ categories (1, 2 and 3) have the highest percentage of quotes from the transcripts, it is also worrying that Category 7 ‘barrier’ is the equal second highest.
8.3 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
This section will aim to generally discuss each category in terms of Knowledge, Skills and
Abilities. This will conclude with the presentation of the preliminary identification of the skills set for effective participation in construction projects that use the internet for information sharing (construction collaboration technology). It is envisaged that the preliminary identification of the skills set will provide project participants and the industry a first pass on what KSAs may be required for effective participation and to provide a departure point for further investigation into this research area.
176 Knowledge, Skills and Abilities have been researched for many years across many areas,
particularly within the last 10 years in terms of training literature, methodology, evaluation
and theory (Shoobridge 2002). The terminology and use is now commonplace in research
and human relations/employment fields in accessing prospective employees or defining job
descriptions. Burr and Girardi (2002) in their research into intellectual capital, suggest that
KSAs relate to a person’s capacity and competence. The United States Government, Federal
Research Service (2004) has describe KSAs in terms of:
Knowledge: an organised body of information, which, if applied, makes adequate
performance on the job possible
Skills: the proficient manual, verbal, or mental manipulation of data or things and
Abilities: the power to perform an observable activity at the present time.
The University of Washington (US) defines KSA as:
KSA (Knowledge, skills, and abilities):…Knowledge refers to acquired information necessary to do the job (e.g. principles of nuclear physics). Skills refer to acquired measurable behaviors (e.g. autoclave operation). Abilities refers to natural talents or acquired dexterity (e.g. capacity to lift 200 pounds) (UW 2005).
KSAs could be generally defined as ‘the collection of special qualifications and personal attributes’ required to complete a job or task effectively.
The KSAs discussed in this chapter have been drawn and backed up directly from the research data; the interview transcripts. Through the research, participants’ experiences with the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects have been identified:
– ‘Positive experience’ category KSAs (+) as KSAs to reinforce and promote
– ‘Neutral experience’ category KSAs (~) have been identified as KSAs to promote
the internet into foreground focus and
177 – ‘Negative experience’ category KSAs (-) have been identified as KSAs to overcome
the effects of ineffective project participation.
8.3.1 Category 1 ‘Communications Tool’
Category 1 ‘Communications Tool’ is a ‘positive experience’ category and illustrates that the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as using an efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. This conception relates to the ability of the project participants to effectively communicate with other members of the project team and to share and have access to current information with limited extra training.
This category was constructed of a number of features which illustrated the different ways the conception is experienced:
– Currency of the project information
– Accessibility of data
– Efficient communications tool
– Minimal extra training and
– Helps develop trust.
The following KSAs have been identified from the research data and are demonstrated through direct quotations.
K1(+) Knowledge of how to operate a computer, access the internet and basic relevant software applications is required
Although the participants suggested that the construction collaboration technology was easy to use with their existing knowledge (minimal extra training), it is clear that there is some computer knowledge required. Whilst the internet does provide for an easy-to-use interface, the knowledge of how to use a computer and access the internet is critical. The knowledge
178 to operate a number of standard software applications (such as Microsoft Word and Adobe
Acrobat) is also beneficial.
This knowledge needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted. Identification in potential
project participants will help ensure a smooth transition from traditional methods to the
construction collaboration technology. For existing project participants who already have a
level of existing knowledge, extra knowledge in this area will help develop confidence and
speed with construction collaboration technology. For project participants who do not have
this knowledge, training in this area will improve their familiarity with the interface and
computer technologies.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this knowledge area from
within Category 1.
…anyone that can use a computer can use ProjectWeb quite honestly – anyone that could use dBase or Access can use ProjectWeb – click, click, click, click. A little bit of instruction and that’s it, so you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, it’s very, very simple (Interview-1 2003, l. 326).
S1(+) Skill to manage information and communicate electronically (IT)
Information Technology has been defined in Section 2.3 as ‘the management of information and knowledge through electronic systems’. The skills to manage information and communicate electronically (IT) are beneficial to effective project participation with construction collaboration technology. Some IT skills are needed, for example, to translate hard copy information into digital format or to translate a Microsoft Word document into an
Adobe Acrobat file. These IT skills are essentially the basic knowledge to manage (capture, store, translate And modify) project information electronically and to communicate with project participants through the available electronic channels.
These basic IT skills need to be identified, reinforced and promoted. Identification in potential project participants will again, help ensure a smooth transition from traditional 179 methods to the construction collaboration technology. For existing project participants who
already have a level of existing IT skills, extra skills in this area will help develop
confidence, speed and further skill with construction collaboration technology. For project
participants who do not have these basic IT skills, training in this area will improve their IT
skills and hence their opportunity to effectively participate.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates the Category 1 use of some of
the basic IT skills implied through the management of project information and
communication electronically as opposed to previous projects which used hard copies.
The good experiences is going from previous projects where we’ve had hard copies of drawings, there’s a problem with having to wait for the things to be – drawings or documents, to be sent by the post or returned by the post. If you had a problem with one you had to post it back to them and then we had to wait for them to post it back to us. Where now we can just go onto a channel, pass it back to them and sort of let them know that the document’s not correct, this is wrong – can you sort of make changes. And they can do it and respond to you within a couple of hours, or minutes actually (Interview-6 2003, l. 14).
A1(+) Ability to trust the electronic system and processes
One of the benefits of construction collaboration technology is that they store all project data in a centralised project data archive, creating an immediately accessible, current data source for all project participants. The project participants need the ability to understand this process (in the most basic sense as opposed to technically) and to trust the system with their, and all other, project data.
This ability needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted. Identification in potential project participants will again, help ensure a smooth transition from traditional methods to the construction collaboration technology where the storage of the project data is remote.
For project participants who do not have this ability, training and understanding in this area
180 will improve trust of the electronic systems and processes and hence their opportunity to
effectively participate.
The following quotation from the research demonstrates the participants’ ability to trust the
electronic system and processes with the project data from within Category 1.
I’ve always known that you could get on the web and get the latest information all the time. Because drawings control and knowing that you’ve got the latest revision available and those sorts of things that often, you know often issues – having to thumb through reams and reams of paper or multiple, multiple e-mails, at least when you know you’ve got one library, one drawing library of up-to-date information that you know that you can pick-off the latest revisions. Means you’ve got the best access to information all the time (Interview-14 2003, l. 540).
8.3.2 Category 2 ‘ Resources’
Category 2 ‘Resources’ is a ‘positive experience’ category and illustrates that the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a flexible tool to help save resources. This conception illustrates that the phenomenon can help to save resources through actual reductions of materials, reductions in travel, minimising wastage and maximising resources.
This category was constructed of a number of features which illustrate the different ways the conception is experienced:
– Saves resources
– Enables remote working and
– An active tool to monitor participant performance.
The following KSAs have been identified from the research data and are demonstrated through direct quotations.
181 K1(+) Knowledge of how to operate a computer, access the internet and basic relevant software applications is required
This area of knowledge is also identifiable in Category 1 and also in Category 2. The participants expressed an ability to interact with the project data remotely from anywhere in the world where they had access to a computer with internet access. Again some computer knowledge is required, particularly when working remotely without the direct support from within the office and/or project team.
Like Category 1 K1(+) this knowledge needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this knowledge area from within Category 2.
And the nice thing about the internet is that you can do it from home. If you want to be a mobile person and you want the ability to go, to get access to the files on any given place, on any given time you can. You can go from your home, you can be at another work site, you can be at a field office trailer. As long as they had internet connection, which is sometimes a problem but not always a problem, then, you can get access to those, those files. And that increases productivity. That I don’t have to wait to go back to my office to go get the files in question. If I can go from home or from another office and there’s a drawing in question comes up, I can quickly pull those drawings down from the centralised database that we have, and look at the drawings right then and there. I don’t have to wait for the next day to wait to get those documents. So you know, just having access to the internet has increased our productivities, myself specifically, it’s just very helpful that I can get anytime, anywhere to access my documents (Interview-15 2003, l. 42).
S1(+) Skill to manage information and communicate electronically (IT)
This skill area is identifiable in Category 1 and also in Category 2. Participants expressed project savings in terms of time and resources through electronic project communications.
