Alignment between ICT and communication in construction projects

Abstract

Through rapid advancements in ICT, opportunities arise in enhancing communication between participants of different organisations in construction projects. The use of ICT in construction is, however, relatively limited and ineffective compared to other sectors such as the automotive or the aerospace industry. An understanding of the project context and the nature of communication between organisations is an essential prerequisite in analysing and designing ICT in an effective way. The objective of this paper is to analyse the alignment between ICT and the actual communication processes in construction projects. The major question is what types of action need to be supported by ICT, and those that can be supported by the available ICT applications in construction projects. The critical social theory of Habermas (1984Habermas ( , 1987) is used as a classification scheme for analysing the alignment of communication and ICT applications in construction projects.

Interorganizational communication and ICT in construction projects: a review using metatriangulation

“…For example with the use of e-AMPS (Tserng and Lin, 2003) participants communicate automatically real-time scheduling information in order to make appropriate decisions in regard to project control. All other applications discussed by Adriaanse et al (2004) share the same characteristics. They all try to improve coordination, distribution and storage of as well as access to project information.…”

“…The match between groupware and groupwork is important in order to avoid user rejection or failure of well-designed applications. Adriaanse et al (2004) showed that Habermas' models of action can be related to ICT developed for construction projects. Based on a discussion of several ICT applications (Tserng and Lin, 2003;Weippert et al, 2002;Dawood et al, 2002;Thorpe and Mead, 2001;Tam, 1999;Deng et al, 2001) they concluded that the dominant model of action that can be supported by ICT is communicative action.…”

“…They all try to improve coordination, distribution and storage of as well as access to project information. Adriaanse et al (2004), however, argued that normatively regulated action can be also supported by the developed ICT applications. When participants make arrangements about their communicative behaviour and the use of ICT, appropriate use of applications is the result of the conformation of behaviour to fulfil reciprocal expectations.…”

A social–product–process framework for construction

“…Communicative action is where actors seek understanding in order to coordinate their actions. Adriaanse, Voordijk, and Dewulf (2004) used that schema to classify social activity in the groupware software. Both schemes will be used later to identify the gaps in the current understanding of construction communicationfocusing mostly and insufficiently only on the Searle's declaratives and Habermas' teleological actions and ignoring all others.…”

Role of mobile technology in the construction industry – a case study

“…In this context, 'Mobile Technology' could play a vital role in improving the efficiency of the construction processes. Currently, as part of business communications, Information Technology (IT) solutions connecting with Telefax machines are being used extensively for exchange of information such as drawings, pictures, schedules, documents and other workflow-related information (Adriaanse et al, 2004;Momaya and Ajitabh, 2005). However, with the fast technological improvements in mobile computing, such as handheld personal computers, is the construction industry able to make an effective use of such advancements?…”