Resistance to IT Change in the AEC Industry: Are the Stereotypes True?

Information technology (IT) change is difficult to implement successfully. Cultural (people) issues are a major barrier to IT implementation in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry and existing change models have limitations, particularly with respect to cultural issues, which directly affect the ability of companies within the AEC industry to successfully implement IT change. This paper discusses research exploring the relationships between a resistance to change index (RTCI) and the demographics of individuals to understand different AEC participants’ resistance to IT change. Identifying individuals that exhibit different intensities of resistance to IT change efforts and their attendant demographics provides benchmark data to organizations. The ability to identify potential resistors is the first step in helping ensure that new technology implementations succeed. Data was collected from a 156-person sample of the AEC population to determine the relationships among different demographic groups within the AEC population and differences in their RTCI. The data analysis found several demographic groups that were different in their likelihood of resistance, including profession, gender, computer understanding and experience, and awareness of past or future changes occurring in their company. Age and education level were expected to have relationships with RTCI, based on industry stereotypes. The data analysis found that these stereotypes have no scientific basis. Two other stereotypes, gender and computer understanding and experience, were supported by the data analysis.     

Performance Evaluation of Construction Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

To successfully evaluate investments related to integrated information management in the construction industry, causal loop diagramming was used to depict the qualitative system dynamics model for the study of the dynamics of construction enterprise resource planning systems (C-ERP). With the aid of system dynamics principles, together with literature review and two case studies, the major variables that influence the successful evaluation of C-ERP in the construction industry were evaluated. The major variables identified were validated with data from a survey. The validation procedure quantified associations between variables and perceived benefits from C-ERP stakeholders of construction-related firms. The model described in this paper aims at providing a holistic understanding of the C-ERP dynamics in construction. With this model, researchers and industry practitioners can develop an insight into C-ERP investments in practice.     

Building Integrated Architecture/Engineering/Construction Systems Using Smart Objects: Methodology and Implementation

Integrated project systems hold the promise for improving the quality while reducing the time and cost of architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) projects. A fundamental requirement of such systems is to support the modeling and management of the design and construction information and to allow the exchange of such information among different project disciplines in an effective and efficient manner. This paper presents a methodology to implement integrated project systems through the use of a model-based approach that involves developing integrated “smart AEC objects.” Smart AEC objects are an evolutionary step that builds upon past research and experience in AEC product modeling, geometric modeling, intelligent CAD systems, and knowledge-based design methods. Smart objects are 3D parametric entities that combine the capability to represent various aspects of project information required to support multidisciplinary views of the objects, and the capability to encapsulate “intelligence” by representing behavioral aspects, design constraints, and life-cycle data management features into the objects. An example implementation of smart objects to support integrated design of falsework systems is presented. The paper also discusses the requirements for extending existing standard data models, specifically the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), to support the modeling of smart AEC objects.     

Applying Concept Similarity to the Evaluation of Common Understanding in Multidisciplinary Learning

The success of an architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) project largely depends on the effective collaboration of project participants. This characteristic of the industry requires that AEC education shall foster multidisciplinary collaboration skills of students. On the other hand, many AEC education programs have started using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate teaching and learning such as distance learning. One of the challenges in a computer-mediated learning environment arises from the need for computer systems to determine whether a common understanding regarding a certain subject is established among a group of students. To achieve this goal, ICT needs to be able to detect changes in the knowledge structure of students in order to provide better mediation. This paper presents a study on the development of a concept similarity measure that has less computational complexity than graph-based similarity analyses. The similarity measure is intended to determine the similarity of multiple knowledge structures [e.g., concept maps (CMAPs)] of students. The concept similarity measure is developed based on the feature-based method in which propositions associated with a concept are considered as features of the concept. Therefore, the similarity of concepts can be measured by comparing the propositions of the concepts. In addition, since concepts are the key component of a knowledge structure, the common understanding of students can be determined by measuring the similarity of concepts in the knowledge structure of the students. The proposed measure is evaluated by (1) comparing it with the Dice coefficient for analyzing two sets of concepts; (2) analyzing its performance in a generic case of four CMAPs; and (3) applying it to a case using “photovoltaic system” as an example. In this case, results are intuitively obvious so that calculation results can be corroborated by human judgment. Finally, the concept similarity measure is applied to derive the similarity of CMAPs in the case study. Based on the initial evaluations, this study shows that the proposed measure has demonstrated promising features for determining the similarity of multiple knowledge structures or the common understanding of students. However, when the number of knowledge structures increases, concept similarity analyses become more complicated because uncertain situations arise due to ambiguous human perception to propositions that are shared by multiple concepts. Future research is thus needed to understand and clearly define concept similarity in those situations. In addition, other studies are also identified for future research.     

