Publications
111 results found
Whyte J, 2015, Towards a new craft of architecture, Building Research and Information, Vol: 43, Pages: 263-265, ISSN: 0961-3218
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- Citations: 3
Sacks R, Whyte J, Swissa D, et al., 2015, Safety by design: dialogues between designers and builders using virtual reality, Construction Management and Economics, Vol: 33, Pages: 55-72, ISSN: 0144-6193
© 2015 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. Designers can contribute to enhancing the safety of construction work by considering how their decisions impact on both the physical environment in which construction workers operate and the means and methods they use. To do so, however, designers require knowledge about safety hazards on site and the opportunity to examine their designs early in projects. Through a set of studies virtual reality tools were used to examine the potential for collaborative dialogue between designers and builders to provide a forum for learning and proactive change of a design to make a project safer to build. In the tests, participants viewed proposed designs using virtual reality to examine various alternative design and construction scenarios. The study shows that consultation and dialogue with an experienced construction professional are highly beneficial for designers to appreciate the implications of designs on safety, and that designers are more willing to adapt design details than to change aesthetic aspects of their designs.
Ramalingam S, Lobo S, Mahalingam A, et al., 2014, Achieving reliability in transnational work on complex projects: new directions for research, Engineering Project Organization Journal, Vol: 4, Pages: 193-208, ISSN: 2157-3727
The delivery of complex engineering projects today often involves globally distributed teams. In these teams, engineers must check for inadvertent errors by following the assumptions, logic and computations of others and define processes to reduce these errors. Engineering firms are thus increasingly using digital technologies to enable teams to do transnational work. While project management research on global virtual teams articulates how team performance relates to composition and characteristics, it has paid less attention to reliability and how this is achieved in such transnational work. This paper considers how constructs related to reliability—trust, culture and communication—become inter-related in work on complex projects. Recent research on work practice, which examines dynamics over time, is brought into dialogue with the literature on global virtual teams, re-conceptualizing trust as enacted in practice; culture as a resource for action and communication as a mediated dialogue. Vignettes from pilot work are used to support this re-conceptualization and illustrate how it extends research on teams to enable new insights into reliable performance in transnational work. The paper suggests a new agenda for project management research on achieving reliability in complex projects where delivery is digitally mediated and involves a global team, concluding by highlighting areas for further research.
Lindkvist C, Whyte J, 2013, Challenges and opportunities involving facilities management in data handover: London 2012 case study, Pages: 670-679
There is an increasing interest of the usage of project data for the life-cycle with the evolution of Building Information Modelling, which promotes the incremental collection of data. This research considers the role of facilities management in developing data for handover at project completion by empirically studying the delivery of the London 2012 games. Eighteen interviews were conducted with project participants. Backgrounds of participants included project sponsors (client representative), delivery partners and facility manager professionals. Our findings suggest a number of approaches taken by a client for the transition of knowledge into the practices of facilities management. These approaches are 1) creating a culture for knowledge transfer in the project; 2) strategic knowledge transfer through guides and processes; 3) knowledge transfer through social interactions; 4) knowledge transfer through the representation of facilities management. There were a number of enablers identified that were aimed at progressing knowledge transfer into facilities management in the project to different degrees such as a transition phase for data handover of up to 6 months in projects. However, there were challenges that limited knowledge transfer as end-user links with the project came to an end with project completion. The contribution of this paper outlines how the client can involve facilities management professionals in the project through incorporating their knowledge during the data handover phase. However, this does not have to be one way and the implications of this study is that having a project representative after the data is handed over to the end user will further enable knowledge transfer from projects into facilities management practices. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Maradza E, Whyte J, Larsen GD, 2013, Standardisation of building information modelling in the UK and USA: Challenges and opportunities, Pages: 457-466
Standardisation provides an invisible digital infrastructure within which digital design technologies support coordination by heterogeneous actors in the construction sector. Inadequate standards pose challenges to design technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM). In its latest strategy mandating the use of BIM, the UK government blames the construction industry's lack of collaboration and inefficiency on low levels of standardisation. This paper investigates the development of standards as invisible digital infrastructures for facilitating collaboration in construction projects in the USA and the UK. The paper draws on a) interviews with key standards development consultants in the UK and USA and b) industry publication and revisions to the British standard through the publicly available specification (PAS) 1192 and NBIMS in the USA. The literature on standardisation suggests that engagement in standard development is often motivated by self-interest; and that standards are developed through consensus building, political processes of aligning multiple standards, and end-user participation. Findings from the empirical work to date suggest a rapid process of development, excessive self-interest, minimal end user participation and incompatible processes. The study concludes with observations on how digital infrastructures develop and could be useful in shaping practice and how such artefacts are integrated in dynamic, unstructured and rapidly developing project based environments. The paper contributes to literature on evolution and proliferation of digital infrastructures in sectorial systems of innovation. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Larsen GD, Whyte J, 2013, Safe construction through design: perspectives from the site team, Construction Management and Economics, Vol: 31, Pages: 675-690, ISSN: 0144-6193
