Innovative Capability of Building Information Modeling in Construction Design

Abstract

The construction industry has long been urged to innovate, but innovation has been elusive because of the inherent social and organizational complexity of construction. Therefore, developing insight into the practice of innovating is needed to better understand and perform innovation in construction. Focusing on the practice of innovating requires exploring the enabling capability of solutions for practitioners to establish novel ways of doing things for improvement, referred to as 'innovative capability.' Building information modeling (BIM) has been promoted as an enabler of innovation in construction design because of its data management capabilities and the opportunities for interdisciplinary work based on them. Nevertheless, previous work presents divergent results exploring what BIM technologies can do for people and what people can actually do in BIM-enabled design practices, which presents confusion about the innovative capability of BIM. This paper aims to establish the basis of this confusion as a necessary step in developing more realistic ways of assessing and exploiting this capability. A conceptual continuum is proposed based on the functionalist/technologycentered and nonfunctionalist/human-centered perspectives on BIM to consider divergent arguments about its innovative capability; this continuum is used to analyze empirical findings from BIM-enabled design practices. The analyses suggest that individuals use BIM but are confused about its innovative capability because they adopt different views of BIM depending on their job and perspective. Given this, innovation is held back by the unexpressed differences between the views of BIM adopted by various practitioners who have to work together. It is argued that recognizing these differences, and working toward their reconciliation, is the way forward in establishing and exploiting the innovative capability of BIM.

Developing organizational capabilities to deliver lean and green project outcomes using BIM

“…The organizational capabilities are key intangible assets and emerge when a company delivers on the combined competencies and abilities of its individuals (Ulrich and Smallwood, 2004). Further, Selçuk Çıdık et al (2017) uses the concept of “innovative capability” by describing it as the capability of a proposed solution to enable practitioners to establish novel ways of doing things for improvement.…”

BIM-enabled construction innovation through collaboration: a mixed-methods systematic review

“…Based on strong information integration and management capability, BIM provides several possibilities for collaborative work in the context of construction projects, which is its major selling point (Lu et al , 2015; Cao et al , 2017). Furthermore, the use of BIM will not only afford productivity improvement to users, but also change the manner in which individuals collaborate, thus enabling them to work differently (innovate) and improve performance (Selçuk Çıdık et al , 2017). However, regarding the topic of innovation, BIM is most often viewed as a technological innovation (Singh and Holmström, 2015).…”

“…Among the various advanced inter-firm collaborative technologies, building information modeling (BIM) is claimed to be the dominant enabler of construction innovation (Eastman et al , 2011). The data management and integration ability of BIM enables individuals who are involved in BIM-based construction projects to work differently to improve performance; this is called innovative capability (Selçuk Çıdık et al , 2017). Recently, an increasing number of research groups have focused on the exploration of this dimension of BIM ability (Holmström et al , 2015; Selçuk Çıdık et al , 2017; Murphy and Nahod, 2017); however, research is scant and fragmented, and gaps in knowledge on BIM-enabled construction innovation (BIM-CI) remain.…”

“…The data management and integration ability of BIM enables individuals who are involved in BIM-based construction projects to work differently to improve performance; this is called innovative capability (Selçuk Çıdık et al , 2017). Recently, an increasing number of research groups have focused on the exploration of this dimension of BIM ability (Holmström et al , 2015; Selçuk Çıdık et al , 2017; Murphy and Nahod, 2017); however, research is scant and fragmented, and gaps in knowledge on BIM-enabled construction innovation (BIM-CI) remain. The foremost among these gaps is the lack of an inclusive systematic conceptual framework of the BIM-CI system.…”

Measuring Value-Added-Oriented Bim Climate in Construction Projects: Dimensions and Indicators

“…Corresponding to BIM value-added, this quadrant emphasizes the development of real-time communication among participants and the provision of a stable environment. Through readiness and innovation, the characteristics can be supported by information management and organizational adaptability (Rafferty et al, 2013;Selçuk Çıdık et al, 2017;Sun & Jeyaraj, 2013). The external focus in this quadrant is the development of organizations that undertake construction projects, and the flexibility focus is the organizational openness to innovate and implement BIM technology.…”