The skill to manage and communicate electronically underpins this potential for savings.
Again, these basic IT skills need to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
182 The following quotation from the research data demonstrates the areas from within Category
2 where the skill to manage information and communicate electronically is essential.
There’s a lot of printing that just gets done just so you can have a look at something. And that’s when, the screen – looking at it on the screen came in (Interview-12 2003, l. 355).
A1(+) Ability to trust the electronic system and processes
The ability to trust the electronic system and processes is identifiable in Category 1 and also in Category 2. Project participants need the ability to understand (in a basic sense) and trust the electronic systems and processes.
This ability needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates an area of the participants’ ability to trust the electronic system and processes within Category 2.
…we find that it’s a great tool to track accountability of people. This gives us the ability to see all the documents that are flowing between the architect, the construction managers, the general contractors at any given time. We can quickly track who’s reading those documents because they’re all time stamped and dated into the, into the software. So essentially if someone sends you an e-mail in Constructware you can tell if they actually read, read the e-mail or not and we can see from our workflow, minutes of meetings, requests for information, submittals, if people aren’t responding to those documents, as an owner perspective, we can call them and say, “You’re not doing the job that we asked you to do” (Interview-15 2003, l. 24).
A2(+) Ability to visualise project communications on a computer screen
One of the benefits of construction collaboration technology is the ability to save resources through not printing out project correspondence. Project participants need to develop the ability to visualise, comprehend and understand project communications through viewing them on their computer screen. This keeps the communication in an electronic format (for
183 forwarding and archiving through the system) and saves resources through not printing a
hard copy just to read.
This ability needs to be identified, developed and nurtured to ensure that project participants
are able to visualise electronic communications on their computer screens. For project
participants who do not have this ability, its development will help improve their
opportunities to effectively participate. Project participants who have this ability to some
extent can nurture this ability to apply to all communication mediums, particularly large
format drawings.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this ability through the
experiences of research participants within Category 2.
You don’t need A or full-size drawings cause they’re not; they’re never needed here, because we’ve always got information on our screen (Interview-5 2003, l. 63).
A3(+) Ability to respond to project communications quickly
Construction collaboration technology can deliver virtually instant project communications.
As soon as a communication is sent, the recipient (assuming that they are online) has the ability to open and action the communication. The sender can also typically tell when the communication has been opened by the recipient. This technology means that communications can be responded to within hours rather than days and the sender can monitor how long it takes the recipient to respond. Within this framework, an ability to
respond to project communications quickly can enhance effective project participation and further leverage some of the resource saving abilities of the construction collaboration technology. No longer is it possible to say ‘I only received it in the mail today’, to gain an extra day to respond. Some participants experienced turn–around times of 50% that of a
traditional project for some types of project communications (such as Requests for
184 Information). Whilst a quick response is a desirable ability, however, the communications
content still needs to be appropriate and correct.
This ability needs to be identified, developed and encouraged to leverage some of the
advantages of the construction collaboration technology. Project participants who do not
possess this ability need to understand the instant nature of this type of communications, that
their progress is monitorable and start to develop in this area. Project participants who
already possess this ability need to constantly remain alert to project communications to help
leverage these advantages in construction collaboration technology.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates the instant nature of this type
of communications and the ability to respond quickly from within Category 2.
It cuts down on time. I mean people are getting instant notifications, you can handle things right away instead of just waiting for snail mail or whatever. You know, typically you would send something on a CD or on a floppy disk and send it through the mail. Now you get it, just you know, e-mail but with Constructware, which is the same thing (Interview-19 2003, l. 25).
8.3.3 Category 3 ‘Inevitable’
Category 3 ‘Inevitable’ is a ‘positive experience’ category and illustrates that the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a competitive advantage in an inevitable industry–wide trend. This conception describes the phenomenon
as a competitive advantage for both the company and individuals. It also recognises that
through the participants’ experiences, they believe that the phenomenon is an inevitable
industry trend.
The category was constructed of a number of features which illustrates the different ways the conception is experienced:
– A competitive advantage and
185 – Inevitable for future projects.
The following KSAs have been identified from the research data and are demonstrated through direct quotations.
K2(+) Knowledge that construction collaboration technology is becoming more common place and their use will continue to significantly grow
It is apparent from the research data that the participants believe that construction
collaboration technology has become common place and their use will continue to grow
significantly. This knowledge will give future construction project participants an insight
into which direction the industry is taking in relation to construction collaboration
technology. Existing construction project participants can use this knowledge to leverage
their position within the project, firm and/or industry. It is interesting to also note that the
project participants also saw experience with construction collaboration technology as a
competitive advantage for both themselves and for their firm.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this knowledge area from within Category 3.
If you’re not going to jump on board with the internet side of things, you’re going to be left behind. You really are. Like I said before, just the expediency and information sharing. I know a lot of companies that don’t have something setup like this and it will start affecting them, if not immediately then in the future. Yeah, definitely (Interview-3 2003, l. 377).
K3(+) Knowledge that experience in one system allows easy transitions into other systems
The research participants have expressed that experience with one brand of construction collaboration technology has allowed them to easily adapt to another brand of construction collaboration technology. Similarities with the construction collaboration technology user
186 interface with the internet will be a significant contributing factor to this. Some participants
also expressed that at any one time they may be using up to five different construction
collaboration technology systems.
This knowledge needs to be promoted to allow project participants new to using construction
collaboration technology to understand that the KSAs they will develop using one particular
brand of construction collaboration technology are valuable and transposable to another
brand, on the next project.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this knowledge area within
Category 3.
The benefit – one benefit we have had though is for example, we’ve been doing working with Multiplex who’ve now developed their own system. Project Centre I think it’s called or I think it’s Project Centre. And we were able to slip into that very, very easily with having had the knowledge of Project Web. So I guess in terms of being able to work for different clients, and knowing that you know, how these systems work and being able to, to use them pretty much from day one. That’s a benefit to us for sure (Interview-14 2003, l. 644).
A4(+) Ability to leverage experience in construction collaboration technology
Through the research data, the participants have expressed that they believe that experience with construction collaboration technology is a personal and corporate advantage. Personal advantages centre on the marketability of the person in seeking new employment. Corporate advantages centered around tendering for new work on projects that were to use construction collaboration technology. Project participants and firms need to develop the ability to leverage their experience with construction collaboration technology for personal and corporate gain.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this ability within Category 3.
187 My professional [development] has increased only so much as I’d say my marketability. Any – anyone – if I was looking for another job elsewhere, and I can state I knew all these systems, I know how they work. And it certainly helps you (Interview-8 2003, l. 457).
8.3.4 Category 4 ‘Archive’
Category 4 ‘Archive’ is a ‘neutral experience’ category and illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as using a reliable, centralised project data archive. This conception describes the phenomenon’s capacity to provide a single point for all project information with excellent archiving/searching/retrieval capabilities.
This category was made up of two features which illustrate the different ways the conception is experienced:
– Single point of information and
– Good project data archive.
The following KSAs have been identified from the research data and are demonstrated through direct quotations.
K4(~) Knowledge that all project data is archived and is searchable/retrievable
The centralised database for project data is an advantageous feature of construction collaboration technology. Through this database and the internet interface, project data is archived, retrievable and searchable. Project participants using construction collaboration
technology need to acquire the knowledge that all project data is archived to a centralised
project data base, which facilitates the archiving, retrieving and searching of the data.
Access to the project data is also available to any project participants with the appropriate
access credentials, from any computer with an internet connection.
188 This knowledge area will help develop effective project participation and greater access to the project data. Project participants who do not possess this knowledge area need to acquire it to understand ‘what happens’ to the project data and how to search and retrieve data.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this knowledge area within
Category 4.
Cause again, it was just impractical to maintain libraries of that many drawings on-site. And certainly in terms of memos and project data we, we didn’t make any effort to try and maintain a hard copy file of everything that was there. And the expectation was that if we needed it we could access it when we needed it (Interview-14 2003, l. 675).
