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Coordination and control in project-based work: digital objects and infrastructures for delivery

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  • Jennifer Whyte
  • Sunila Lobo

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Whyte & Sunila Lobo, 2010. "Coordination and control in project-based work: digital objects and infrastructures for delivery," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 557-567.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:conmgt:v:28:y:2010:i:6:p:557-567
    DOI: 10.1080/01446193.2010.486838
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kjell Tryggestad, 2012. "Perspectives on Projects," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 416-420, February.
    2. Zahra, Shaker A. & Liu, Wan & Si, Steven, 2023. "How digital technology promotes entrepreneurship in ecosystems," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    3. Chiara Benassi & Andreas Kornelakis, 2021. "How Do Employers Choose between Types of Contingent Work? Costs, Control, and Institutional Toying," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 715-738, May.
    4. Lobo, Sunila & Whyte, Jennifer, 2017. "Aligning and Reconciling: Building project capabilities for digital delivery," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 93-107.
    5. Stendahl, Emma & Tippmann, Esther & Yakhlef, Ali, 2022. "Practice creation in multinational corporations: Improvisation and the emergence of lateral knowledge," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    6. Shojaei, Reyhaneh S. & Burgess, Gemma, 2022. "Non-technical inhibitors: Exploring the adoption of digital innovation in the UK construction industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Gentjana Rexhaj & Luboš Střelec, 2024. "Digitalization in Engineering Firms: The Role and Impact of Building Information Modeling on Productivity," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 47-65.

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