Technology Adoption Decisions in Construction Organizations

This research examines how managers in contractors' organizations make decisions to adopt a new technology. This paper presents the decision-making processes managers use in the adoption of new technologies, the factors affecting these processes, and the strategies managers use to deal with the uncertainty involved in such decisions. The study focused on eight cases of adoption of two commercially available information technologies: (1) Electronic data interchange; and (2) 3D computer-aided design systems. This paper summarizes relevant background, briefly describes the decisions studied, presents the major findings, and highlights practical applications. The recommendations focus on the strategies that managers can use to increase the likelihood of successful adoption of new technologies.     

Top management team characteristics and innovation in nursing homes

This study examines how the demographic characteristics of the top management team in 236 nursing homes can affect the adoption of innovations. The computerization of the Minimum Data Set (MDS) is the innovation we examine, and tenure, education, and involvement in a professional society are the demographic characteristics investigated. Controlling for 10 organizational and environmental factors, the results are generally significant for each of these demographic factors. However, the results for top managers of nonchain nursing homes show a greater association between these demographic factors and innovation than the results for top managers of nursing homes belonging to a chain. We discuss these results in terms of their significance for innovation research, nursing homes, and top management.     

Innovation Diffusion Modeling in the Construction Industry

The innovation diffusion modeling approach proposes that the diffusion of an innovation in an industry is mainly driven by internal and external influence factors. But the innovation diffusion models used in previous research studies conducted in the construction management literature are excessively restrictive. This research uses a more flexible model called the nonuniform influence (NUI) model to study the diffusion of a technological innovation, namely, computer aided design (CAD) technology in the Turkish architectural design practice; and an administrative innovation, namely, ISO 9000 certification in the Turkish precast concrete industry. The research findings point out that the NUI model performs significantly better than previously used models and that internal rather than external influence plays a predominant role in the diffusion of both types of innovation. The research findings provide additional insights into the diffusion of CAD technology and ISO 9000 certification which could not be captured by the previously used diffusion models. They show that internal influence on the diffusion of CAD technology increases with passage of time and that internal influence on the diffusion ISO 9000 certification decreases with passage of time. The research has academic importance because it addresses the limitations of previous innovation diffusion research and provides quantitative insights into the diffusion of innovations; knowledge that is lacking in the construction management literature. The research is of practical importance because it provides useful observations that architecture/engineering/construction firms can use to understand the presence of imitative behavior in the innovation diffusion process and the role of innovation characteristics in imitative behavior.     

Relationship between Construction Firm Strategies and Innovation Outcomes

Survey results provide a preliminary assessment of the relative contribution of a range of tactical business strategies to innovation performance by firms in the Australian construction industry. Over 1,300 firms were surveyed in 2004, resulting in a response rate of 29%. Respondents were classified as high, medium or low innovators according to an innovation index based on the novelty and impact of their innovations and their adoption of listed technological and organizational advances. The relative significance of 23 business strategies concerning (1) employees; (2) marketing; (3) technology; (4) knowledge; and (5) relationships was examined by determining the extent to which they distinguished high innovators from low innovators. The individual business strategies that most strongly distinguished high innovators were (1) investing in R&D; (2) participating in partnering and alliances on projects; (3) ensuring project learnings are transferred into continuous business processes; (4) monitoring international best practice; and (5) recruiting new graduates. Of the five types of strategies assessed, marketing strategies were the least significant in supporting innovation. The results provide practical guidance to managers in project-based industries wishing to improve their innovation performance.     

Project Management in the Chinese Construction Industry: Six-Case Study

Originating from the West, project management was introduced into China after the country’s economic reforms in the 1980’s and has since spread quickly throughout the whole country, particularly in the construction industry. However, despite the wide adoption of project management practices by construction organizations and the growing recognition of the importance of project management as an enabler of organizational success, empirical studies on project management in the context of the Chinese construction industry have been inadequate. This paper presents the results of an empirical study of six Chinese construction organizations in order to come to a more comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of project management practices in the Chinese construction industry. The findings revealed: (1) a good appreciation of the role of projects and project management and satisfaction with current project management practices; (2) 11 key aspects of project management implementation; (3) 12 resultant value and benefits; and (4) five aspects of the main challenges facing the organizations. Meanwhile, variations in project management practices and the resultant organizational value were identified, first between the three owner- and the three contractor-case study organizations, then between the two construction contractor organizations and the one design contractor organization.     