S2(~) Skill to search electronic data
The knowledge that all project data is archived and is searchable/retrievable has been discussed in K4(~). The skill to search electronic data is a further step on top of this knowledge. Searching is through typical internet–style search engines with the ability to filter, wild card and define the extents of the search. Project participants need to understand how to search electronic data in order to develop efficient access to existing archived project data. Project data is ‘archived’ to the central project database as soon as it has been sent, so access to project data is through searching the project data archive.
Project participants who do not possess this skill need to develop this in order to effectively search the project data (essentially to have access to the project data). Project participants who possess this knowledge area can further develop their searching abilities to more effectively access data.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this skill area within Category
4.
189 It’s much easier to use the system rather than, you know, having to keep walking around to the drawing cabinet. Finding the drawing, pulling it out. You can just put searches in for…when you’ve got like – we had something like 5000 drawings on the system. And when you went into say, core details, you can just type in core and bang up it would come up with everybody’s drawing on it that was relating to core. And to do that under traditional method would be a nightmare. A real nightmare. It would take you forever. It would take you an hour to pull out everyone’s drawings, at least – about 5000 drawings. And then you’ve got to review each one. Whereas now, when you’ve got 5000 odd drawings on there, you type in ‘core’, sort it into a bundle, you pull it out (Interview-5 2003, l. 525).
S3(~) Skill to adjust to new project systems
Traditional construction projects differ from projects which use construction collaboration technology through some of their systems and processes. The centralised project database and standardised user interface through the internet provide for a significant point of difference over traditional projects. Project participants need to be able to adapt and cope with change to their traditional working systems, processes and environment in order to effectively participate. For example, participants may need:
– To review their internal quality assurance systems, which usually require a hard copy
of all project data to be archived in an office, in light of the secure centralised project
database
– Review the need for internal document transmittal systems since this facility is part of
the construction collaboration technology and
– Review the document/drawing number system as this will be typically specified by the
construction collaboration technology.
New project participants need to develop this skill in order to effectively utilise the construction collaboration technology without duplicating systems and processes. In a number of cases if a document is not titled or labelled properly to the correct convention, it can not be uploaded to the construction collaboration technology database.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this skill within Category 4.
190 …it’s one system for the project. It’s not you know, the engineers have their own transmittal system. The architects have their own transmittal system. The builders have another one. The builders number their RFI’s one way, the architects number their instructions – you don’t have all that stuff. It’s just one way to do it. It’s – it’s you know, entirely and utterly logical and it’s a beautiful thing (Interview-11 2003, l. 565).
A1(~) Ability to trust the electronic system and processes
The ability to trust the electronic system and processes is also identifiable in Categories 1, 2 and also in Category 4. Project participants need the ability to understand (in a basic sense) and trust the electronic systems and processes.
This ability needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates an area of the participants’ ability to trust the electronic system and processes within Category 4.
But at the end of the day, at the end of the job, that filing system won’t necessarily need to be archived, because [it’s] all logged on ProjectWeb (Interview-3 2003, l. 194).
8.3.5 Category 5 ‘Tool-box’
Category 5 ‘Tool-box’ is a ‘neutral experience’ category and illustrates that the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as another communications tool, secondary in importance to the people and processes. This conception illustrates that, in terms of information sharing on construction projects, the internet is
another communications tool to be added to the existing suite of communications options.
The person-to-person relationships are still considered very crucial and result in a significant
amount of importance placed on face-to-face interaction.
The category was constructed of a number of features which illustrate the different ways the conception is experienced:
191 – Another communications tool
– Irrelevant to the development of trust and
– Secondary in importance to the people and processes.
K5(~) Knowledge of all communication tool options
The research data illustrates that the research participants still use many different forms of communications tools, both within the construction collaboration technology and outside of or around it. Research participants expressed experiences where many of the traditional communications tools (meetings, telephone, fax, letter and messenger/courier) were still used in parallel with the use of construction collaboration technology. Some of these (for example, face-to-face meetings and telephone) were considered to be more primary than the construction collaboration technology options.
Project participants need the knowledge to understand what communications tools are available to them, how and when to use them. Participants also need the knowledge to understand how each of these tools either connect or skirt around the construction collaboration technology in order to maximise the effectiveness of their communication and the effectiveness of the construction collaboration technology. New project participants need to acquire this knowledge to understand how to effectively communicate when using construction collaboration technology. Project participants who have this knowledge can use this to further develop more efficient communication and construction collaboration
technology use.
The following quotation from the research data illustrates this knowledge area within
Category 5.
A lot of the – some of the sub-contractors don’t use ProjectWeb but what I like to do is I like to issue them a correspondence over ProjectWeb – even
192 though they don’t have an e-mail address, nothing gets sent to them – I then print it off and fax it to them (Interview-3 2003, l. 190).
K1(~) Knowledge of how to operate a computer, access the internet and basic relevant software applications is required
This area of knowledge is identifiable in Categories 1, 2 and also in Category 5. The participants expressed in a number of cases that a definite lack of computer knowledge was forcing communications around the construction collaboration technology. When communications are not made through the construction collaboration technology they are not archived in the project database and are not available for future retrieval and searching by all project team members. Again some computer knowledge is required, particularly to enable project participants to be able to participate within the construction collaboration technology.
This knowledge needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this knowledge area from within Category 5.
We were going to set him up with a computer, so that he has – he’s got access to the web on that project – he’s got his own password etc. But we decided at the end of the day, no – he’d spend too much time messing around trying to get the system to work, familiarising himself than actually getting the job done. So we – fortunately it’s right in touch with Bovis out there, so we can send stuff and he just goes down to the office and picks stuff up. He’s set him with a phone and a fax so we communicate is by fax or we send drawings out overnight trying to leave Bovis or the builder out of the loop so we are self-sufficient. But no our man on site is not computer literate, he’s not familiar with it and so it doesn’t solve any problems. The information comes through to me and we print it out, we ‘bag’ it up, we send it out – we fax it out, we phone it through (Interview-4 2003, l. 173).
193 K6(~) Knowledge that the people and processes are more important than the
construction collaboration technology
The research participants expressed, in their experience, that the people and processes were
more important that the construction collaboration technology. The construction
collaboration technology was seen by the research participants as an effective tool, but just a
tool. The thinking and decision making is always done by the people involved. If the
construction collaboration technology failed, the construction project would continue with
traditional communication methods.
Project participants need to acquire this knowledge to understand that they still need to do
the thinking and decision making for the project. The construction collaboration technology
can not do this but if used appropriately, can be a very effective tool.
The following quotation from the research data illustrates this knowledge area within
Category 5.
Sort of say people are still the strength. There’s no question I think. If the IT can be the tool and the sort of glue that holds that team together you know, as I said you need to be careful. It’s a tool and needs to be used as a tool. Not as the saviour. IT’s not going to be the saviour. You’re still going to have people to use it as a tool and to take over (Interview-13 2003, l. 770).
S1(~) Skill to manage information and communicate electronically (IT)
This skill area is identifiable in Categories 1, 2 and also in Category 5. In a number of cases where project correspondence was directed around the construction collaboration technology, the research participants expressed that an inability to transfer project data into an appropriate electronic format and communicate electronically was closely related. The inability of individual project participants to effectively use the construction collaboration technology tool for communication will be detrimental to the overall success of the project communications in terms of an incomplete central project database, project data that is
194 unsearchable and project data which is only accessible to the participants who sent and
received it. Whilst the last item could be seen as advantageous in some cases, the ability for
project participants to look at correspondence even if it was not directed to them was seen as
a benefit. The construction collaboration technology can, through access control, limit who
can see particular project data should the need arise for sensitive items.
These basic IT skills need to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates from within Category 5 where
research participants were deficient in this skill area, which caused project communication to
skirt around the construction collaboration technology. In this case it is an inability to scan
sketches to attach them to an electronic correspondence.
The only reason they do that, is you’ll find that every fax is something that has a sketch or an attachment – they don’t have a very good scanning facility up there. But, if it’s just normal correspondence they’ll just put it on ProjectWeb, but they, can’t attach sketches. Which is a problem (Interview-3 2003, l. 119).