Legal Risks Faced by Foreign Architectural, Engineering, and Construction Firms in China

The extensive opportunities in China’s construction industry are expected to attract many foreign architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms to her shores. However, these foreign firms may face many legal risks and obstacles, mainly because of the differences in culture and operating environment from their home countries. This study investigates the legal risks that foreign AEC firms encounter when operating in China, and how these risks are managed. Data were collected from 21 foreign (non-Chinese) AEC professionals who have extensive experience in China. Legal risks faced by foreign AEC firms in China include: difficulty in complying with the innumerable laws and regulations at the central, provincial, and local levels of the government; keeping up with new laws and regulations that are constantly being enacted; seeming reluctance of Chinese business associates to enter into binding contracts; and lack of sanctity of contracts and contractual obligations not being carried out fully, leading to disputes. Based on the research findings, a framework for managing legal risks is proposed for use by industry practitioners. The framework recommends to practitioners several measures to manage the legal risks. These include relationship-based strategies like establishing close relationships with the Chinese government officials and Chinese business associates and careful selection of Chinese business partners. It is recommended that foreign AEC professionals adopt the mindset that in China, the contact is to be continuously negotiated and reinterpreted. To achieve this, industry practitioners should provide a substantial contingency sum. It is also important to emplace permanent staff in China so that they can understand the local environment and monitor the changes taking place there.     

Knowledge Management to Learning Organization Connection

The changes in the engineering-construction industry of the 21st century require organizations to take a more active role in developing knowledge management and learning organization initiatives. The need to both retain knowledge within the organization and focus on continuous human resource development throughout all levels of the organization is becoming a primary challenge throughout the industry. This paper addresses this challenge by focusing on the question of the link between knowledge management and learning organizations, and how to transform an organization from a focus on knowledge management to a focus on developing a learning culture. Based on a series of studies by the writers into the characteristics of both knowledge management and learning organizations, this paper outlines models of each of these concepts and introduces a bridge that details the level of knowledge management implementation that must be in place prior to an organization having the capacity to move to a learning focus. Additionally, the case studies conducted during the current study provide a basis for presenting potentially unsuccessful paths that may be selected by organizations during the implementation of a knowledge management to learning organization transition.     

Design Structure Matrix Implementation on a Seismic Retrofit

A void exists in development of design theory methodology within the structural engineering community. This void hampers efforts to resolve performance deficiencies including cost over-runs, unplanned rework, and suboptimal design. In manufacturing, product design and production improvements have resulted from implementation of the design structure matrix (DSM) methodology. DSM offers a means to represent, analyze, and decompose complex systems in order to improve their performance. DSM use within the architecture engineering construction (AEC) industry has been sporadic and focused primarily in the U.K. Where applied, DSM has proven effective at helping AEC design teams streamline processes to address nonlinearity (nonsequential information flows) introduced by iteration and complexity in design. When a DSM reveals iteration and highly dependent work, group brainstorming, collocated design sessions, rapid feedback, set-based design, and collaborative design aids can be used to increase overall team effectiveness. This paper examines a case study where DSM-based planning software was used on a seismic retrofit project to drive process improvement in design management. DSM correctly identified iterative activities central to design and provided the following; (1) a common vocabulary to discuss rework in the context of a multidisciplinary design team; (2) a rational method to schedule team collocation and brainstorming efforts to maximize their benefit; and (3) a means to consider iterative activities (and associated hand-offs) in design work structuring.     

Using Digital Socialization to Support Geographically Dispersed AEC Project Teams

In the field of knowledge management research, socialization means to convert individual into group tacit knowledge. This process matters from the outset of an architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) project to enhance collaborative work. Face-to-face meetings and phone calls undoubtedly facilitate socialization. However, meetings can be hard to timetable and expensive when AEC teams are geographically dispersed, whereas phone calls are cheap but offer limited capabilities for problem solving. Further, both media are not good at supporting asynchronous socialization. This study investigates the extent Internet-based media can promote cross-firm socialization and enhance collaborative work. The cross fertilization of findings from an exploratory case study with theory in computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) informs the development of a conceptual framework on digital socialization. This framework underpins IDRAK—a proof-of-concept of a rich Internet application prototype to promote socialization in AEC projects. Our main contribution is the design of a novel methodology to evaluate the usability of digital systems to support socialization at the early design stage of an AEC project. The results from our lab experiments suggest that IDRAK can satisfactorily and efficiently enhance collaborative work. However, more research is needed, first, to evaluate the effectiveness of IDRAK to improve design quality and asynchronous socialization; and second, to investigate how other CSCW features can improve the performance of IDRAK-like systems.     

