Information communication technology (ICT) implementation constraints

The Authors
Vachara Peansupap, Department of Civil Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Derek H.T. Walker, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Cooperative Research Centre in Construction Innovation (CRC-CI) industry partners in Australia for participating in this study.

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report upon research undertaken on deployment of information communication technology (ICT) diffusion initiatives in the Australian construction industry. The paper seeks to explain how innovation implementation drivers and barriers facilitate diffusion at the organisational, group and individual levels. Design/methodology/approach – Data from two web-based document management case studies and one intranet document management system case study are used to analyse ICT diffusion dynamics within three large information technology (IT) literate Australian construction firms. The sample was purposefully limited to large IT-literate construction contracting organisations with a need to use ICT for their operational effectiveness. Findings – Constraints at the personal level include limited budget for ICT investment, commitment from other project participants, issues of ICT standardisation, and security problems. At the organisational level, constraints include basic levels computer experience, time available to learn, and the identification of clear benefits of ICT use. Constraints at the group level include time available to share information, quality of personal contact and geographical distance. Research limitations/implications – The sample was purposefully limited to large IT-literate construction contracting organisations with a need to use ICT for their operational effectiveness. Practical implications – The driver and barrier models presented indicate that ICT innovation implementation requires intense management interventions to facilitate a supportive workplace environment that strongly links personal and organisational resource investment with demonstrated outcome benefits. Originality/value – This study provides rich insights of the dynamics of ICT innovation implementation. Few studies in the literature have provided such insights that link the organisational, group and individual levels.


Introduction
Several recent studies related to information communication technology (ICT) implementation frameworks have identified key ICT implementation drivers and barriers that are useful in providing a strategic view of its success in the construction industry (CI). These studies explored barriers to ICT use and adoption at the CI level. Common highlighted barriers include low ICT literacy and investment levels (Tucker et al., 1999; Love et al., 2001).
One recent study of 134 architectural, engineering and construction professionals identified IT implementation barriers and coping strategies at the industry, organisation, and project level (Stewart et al., 2004). Review of the literature however, reveals that few empirical construction studies explain ICT implementation constraints from an innovation diffusion perspective at the organisation, workgroup and individual level (Peansupap and Walker, 2005a, b). One recently completed study (Peansupap, 2004) differs from previous IT innovation research in two important ways. First, organisation-wide ICT diffusion (such as groupware or intranet applications) is assumed to differ from stand-alone ICT innovation (such as CAD systems or non-integrated project planning and scheduling). This is because organisation-wide ICT innovation requires a commitment from a greater number of users than does IT innovation focused upon individual stand-alone ICT applications. Second, the research reported upon here focuses on micro level ICT innovation diffusion within an organisation. This study identifies ICT implementation constraints from the diffusion perspective to improve understanding of the importance of ICT implementation.
The paper is structured as follows. The innovation context is briefly described to clarify the focus of this paper. The research approach is then presented. Findings of factors affecting ICT diffusion have been previously published (Peansupap and Walker, 2005a, c), however the research study revealed useful insights into the way that implementation constraints influenced ICT adoption, implementation and diffusion are inhibited. The constraint models of ICT diffusion section presents casual loop diagrams (Senge, 1990) that are used to explain these common ICT diffusion constraints. This is followed by discussion of the presented constraint models. Finally, conclusions and limitations of the research are presented.
The innovation context
ICT innovation refers to the introduction of new ICT initiatives to an organisation. The organisational process of introducing ICT initiatives for adoption by expected users is defined as ICT diffusion with an ICT diffusion constraint being defined as resistance to change drivers occurring during ICT adoption and implementation. Resistance may occur at the organisational, group and personal level. Understanding diffusion constraints could help construction firms manage improve their ICT diffusion processes by focusing on possible ICT implementation diffusion barriers and finding ways to mitigate them. Stewart et al. (2004) offered coping strategies to mitigate identified barriers. This paper presents a set of models that, based on three Australian case studies, graphically illustrates the constraints that affected ICT diffusion in the studied sample of construction contractors.
