BIM and its impact upon project success outcomes from a Facilities Management perspective

The uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been increasing, but some of its promoted potential benefits have been slow to materialise. In particular, claims that BIM will revolutionise facilities management (FM) creating efficiencies in the whole-life of building operations have yet to be achieved on a wide scale, certainly in comparison to tangible progress made for the prior design and construction phases. To attempt to unravel the factors at play in the adoption of BIM during the operational phase, and in particular, understand if adoption by facilities managers (FMs) is lagging behind other disciplines, this study aims to understand if current BIM processes can ease the challenges in this area faced by facilities management project stakeholders. To do this, success from a facilities management viewpoint is considered and barriers to facilities management success are explored, with focused BIM use proposed as a solution to these barriers. Qualitative research was undertaken, using semi structured interviews to collect data from a non-probability sample of 7 project- and facilities- management practitioners. Key results from this study show that the main barrier to BIM adoption by facilities managers is software interoperability, with reports that facilities management systems are unable to easily import BIM data produced during the design and construction stages. Additionally, facilities managers were not treated as salient stakeholders by Project Managers, further negatively affecting facilities management project success outcomes. A µresistance to change was identified as another barrier, as facilities managers were sceptical of the ability of current BIMenabled systems promoted as being FM compatible to be able to replicate their existing Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) legacy software and its user required capabilities. The results of this study highlight that more work is needed to ensure that BIM benefits the end user, as there was no reported use of BIM data for dedicated facilities management purposes. Further investigation into the challenges of interoperability could add significant value to this developing research area.The uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been increasing, but some of its promoted potential benefits have been slow to materialise. In particular, claims that BIM will revolutionise facilities management (FM) creating efficiencies in the whole-life of building operations have yet to be achieved on a wide scale, certainly in comparison to tangible progress made for the prior design and construction phases. To attempt to unravel the factors at play in the adoption of BIM during the operational phase, and in particular, understand if adoption by facilities managers (FMs) is lagging behind other disciplines, this study aims to understand if current BIM processes can ease the challenges in this area faced by facilities management project stakeholders. To do this, success from a facilities management viewpoint is considered and barriers to facilities management success are explored, with focused BIM use proposed as a solution to these barriers. Qualitative research was undertaken, using semi structured interviews to collect data from a non-probability sample of 7 project- and facilities- management practitioners. Key results from this study show that the main barrier to BIM adoption by facilities managers is software interoperability, with reports that facilities management systems are unable to easily import BIM data produced during the design and construction stages. Additionally, facilities managers were not treated as salient stakeholders by Project Managers, further negatively affecting facilities management project success outcomes. A µresistance to change was identified as another barrier, as facilities managers were sceptical of the ability of current BIMenabled systems promoted as being FM compatible to be able to replicate their existing Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) legacy software and its user required capabilities. The results of this study highlight that more work is needed to ensure that BIM benefits the end user, as there was no reported use of BIM data for dedicated facilities management purposes. Further investigation into the challenges of interoperability could add significant value to this developing research area

Pursuing Energy-Efficient Behavior in a Regulatory Environment: Motivating Policymakers, Program Administrators, and Program Implementers

This white paper examines how policymakers, program administrators, and program implementers can be motivated to pursue behavioral change in a regulatory environment. For the purposes of this report, behavior change is defined rather broadly, encompassing both behaviors associated with the purchase and installation of energy efficiency technologies as well as behaviors, decisions, and actions that might be thought of as more independent of technology. These include energy use habits, lifestyle choices, and consumption patterns. The insights and lessons discussed in this paper are drawn from a wide variety of sources including interviews with representatives from the energy and utility communities, and program documentation for energy-related programs and projects

Action learning : co-creating value from collaborative sustainable projects

This article reports on the specific role that action learning plays in the promotion of sustainability and innovation in the Local Government sector. The study focuses on one organisation and the efforts of a senior manager to enact change. The senior manager utilized his participation in an MBA programme to bring the classroom learning into his business. As a consequence of the requirements of the programme and also the desire of the senior manager, he was able to instigate a change programme, which delivered measurable outcomes and had financial and cultural impact. This case study illustrates the favourable advantages of using action learning as an intervention approach by HEI’s in driving sustainable innovation in the Local Government sectorFinal Published versio