S3(~) Skill to adjust to new project systems
This skill area is identifiable in Category 4 and also in Category 5. Project participants need to be able to adapt and cope with change to their traditional working systems, processes and environment in order to effectively participate. Through the use of construction collaboration technology project participants will have a much greater selection of communications tools available than the traditional tools they have been used to. All the traditional tools will still be available, however they may not be the most effective method of communicating within a whole of project context. Many of the traditional communications tools do not input the project data into the centralised project database, thus minimising the benefits of construction collaboration technology for the project.
195 New project participants will need to learn and adapt to the new communications tools
available through the construction collaboration technology, which are preferred to maximise
the benefits to the project. Existing users will need to continue to remain conscious of the
communications tools available and which ones will maximise the benefits to the project.
The following quotation from the research data illustrates this skill area within Category 5
where the research participant has, in this situation, determined which communication
methods are best suited for each task.
It’s the major communication tool excluding meetings. There – at the moment the system isn’t set-up where you can actually – you can actually coordinate with everybody to carry out the works. You know, you still need meetings and that. It’s – it’s purely a communication tool for the issuing of information, I believe (Interview-8 2003, l. 272).
S4(~) Skill to develop trust within a project team through traditional methods
Through the research data the research participants expressed their experiences that the construction collaboration technology did not aid in the development of trust within the project team. Trust was developed through traditional methods of face-to-face interaction, telephone conversations and even general banter (like what football team do you support and how did they go on the weekend?).
New project participants need to acquire this skill to be able to develop appropriate levels of trust with their project team members without relying on the construction collaboration technology.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates this skill area within Category
5 with the development of trust through face-to-face interaction and non-project specific banter.
196 Yeah it’s interesting – As I mentioned before with the New Zealand experience, we sent one of our guys over there just to give them a bit of a boost and certainly once we’ve been over there, contact’s a lot easier. Cause once you’ve met people and built up that relationship you know, find out whether they drink coffee or tea you know, what team they support and that kind of stuff makes a big difference and you can’t do that purely by web based stuff and e-mail. Yep that made a big difference (Interview-10 2003, l. 266).
8.3.6 Category 6 ‘Multiplier’
Category 6 ‘Multiplier’ is a ‘negative experience’ category and illustrates that the participants see the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a multiplier of communications and documentation. This conception represents an understanding that the phenomenon can multiply the amount of project communications, not necessarily for the benefit of the participants. The multiplication can be in a second set of files (database and lever arch) and/or through non-relevant communications to a project participant.
The category was constructed of a number of features which illustrate the different ways the conception is experienced:
– Another filing system in parallel to a hard copy system and
– Multiplier of communications.
K7(-) Knowledge to determine who a communication needs to be sent to
In the research data, the research participants expressed experiences of increased project communication due to project participants simply sending a project communication to all team members on the list instead of selecting who actually needed to receive it. Many of the project communications received were considered irrelevant and did not need to be sent to that team member.
Project participants need to acquire the knowledge to understand who the relevant recipient for a project communication is and not send to all team members. 197 The following quotation from the research illustrates a research participants’ comments
about this lack of knowledge within Category 6.
There’s a bit of a tendency because – because you can send copies of things to lots of people, people tend to do it. You know, cause it’s very easy to just click on you know, “I’ll make sure that he knows and he knows and he knows and he knows”…People aren’t discriminating enough about who they really need to communicate something to. They just tend to broadcast it. Because like, it doesn’t cost anything, it hardly takes any more time so they say, “Better more than less”…So you know it’s tedious and it gets up your nose if you’ve been sent a whole lot of junk that you really just didn’t need to know about and the person who sent it should have known that you didn’t need to know about it (Interview-11 2003, l. 186).
K8(-) Knowledge to determine if a communication is relevant
Through the research data, research participants expressed their experiences of receiving large quantities of irrelevant project communications (refer K7). Project participants need to actively acquire and develop the knowledge (part construction collaboration technology and part project) to be able to quickly determine if a project communication is relevant to them or not. The project participants as a whole also need to acquire the knowledge to logically and appropriately label their project communication so that other participants can quickly determine the general subject, and hence relevance.
The following quotation from the research data illustrates an example of this lack of knowledge and the consequential actions within Category 6.
One of the other problems – actually one of the biggest problems with Project Web is you get sent a whole lot of information that is not applicable to you. Because what you do, whenever you download something and send it, you put your list of people you want to send it to, and I was getting engineers sending me all sorts of stuff that – it’s just a waste of time to even open it and read it. So I found a lot of the time I was just deleting stuff before I’d even read it. Cause I’d look at the title and I’d say, “Look, I just don’t need to be in the loop for all this sort of stuff” (Interview-12 2003, l. 493).
198 S1(-) Skill to manage information and communicate electronically (IT)
This skill area is identifiable in Categories 1, 2, 5 and also in Category 6. In a number of cases where secondary, hard copy filing systems have been established, a lack of skills to manage information and communicate electronically has been observed. The establishment of hard copy filing systems has also been linked with traditional communications modes
(letter and fax) which are not archived into the project database and need to be archived in the traditional manner.
These basic IT skills need to be identified, reinforced and promoted to allow all project participants to effectively use the construction collaboration technology and have access the electronic project database.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates from within Category 6 where research participants were deficient in this skill area, which caused project communications to be archived in a separate hard copy filing system parallel to the construction collaboration technology database. In this case it is an inability of all project team members to access and use the construction collaboration technology which is forcing the second set of filing.
At our end we keep a permanent record of it anyway even though we probably don’t need to because it’s still in the database somewhere on ProjectWeb. Just for our file records. Because we’re probably not as IT literate I suppose as what they’re trained to be. For instance the boss or anyone else wants to access the information – you don’t say “Just wait a bit”, I’ll go and dial in here and wait for the whole thing to come up. And then dive round to – looking you know, going through the records saying, “It must have been this correspondence here”. You know, as you know you can highlight it and say correspondence relating to – get the header on it, to go on. But it’s a long-winded process to find that. If I’m not here, because I’m the only one that uses it basically, then they’ve got problems finding the correspondence or the RFI’s or anything else. So we always take a hard copy. I suppose there’s no less volume than in any other job, perhaps even more. So it’s good for Bovis, perhaps not so good for us. In that we don’t all operate on ProjectWeb and that information has to be shared around the office (Interview-4 2003, l. 18).
199 A1(-) Ability to trust the electronic system and processes
The ability to trust the electronic system and processes is identifiable in Categories 1, 2, 4
and also in Category 6. Project participants need the ability to trust the electronic systems
and processes to not feel obliged to keep a hard copy of the project communications as well
as the construction collaboration technology database.
This ability needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates an area of the participants’
inability to trust the electronic system and processes within Category 6.
Because of course in terms of the ProjectWeb system it’s all sitting there and we can access it, which is great. But for our internal QA system we had to print off a hard copy of everything. So we had some pretty rigorous debate about that. But ultimately the decision was no. We – and particularly as it’s not our server, that the information’s sitting on, we had to print everything off. Hard copy into the main filing (Interview-10 2003, l. 507).
8.3.7 Category 7 ‘Barrier’
Category 5 ‘Barrier’ is a ‘negative experience’ category and illustrates that the participants saw the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects as a barrier to effective project participation. This conception illustrates that the phenomenon can be a barrier to effective project participation in terms of cost, technology and general IT skills.
This category was constructed of a number of features which illustrate the different ways the conception is experienced:
– Limited by the speed and quality of the internet connection
– Difficult to learn and/or unwilling to change
– Need all participants to participate to be an effective tool
– Not flexible enough to be able to be effectively utilised on smaller projects and
– Justification of the costs involved. 200 K1(-) Knowledge of how to operate a computer, access the internet and basic relevant
software applications is required
This area of knowledge is identifiable in Categories 1, 2, 5 and also in Category 7. Through
the research data, the participants expressed experiences where a lack of computer
knowledge was a barrier to participation with construction collaboration technology. This
lack of knowledge has lead to participants communicating using traditional methods (fax,
letters, courier, and phone) rather than the construction collaboration technology.
New project participants need to acquire this knowledge to be able to communicate through
the construction collaboration technology. Existing project participants can further develop
this knowledge area to provide further personal efficiencies.