IT innovation may be adopted by specific groups of users within an organisation. For example, use of computer aided design (CAD) by architects or estimating software used by engineers is often implemented as a stand-alone non-system integrated initiative where only a small group of expert users participate in the initiative. A firm may independently operate small-group IT innovation such as planning and scheduling applications whereas a groupware ICT innovation needs cooperation both within a group to share and exchange data and information as well as with external project team and supply chain members. Successful company-wide construction firm ICT initiatives, such as introducing groupware applications, needs team adoption by project managers, engineers and foremen etc. There may also be need to include organisation-external project participants such as designers, consultants and owners.
Innovation diffusion can be described in either technology transfer or intra-organisational innovation adoption terms. The technology transfer perspective can involve transferring innovation information from a research and development (R&D) unit to a targeted consumer unit – individual or organisational (Scheirer, 1983). Thus, innovation diffusion usually begins before any adoption decision is made. It requires delivering positive information about an innovation to expected adopters to hasten their innovation adoption. The more persuasive the information delivered to expected adopters, the higher will be the adoption rate. “Innovation diffusion” from the intra-organisational innovation adoption perspective usually occurs when top management and/or a champion (top-down approach) or expert groups within the organisation (bottom-up approach) decide to adopt an innovation and encourage other users to adopt the innovation (Yetton et al., 1994). The three organisations studied in the research reported upon in this paper focused their innovation diffusion on both the initial adoption and actual implementation stages.
As diffusion of innovation deals with numerous variables, both of a technological and social nature, it is essential that organisations should provide adequate management support and monitoring of diffusion innovation (Livari, 1993; Rogers, 2003). Songer et al. (2001) argue that corporate culture is mainly responsible for poor implementation of information technology (IT) systems rather than technology issues. Implementation needs to be managed and structured because it is a critical process in successful ICT innovation diffusion (Griffith et al., 1999). Carlopio (1998) proposes a workplace environment innovation diffusion framework by adopting the Rogers (1995) diffusion innovation concept and extending this beyond the organisational level to individual and group levels.
Research approach
The present study was part of a broader one that included quantitative research involving a survey of 113 particpants. Detailed discussion of this work is beyond the scope of this paper and interestested readers may refer elsewhere (Peansupap and Walker, 2005c, d). Whereas quantitative research is useful for indicating what may be happening, and may provide statistical evidence that supports developing or validating theories of causality, it does not povide the rich contextual data that helps us develop a deeper understanding of a studied phenominum (Burton and Steane, 2004). Case study research enables the reseracher to more effectively discover the context of a situation and therefore gain a deeper understanding of the studied phenomum (Yin, 1994). The quantitative survey provided a useful guide for raising questions of case study participants to identify factors influencing ICT diffusion within their construction organisations and for these participants to explain how these factors influenced the ICT diffusion process.
Case study qualitative research can be grouped into three broad categories: exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory (Neuman and Kreuger, 2003). A descriptive case study approach was chosen to obtain rich information from the participant's viewpoint using multiple sources of data but the scope of it moved beyond that through interaction of the quantitative study results and detailed study of the literature to provide explanatory data. The research aim was to develop a model that helped us to better understand the dynamics of the constraints of what was happening to inhibit ICT diffusion as well as how and why it followed a particular trajectory (Yin, 1994). The literature provide some guidance on how causal loops could be derived (Senge et al., 1999) from the data gathered that was in turn rooted in the results from the quantitative study (Peansupap and Walker, 2005c, d).
Many studies have identified various factors influencing ICT implementation but few can adequately explain how these ICT diffusion constraints operate within construction firms. Also, many case studies fail to adequately describe innovation attributes (such as the type of innovation, characteristics of the units of analysis etc) that allows comparison between studies (Wolfe, 1994, p. 406). Characteristics of the research are summarised in Table I.