A green-lean-six sigma model for environmental performance in manufacturing organizations : a study of a developed and developing nation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Management, School of Food and Advanced Technology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Table 2.2 (=Kumar et al 2016) was removed for copyright reasonsManufacturing organizations continue to face environmental challenges including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, large-scale energy consumption, and solid and liquid waste generation contributing to climate change. While emerging environmental concerns are serious challenges for discrete and process industries in both developed and developing countries, the impact of these issues is more significant for the process industry due to their high energy requirements, GHG emissions, and lack of application of operational strategies. Green-lean-six sigma (GLSS) is recognized as a promising operational and environmental improvement strategy for minimizing waste and conserving resources in manufacturing organizations. However, scant attention has been paid to examining this strategy in addressing the environmental concerns, and in particular, investigating its application between developed and developing nations. The aim of this study is to examine the drivers, enablers, environmental outcomes, and critical success factors (CSFs) of a GLSS strategy in a developed country (New Zealand) and developing country (Pakistan) context in the manufacturing industry. This study draws on the natural resource-based view, institutional theory-based view, and intellectual capital-based view to understand the execution of this strategy and develops a GLSS model for improving the environmental performance in manufacturing organizations. A qualitative research methodology is adopted with semi-structured interviews using the case study approach. In the first phase, a preliminary study is undertaken with lean six sigma and environmental consultants from New Zealand (NZ) and Pakistan (PK). In the second phase, the main study is conducted with senior corporate managers of two large-sized flexible packaging manufacturing companies in both NZ and PK who have implemented the green, lean, and six sigma strategies. This study highlights various internal operational and organizational drivers and external regulatory, market-driven, and society-oriented forces that prompt manufacturing companies to adopt a GLSS strategy. Numerous GLSS enablers for achieving environmental outcomes including waste and emission reduction, resource conservation and recycling, and environmental safety and compliance are revealed. Further, CSFs for the implementation of a GLSS approach comprising the strategic, operational, human resource, and external stakeholder-related elements are presented. By utilizing the results of the preliminary and the main study, a holistic GLSS model is developed for achieving environmental performance in manufacturing organizations, with significant theoretical and practical implications

Knowledge transfer processes in PFI: identification of barriers and enablers

Increasingly, the UK’s Private Finance Initiative has created a demand for construction companies to transfer knowledge from one organization or project to another. Knowledge transfer processes in such contexts face many challenges, due to the many resulting discontinuities in the involvement of organisations, personnel and information flow. This paper empirically identifies the barriers and enablers that hinder or enhance the transfer of knowledge in PFI contexts, drawing upon a questionnaire survey of construction firms. The main findings show that knowledge transfer processes in PFIs are hindered by time constraints, lack of trust, and policies, procedures, rules and regulations attached to the projects. Nevertheless, the processes of knowledge transfer are enhanced by emphasising the value and importance of a supportive leadership, participation/commitment from the relevant parties, and good communication between the relevant parties. The findings have considerable relevance to understanding the mechanism of knowledge transfer between organizations, projects and individuals within the PFI contexts in overcoming the barriers and enhancing the enablers. Furthermore, practitioners and managers can use the findings to efficiently design knowledge transfer frameworks that can be used to overcome the barriers encountered while enhancing the enablers to improve knowledge transfer processes

Redesign and innovation in hospitals: foundations to making it happen

This paper describes key features of hospital redesign processes in Australia by analysing Victorian, NSW and other models. It discusses frameworks and drivers of large scale change in health systems including challenges and barriers to success.  The use of systems thinking and institutional entrepreneurship to support achieving change is described.   Insights are provided to enable policy development that can support innovation and system redesign. What is the problem? Australia\u27s demand for healthcare services is escalating, driven by an ageing population with complex health care needs, rising rates of chronic illness, increasing health care costs and rapid information technology innovation. These pressures may not be adequately met within the health system\u27s current and future economic capacity. Therefore, healthcare services and systems must achieve wide-ranging reform and redesign if they are to meet these challenges. The key questions for those working as health services leaders are: how can we support the innovation and change required to address this reality? and what should national policy makers do to support this work? What does the evidence say? Considerable evidence describes overlapping aspects of successful redesign in hospitals. These include: leadership to achieve change; the use of data to monitor and evaluate change; coherent alignment to organisational strategic plans; the development of organisational culture that is ready for change; and ensuring integration of change into routine practice. Systems thinking and institutional entrepreneurship offer approaches to change and redesign that take into consideration networks and relationships of individuals, teams and clinical disciplines working within it, resources and current processes and the cultural context of the organisation. What does this mean for health service leaders? In order to fully meet the requirements for redesign and innovation, health service leaders will need to address a number of key areas. First and foremost, leaders need to develop their organisational strategic vision around the concept of redesign and innovation and build staff understanding of the importance of these concepts. Staff must be given the capacity and confidence to pursue meaningful change in their everyday operations. Leaders must recognise the benefits of data and analytics and support the development of systems to utilise these tools. Innovative practices from outside of the health sector should be studied and adapted, and partnerships with industry and academia must be pursued. What does this mean for policy makers? Policy makers need to commit to investment in the concept of redesign and innovation. They should consider funding models that reward health services for innovation. Policy makers must support health services to pursue and sustain meaningful change while recognising that transformation requires time, perseverance and willingness to learn from success and failure

Exploring inter-departmental barriers between production and quality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the value of adopting an organizational ecological perspective to explore behavioural barriers in a UK operations & production management (OPM) setting. Design/methodology/approach – An ethnographic case study approach was adopted with a narrative ecological stance to deconstruct the perceived realities and the origins of the inter‐departmental barriers applying Scott‐Morgan's unwritten rules methodology. Findings – Despite an improvement in the physical proximity of the production and quality control departments, the qualitative approach revealed that latent, socially constructed drivers around management, interaction and communication reinforced inter‐departmental barriers. Conflicting enablers were ultimately responsible derived from the organizational structure, which impacted the firm's production resources. Research limitations/implications – As a case study approach, the specificity of the findings to this OPM setting should be explored further. Practical implications – The paper demonstrates the use of theoretical frameworks in a production and manufacturing organization to provide insights for maximising process effectiveness. Using the organizational ecological perspective to uncover the socially constructed unwritten rules of the OPM setting beneficially impacted on operational effectiveness. Originality/value – The paper contributes to organization ethnography literature by providing a detailed empirical analysis of manufacturing and services behaviour using an organizational ecology perspective. The example demonstrates that “qualitative” research can have real world impact in an advanced operational context. It also contributes to an ecological or complex adaptive systems view of organizations and, inter alia, their supply chains