This knowledge needs to be identified, reinforced and promoted.
The following quotation from the research data demonstrates the gap in this knowledge area
from within Category 7.
But it’s the guy – their project manager or their foreman who we’re dealing with – day-to-day, he just can’t use it. And that’s where the problem is – I mean the sub-contract management does use it, but then the guys who we deal with who are on the site here who’ve got a computer in their side office just fundamentally can’t use it. I mean, I’ve shown them how to do it, but they can’t use it (Interview-3 2003, l. 363).
K8(-) Knowledge that a fast internet connection (broadband minimum) is required
Through the research data, the participants expressed experiences where a slow internet connection was a personal frustration and a limiting factor of effective participation. Some of the participants did not appear to fully realise the effect of a limited internet connection nor that they may need to upgrade their connection. A common reaction to a limited internet connection was to send traditional project style communications (fax, letter, courier and phone call) instead of using the construction collaboration technology. 201 New project participants need to acquire this knowledge area to understand that their
performance and ability to effectively participate with construction collaboration technology
will, in part, be dependent on the speed of their internet connection. Existing project
participants can use this knowledge to better judge at what times during the day will provide
the fastest internet connection (i.e. to avoid congested times such as lunch time).
The following quotation from the research data illustrates this knowledge area in Category 7.
I mean, a lot of people out here they, they don’t have a cable connection, they always have dial-up connection, and they have problems with that all the time. So they have to send faxes (Interview-3 2003, l. 66).
K9(-) Knowledge that all project participants need to use the system to maximise effective participation
Through the research data, participants expressed experiences where they understood that the best outcome for the project was for all team members to wholeheartedly use the construction collaboration technology. The research data demonstrates numerous examples of project team members not using the construction collaboration technology and effectively by-passing the system. Any project data that is outside the system is not archived in the project database and therefore is a loss to all project participants as it can not be retrieved or searched by all participants. To leverage the benefits of the construction collaboration technology, all project team members need to use it and not by-pass the system with traditional communications modes.
New project participants need to acquire this knowledge area to understand that they and all project participants need to persist with the construction collaboration technology in order to leverage the benefits it can bring to a project. Existing project participants can use this knowledge area as a reminder to actively use the construction collaboration technology.
202 The following quotation from the research data illustrates this knowledge area within
Category 7. Here we have a member of the project team expressing an experience where
they know that ‘fully functional’ use of the construction collaboration technology is best for
the project, however other project team members really do not want to use it.
I think, I think the biggest problem we were having with Constructware is that, is you know, there’s – you’re prescribing its use. And people begrudgingly use it. It’s I think the biggest problem you have with any kind of a sea change such as this, is that nobody wants to use it…they, they…they’re contractually obliged aren’t they? They’re contractually obliged to do it and – but that’s an open ended type of situation because you have to accept as contract compliance, any usage. Then you have to focus on your key players, the project managers and the like. You have to be pretty strict with them to help them understand that any usage is good, but smart, intelligent, logical, you know, fully functional use is really what you’re after (Interview-16 2003, l. 106).
K10(-) Knowledge that there are costs involved in participating with construction collaboration technology
Through the research data the participants expressed that there were real financial costs involved in participating in projects with construction collaboration technology. These costs usually centred around the purchase and/or upgrade of IT equipment and services. However, through the research data there also appears to be personal and project efficiencies which offset the investment in IT. The costs do have to be met however and it needs to be established up-front what they are and who’s responsibility they will be. In some cases the project participants may already have adequate IT equipment and services through previous investment and/or involvement in previous projects with construction collaboration technology.
New project participants need to acquire this knowledge to understand that an investment in
IT equipment and services is required to effectively participate in projects with construction collaboration technology. Experienced project participants can use this knowledge to help determine which parties will be responsible for any additional project–specific expenditure.
203 The following quotation from the research data illustrates this knowledge area within
Category 7.
I think the cost of the software is, is a cost and it’s not insignificant. But I think it’s easily matched by the investment you have to make in, in some kind of – I mean it depends on the size of your undertaking. For us it’s a four hundred million dollar project with hundreds of companies, potentially hundreds of users. So the scale of it, requires that (Interview-16 2003, l. 311).
S3(~) Skill to adjust to new project systems
This skill area is identifiable in Categories 4, 5 and also in Category 7. The change from traditional project systems to that of the new construction collaboration technology is an area of change which project participants will need to adapt to for effective project participation.
The research participants expressed experiences which demonstrated that some project participants were having trouble changing from their ‘old ways’ to the new systems and were resisting use of the construction collaboration technology.
New project participants will need to acquire this skill area to adapt from the traditional systems they have used in the past to the new construction collaboration technology systems.
The following quotation from the research data illustrates this skill area within Category 7.
The research participant is expressing the inability for ‘old-style’ builders to adapt to the new type of project systems, the construction collaboration technology. There is also a suggestion here that perhaps from the system–side, the inexperienced user needs to be better caterer for.
I know in the, for example, in the [company name] system, that they have had some of the you know old-style, hardcore building type guys within their system who found it very hard to, to keep up with the electronic based system. And the downside is that they’ve tended to lose some of their really, their down-to-earth building people. In favour of people who were more computer skilled. And I think you’ve got to have a system that accommodates both, both sets of characters. Because there’s, there’s always going to be good 204 builders who are, are complete you know – what’s the, what’s the expression, computer-phobic? That’s not the correct term but, you’ve got to be able to accommodate the good builders in a system and make it so easy for them that, what the employer’s expectations of their computer usage is something they can cope with without feeling completely, completely left out of the whole thing. Because in the end you need smart building people, you need you know, you need smart administration as well (Interview-14 2003, l. 702).
8.3.8 Preliminary Identification of the Skills Set for Effective Participation
Based on the research data, the preliminary identification of KSAs have been proposed for
each category of description. The identified KSAs can be grouped together to form a
preliminary skill set for effective participation in construction projects which use the internet
for information sharing (construction collaboration technology). Table 8.1 summaries the
preliminary identified skills set (KSAs). The symbols (+ ~ -) illustrate whether the KSA
came from a positive, neutral or negative experience category of description respectively.
Table 8.1 Preliminary Identified Skills Set (KSAs) for Effective Project Participation
KSA Description
K1(+~-) Knowledge of how to operate a computer, access the internet and basic relevant software applications is required
K2(+) Knowledge that construction collaboration technology is becoming more common place and their use will continue to significantly grow
K3(+) Knowledge that experience in one system allows easy transitions into other systems
K4(~) Knowledge that all project data is archived and is searchable/retrievable
K5(~) Knowledge of all communications tool options
K6(~) Knowledge that the people and processes are more important than the construction collaboration technology
K7(-) Knowledge to determine who a communication needs to be sent to
K8(-) Knowledge that a fast internet connection (broadband minimum) is required
K9(-) Knowledge that all project participants need to use the system to maximise effective participation
K10(-) Knowledge that there are costs involved in participating with construction collaboration technology
205 S1(+~-) Skill to manage information and communicate electronically (IT)
S2(~) Skill to search electronic data
S3(~-) Skill to adjust to new project systems
S4(~) Skill to develop trust within a project team through traditional methods
A1(+-) Ability to trust the electronic system and processes
A2(+) Ability to visualise project communications on a computer screen
A3(+) Ability to respond to project communications quickly
A4(+) Ability to leverage experience in construction collaboration technology
The preliminary identified skills set will be a valuable tool for construction industry members, employers/companies, employees, job seekers, construction collaboration technology developers and project team members to help leverage effective participation in construction projects using the internet for information sharing.
– Construction industry members can use the preliminary identified skills set as a guide to
the type of KSAs that are likely to be required by effective project participants in the
short–to medium–term future. This is also a partial view of the short–to medium–term
future of the construction industry as technology continues to develop, become more
affordable and common place and the use of IT increases within the industry.
– Employers/companies can use the preliminary identified skills set as a guide for ongoing
professional development of their existing staff, as a check list when
seeking/interviewing new employees and when assembling and monitoring project teams
(particularly where it is known that construction collaboration technology will be
implemented). Companies can also use the preliminary identified skills set as a point of
difference or competitive advantage to help leverage existing skills when tendering
and/or negotiating possible contracts.