Hospital adoption of medical technology: an empirical test of alternative models

OBJECTIVE: This study examines hospital motivations to acquire new medical technology, an issue of considerable policy relevance: in this case, whether, when, and why hospitals acquire a new capital-intensive medical technology, magnetic resonance imaging equipment (MRI). STUDY DESIGN: We review three common explanations for medical technology adoption: profit maximization, technological preeminence, and clinical excellence, and incorporate them into a composite model, controlling for regulatory differences, market structures, and organizational characteristics. All four models are then tested using Cox regressions. DATA SOURCES: The study is based on an initial sample of 637 hospitals in the continental United States that owned or leased an MRI unit as of 31 December 1988, plus nonadopters. Due to missing data the final sample consisted of 507 hospitals. The data, drawn from two telephone surveys, are supplemented by the AHA Survey, census data, and industry and academic sources. PRINCIPAL FINDING: Statistically, the three individual models account for roughly comparable amounts of variance in past adoption behavior. On the basis of explanatory power and parsimony, however, the technology model is "best." Although the composite model is statistically better than any of the individual models, it does not add much more explanatory power adjusting for the number of variables added. CONCLUSIONS: The composite model identified the importance a hospital attached to being a technological leader, its clinical requirements, and the change in revenues it associated with the adoption of MRI as the major determinants of adoption behavior. We conclude that a hospital's adoption behavior is strongly linked to its strategic orientation.     

Improving Employees’ Work-Life Balance in the Construction Industry: Project Alliance Case Study

Work-life conflict has a damaging effect on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, productivity turnover, and absenteeism. On an individual level, work-life conflict is associated with employee burnout, mental health issues, substance abuse, and diminished family functioning. Thus, work-life balance is an important issue to the construction industry, in terms of both organizational effectiveness and occupational health. Long and inflexible work hours are the most consistent predictor of work-life conflict among construction employees, particularly those working on-site or in a project office. There is considerable resistance to the adoption of new ways of scheduling work within the industry. This paper describes the post hoc evaluation of a compressed work week (reducing the length of the working week, but increasing the length of the working day) in a case study project alliance in Queensland, Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented to demonstrate the beneficial impact of the initiative on employees’ work-life balance. The evaluation provides prima facie evidence that alternative work schedules can improve construction employees’ work-life balance, creating benefits for construction employees and organizations. The paper concludes that project alliances provide an ideal environment in which work-life balance initiatives can help to create high-performance work systems in the construction sector.     

Organizational culture and climate and mental health provider attitudes toward evidence-based practice.

Mental health provider attitudes toward adopting evidence-based practice (EBP) are associated with organizational context and provider individual differences. Organizational culture and climate are contextual factors that can affect staff acceptance of innovation. This study examined the association of organizational culture and climate with attitudes toward adopting EBP. Participants were 301 public sector mental health service providers from 49 programs providing mental health services for youths and families. Correlation analyses and multilevel hierarchical regressions, controlling for effects of provider characteristics, showed that constructive culture was associated with more positive attitudes toward adoption of EBP and poor organizational climates with perceived divergence of usual practice and EBP. Behavioral health organizations may benefit from consideration of how culture and climate affect staff attitudes toward change in practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nursing organization and the transformation of health care delivery for the 21st century

Market transformations occurring within the health care industry require new patterns of organization and management to meet the increasing complexity of service delivery. A greater understanding of the innovation and entrepreneurial dynamic allows administrators, managers, and leaders to create a new vision of service delivery. Central management and leadership objectives include the development of service technologies that capitalize upon the inherent knowledge of workers to meet consumer needs. A strong sense of innovation and entrepreneurship leading to the introduction of new or improved nursing technologies is a primary component in the evolution of professional nursing practice for the 21st century.     

论制度创新与中国铜工业的发展

中国是世界产铜大国但并不是铜的强国。主要原因是铜工业发展严重受到铜企业规则、组织和经营制度的制约。要彻底改变中国铜工业现状 ,就必须依据国际一流铜企业制度的范式来加速我国铜企业的制度创新 ,以降低制度成本费用 ;重新构建国有铜企业组织结构 ;进一步理顺政府与企业之间的关系 ,加快企业经营制度改革步代。     

The challenge of new workplace technology for psychology.

Becoming more competitive as a nation implies that we need to align our vast technological resources with enlightened human resource management to apply these technologies productively. In this article, the status of new workplace technologies is reviewed, and a "macroergonomic" approach is taken to discuss the impact of new technologies on the individual employee, on management methods, and on organizational structure and design. New workplace technologies pose many challenges for industrial and organizational psychologists, including how they may contribute to systematic research aimed toward productivity improvement. The review concludes that technological innovation will not be adopted and thus will not improve U.S. productivity unless a balance is achieved between technological development and human resource management needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Steeling ourselves for the electric vehicle revolution

Abstract

The automotive industry is changing with ever increasing speed. The current economic and environmental pressures mean that the vehicles of tomorrow will be very different to those we drive today. As new technologies are developed to enable these changes, the materials industry must respond quickly to ensure that they are both manufacturable and cost effective, as well as deliver the performance required to drive the industry forward. This article aims to identify the key technology developments, the challenges that they face and how Tata Steel is helping to overcome them.     

