Informality in organization and research: a review and a proposal
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paper_title: Using artefacts to mediate understanding in design conversations

paper_content:

The journey from the concept of a building to the actual built form is mediated with the use of various artefacts, such as drawings, product samples and models. These artefacts are produced for different purposes and for people with different levels of understanding of the design and construction processes. This paper studies design practice as it occurs naturally in a real-world situation by observing the conversations that surround the use of artefacts at the early stages of a building's design. Drawing on ethnographic data, insights are given into how the use of artefacts can reveal a participant's understanding of the scheme. The appropriateness of the method of conversation analysis to reveal the users' understanding of a scheme is explored by observing spoken micro-interactional behaviours. It is shown that the users' understanding of the design was developed in the conversations around the use of artefacts, as well as the knowledge that is embedded in the artefacts themselves. The users' confidence in the appearance of the building was considered to be gained in conversation, rather than the ability of the artefacts to represent a future reality.
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paper_title: Producing things or production flows ? Ontological assumptions in the thinking of managers and professionals in construction

paper_content:

New approaches to production management can be conceptualized as treating production as flow rather than transformation. These alternatives can in turn be regarded as reflecting opposing ontological positions, holding respectively that reality is constituted of temporal process, or atemporal substance. The new production philosophy thus arguably represents a process ontology radically different from the atemporal metaphysics underlying conventional methods and theories. Moreover, research in physics education has identified the disjunction between ontological categories of 'substance' and 'process' as a particularly acute barrier to understanding process phenomena. Studies are presented which demonstrate the possibility of specifying and classifying mental models, with regard to two important management solutions in construction. Thus, procedures typically adopted in quantity surveying and the implementation of structural engineering design are examined. Methods of measurement used in quantity surveying are designed to account primarily for physical, rather than temporal properties. In design, the emphasis is on representing properties of finished structures, rather than the construction processes. The process is then managed by treating the design and its execution as separate products. It is argued here that alternative, more effective management solutions are derived from a process ontology.
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paper_title: Construction Management: Traditional versus Bureaucratic Methods

paper_content:

This article compares older traditional methods of management in the construction industry with newer, more bureaucratic methods. The theme of the article is that bureaucratic management techniques in construction has an ineffective impact on the construction work. The article outlines the construction work process and traditional styles of construction management. It then examines how the new techniques of computer programming and large staffing have resulted in inefficiencies and irrationalities in attempts to control the construction work process. In the discussion portion of the article the data are related to the notion that human interrelationships are the primary resources in any work organization and, this being especially true for the construction industry, reliance on authoritarian, mechanistic techniques in management results in failure in the attempts of management to control the work process. The author of the article is a construction engineer with twenty-five years experience in the construction industry. He compares his previous experiences as a project manager and project engineer with methods on his present project, a 200 million dollar research and engineering center for one of the major industrial corporations in the United States. The author is currently the chief engineer on his construction project.
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paper_title: Hunters and farmers? The HRM implications of ‘product-service’ in construction

paper_content:

Providing additional services to accompany the sale of products is increasingly central to the business strategies of manufacturing companies. Such packages of products and services have become known as ‘integrated solutions’ or ‘product-service’ modes of working. In construction, the concept can be traced to build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects of the 1980s, where a consortium would finance, design construct and operate a facility for a specified period of time. More recently this approach is evident in PFI/PPP projects. It has been argued that firms attempting to shift to an integrated solutions model have to transform their cultures, mindsets, capabilities and organizational structures. This paper presents the findings of research which is examining the potential human resource management implications of a shift from ‘product’ to ‘product-service’ in the construction industry. A case study was conducted at a leading UK construction company, based upon 15 semi-structured interviews conducted with a range of senior managerial respondents. The results reveal that delivering integrated solutions may be hindered by two distinct mindsets within construction organizations: ‘hunters’ and ‘farmers’. Whereas the former focuses on securing short-term wins within defined and time-limited relationships, the latter are more concerned with cultivating and nurturing the relationship over the long-term. The paper explores the tensions between, and the challenges of, the two mindsets in relation to drive for integrated service strategies within major construction organizations.
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paper_title: Design and natural science research on information technology

paper_content:

Research in IT must address the design tasks faced by practitioners. Real problems must be properly conceptualized and represented, appropriate techniques for their solution must be constructed, and solutions must be implemented and evaluated using appropriate criteria. If significant progress is to be made, IT research must also develop an understanding of how and why IT systems work or do not work. Such an understanding must tie together natural laws governing IT systems with natural laws governing the environments in which they operate. This paper presents a two dimensional framework for research in information technology. The first dimension is based on broad types of design and natural science research activities: build, evaluate, theorize, and justify. The second dimension is based on broad types of outputs produced by design research: representational constructs, models, methods, and instantiations. We argue that both design science and natural science activities are needed to insure that IT research is both relevant and effective.
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paper_title: The Constructive Approach in Management Accounting Research

paper_content:

A device for locking two concentrically positioned and axially displaceable members against displacement in one direction, characterized by a recess formed in one of said members and opening in the direction of the second member, and by locking elements located in said recess, said recess having a first part with a bottom portion positioned at a greater distance from said second member than the distance corresponding to the size of the locking elements in a direction transversally to the axial direction of said members, and a second part of said recess having a bottom portion decreasing its distance to said second member in the axial direction of said members and from the first mentioned bottom portion to a distance less than the distance corresponding to the size of the locking elements in said direction transversally to the axial direction of the members, whereby the locking elements are free from locking engagement between said elements, when located in said first part of recess and engaging said members for locking the members against displacement in at least one direction, when located in said second part of recess, and by an actuating element for displacing the locking elements between said parts of recess.
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paper_title: Ethnomethodology's Program: Working Out Durkheim's Aphorism

paper_content:

Chapter 1 The Pleasure of Garfinkel's Indexical Ways Chapter 2 Editor's Introduction Chapter 3 Author's Introduction Chapter 4 Authors Acknowledgements As An Autobiographical Account Part 5 I What is Ethnomethodology? Chapter 6 1 Central Claims to Ethnomethodology Chapter 7 2 EM Studies and Their Formal Analytic Alternates Chapter 8 3 Rendering Theorems Chapter 9 4 Tutorial Problems Chapter 10 5 Ethnomethodological Policies and Methods Part 11 II Instructed Action Chapter 12 6 Instructions and Instructed Actions Chapter 13 7 A Study of the Work of Teaching Undergraduate Chemistry in Lecture Format Chapter 14 8 Autochthonous Order Properties of Formatted Queues Chapter 15 9 An Ethnomethodological Study of the Work of Galileo's Inclined Plane Demonstration of the Real Motion of Free Falling Bodies
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paper_title: Project affinity: the role of emotional attachment in construction projects

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Although a wide range of human and organizational factors have been found to be important in the operation of projects, those determined by cultural variables are less well defined. One such influence concerns the notion of 'project affinity', the commitment and attachment by stakeholders and participants to projects and their outcomes. The temporal nature and transient involvement context provided by construction projects arguably presents a climate in which many participants are less likely to display commitment to its goals. This note is concerned with the issue of whether an attachment to a project's goals or to the completed product can lead to improved commitment among those involved. The concept of project affinity was developed in the course of a case study investigation in which operatives' attitudes towards the construction of a cancer research facility were explored. Because of the contribution of the facility to the future care of cancer sufferers, the concept of project affinity proved helpful in understanding a factor that appeared to be influencing the commitment of those involved. The results suggest a complementary concept to that of 'project chemistry' (c.f. Nicolini, 2002).
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paper_title: A grounded theory of women's career under-achievement in large UK construction companies

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In response to impending skills shortages and changing employment patterns, the UK construction industry recently has made considerable efforts to attract more women to its professions. However, despite their increasing representation, there are indications that women experience difficulties in developing their careers within the industry. This research investigated the careers of men and women working for large construction companies, in order to establish the gender determined influences on women's career progression. A primarily qualitative methodology was employed for the research, in which career profiles were developed through ethnographic interviews with 41 matched pairs of male and female employees. This allowed the gender specific determinants of careers to be established across a range of different organizations, and from informants at different vocational and life-cycle stages. The analysis resulted in the formulation of a set of eight interrelated theoretical models, from which a theory of women's career development was constructed. The theory reflects the belief that the construction workplace is a competitive and conflictual environment, where women are overtly and covertly discriminated against by men, who use structural systems to undermine their participation. The women interviewed were found to have dealt with these barriers in a way which perpetuated existing work cultures. If reflected throughout the industry, this would suggest the existence of a self-fulfilling cycle of women's continued under-achievement. The paper puts forward the radical proposition that women should not be attracted to the industry unless steps are taken to moderate its exclusionary and discriminatory culture.
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paper_title: Leadership style and power relations in quantity surveying in Hong Kong