206 – Employees can use the preliminary identified skills set to help determine their directions
for ongoing personal professional development, help maximise their effectiveness on
projects using construction collaboration technology and to leverage their value to their
existing employer.
– Job seekers within the construction industry can use the preliminary identified skills set
as a guide for the types of KSAs required to effectively participate in projects using
construction collaboration technology, as a guide for areas of personal professional
development and as a tool to leverage existing KSAs to provide a competitive advantage
or point of difference over other job seekers.
– Construction collaboration technology developers can use the preliminary identified
skills set as a review tool for their existing products, as a guide to how their products are
generally being experienced and as a guide for the future development of their products.
– Project team members can use the preliminary identified skills set to help maximise
effective project participation and deliver efficiencies to their project and project team.
The preliminary identified skills set can also be a valuable tool for fellow researchers as an
area of future research. Each of the KSAs themselves are possible areas for further research.
The preliminary identified skills set could also be used as a tool for the analysis of the
success of participants and/or project teams using construction collaboration technology.
As all of the individual KSAs are essentially non–specific to the construction industry, it is
believed that the preliminary identified skills set could also be applied to other industries
where the internet is used for information sharing, particularly where project teams are
formed for each specific project.
207 CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
9.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter summarises the main research findings, discusses the conclusions and presents the contributions and implications of this research project.
This chapter also allows some reflection on the relevance of the research project and how the outcomes might be used or extended.
9.2 RESEARCH SUMMARY
The goals of this research project were to develop a better understanding of the way people experience the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and the
preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities – KSAs) required
for participants to effectively participate.
A qualitative research approach, phenomenography, was selected as a suitable methodology to:
– guide the current research
– provide a empirical, representative and descriptive research approach
– allow an appropriate investigation into the personal differences that affect skills
– produce valid, robust and generalisable research results and
– provide a qualitative–based study in a field dominated by quantitative studies.
The research strategy for this study was to investigate the phenomenon of the use of the
internet for information sharing on construction projects through a number of major
international case studies. Major project case studies which had actively used the internet for
208 information sharing were seen as an ideal research situation to better understand this
phenomenon. Interviews of relevant project participants on each major case study were
considered important to investigate how the phenomenon is actually being experienced.
A successful pilot case study was undertaken to test the research approach, the interview
techniques/recording, the phenomenographic analysis and the phenomenographic outcomes
(categories of description and the outcome space).
The research project undertook to identify interview candidates through the selection of a
number of major case study projects. A major case study project was selected from each of
Australia, United Kingdom and the United States of America, all major players in the global
construction industry and significant contributors to construction research. Each major case
study selected:
– was a significant project of international interest
– utilised the internet for information sharing and
– was resourced by team members who could be said to be faced with geographic,
logistical and time–based constraints.
The phenomenographic analysis was performed on the interview transcript data as a whole
and the transcripts were considered the only evidence of the participants’ experiences of the
phenomenon. The phenomenographic analysis produced seven qualitatively different,
logically linked, ways that the phenomenon of the use of the internet for information sharing
on construction projects is being experienced. These are called categories of description and
are as follows:
– Category 1 – ‘Communications Tool’
– Category 2 – ‘Resources’
– Category 3 – ‘Inevitable’
– Category 4 – ‘Archive’ 209 – Category 5 – ‘Tool-Box’
– Category 6 – ‘Multiplier’
– Category 7 – ‘Barrier’
The logical relationship of the categories of description were graphically illustrated in the
outcome space and demonstrated that when the use of the internet for information sharing on
construction projects has a significant impact on the project participation and
communications for project participants (positive or negative) the internet is experienced in
the foreground of the participants’ awareness. When the use of the internet for information
sharing on construction projects has neutral impacts on the project participation and
communications for project participants (positive or negative) the internet is experienced in
the background of the participants’ awareness. In terms of impact on project participation
and communications, the greater the impact, the greater the focus within the participants’
awareness. The less the impact on project participation and communications, the less the
focus within the participants’ awareness.
The validity of the research process has been established with regard to the eight validity
strategies proposed by Cope (2004) to identify and correct issues with process and
interpretation that may have impacted on the rigour of this research project. A full and open
account of this research has been presented to illustrate the process, the interpretations and
the use of the validity strategies.
Evidence of the communicability (reliability) of the research was then provided through the
use of a successful interjudge communicability test using three independent researchers who
all reached over 85% agreement.
Following the phenomenographic research component of this study, the preliminary
identification of the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs), based on the research data have 210 been proposed for each category of description. The preliminary identified KSAs were then
grouped together to form a preliminary skills set for effective participation in construction
projects which use the internet for information sharing (construction collaboration
technology).
9.3 CONCLUSIONS
The aims of this research were to:
– develop a better understanding of the way people experience the use of the internet for
information sharing on construction projects and
– the preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities – KSAs)
required for participants to effectively participate. In particular, what new KSAs are
required to effectively participate in virtual construction projects?
The conclusions from this study address these two research questions separately. Based on
the major research component – the phenomenographic outcomes (categories of description
and the outcome space), the first research question has been answered. The second research
question has been addressed through the post–phenomenographic research – identification of
the preliminarily KSAs for effective project participation on construction projects using the
internet for information sharing (construction collaboration technology).
9.3.1 Major Research (Phenomenographic Research) Conclusions
To develop a better understanding of the way people are experiencing the use of the internet
for information sharing on construction projects a phenomenographic research approach was
adopted. This type of qualitative approach has been successfully used in many applications
to determine the limited number of logically linked ways that a phenomenon is experienced.
The research outcomes are categories of description, which illustrate the different ways the
phenomenon is being experienced and the outcome space, which illustrates how these
different ways are logically related. 211 This study revealed seven different ways that the phenomenon of ‘the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects’ is being experienced as follows:
Category 1 – ‘Communications Tool’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as using an efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. This conception relates to the ability of the project participants to effectively communicate with the other members of the project team and to share and have access to current information with limited extra training.
Category 2 – ‘Resources’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as using a flexible tool to help save resources. This conception demonstrates that the phenomenon can help to save resources through actual reductions of materials, reductions in travel and minimising wastage.
Category 3 – ‘Inevitable’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as a competitive advantage in an inevitable industry–wide trend. This conception describes the phenomenon as a competitive advantage for both the company and individuals. It is also recognised that the phenomenon is an inevitable industry trend.
Category 4 – ‘Archive’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as using a reliable, centralised project data archive. This conception describes the phenomenon’s ability to provide a single point for all project information with excellent archiving/searching/retrieval capabilities.
212 Category 5 – ‘Tool-Box’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as using another communications tool. This conception illustrates that in terms of information sharing on construction projects, the internet is another communications tool to be added to the existing suite of communications options.
Category 6 – ‘Multiplier’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as a multiplier of communications and documentation. This conception represents an understanding that the phenomenon can multiply the amount of project communications, not necessarily for the benefit of the participants. The multiplication can be in a second set of files (database and lever-arch) and/or through non-relevant communications to a project participant.
Category 7 – ‘Barrier’
The use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects is being experienced as a barrier to effective project participation. This conception illustrates that the phenomenon can be a barrier to effective project participation in terms of cost and technology.
The seven categories of description were found to be logically related and this relationship has been graphically illustrated through the outcome space as follows and in Figure 9.1.
When the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects has significant impacts on the project participation and communications for project participants (positive or negative) the internet is experienced in the foreground of the participants’ awareness. When the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects has neutral impacts on the project participation and communications for project participants (positive or negative) 213 the internet is experienced in the background of the participants’ awareness. In terms of impact on project participation and communications, the greater the impact, the greater the focus within the participants’ awareness. The less the impact on project participation and communications, the less the focus within the participants’ awareness.
Figure 9.1 Outcome Space
Category 1 ‘Communications Tool’ – An efficient, easy-to-use communications tool. Category 2 ‘Resources’ – A flexible tool to help save resources. Category 3 ‘Inevitable’ – A competitive advantage in an inevitable industry–wide trend. Category 4 ‘Archive’ – A reliable centralised project data archive. Category 5 ‘Toolbox’ – Another communications tool, secondary in importance to the people and processes. Category 6 ‘Multiplier’ – A multiplier of communications and documentation. Category 7 ‘Barrier’ – A barrier to effective project participation.