A methodology for describing and decomposing complex psychosocial and behavioral interventions.

This article presents a comprehensive conceptual framework and methodology for characterizing multidimensional psychosocial and behavioral interventions for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. The methodology involved conducting a detailed task analysis of the interventions, and the application of the analytical hierarchy process. The authors were able to achieve high levels of consistency and reliability using this methodology to decompose and describe the interventions according to a complex conceptual framework comprising 3 dimensions: target domain, functional domain, and delivery system characteristics. Application of this methodology will enhance the ability to describe and measure interventions consistently, make comparisons across studies, isolate causal factors that achieve desired outcomes, and more generally elevate the science of psychosocial intervention research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

冶金行业军标质量管理体系建设与探索

通过某冶金企业军标质量管理体系的建立、实施、维护、改进过程,以及对该体系用于航空航天等军工产品和市场的初步探索和实践经验,说明了钢铁冶金行业应结合组织具体情况建立适合于组织自身特点的军标质量管理体系,以提高质量管理体系运行的效率和有效性,为军方提供符合要求的产品并为满足国防建设需要提供有力支撑。     

浅谈学习型组织中的知识管理

创建学习型组织和培育学习型人才，其本质都在于实施有效的知识管理。发现、搜集、过滤并呈现对企业有用的知识．其中的知识库有企业的基本信息、组织结构信息和服务信息等，知识库中的知识必须是开放型的且要随时更新。知识管理中的组织学习包括显性知识、隐性知识及过程的学习。通过建立能为公开组织学习和交流提供完好设施的网络、有利于组织成员进行合作和参与知识共享等方式构建知识管理体系。     

Effects of HVAC System and Building Characteristics on Exposure of Occupants to Short-Duration Point Source Aerosol Releases

This paper presents results from the simulation of localized, short-duration bioaerosol releases in a hypothetical building similar to a dormitory or barracks using public domain multizone air flow and contaminant dispersion modeling software. The primary purpose of the modeling was to generate example exposure data to be used in the development of a comprehensive microbial risk assessment methodology. However, these results are also of intrinsic interest for what they reveal about the contribution of various building characteristics to risk from airborne contaminants. A variety of parameters were varied, including building construction, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system design, and release characteristics, among others. Results of these simulations demonstrate the variability of exposure possible under different scenarios and, more particularly, the impact that HVAC design decisions can have on risk. Although a single building and restricted set of scenarios was investigated, several general conclusions could be drawn regarding factors, such as HVAC zoning and filter maintenance, that intrinsically contribute to vulnerability reduction.     

Selecting BOT/PPP Infrastructure Projects for Government Guarantee Portfolio under Conditions of Budget and Risk in the Indonesian Context

Guarantee provision in privately financed infrastructure projects implemented as build-operate-transfer/public-private-partnership (BOT/PPP) arrangements is not uncommon in many countries, and Indonesia is no exception. But, given that the government budget is, in most if not all cases, not unlimited, there must be a selection of BOT/PPP projects posing proposals for seeking government guarantees. This paper presents a project selection methodology under the chance-constrained goal-programming framework in the context of the Indonesian BOT/PPP infrastructure industry. The ultimate objective of the selection is to result in a portfolio of guaranteed projects that brings maximum welfare gain to the economy as a whole, maximum total net change in financial net present value but, at the same time, puts the government at the lowest fiscal risk for a given budget constraint. The proposed methodology allows the government to examine relationships among the expected total payment, budget-at-risk allocated, and a desired confidence interval of actual payment not exceeding the budget-at-risk. The government can also compare two or more alternative scenarios and choose the optimal one that delivers the highest value for the money. To illustrate the model application, without sacrificing the generality of the proposed methodology, a much-simplified hypothetical case is presented, examined, and discussed.     

Learning viewpoint-invariant face representations from visual experience in an attractor network

In natural visual experience, different views of an object or face tend to appear in close temporal proximity as an animal manipulates the object or navigates around it, or as a face changes expression or pose. A set of simulations is presented which demonstrate how viewpoint-invariant representations of faces can be developed from visual experience by capturing the temporal relationships among the input patterns. The simulations explored the interaction of temporal smoothing of activity signals with Hebbian learning in both a feedforward layer and a second, recurrent layer of a network. The feedforward connections were trained by competitive Hebbian learning with temporal smoothing of the post-synaptic unit activities. The recurrent layer was a generalization of a Hopfield network with a low-pass temporal filter on all unit activities. The combination of basic Hebbian learning with temporal smoothing of unit activities produced an attractor network learning rule that associated temporally proximal input patterns into basins of attraction. These two mechanisms were demonstrated in a model that took grey-level images of faces as input. Following training on image sequences of faces as they changed pose, multiple views of a given face fell into the same basin of attraction, and the system acquired representations of faces that were approximately viewpoint-invariant.     