Two of the case studies focused upon a web-based document management system and one case study focused on an Intranet document management system. Each organisation had experience with diffusing IT and general-purpose office management software tools. While users were not immediately familiar with the ICT applications being diffused, they had IT experience. These ICT innovations were mandated by the organisations for use and they became embedded as part of the normal work processes often replacing outdated manual paper-based processes. Innovations were operationally central, of low complexity and packaged within administration routines. The unit of analysis was focussed upon experienced ICT application users and their implementation experiences. Open-ended questions were prompted when needed but topics raised with participants were grounded in theory.
Wolfe (1994, p. 407) states that diffusion of innovation (DOI) research addresses patterns of how innovation spread throughout a studied group of adopters while organisational innovativeness (OI) addresses the determinants of how innovation occurs – focussed upon the organisation. Process theory (PT) addresses the process of innovation and how and why adopters carry out innovation. The innovation process moves through a series of stages classified in various ways. Wolfe (1994, p. 410) also notes ten stages: Idea conception, awareness, matching, appraisal, persuasion, adoption decision, implementation, confirmation, routinisation and infusion. Roger (2003, p. 199) offers five stages; knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. Another way of viewing this is as two phases. Phase 1 is the initial adoption phase comprising knowledge, persuasion and decision-making. Phase 2 is concerned with the actual implementation of the adopted innovation. The present study was specifically focussed upon PT for the actual implementation stage of the ICT application's deployment.
Data collection began with general discussions with senior IT managers from the three organisations illustrated in Table II to understand the strategic adoption of ICT applications at the organisational level. Follow-up interviews of about 45 minutes to one hour were conducted with the ICT implementer or ICT manager involved in the ICT application rollout at the organisation, group or personal level. Any further clarification needed was undertaken by short phone conversations and or e-mail exchanges. Experienced ICT users were requested to discuss their impression of drivers and barriers influencing their adoption and use of ICT application. Casual loop diagrams (Senge et al., 1999; Walker, 2003) were used to analyse and explain the constraints that occur at the organisational, individual and group levels. Seminar feedback validated the analysis and stimulated further debate. The researchers undertook a one-hour plus seminar with each organisation to validate the models presented in this paper. This allowed discussion and feedback with more than half of the participants. Staff changes and other unavailability issues meant that not all participants could attend but most participants were contacted for individual feedback. Further, the individual-organisation seminars included several other interested staff and the researchers also presented the findings at two industry seminars as well as presenting the findings at more than five peer-reviewed academic conferences.
Each organisation has a specific culture that causes inconsistent innovation diffusion outcomes so it is difficult to generalise from only one innovation diffusion case study. However, a general understanding can emerge from each individual case study by improving identification of patterns that eventually stabilise into a general theory. The general response from the individual organisation seminars, the industry seminars and the academic conferences indicated that the models are robust. The overwhelming nature of the feedback at one additional seminar (attended by 100+ professionals from the project management institute not connected with this research but predominately being IT project managers) was that the models could be more generally applicable. The nature of feedback could be said to anecdotally endorse the perceived more generalised applicability of the models, while generalisation is yet to be proved, the models do concur with the Senge et al. (1999) change management models.
Results: constraint models of ICT diffusion
ICT diffusion constraints at the organisational level (C1)
Figure 1 illustrates the driver and restraining forces acting upon the ICT diffusion initiative at the organisational level during the initial adoption phase. The dashed line indicates the construction organisation's boundary where ICT is adopted and diffused.
The ICT initiative initial adoption driver cycle is triggered by the firm's policy on how to grow core ICT competencies. A champion will emerge with varying degrees of enthusiasm and influence within the organisation. Key technological gatekeepers in the organisation introduce knowledge to potential ICT users. They also filter messages about their impression of the way that proposed or committed levels of ICT resources and the ICT diffusion process might influence perceived business results. An ICT initiative investment decision is then made and the actual adoption phase of the initiative proceeds. The organisation adopts and implements the initiative resulting in business results (outcomes) from that innovation's adoption.