9.3.2 Post Phenomenographic Research (KSAs) Conclusions
The preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities – KSAs) required for effective participation was based on the phenomenographic categories of description, hence the research data (interview transcripts). Table 9.1 summarises the
preliminary identified skills set (KSAs). The symbols (+ ~ -) illustrate whether the KSA came from a positive, neutral or negative experience category of description respectively.
214 Table 9.1 Preliminary Identified Skills Set (KSAs) for Effective Project Participation
KSA Description
K1(+~-) Knowledge of how to operate a computer, access the internet and basic relevant software applications is required
K2(+) Knowledge that construction collaboration technology is becoming more common place and their use will continue to significantly grow
K3(+) Knowledge that experience in one system allows easy transitions into other systems
K4(~) Knowledge that all project data is archived and is searchable/retrievable
K5(~) Knowledge of all communications tool options
K6(~) Knowledge that the people and processes are more important than the construction collaboration technology
K7(-) Knowledge to determine who a communication needs to be sent to
K8(-) Knowledge that a fast internet connection (broadband minimum) is required
K9(-) Knowledge that all project participants need to use the system to maximise effective participation
K10(-) Knowledge that there are costs involved in participating with construction collaboration technology
S1(+~-) Skill to manage information and communicate electronically (IT)
S2(~) Skill to search electronic data
S3(~-) Skill to adjust to new project systems
S4(~) Skill to develop trust within a project team through traditional methods
A1(+-) Ability to trust the electronic system and processes
A2(+) Ability to visualise project communications on a computer screen
A3(+) Ability to respond to project communications quickly
A4(+) Ability to leverage experience in construction collaboration technology
9.4 CONTRIBUTIONS
This research project has made a number of contributions to the industry, the body of academic knowledge, areas of future research and some possibilities for the future directions of construction collaboration technology. 215 9.4.1 Industry
This research project is believed to have made the following contributions to the construction
industry:
– Provided an in-depth understanding of how project participants are experiencing the
internet for information sharing on construction projects (construction collaboration
technology)
– Provided a successful example of qualitative research in an industry dominated by
quantitative research methods
– Preliminary Identification of the skills set comprised of the Knowledge, Skills and
Abilities (KSAs) for effective project participation, which can be used as
– a guide to the type of KSAs that are likely to be required by effective project
participants in the short to medium term future.
– a guide for ongoing professional development
– as a check list when seeking/interviewing new employees
– as a guide when assembling and monitoring project teams
– a point of difference or competitive advantage to help leverage existing skills when
tendering and/or negotiating possible contracts and
– Provided direct feedback to the developers of construction collaboration technology on
how their products are being experienced and used.
9.4.2 Body of Academic Knowledge
This research project is believed to have made the following contributions to the body of
academic knowledge:
– Provided a successful example of a qualitative research approach in a field dominated by
quantitative approaches
– Provided another successful application of phenomenography outside the field of
educational research to help profile phenomenography within the greater research
community
216 – Provided an in-depth understanding of how project participants are experiencing the
internet for information sharing on construction projects (construction collaboration
technology), which is believed to be relevant and applicable to other industries utilising
similar technology (virtual projects) and
– Preliminary identification of the skills set comprised of the Knowledge, Skills and
Abilities (KSAs) for effective project participation in construction collaboration
technology, which is believed to be relevant and applicable to other industries utilising
similar technology.
9.4.3 Learning Framework
It is hoped that the broader framework of training and educating existing and potential
project participants can be influenced by the development of the preliminary identification of
the skills set and the phenomenographic analysis outcomes. The phenomenographic
outcomes define the different ways that the research participants are experiencing the
construction collaboration technology. The way this technology is being experienced, is
critical to how and what is taught to and/or identified in future project participants. It is also
hoped that these research outcomes will inform and help change the ways that people
experience the internet for information sharing on construction projects.
9.4.4 Recommendations for Future Research
Based on the research outcomes and conclusions, the following are proposed as areas of
further research:
– Each of the seven categories of description could be considered as an avenue for future
research. Each category of description illustrates one of a limited number of ways that
the phenomenon of ‘the use of the internet for information sharing on construction
projects’ is being experienced. Of the seven categories, the three positive experience
categories and the two negative experience categories would be the preferred categories
217 for future research as they have all have a significant impact on effective project
participation.
– The preliminary identified skills set comprised of the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
(KSAs) could be considered as a number of areas for future research. Each of the
identified KSAs is an individual area for future research. The application of the
identified skill set to a project team is an area for future research to determine the
effectiveness of the skill set and possible gains in effective project participation.
– The use of the qualitative phenomenographic approach in other areas within the
construction industry could also be considered as an area of future research. This
research project has demonstrated that phenomenography is a relevant, useful and
effective research approach within the construction industry. This and other qualitative
approaches should be considered for future research within the construction industry.
218 APPENDICES
Appendix A
ProjectWeb Screen Shots (National Museum of Australia case study)
Appendix B
BIW Technologies Screen Shots (Times Square Project case study)
Appendix C
Constructware Screen Shots (Hudson River Park Project case study)
Appendix D
Interviewee Information Sheet
Appendix E
Interview Consent Form
Appendix F
Interjudge Communicability Test Quotations
Appendix G
Magub, A. & Kajewski, S. (2003).
219 APPENDIX A
‘ProjectWeb’ screen shots (National Museum of Australia case study)
220 APPENDIX B
‘BIW Technologies Channel’ screen shots (Times Square Project case study)
226 APPENDIX C
‘Constructware’ screen shots (Hudson River Park Project case study)
231 APPENDIX D
Interviewee Information Sheet
237
Queensland University of Technology 2 George Street GPO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD 4001 Australia Telephone (07) 3864 2111 International (+61 7) 3864 2111
Skill Sets for Effective Use of the Internet for Information Sharing on Construction Projects
Andrew Magub PhD Candidate, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Ph: (+61) (0)418 911-488 Fx: (+617) 3852-2544 E-mail: [email protected]
Description
This research is part of the requirements for the award of PhD and is being undertaken through the School of Construction Management and Property at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. The area of research is the phenomena of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects. This research is using a ‘Phenomenographic’ approach to investigate the different ways of experiencing this phenomena.
The ‘Phenomenographic’ approach is a qualitative methodology which investigates how different participants experienced the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects through analysis of interview transcripts. Three significant projects have been selected as major case studies (one each from United States, United Kingdom and Australia). As a participant of one of the major case studies, you will be involved in a qualitative interview to discuss your experiences of using the internet for information sharing on construction projects. These interviews will last for no more that one (1) hour and will only involve yourself and myself (Andrew Magub). The interview will be recorded using two (2) separate recording devices (audio video and audio) to allow for accurate transcripts to be prepared. The recordings and transcripts will only be used for this research project and the identity of all participants will remain confidential through the use of pseudonyms in the research.
The expected outcomes of this research project will be to develop a better understanding of the way people experience the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and to identify the skill sets (knowledge, Skills and Abilities – KSAs) required for participants to effectively participate. In particular, what new KSAs are required to effectively participate in virtual construction projects? The research will be presented as a PhD thesis and through selected professional publications as academic papers. Throughout all publications, the identity of all interview participants will remain confidential.
Expected benefits
There are a number of benefits expected from this research. Generally the industry participants can expect to obtain a better understanding of the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) required for effective participation. This will allow industry participants to select, train and monitor participants for ‘Virtual’ construction projects where the majority of information is shared through an internet interface. Personally, due to your direct involvement, an electronic copy of the full research thesis will be presented to you in PDF format on CD-ROM for your information and professional use.
238 Risks
Whilst there are not expected to be any risk to any of the interview participants, any risk (however small) needs to be brought to your attention. The risk to interview participants is that they may be identified through the small numbers of participants in their project that would have been actively involved in using the internet for information sharing. Whilst an interviewee may be identified as, for example, an ‘architect involved with the project’, there may only be a handful of architects which could be in this position. Whilst this is a small risk, I am required to bring this to your attention and the research team will actively aim to eliminate or minimise this risk.