How does the work of designers impact on the safety of operatives at the construction site? Safety research and policy emphasize the importance of designing for safe construction, yet the interface between design and construction is poorly understood: accidents have multiple causes making it hard to establish causal links between design choices and safety outcomes. An in-depth case study of a major station project examines how professionals on the construction site perceive and manage the safety challenges of a building design. Analyses reveal understandings that, on the project studied, design has an impact on safety because of: (1) the timing of design work, where the volume of late design changes increased the difficulty of planning safe procedures, e.g. for working at height, lifting heavy items, refurbishing and demolishing old buildings; and (2) inputs from design stakeholders with insufficient practical knowledge of construction and operation required unplanned work-arounds, e.g. to coordinate different sub-systems, provide maintenance access, and manage loads during construction. These findings suggest that safety suffers where projects are under-designed, and that alongside regulation, there is a need for robust management attention to the contractual structures, incentives, processes and tools that enable clients and designers to understand material practices of construction and operation. © 2013 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Whyte J, Lindkvist C, Ibrahim NH, 2013, From projects into operations: Lessons for data handover, Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, Vol: 166, Pages: 86-93, ISSN: 1751-4304
Data from civil engineering projects can inform the operation of built infrastructure. This paper captures lessons for such data handover, from projects into operations, through interviews with leading clients and their supply chain. Clients are found to value receiving accurate and complete data. They recognise opportunities to use high-quality information in decision-making about capital and operational expenditure, as well as in ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Providing this value to clients is a motivation for information management in projects. However, data handover is difficult as key people leave before project completion, and different data formats and structures are used in project delivery and operations. Lessons learnt from leading practice include defining data requirements at the outset, involving operations teams at an early stage, shaping the evolution of interoperable systems and standards, developing handover processes to check data rather than documentation and fostering skills to use and update project data in operations.
Jaradat S, Whyte J, Luck R, 2013, Professionalism in digitally mediated project work, BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION, Vol: 41, Pages: 51-59, ISSN: 0961-3218
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- Citations: 34
Whyte J, 2013, Beyond the computer: Changing medium from digital to physical, INFORMATION AND ORGANIZATION, Vol: 23, Pages: 41-57, ISSN: 1471-7727
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- Citations: 18
Lindkvist C, Stasis A, Whyte J, 2013, Configuration management in complex engineering projects, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
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- Citations: 9
Stasis A, Whyte J, Dentten R, 2013, A Critical Examination of Change Control Processes, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
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- Citations: 9
Whyte J, Harty C, 2012, Socio-material Practices of Design Coordination: Objects as Plastic and Partisan, Materiality and Organizing: Social Interaction in a Technological World, ISBN: 9780199664054
Drawing on detailed research on a construction megaproject, the chapter takes a practice-based approach to examining the practical and theoretical tensions between existing ways of working and the introduction of new digital coordination tools in design. The chapter analyzes the new hybrid practices that emerge, using insights from actor network theory, to articulate the delegation of actions to physical and digital objects within ecologies of practice. The three vignettes that we discuss highlight this delegation of actions, the "plugging" and "patching" of ecologies occurring across media and the continual iterations of working practices between different types of media. By shifting the focus from tools to these wider ecologies of practice, the approach has important implications for the stabilization of new technologies and practices and for managing technological change in the design of physical infrastructure.
Zhou W, Whyte J, Sacks R, 2012, Construction safety and digital design: A review, AUTOMATION IN CONSTRUCTION, Vol: 22, Pages: 102-111, ISSN: 0926-5805
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- Citations: 152
Whyte J, 2011, Managing digital coordination of design: emerging hybrid practices in an institutionalized project setting, Engineering Project Organization Journal, Vol: 1, Pages: 159-168, ISSN: 2157-3727
Whyte J, Levitt R, 2011, Information Management and the Management of Projects, The Oxford Handbook of Project Management, ISBN: 9780199563142
This article argues that emerging digital technologies are enabling new forms of project management in project-based industries. The 1960s project management approach originated in the mature project-based industries of petrochemicals, military, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, buildings, and infrastructure. This approach, which is termed "Project Management 1.0" (PM 1.0), evolved to manage small numbers of large, complex projects in business and regulatory environments that were relatively stable by today's standards. It involves detailed up-front planning, using multiple layers of hierarchical work breakdown structures. It then manages these projects by tracking and eliminating variance from plans. The approach is alive and well in some of those same industries, and has been greatly enhanced by widespread use of digital technologies for planning, visualization, communication, procurement, logistics, and other functions. However, there are important ways in which the use of information technology begins to challenge this traditional project management approach.