Getting to X

Just as there exist many forces driving the need for change on many fronts in health care, there are corresponding forces, some equally strong, that resist the change. The article presents a model for nurse executives to help them understand the predominant forces of change. The article also emphasizes the importance of organizational politics in the change process.     

Diffusion of Computer Aided Design Technology in Architectural Design Practice

Computer aided design (CAD) technology is one of the most influential information technology (IT) innovations of the last four decades. This paper studies the factors that influence the spread of this important IT innovation in the context of the Turkish architectural design practice. It builds on the innovation diffusion theory which proposes that internal (i.e., copying behaviors of others) and external influence (i.e., complying with clients’ requirements, changes in government regulations, demand conditions, and consulting firms’ suggestions) factors drive diffusion of an innovation. The paper empirically tests the propositions of innovation diffusion theory by using three mathematical models: The internal influence model, the external influence model, and the mixed influence model. Research findings point out that the mixed influence model has the highest exploratory power. They show that the diffusion of CAD technology in architectural design practice is primarily driven by internal rather than external influence factors. This study is of importance to researchers because this is the first application of the influence models to the study of the diffusion of CAD technology in architectural design practice. It is also of relevance to design practitioners since the findings should provide a useful guide in their decision to adopt or not to adopt CAD technology.     

Learning Organizations in Construction

The transformation of organizations from production-oriented entities to proactive learning entities that continuously leverage the knowledge of the workforce is a primary objective of management researchers. This focus has significant relevance to the construction industry where production-related research has predominantly overshadowed organizational development research. As one effort to change this emphasis, the writers present a research effort designed to study current organization learning techniques and technologies fielded by organizations both inside and outside of the construction industry. Through a series of exploratory case studies, the writers developed a maturity model together with the Construction Industry Institute that provides construction organizations with a framework for developing a learning organization culture. The maturity model focuses on learning organization characteristics of leadership, processes and infrastructure, communication/collaboration, education, and culture at the organization, community, and individual levels. This paper introduces the results of that effort including a presentation of the learning organization maturity model, framework application, and the overall characteristics of a learning organization.     

Empirical Investigation of Construction Contractors' Organizational Learning

Conceptual frameworks dominate organizational learning literature with limited empirical assessments. This raises several questions about the validity and applicability of the various conceptual frameworks for how managers can build organizational learning capabilities. As such, lessons from the conceptual frameworks of organizational learning for addressing performance improvement that might have been used by construction contractors have been limited. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of organizational learning by construction contractors. The principles that underlie organizational learning and the factors that promote double-loop learning as a strategy for improving construction contractors’ business processes are presented. The paper has also established the learning orientations and focus of the surveyed construction contractors to determine their organizational learning dimensions as well as the factors that induced their double-loop learning, as rich lessons for organizations in the construction industry.     

Organizational adoption of preemployment drug testing.

This study explored the adoption of preemployment drug testing by 360 organizations. Survival models were developed that included internal organizational and labor market factors hypothesized to affect the likelihood of adoption of drug testing. Also considered was another set of variables that included social and political variables based on institutional theory. An event history analysis using Cox regressions indicated that both internal organizational and environmental variables predicted adoption of drug testing. Results indicate that the higher the proportion of drug testers in the worksite's industry, the more likely it would be to adopt drug testing. Also, the extent to which an organization uses an internal labor market, voluntary turnover rate, and the extent to which management perceives drugs to be a problem were related to likelihood of adoption of drug testing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

工业铝电解系统节能技术开发实践

电解铝企业可操作、持续、有效、大幅度的取得节能减排经济效益的关键指标是阳极炭耗及运行电耗、吨铝电耗和吨铝分摊大修成本。由于电解铝技术的综合性特点,采用铝电解系统性节能减排技术创新,符合国家行业和企业竞争的生存需要。基于此,本文主要阐释了这几项技术的基本背景、特点和创新效益的原理及应用案例。     

武钢新产品开发与核心竞争力的培育

简要介绍了“九五”期间武钢新产品开发的成效、新产品对提高企业效益的贡献和新产品开发工作的主要特点，以及在围绕提高核心竞争力方面所做的技术改造工作，同时展望了“十五”的发展前景。武钢的实践表明，新产品开发能力是企业核心竞争力的重要组成部分，新产品开发的需求带动了技术改造的步伐，技术改造又为新产品开发奠定了良好的基础，两者相互促进，促使武钢核心竞争力不断得到提高。