The supportive cycle “S1” summarises the influence driver of this model. A company's vision and policy has a direct influence on strategic ICT adoption and implementation within a construction organisation. The company's vision functions as a long-term strategic objective of ICT adoption while the company's policy enhances ICT implementation by determining the framework for employee behaviour. Top management support has a key role in the ICT adoption decision because this support is essential for development of infrastructure and people for ICT adoption within the organisation (Christensen and Walker, 2004). Top management, who commit to the ICT adoption, allocate resources. Thus, to obtain adequate funding, it is necessary to provide clear potential benefits of the ICT investment to gain senior management commitment. A technology champion will also influence ICT diffusion at the organisational level. This champion is considered as the source of ICT information to be disseminated throughout the organisation (Maidique, 1980). The firm should develop people's knowledge of how to effectively apply ICT to support their work practices because successful ICT use and adoption appears to be a key motivator. Without effective ICT adoption by expected users, the firm cannot gain full benefit from its ICT investment. Sharing and building internal group knowledge (both of how the ICT initiative technically works and how it is applied to enhance construction practice) can facilitate ICT diffusion because it can ensure that ICT will be effectively used (Storck and Hill, 2000). The company should develop a knowledge network with professional institutions and/or university academics to be able to maintain additional channels of advice and support (Gann, 2001). This information network can be an essential part of the innovation diffusion process for the company because ICT information can be effectively transferred from the industry/professional level to the organisational level (Maqsood et al., 2003).
Although the organisation attempts to encourage ICT diffusion during the initial ICT adoption phase, constraining barriers inhibit the driving cycle's momentum. These constraints can be linked to three main gaps, as indicated in the more heavily shaded ellipses in Figure 1:
ICT investment decision;
organisational adoption; and
business result/outcome.
The first gap is a lack of technology awareness that influences ICT investment decisions. Senior IT managers from all three cases stated that some senior managers were unaware of key potential ICT innovation benefits. Lack of technology awareness may also obscure the ICT investment opportunity. This is because knowledge about a construction process (such as estimating or cost control) may be limited to more conventional/traditional methods rather than how ICT may be used to effectively re-engineer these processes.
Technology immaturity may cause investment reluctance. CC's senior IT manager believed that ICT groupware applications were undeveloped but decided to adopt one of the many available documentation sharing ICT portals instead of developing an in-house solution. He feared that development of in-house ICT applications might lead to incompatibility with a planned future system that could become an industry standard. Integrating immature technology with potentially incompatible legacy systems can be resources-hungry and could introduce significant investment risks.
The complex nature of the construction environment may influence the ICT investment decision. For example, CB's IT developer observed that the construction industry is conservative and slow to adopt most new technologies. CA's IT senior manager believed that the construction industry culture is a key ICT constraint on investment because subcontractors and smaller-scale suppliers find it hard to adapt to ICT innovation in their way of working with contractors. This needs commitment from many supply chain project participants to fully realise integrated benefits of e-commerce and extranet technologies. In addition to the people and construction culture barriers, the complex process of construction requires many different supply chain partners of different organisational size and sophistication. Each partner often uses their own documentation processing standards. ICT investment decisions could benefit from an industrial standard. However, as noted by the CC IT manager, while several ICT construction e-business applications have been recently developed there is no current standard platform for the Australian construction industry.
Both in CA and CB, the reason for adopting in-house ICT development was a lack of suitable current commercial ICT applications for their organisation. Immature technology can lead to incomplete ICT functions, thus technological benefits that do not fit with the organisation's needs have a similar negative impact. Functions or benefits that fail to adequately fit technology within construction organisations may obstruct an investment decision because ICT adoption should support construction work processes and therefore gain benefits from the investment. To function optimally, a groupware application may require high internet bandwidth access for all sites, regardless of the suitability of using this technology on small projects where the ICT infrastructure establishing costs could be uneconomical.
Senior IT managers agreed that financial considerations pose a major ICT investment decision constraint. This caused decision delays, particularly if the organisation decided to develop its own ICT technology. An ICT investment needs senior management commitment to provide the necessary budget and support, hardware, operational training, and maintenance.