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The realization of construction projects brings together a diversity of individuals and organizations, variously forged into groups and teams, in which power is important in shaping leader/follower behaviour. Quantity surveyors, being primarily project cost consultants and procurement/contractual advisers, are employed both by the clients' and the contractors' organizations. This paper investigates aspects of leadership style and power within quantity surveying in both clients' and contractors' project 'teams'. The empirical work employed two questionnaires, developed from established instruments and completed by samples of team leaders and team members. Some differences emerged between quantity surveyors working for consultants' organizations (acting on behalf of the client) and those working for contractors' organizations. The results confirm the relationship orientation of clients' consultant quantity surveyors, who tend to adopt the supportive style of leadership. The directive style of leadership showed negative impact. Power distance was found to exceed that measured previously for Hong Kong and expert power was the most important power source.
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paper_title: Advocating an ambivalent approach to theorizing the built environment

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This paper outlines the breadth of approaches to conceptualization of the built environment that exist across a range of literature sets, including construction management, architectural design and organization theory. It considers the commensurability, or otherwise, of different theoretical perspectives based upon their grounding in different ontological and epistemological stances. It also considers the basis of models derived of empirical engagement with practice. In contemplating the relationship between theory and practice throughout the life cycle of the built environment, along with the range of involved stakeholders; and illustrated by reference to the example of the contemporary 'workplace'; an ambivalent approach to theorizing at the local level of involved actors is proposed. In this approach, conceptualization of the built environment is based not upon early exclusive either/or choices between different theories and models, but rather upon inclusive both/and considerations. However, this does not mean that all are considered as equally valid in the outcomes of decision-making, and the role of power and politics is acknowledged within the process of negotiation of a 'good' outcome. The potential, and the limitations, of this ambivalent approach are informed by a contemporary social science interpretation of the concept of phronesis, or practical wisdom, which has roots in Aristotelian philosophy.
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paper_title: There Is No Such Thing as a Social Science: In Defence of Peter Winch

paper_content:

The death of Peter Winch in 1997 sparked a revived interest in his work with this book arguing his work suffered misrepresentation in both recent literature and in contemporary critiques of his writing. Debates in philosophy and sociology about foundational questions of social ontology and methodology often claim to have adequately incorporated and moved beyond Winch's concerns. Re-establishing a Winchian voice, the authors examine how such contentions involve a failure to understand central themes in Winch's writings and that the issues which occupied him in his Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy and later papers remain central to social studies.
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paper_title: The Constructive Approach in Management Accounting Research

paper_content:

A device for locking two concentrically positioned and axially displaceable members against displacement in one direction, characterized by a recess formed in one of said members and opening in the direction of the second member, and by locking elements located in said recess, said recess having a first part with a bottom portion positioned at a greater distance from said second member than the distance corresponding to the size of the locking elements in a direction transversally to the axial direction of said members, and a second part of said recess having a bottom portion decreasing its distance to said second member in the axial direction of said members and from the first mentioned bottom portion to a distance less than the distance corresponding to the size of the locking elements in said direction transversally to the axial direction of the members, whereby the locking elements are free from locking engagement between said elements, when located in said first part of recess and engaging said members for locking the members against displacement in at least one direction, when located in said second part of recess, and by an actuating element for displacing the locking elements between said parts of recess.
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paper_title: Suicide: A Study in Sociology

paper_content:

Book I Extra-Social Factors 1.Suicide and Psychopathic States 2.Suicide and normal Psychological Sates-Race Heredity 3.Suicide and Cosmic Factors 4.Imitaion Book II Social Causes and Social Types 1.How to Determine Social Causes and Social Types 2.Egoistic Suicide 3. Egoistic Suicide (continued, 4.Altruistic Suicide, 5. Anomic Suicide 6.individual Forms of the Different Types of Suicide Book III General Nature of Suicide as a Social Phenomenon 1.The Social Element of Suicide 2.Relations of Suicide with Other Social Phenomena
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paper_title: The concept of organization

paper_content:

In recent years a good deal of the very best sociological work has been devoted to the study of organization. Although the term, organization, belongs to the category of expressions about which there is maintained an air of informed vagueness, certain special conventions exist that focus its use, with qualifications, on a delimited set of phenomena. In accordance with these conventions, the term applies correctly to stable associations of persons engaged in concerted activities directed to the attainment of specific objectives. It is thought to be a decisive characteristic of such organizations that they are deliberately instituted relative to these objectives. Because organizations, in this sense, are implementing and implemented programs of action that involve a substantial dose of comprehensive and rational planning, they are identified as instances of formal or rational organization in order to differentiate them from other forms.1 It has been one of the most abiding points of interest of modern organizational research to study how well the programmatically intended formal structures of organizations describe what is going on within them, and what unintended, unprogrammed, and thus informal structures tend to accompany them. How do sociologists go about distinguishing the facts of formal organization from the facts of informal organization? There seem to be two things that matter in the ways this distinction is drawn. There is, in the first place, a certain scholarly tradition in which the distinction is rooted. It dates back to Pareto’s definition of rationality, Tonnies’ typology, Cooley’s concept of primary-group, and – tracing through the seminal achievement of the Hawthorn studies – the tradition is very much alive today. Being steeped in this line of scholarship allows a sociologist to claim his colleagues’ consent to the decisions he makes. In this way the distinction is a fact of life in sociological inquiry, and perceiving it correctly is a trademark of
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paper_title: Of maps and scripts: The status of formal constructs in cooperative work

paper_content:

Abstract The received understanding of the status of formal organizational constructs in cooperative work is problematic. This paper shows that the empirical evidence is not as strong as we may have believed and that there is evidence from other studies that contradicts what we may have taken for granted for years. This indicates that the role of formal constructs is more differentiated than generally taken for granted. They not only serve as `maps' but also as `scripts'.
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paper_title: Models and Metaphors: Complexity Theory and Through-Life Management in the Built Environment

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Complexity thinking may have both modelling and metaphorical applications in the through-life management of the built environment. These two distinct approaches are examined and compared. In the first instance, some of the sources of complexity in the design, construction and maintenance of the built environment are identified. The metaphorical use of complexity in management thinking and its application in the built environment are briefly examined. This is followed by an exploration of modelling techniques relevant to built environment concerns. Non-linear and complex mathematical techniques such as fuzzy logic, cellular automata and attractors, may be applicable to their analysis. Existing software tools are identified and examples of successful built environment applications of complexity modelling are given. Some issues that arise include the definition of phenomena in a mathematically usable way, the functionality of available software and the possibility of going beyond representational modelling. Further questions arising from the application of complexity thinking are discussed, including the possibilities for confusion that arise from the use of metaphor. The metaphor of a ‘commentary machine’ is suggested as a possible way forward and it is suggested
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paper_title: Studies in Ethnomethodology

paper_content:

1. What is Ethnomethodology?. 2. Studies of the Routine Grounds of Everyday Activities. 3. Common Sense Knowledge of Social Structures: The Documentary Method of Interpretation in Lay and Professional Fact Finding. 4. Some Rules of Correct Decisions that Jurors Respect. 5. Passing and the Managed Achievement of Sex Status in the Intersexed Person. 6. "Good Organizational Reasons for a Bada Clinic Records". 7. Methodological Adequacy in the Quantitative Study of Selection Criteria and Selection Practices in Psychiatric Outpatient Clinics. 8. The Rational Properties of Scientific and Common Sense Activities. Appendix.
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paper_title: Social Science: Beyond Constructivism and Realism

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This concise and comprehensive volume provides an accessible overview of the main debates on the sociology and philosophy of the social sciences from the contemporary perspective of radical reflexivity and democratization. From its origins in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when a new system of knowledge was created around the idea of modernity, the author tracts the transformation of modern conceptions of social science as a cognitive system and as an institution. Focusing on the rise of positivism in the age of the Enlightenment to its final collapse in the twentieth century, ::: ::: Delanty argues how social science is today recovering its role as the critical voice of modernity and examines the positivist dispute from post-empiricist perspectives. It is argued that the conception of social science emerging today is one that involves a synthesis of radical constructivism and critical realism. The crucial challenge facing social science is a question of its public role: growing reflexivity in society has implications for the social production of knowledge and is bringing into question the separation of expert systems from other forms of knowledge. This is one of the most ambitious and wide-ranging texts in recent years on debates about the contemporary situation of social science. It will be of strong interest to undergraduates and postgraduates in the social sciences as well as to professional researchers working in the areas of the philosophy of social science, the sociology of science and knowledge, and social and political theory.
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paper_title: CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT IN A COMPLEXITY PERSPECTIVE

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Abstract: Construction management is based on the Newtonian principle that the construction process can be foreseen and planned, and that the plan can be followed through the whole project execution. Deviations between plan and reality are seen as planning errors, which more diligent and detailed planning might have taken care of. Based upon Koskela’ explanation of construction as a production this understanding of construction management has been criticized lately. The paper endorses this critique but argues that construction must not only be understood as a production, but should also be seen in a complexity perspective. This view brings not only Lean Construction’s broader understanding of project management into play, but introduces a completely new management approach as well. These ideas may seem unsuitable in construction, but recent Danish experiences show their value, and a new initiative in the Danish construction industry uses them as its basis. Keywords: complexity, project management, lean construction, implementation , lifelong learning
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paper_title: Critical determinants of construction tendering costs: Quantity surveyors’ standpoint