Confidentiality
Only the research team will have access to the information you provide through the interviews. Your anonymity and confidentiality will be safeguarded in any publication of the results of this research, through the use of pseudonyms. All interview transcripts will be electronically archived by the research team. All hard copies of interview transcripts will be destroyed at the completion of the research project.
Voluntary participation
Your decision whether to participate in this project is voluntary, and you can withdraw at any time.
Recording of proceedings
All interviews will be recorded in 2 (two) different formats (audio visual and audio) as a safeguard from a recording device failure. All recordings of interviews will be: • Electronically archived (or destroyed if requested) by the research team at the completion of the research project and • Only used for this research project. Any further use of the interview recordings will require your written permission.
The recording of the interviews is required to allow for actuate transcriptions to be prepared for analysis. The transcription of the interview is important as it is the text of the interview which is analysised against other interviews looking for similarities and differences.
Questions / further information
For additional information about the project, or to have any further questions answered please contact: • Andrew Magub (PhD Candidate) Ph: (+61) (0)418 911-488 Fx: (+617) 3852-2544 E-mail: [email protected] • Dr Stephen Kajewski (Principal PhD Supervisor) Ph: (+617) 3864-2676 Fx: (+617) 3864-1170 E-mail: [email protected]
Concerns / complaints
Should you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project you should contact the Secretary of the QUT University Human Research Ethics Committee on Ph: (+617) 3864-2902 or E-mail: [email protected]
Feedback
As the analysis and preparation of the research results can not be started until all interviews are completed and transcribed, no direct feedback will be given after the interview process. As an interview participant you will, received an electronic copy of the full PhD thesis in PDF format on CD-ROM.
239 APPENDIX E
Interview Consent Form
240
Queensland University of Technology 2 George Street GPO Box 2434 Brisbane QLD 4001 Australia Telephone (07) 3864 2111 International (+61 7) 3864 2111
Skill Sets for Effective Use of the Internet for Information Sharing on Construction Projects
Andrew Magub PhD Candidate, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Ph: (+61) (0)418 911-488 Fx: (+617) 3852-2544 E-mail: [email protected]
Statement of Consent
By signing below, you are indicating that you:
• have read and understood the information sheet about this project
• have had any questions answered to your satisfaction
• understand that if you have any additional questions you can contact the research team
• understand that you are free to withdraw at any time, without comment or penalty
• understand that you can contact the research team if you have any questions about the project, or the Secretary of the University Human Research Ethics Committee (QUT) on (+617) 3864-2902 if they have concerns about the ethical conduct of the project
• understand that the interview will be recorded ( in video and/or audio – your choice) and consent to this (refer note 1 below)
• have appropriate authority to agree to participate in this project and
• agree to participate in the project.
Name
Signature
Date / /
Notes: 1. All interviews will be recorded in video and/or separate audio format. This process is done to allow the interviews to be accurately transcribed for the analysis. It is simply not possible to accurately record notes by hand during an interview and conduct the interview itself. Two (2) separate forms of recording (audio video and audio) are used to ensure that if one process fails, there is a backup copy. This negates the need to repeat the interview due to a recording device failure.
241 APPENDIX F
Interjudge Communicability Test Quotations
242 Quote 1
I think filing was, was significantly reduced. We produced less paper, no question – no question about it. Significantly less paper (Interview-13 2003, l. 647).
Quote 2
So I think it’s going to be used much more widely and I think not having any experience on one of these systems. It’s going to be itself a disadvantage (Interview-9 2003, l. 859).
Quote 3
Perhaps, peoples’ efficiency has gone up. Because obviously we can draw a drawing on an afternoon and get it uploaded that same afternoon and I can be reviewing it the evening. As opposed to you know waiting – they draw it up in the afternoon we then have to wait for the post delivery and a day goes past (Interview-5 2003, l.311).
Quote 4
…cause everything’s got to go on our system. Even faxes and everything that gets sent here, we get them loaded on to ProjectWeb, so the full filing system is on there (Interview-3 2003, l. 53).
Quote 5
Because of course in terms of the ProjectWeb system it’s all sitting there and we can access it, which is great. But for our internal QA system we had to print off a hard copy of everything. So we had some pretty rigorous debate about that. But ultimately the decision was no. We – and particularly as it’s not our server, that the information’s sitting on, we had to print everything off. Hard copy into the main filing (Interview-10 2003, l. 507).
Quote 6
The benefit of the internet system was the, was the long term storage of that paper trail and the sequence of events and, being able to go back and re- access information that would otherwise be in the messy end of your desk (laughs) and that type of thing. I mean if you knew there’d been a memo sent that you could find it as opposed to there being phone call versus faxes, versus e-mail, versus some other form of communication. Or you’ve almost got to look for the same thing in four different places (Interview-14 2003, l. 511).
243 Quote 7
Probably the worst is not being able to download things. Now, we never really worked out whether it’s a function of our – our hardware here, which is pretty antiquated, or whether it’s to do with the ProjectWeb software. But often they were sending me files from site and we just couldn’t download them. And I spent a long time – you know it would say ‘its downloading, it’s downloading’ and it might take 20 minutes or so and then it would ‘bomb – out’ and you’d lose it. You try that a couple of times, and get back on to them, and they’d say they’d sent it again. And it would go on and on. And in the end you’d say “Look, for Christ’s sake – fax it to me” (laughs) you know. Sometimes it was just a sketch or something, but a pretty big file (Interview-2 2003, l. 51).
Quote 8
I think the – well ProjectWeb would have been the primary method of transferring drawings. It wouldn’t have been the primary method of decision-making. That would have been done by face-to-face meetings and phone calls, second to face-to-face meetings I think. So the real decisions were made in face-to-face meetings. And other, lesser decisions were made in phone calls (Interview-11 2003, l. 427).
Quote 9
And that’s where I think -one of the issues that we have with the system – where it won’t work on smaller projects. And we need to try and develop or – the service providers need to try and develop something to make it more accessible for the small – the SMN (Interview-5 2003, l. 143).
Quote 10
I pretty much had the tools to do it and I found Constructware doesn’t throw any curve balls at you if you have basic knowledge. Actually that’s one of it’s strengths, it doesn’t require a great deal of, of special skill set going into it let’s call it (Interview-15 2003, l.499).
Quote 11
One of the things I think is a bit of a problem with it is that people CC things to everyone. You just hit the button and include everyone – so you get a whole lot of message that are totally irrelevant to you. It wastes a lot of time. You see a message there for you and you waste a lot of time getting on to the internet and reading that message and then saying, “Why the hell did he send me that?” and then just deleting it, you know. That’s one of the hassles with it. Probably 50% are irrelevant (Interview-2 2003, l. 284).
244 Quote 12
If you’re not going to jump on board with the internet side of things, you’re going to be left behind. You really are. Like I said before, just the expediency and information sharing. I know a lot of companies that don’t have something setup like this and it will start affecting them, if not immediately then in the future. Yeah, definitely (Interview-3 2003, l. 377).
Quote 13
Sort of say people are still the strength. There’s no question I think. If the IT can be the tool and the sort of glue that hold’s that team together you know, as I said you need to be careful. It’s a tool and needs to be used as a tool. Not as the saviour. It’s not going to be the saviour. Your still going to have people to use it as a tool and to take over (Interview-13 2003, l. 770).
Quote 14
Well, I suppose the biggest thing is that we’re out here in the middle of Australia, and to Sydney is 3000km away. So all of our consultants are based in Sydney. We’ve got consultants based in Sydney, sub-contractors based in Darwin and Brisbane and they all use ProjectWeb to transfer drawings, correspondence, RFI’s all quite instantaneously between us all (Interview-3 2003, l. 24).
245 APPENDIX G
Magub, A. & Kajewski, S. (2003), 'Identification of Skill, Knowledge and Abilities for the
Use of the Internet for Information Sharing on Construction Projects', Second International
Conference on Construction in the 21st Century (CITC-II) Sustainability and Innovation in
Management and Technology, CITC, Hong Kong, pp.492-497.
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