The second gap is associated with a senior managers' lack of experience in ICT adoption when introducing ICT applications into an organisation. This can also lead to user resistance. Lack of confidence in ICT implementation strategies and user resistance appears to be linked. For example, CC's IT implementer, observed that while a previous adoption of an ICT system had been unsuccessfully piloted, it had been complex and users felt uncomfortable with it. Uncertainty and complexity can also cause lack of confidence in the users' perception of the value or effectiveness of an ICT application and this perceived risk exposure could trigger user resistance.
The third gap is failing to gain expected business results. To obtain investment support from top management, the IT department or the implementer often presents an ideal preferred outcome benefit of an ICT investment (Griffith et al., 1999). This evaluation may be based on a software vendor or consultant recommendation. Unexpected business result gaps may result from information about benefits or potential barriers not being based on organisational reality. This can happen because:
of a misunderstanding of the organisation's true level of ICT readiness;
of not understanding the business processes that the organisation employs or the relationship between these processes; or
it may be a result of misrepresenting potential benefits that are unlikely to be actually realised.
Thus, evaluation of ICT benefits should be truly concerned with the organisational context. In practice, it is difficult to estimate all benefits from the ICT investment, especially if the organisation has had no prior significant ICT experience with which to draw upon (Duyshart et al., 2003).
Trial ICT pilot projects and organisational learning provide opportunities to minimise unrealistic ICT benefit estimates. However, ICT application success on one project may not guarantee success in another (Songer et al., 2001). Understanding a pilot project's characteristics will better help IT managers plan ICT investments.
An ICT application that theoretically should deliver benefit but fails to do so may be due to several causes:
the external business climate may change so that the ICT application becomes a competitive “norm”;
technological change may overtake any likely competitive advantage prevalent in the ICT industry where rapid advances and application redundancy quickly undermine the organisation's decision making and implementation processes; and
a potential competitive advantage (cost or through service differentiation) may not be effectively capitalised upon by the organisation due to mismanagement.
ICT diffusion constraints at the individual level (C2)
Figure 2 illustrates ICT diffusion drivers and constraints at the individual level. The dashed line in the diagram shows the people boundary within an organisation. Generally, after an organisation has decided to adopt an ICT innovation, the focus of its staff members shifts from an ICT application acquisition or development decision issue to encouraging that application's use. Two processes should take place after an ICT application decision has been made. There should be an ICT implementation process for providing personal learning and both technical and organisational support should be concurrently instigated. Case study data suggests that S2, the key driving cycle at the personal level, included training, adequate technical support and senior management support.
Learning and training content, coupled with delivery quality, may be important constraint issues. Providing only basic training provides a rudimentary understanding of ICT concepts, benefits, and know-how. This can lead to ICT trainers only focusing on the technical context (such as menus, functions, interfaces) leaving little time for users to learn how to apply the ICT innovation in their work processes. Overemphasis on an ICT application's technical aspects may result in application users getting lost in their training session, leaving them with a negative experience or poor perception of potential derived benefits. Further, the adopted training approach may provide little time for reflection and making sense of the ICT application. This can inhibit the ICT user's motivation to value the application. Management pressure for ICT users to carry out their normal work and simultaneously absorb new ways of doing it (without expectations of any temporary drop in effectiveness while new patterns of working are mastered) can inhibit ICT adoption.
Most case study construction staff experienced limited personal technology support from a technical support team. Technical support did, however, include ICT users' helping each other through one-to-one coaching as well as occasional personal support from a dedicated ICT support person. Users need an effective support system to help them solve technical problems that range from how to get hardware to work, to how to finesse their use of software applications. Without this help, personal learning gaps may develop. Eventually, as the help gap widens, users give up using the ICT application and develop a negative perceptions toward its use. Technical support constraints can also stem from poor remote access or help desk response deficiencies. As a help desk normally operates via phone or electronic mail, remote distance problems may be limited to a few cases; however, some users prefer to have “hands on” assistance to solve any ICT application problems. Remote distance problems will probably diminish as development of effective virtual networks increases. Project managers may become too involved in their own work routines and provide little “spare” time to mentor and encourage ICT users. Experienced project managers generally have limited ICT knowledge themselves if their experience was shaped before ICT became integral to current management practice.