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Identification of cost-determinant variables and evaluation of their degree of influence play an essential role in building reliable cost models and enhance the competitive edge of quantity surveyors as well as contracting organisations. Sixty-seven variables affecting pre-tender construction cost estimates are identified through literature and interviews. These factors are grouped into six categories and a comparison analysis of their impact is conducted. Priority ranking of cost-influencing factors is carried out using a questionnaire survey commissioned amongst quantity surveyors based in the UK. Findings of this survey indicate that there is a strong agreement between quantity surveyors in ranking cost-influencing factors of construction projects. Comparisons between the outcomes of this research and other related studies are presented.
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paper_title: The Concept of Mind

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This now-classic work challenges what Ryle calls philosophy's "official theory, " the Cartesian "myth" of the separation of mind and matter. Ryle's linguistic analysis remaps the conceptual geography of mind, not so much solving traditional philosophical problams as dissolving them into the mere consequences of misguided language. His plain language and essentially simple purpose put him in the tradition of Locke, Berkeley, Mill, and Russell - philisophers whose best work, like Ryle's, has become a part of our general literature.
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paper_title: The Client as a Complex System

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Construction is a process of delivering value to the client through a temporary production system, which consists of elements shared with other projects. The completed work is a one-of-a-kind product assembled at a temporary production facility, the site. This is a very complex production system that has been studied extensively over a number of years. Some members of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) have recently used the complexity point of view to try to understand this system and to create guidelines on how to better manage it. The production system is, however, only one part of the process. The other part, and one worthy of more extensive investigation, is the client. The term 'client' tends to imply a person or a well-defined body of persons that act as a single entity. In the majority of projects this is not the case. The 'client' is a representative for a number of - often conflicting - values, interests and time perspectives. A closer look can reveal that the client is just as complex as the production system. This paper examines the characteristics of the client as well as the customer-supplier relationship in the built environment, where a better understanding of client complexity may help to deliver value to a wider range of stakeholders.
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paper_title: The concept of organization

paper_content:

In recent years a good deal of the very best sociological work has been devoted to the study of organization. Although the term, organization, belongs to the category of expressions about which there is maintained an air of informed vagueness, certain special conventions exist that focus its use, with qualifications, on a delimited set of phenomena. In accordance with these conventions, the term applies correctly to stable associations of persons engaged in concerted activities directed to the attainment of specific objectives. It is thought to be a decisive characteristic of such organizations that they are deliberately instituted relative to these objectives. Because organizations, in this sense, are implementing and implemented programs of action that involve a substantial dose of comprehensive and rational planning, they are identified as instances of formal or rational organization in order to differentiate them from other forms.1 It has been one of the most abiding points of interest of modern organizational research to study how well the programmatically intended formal structures of organizations describe what is going on within them, and what unintended, unprogrammed, and thus informal structures tend to accompany them. How do sociologists go about distinguishing the facts of formal organization from the facts of informal organization? There seem to be two things that matter in the ways this distinction is drawn. There is, in the first place, a certain scholarly tradition in which the distinction is rooted. It dates back to Pareto’s definition of rationality, Tonnies’ typology, Cooley’s concept of primary-group, and – tracing through the seminal achievement of the Hawthorn studies – the tradition is very much alive today. Being steeped in this line of scholarship allows a sociologist to claim his colleagues’ consent to the decisions he makes. In this way the distinction is a fact of life in sociological inquiry, and perceiving it correctly is a trademark of
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Title: Informality in Organization and Research: A Review and a Proposal

Section 1: Introduction
Description 1: Provide an overview of the rise of interest in informal and emergent features of construction industry organization, and summarize the key aims and structure of the paper.

Section 2: The conventional typology of research approaches
Description 2: Discuss the traditional qualitative vs. quantitative distinction in construction management research and argue why this dichotomy is misleading.

Section 3: An alternative typology
Description 3: Present an alternative approach to classify research methodologies, introducing five types of research based on the role of theory in their methodology.

Section 4: Four types of descriptive research
Description 4: Elaborate on the four types of descriptive research: Uniquely Adequate (Strong Requirement), Grounded Theorizing, Theoretically Informed, and Formal Research.

Section 5: Type five: another kind of theory
Description 5: Explain the fifth type of research which involves prescriptive theories, focusing on technē and phronēsis, and how they guide practical management applications.

Section 6: Forms of organization and forms of research
Description 6: Analyze the relationship between organizational forms and research methods, discussing how different organizational forms might require different research techniques.

Section 7: Researching emergence and informality
Description 7: Propose a research approach for studying informal features of organization using the TFV theory of production, and discuss the implications for research management.

Section 8: Conclusion
Description 8: Summarize the main arguments of the paper, reiterate the proposed research management approach, and identify areas for future exploration and clarification.