Whyte J, Sexton M, 2011, Motivations for innovation in the built environment: new directions for research, BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION, Vol: 39, Pages: 473-482, ISSN: 0961-3218
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- Citations: 39
Ewenstein B, Whyte J, 2010, Wissenspraktiken im Design Die Rolle visueller Repräsentationen als »epistemische Objekte«, Kultur- und Medientheorie, Publisher: transcript Verlag, Pages: 47-80, ISBN: 9783837614633
Whyte JK, Gann DM, 2010, Design Quality Indicators: work in progress, BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION, Vol: 31, Pages: 387-398, ISSN: 0961-3218
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- Citations: 26
Gann DM, Salter AJ, Whyte JK, 2010, Design Quality Indicator as a tool for thinking, BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION, Vol: 31, Pages: 318-333, ISSN: 0961-3218
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- Citations: 135
Whyte J, Lobo S, 2010, Coordination and control in project-based work: Digital objects and infrastructures for delivery, Construction Management and Economics, Vol: 28, Pages: 557-567, ISSN: 0144-6193
A major infrastructure project is used to investigate the role of digital objects in the coordination of engineering design work. From a practice-based perspective, research emphasizes objects as important in enabling cooperative knowledge work and knowledge sharing. The term 'boundary object' has become used in the analysis of mutual and reciprocal knowledge sharing around physical and digital objects. The aim is to extend this work by analysing the introduction of an extranet into the public-private partnership project used to construct a new motorway. Multiple categories of digital objects are mobilized in coordination across heterogeneous, cross-organizational groups. The main findings are that digital objects provide mechanisms for accountability and control, as well as for mutual and reciprocal knowledge sharing; and that different types of objects are nested, forming a digital infrastructure for project delivery. Reconceptualizing boundary objects as a digital infrastructure for delivery has practical implications for management practices on large projects and for the use of digital tools, such as building information models, in construction. It provides a starting point for future research into the changing nature of digitally enabled coordination in project-based work. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.
Whyte JK, Cardellino P, 2010, Learning by Design: Visual Practices and Organizational Transformation in Schools, DESIGN ISSUES, Vol: 26, Pages: 59-69, ISSN: 0747-9360
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- Citations: 4
Harty C, Whyte J, 2010, Emerging Hybrid Practices in Construction Design Work: Role of Mixed Media, JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT, Vol: 136, Pages: 468-476, ISSN: 0733-9364
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- Citations: 41
Whyte J, 2010, TAKING TIME TO UNDERSTAND: ARTICULATING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TECHNOLOGIES AND ORGANIZATIONS, TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATION: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF JOAN WOODWARD, Editors: Phillips, Sewell, Griffiths, Publisher: EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD, Pages: 217-236
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- Citations: 1
Whyte J, Ewenstein B, Hales M, et al., 2008, Visualizing knowledge in project-based work, LONG RANGE PLANNING, Vol: 41, Pages: 74-92, ISSN: 0024-6301
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- Citations: 64
Coopmans C, Whyte J, 2007, Digital tools, complex projects and playful engineering, Structural Engineer, Vol: 85, Pages: 16-18, ISSN: 1466-5123
The research project 'Playful Engineering' investigates how digital software tools, such as digital databases, enable innovation in an organization. the project is conducted in collaboration with a number of engineering and science-based companies and carried out within the Innovation Studies Center at Tanaka Business School, Imperial college, London. These digital tools can help engineers and scientists predict the real-world outcomes of a range of alternative solutions and compare them relatively. Digital tools can be used to optimize the processes. The project combines interviewing, observational fieldwork, and document analysis to develop. Visual scheduling packages that take into account multiple streams of information can test various execution strategies with many interdependencies, such as Heathrow Terminal 5, the intergravity quality of digital tools.
Ewenstein B, Whyte J, 2007, Beyond words: Aesthetic knowledge and knowing in organizations, ORGANIZATION STUDIES, Vol: 28, Pages: 689-708, ISSN: 0170-8406
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- Citations: 107
Whyte J, 2007, The Oxford handbook of innovation, ORGANIZATION STUDIES, Vol: 28, Pages: 589-593, ISSN: 0170-8406
Whyte JK, Ewenstein B, 2007, Visual practices and the built environment, Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
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- Citations: 3
Whyte JK, Ewenstein B, 2007, Editorial: Visual practices and the built environment, Building Research and Information, Vol: 35, Pages: 3-5
Whyte J, 2007, Evolutionary theories and design practices, Design Issues, Vol: 23, Pages: 46-54
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