Prototype System for Knowledge Problem Definition

Attitudes to knowledge management (KM) have changed considerably as organizations are now realizing its benefits. Implementation, however, has been facing serious difficulties attributed either to not being able to anticipate the barriers when planning KM strategies or to using inappropriate methods and tools for implementation. These difficulties are more critical in construction due to the fragmented nature of the industry. This paper suggests that proper definition of a KM problem at the early stages of developing the KM initiatives will result in better control over the KM barriers. A methodology for identifying KM problems within a business context is then introduced. The methodology is encapsulated into a prototype software system, which facilitates its deployment in organizations and provides online help facilities. The methodology, development, operation, and evaluation of the prototype are described. The paper concludes that the prototype offers considerable potential for delivering a clarified KM problem and a distilled set of issues for an organization to address. This represents a significant first step in any KM initiative.     

智能制造视野下钢铁企业能源管控系统展望

能源管控系统存在生产组织层级多、系统架构离散、管控依靠经验等诸多问题,难以面对钢铁工业智能制造的目标。能源管控系统应按流程工业智能制造的范式构建自身的人-信息-物理融合系统(HCPS),学习生产工艺智能优化和生产全流程整体智能优化的技术思维,借鉴能源互联网的供需互动理念,部署与企业整体协同的IT架构。在此基础上,从生产管理模式变革、系统的数字化组建、优化控制功能、精细化能源管理等角度描述了能源管控系统的发展愿景。     

Performance Measurement of Training in Engineering Organizations

This work introduces a new training program performance assessment methodology for engineering organizations that is based upon needs assessment, types of training, and training effectiveness measures. The methodology checks whether predefined objectives of a company are identified through a needs assessment. Effectiveness is judged on whether the types of training and coursework content are formulated to fulfill the needs assessment objectives, whether the coursework is available to the proper employees, whether the courses are attended and understood by the employees, and whether the coursework content is utilized in the work place to meet the needs assessment objectives of the company. A case study of three training programs conducted within a public sector engineering organization is included to demonstrate the methodology and evaluate both the three programs and the methodology effectiveness. Conclusions suggest improvements to future training programs for the public sector engineering organization, as well as describe potential enhancements to the effectiveness measures of the methodology that can be recognized through further study of existing training programs.     

Causal inference and related statistical methods

Statistical approaches for evaluating causal effects and for discovering causal networks are discussed in this paper.A causal relation between two variables is different from an association or correlation between them.An association measurement between two variables and may be changed dramatically from positive to negative by omitting a third variable,which is called Yule-Simpson paradox.We shall discuss how to evaluate the causal effect of a treatment or exposure on an outcome to avoid the phenomena of Yule-Simpson paradox. Surrogates and intermediate variables are often used to reduce measurement costs or duration when measurement of endpoint variables is expensive,inconvenient,infeasible or unobservable in practice.There have been many criteria for surrogates.However,it is possible that for a surrogate satisfying these criteria,a treatment has a positive effect on the surrogate,which in turn has a positive effect on the outcome,but the treatment has a negative effect on the outcome,which is called the surrogate paradox.We shall discuss criteria for surrogates to avoid the phenomena of the surrogate paradox. Causal networks which describe the causal relationships among a large number of variables have been applied to many research fields.It is important to discover structures of causal networks from observed data.We propose a recursive approach for discovering a causal network in which a structural learning of a large network is decomposed recursively into learning of small networks.Further to discover causal relationships,we present an active learning approach in terms of external interventions on some variables.When we focus on the causes of an interest outcome, instead of discovering a whole network,we propose a local learning approach to discover these causes that affect the outcome.     

Constructability State of Practice Report

This report reviews guidance on constructability programs from a variety of sources and presents the current practice of constructability. The advice of several organizations and researchers is summarized to describe expectations for ideal constructability. Actual current constructability practice, based on results and analysis of a Constructability State of Practice survey, is described. Approximately 100 owners, architects, engineers, consultants, contractors, and construction managers answered the survey’s ten questions and provided written comments. The results provide a picture of current constructability practices in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry and progress in recent years. Major conclusions include: (1) constructability has gained acceptance throughout the industry; (2) constructability efforts are clearly beginning in early project phases; (3) a wide variety of constructability techniques and new technologies are being implemented; and (4) obstacles to improving constructability remain, but may be changing. Finally, recommendations are provided based on areas where constructability practice can still be improved. This report is relevant to both industry practitioners and researchers.