Operational excellence assessment framework for manufacturing companies

Operational Excellence (OE) is a consequence of an enterprise-wide practises based on correct principles that can be classified under four dimensions; Culture, Continuous Process Improvement, Enterprise Alignment and Results. To achieve OE, organisations have to attain a high maturity level and measurable success in the four dimensions as assessed externally by accredited institutions or consultants. External assessment is costly and can be inaccurate due to the lack of in depth knowledge of the organisation by external assessors, on the contrary, self-assessment of an organisations OE is cost effective and accurate if performed with a complete tool which assesses all four dimensions of OE. A complete OE self-assessment tool is currently unavailable, thus this study focuses on the development of a complete OE self-assessment tool. Using a matrix to critically evaluate and compare existing self-assessment tools in areas such as dimensions assessed, scoring criteria and usability, a complete self-assessment tool is then developed based on the combination of existing assessment tools. The tool is validated through the application, by managers, within a manufacturing company that already implements aspects of lean in order to self-assess its OE. The results of the assessment form the basis on which a roadmap to achieving OE is then developed

Mobility on Demand in the United States

The growth of shared mobility services and enabling technologies, such as smartphone apps, is contributing to the commodification and aggregation of transportation services. This chapter reviews terms and definitions related to Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), the mobility marketplace, stakeholders, and enablers. This chapter also reviews the U.S. Department of Transportation’s MOD Sandbox Program, including common opportunities and challenges, partnerships, and case studies for employing on-demand mobility pilots and programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of vehicle automation and on-demand mobility including pilot projects and the potential transformative impacts of shared automated vehicles on parking, land use, and the built environment

Innovation in public sector services

Estudios previos han abordado algunas de las características distintivas de la innovación pública, tales como los factores que influyen en la generación de innovaciones, los factores que habilitan el proceso de innovación y también las barreras que dificultan dicho proceso. Así pues, la innovación pública es un tema ha ganado atención en los últimos años. La presente tesis doctoral se aproxima al tema en cuestión a través de un enfoque empírico-cuantitativo, lo cual ha sido poco frecuente en la literatura que hasta ahora se ha desarrollado. En particular, tres objetivos orientan el análisis y las preguntas de investigación: 1) Proponer nuevas ideas y dar evidencia empírica acerca de los principales factores que conducen y habilitan la innovación pública, 2) Identificar algunas de las características distintivas de la dinámica de la innovación del sector público, y 3) Evaluar los resultados de la implementación de innovaciones. En el Capítulo 1 se identifica algunos de los factores que conducen y habilitan la innovación de servicios públicos, a la vez que se evalúan sus efectos sobre el desempeño innovador de las organizaciones públicas. Para el análisis se han empleado datos de los 27 países de la Unión Europea, recabados en la Innobaroter 2010 Survey. El Capítulo 2 provee de un marco conceptual útil para comparar cuán significativo es el uso de fuentes de información externas y externas para la implementación de innovaciones en servicios. Al mismo tiempo, se mide la significatividad estadística del uso de ambos tipos de fuentes de información, sobre la implementación de innovaciones en servicios. Esto último, como en Capítulo 1, a partir de evidencias obtenidas de la Innobarometer 2010 Survey. Nuevamente usando los datos del Innobarometer, el Capítulo 3 presenta evidencia empírica que apoya suposiciones acerca del potencial de las innovaciones de las organizaciones públicas para obtener efectos positivos tras haber sido implementadas, y acerca también del riesgo de sufrir efectos negativos. El Capítulo 4 presenta una visión alternativa en el análisis de la innovación pública y sus resultados. Una gran cantidad de estudios se basan en la observación de organizaciones públicas en países desarrollados. De modo que, ¿son sus hallazgos igualmente válidos en el contexto del sector público de países en vías de desarrollo? Este capítulo se propone aproximarse a la respuesta. Para tal propósito, la metodología consiste en el análisis de iniciativas participantes en el Premio Gobierno y Gestión Local, siguiendo un enfoque de estudio de casos. La hipótesis principal en la presente tesis doctoral sugiere ver la innovación pública bajo un enfoque teórico multi-agente, de modo que se entiende que las organizaciones públicas mantienen un alto nivel de interacción con otras organizaciones e individuos. Esta visión ha de considerar también varias vías para la generación de procesos innovadores, además de aquellas que son conducidas bajo estructuras jerárquicas rígidas. Las conclusiones obtenidas del análisis en los cuatro capítulos descritos son de ayuda para apoyar la validez de la visión sugerida