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Copyright of Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the generation of innovations by employees and the creation of initiative paths, and to discover which factors contribute to the implementation of an initiative.Design/methodology/approach Based on longitudinal qualitative research, the study explores the profiles of initiative paths and the types of innovations and relationships among the generated innovations.Findings It was found that, to become an innovation, an initiative followed different paths along which the processing and outcomes varied, as did the time needed for experimentation. The creation of initiative paths required the transformative agency of the actors involved. Power relations had an impact on the generation of initiatives and implementation of innovations.Originality/value Innovations research has concentrated on the generation of ideas and the implementation of innovations. This study focuses on the process path along which ideas become innovations and on the role of power relations in the innovations process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes and transformations in organisations are traditionally initiated by the management. This approach does not, however, encourage the agency of all the members in an organisation to engage in cooperative development of the activity. This paper presents an analysis of the development of participants’ transformative agency in a Change Laboratory (CL) intervention. In a CL, the participants analyse conflicts and disturbances in their local activity and search for ways to transform current work practices. In the analysis, we identified six types of expressions of transformative agency which evolved over the course of the laboratory sessions and across the topical contents of those sessions. Furthermore, we examined to what extent the expressions of agency produced by the participants reflected individual and collective agency. Our key argument based on the research findings is that transformative agency goes beyond the individual and the situational here-and-now actions. It is produced and maintained in collective change efforts and evolves over time. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Building information modeling (BIM) is an emerging modeling technology which challenges existing work procedures and practices in the construction industry. In this article we study the challenges, problems and potential expansions of BIM as a tool in the design, construction and operation of buildings. For this purpose the interfaces between different parties are examined in Finnish construction projects. The methodological approach of the study is culturalhistorical activity theory, according to which a new artifact becomes a mediating instrument when the participatory subjects reconfigure the entire activity. The implementation of BIM is now spreading from the design activity to other phases of the construction projects, but its use is still limited in the projects' other three interfaces. BIM is an evolving set of software developed for various purposes which is locally 'combined' to fit the circumstances and capabilities of the stakeholders of the construction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of building information modelling (BIM) and related software tools is increasingly expanding in the work of site managers in construction projects. The early uses of BIM in the actual tasks of site managers are explored by examining the utilization of BIM in their work and the challenges in the deployment of the new digital tools for traditional project collaboration. The ethnographic method of the study consists of shadowing the site managers’ work. The site managers actively used BIM and found it beneficial for their daily work. However, the use of BIM in construction sites is still limited because only a few managers have the competence to use BIM software tools, mobile tools are lacking, and the information content of the models needed for construction work is insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to study the visibilization of learning in the context of developing a new collaborative practice, knotworking, in building design. The case under study describes the process of learning from the initiation of knotworking to its experimentation. The implementation of new building information modeling tools acted as an impetus for this development. Design/methodology/approach - The research is based on activity-theoretically oriented ethnographic research. The four analytical steps created by Engestrom (1999) for analyzing the expansive visibilization of learning are applied in the analysis. Findings - The envisioning of the idea of knotworking involved the first and the second steps of visibilization. First, a flowchart made the ideal process of design visible and triggered a discussion on the problems and requirements emerging in the project members' work. Second, an idea for a new type of collaboration was introduced as a solution to these problems and requirements. Planning the knotworking experiment and explicating the associated design instruments involved the third step of expansive visibilization. The fourth step of visibilization took place during the experiment of knotworking in a design project. Practical implications - Two other knotworking projects have already been conducted, and plans have been made to commercialize knotworking in building design. New technical tools have been developed for energy calculation and the comparison of alternative design requirements. Social implications - Knotworking can improve the collaboration between designers with positive implications on the quality of a building design process. Originality/value - Development and learning are studied as a longitudinal process in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of expansive learning has been applied in a large number of studies on workplace learning and organizational change. However, detailed comprehensive analyses of entire developmental interventions based on the theory of expansive learning do not exist. Such a study is needed to examine the empirical usability and methodological rigor afforded by the theory of expansive learning. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of learning in a entire Change Laboratory intervention in which the workers of an academic library, together with their clients, redefined the services the library offers to research groups and the ways of organizing work in the library. We identified expansive learning and non-expansive actions in the transcripts of the intervention sessions. We examined cyclicity of expansive learning at three levels, namely the level of the entire Change Laboratory process, the level of each Change Laboratory session, and the level of cross-session object-bound cycles. Finally we analyzed deviations between the instructional intentions of the interventionists and the actually accomplished learning process. The analysis shows that in a real-life formative intervention expansive learning actions emerged in the midst of a fairly large number and diversity of non-expansive learning actions. Our analysis of cyclicity revealed an iterative loop within the overall cycle of the Change Laboratory. Our analysis of deviations from instructional intentions and plans demonstrates that expansive learning is indeed more than mere replication or imposition of the interventionists' plans. The very process is punctuated by deviations which open up space for learner agency and creation of truly new solutions and concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to research a critical transition from individually-experienced double binds to collaborative change. To this end an early phase of a change process in a central surgical unit is studied in detail. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses an interventionist and ethnographic methodology to research the shift from individual to collective during organizational change. Organizational change is studied as a resolution of evolving contradictions. In this early phase, contradictions can emerge as individually-experienced double binds and crisis. Findings – The findings of the study describe a transition in which individually-experienced double binds and crisis become a driving force for organizational change. The dissolution of contradictions as double binds and crisis is strongly connected to emotions. When emotions are unveiled and collectively worked out, they become shared and can be understood critically. A change process is usually conceptualized as proceeding through sequential phases. This study demonstrates, however, that some phases can emerge almost coincidently in organizational change. Researchers can accelerate change with interventionist and ethnographic methodology. Research limitations/implications – A challenge for change management is how to manage contradictions and emotions to enable change to happen. Emotions have an important role in change processes, which is also a challenge for further research. Originality/value – An alternative and complementary approach to studying the process of change as a transition from the individual experience of contradictions to collaboratively created change is introduced in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to take a patient-centred perspective in exploring the treatment of multiple and chronic illnesses in inter-organizational care practice in Finland. Design/methodology/approach - The theoretical approach of the study is based on the sociology of translation and on cultural historical activity theory. The methodology of multi-locale ethnography is used to research the translations in one patient's healthcare procedures in multiple care settings. Findings - The care procedures emerge as unintegrated for the patient in the study. The patient has to take responsibility for his overall care since the medical professionals involved have only limited knowledge of other providers' care procedures. Despite their efforts to collaborate, professionals are lost in translation across healthcare boundaries. Research limitations/implications - Single cases are problematic for advancing generalizations on a research topic. The case of this study presents an example of the translations in the care procedures for a patient with multiple and chronic illnesses. Practical implications - Unintegrated care organization poses a difficult challenge to patientcentred care if the ideals of consumerism are followed in the health care system. A patient, with limited medical knowledge, may not be able to master an overall pattern of chronic illness care in a sustainable way. Better management and coordination of specialized knowledge are required for patients with chronic illnesses. Originality/value - In contrast with the many studies that report on patients' experiences of illness, the paper provides new insights into the patient experience of health care organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze traces of past organizational change projects in order to uncover dynamics of continuity and discontinuity of organizational learning in two Finnish primary health care organizations. The method of the study is 'archaeological ethnography', which integrates narrative analysis of participants' accounts of past change efforts with analysis of documents and material traces of change. The study shows that similarly motivated expansive learning efforts initiated 15 years ago have been discontinuous in both organizations, punctuated by breaks between projects. But in one case, this discontinuity involved a radical shift in the direction of change efforts) while in the other case the discontinuous projects proceeded in basically the same direction. Mundane discontinuity needs to be distinguished from directional discontinuity. The former may be mended by actions of bridging, while the latter would require joint historical analysis, modeling and argumentation. Directionality emerges as a decisive element of organizational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the researcher's emotional engagement in fieldwork through the researcher's artwork. Revisiting emotional engagement is important in order to make sense of the research subject of the study in complex research sites. The care of 26 patients was followed during a change project that involved relationships between various clinics and providers. The organizational complexity became obvious when each patient case created its own field of study in the healthcare organization. In the study, it is suggested that we can gain access to emotional engagement through art and aesthetics in organizational ethnographies. Emotional engagement with the research subject is an important part of constituting the research subject in complex organizations. In future projects, it will be important to discuss with participants the aesthetic experiences raised by the fieldwork. Discussing such experiences is part of the co-constitution of the sense and meaning of the activity that is under change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]