Case study results indicated that some project managers perceived using ICT as an unproven project risk and did not significantly promote it. Technology investment may also be constrained by senior management's lack of confidence in real benefits being realisable, resulting in a lack of senior management support. Senior managers can impose great pressure on ICT users to “get on with their job” and either inadvertently or deliberately make it difficult for them to finding time to help each other. However, senior managers should recognise the time lags between experimenting with a new ICT application and regaining lost productivity rates while adapting to that innovation. Case study data provided examples of this constraint, though as isolated pockets of management reaction to ICT change.
ICT investment gaps may influence users' adoption outcomes because the investment level delivered may result in technical implementation limitations. ICT hardware performance may be further limited by a bandwidth connection speed and also slowed by hardware modem limitations. ICT investment decisions should include careful consideration of transmission speed, interoperability between versions of identical software applications, and reliability of both hardware and software.
An individual's lack of general computer skills can also present a significant limitation to ICT application use. Such lack of basic knowledge may lead to development of negative ICT use perception. Although young staff could already have basic computer skills, this knowledge may become rapidly outdated because of rapid ICT development.
Individual's lack of time to learn how to resolve potential problems can exacerbate individual frustrations with learning new ICT applications. Construction workers are usually occupied with site management work and generally have minimal professional development time to learn new skills. Case study data suggests that foremen in particular, had little time to learn ICT skills and many of them did not have the foundation computer literacy skills that many younger tertiary-educated level staff had obtained. This was a significant problem where only basic computer user training was provided to relatively IT-inexperienced staff and where ICT users were expected to learn how to use complex ICT applications by themselves with little support.
ICT diffusion constraints at the group level (C3)
Figure 3 illustrates how groups of individuals within an organisation experience barriers to ICT diffusion of groupware applications. Support cycle S3 is based on people being social animals who naturally turn to each other to get help when needed. Thus, while barriers exist as identified at the organisational and personal level, discrete ICT application diffusion barriers also exist for groups.
One group-learning barrier is lack of proximity. Learning by observation was the stated preference because it facilitates understanding and it is helpful to not only watch and learn, but also to also pause, reflect, question and receive responses that link cause and effect. This strengthens ICT users' absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Understanding cause-and-effect connections has been cited as a key element of effective knowledge transfer (Szulanski, 2003). Many users preferred the “show me how” rather than a “tell me how” learning approach. Physical distance may cause problems in relation to experts or colleagues sharing their experiences. Some participants who were physically close to colleagues sought help very easily and stated that they just called in or walked into the IT department (or a knowledgeable colleague) and asked for help and received it. Similarly in CC, most of the participants experienced a high level of ICT instruction from the implementation person who was allocated to the construction site. Most of them felt that physical support helped them in ICT use. Technology can deliver a partial virtual solution through online communities of practice (COPs). This approach has been reported to have effectively occurred in the UK on construction projects using a COP management system (Jewell and Walker, 2005).
Most participants request help from a confidant. Personal contact is not limited by physical distance; it may result in responses from past co-workers or others in their knowledge-network contacts.
Most construction workers operate under severe time pressures and lack time to regularly or methodically share ICT experience with collegial communities. In CA, the project manager, who is ICT-experienced, stated that while he always offered the benefit of his ICT experience it was difficult for him to be constantly available to do so because he was always very busy. A project manager in CB reported that people on her construction site were often too busy to share their ICT experience even though they were motivated to do so. In all case studies, evidence supports the notion that the construction industry is particularly “lean” with few slack resources provided to support COPs as recommended by Wenger et al. (2002).
Discussion
ICT implementation and adoption is a management intensive activity. Figure 1 supports the Griffith et al. (1999) proposal that managers should reframe IT implementation expectations, create small wins, and reduce any conflict of interest.
Skibniewski and Abduh (2000) proposes two strategies for adopting ICT – in-house development and outsourcing, depending upon the level of internal systems and resources that support the main organisational functions. No matter which strategy is selected, organisations still need to implement their ICT initiatives. To understand ICT implementation, the organisation should adopt a pilot project strategy to learn from experience (Sutton and Lemay, 1999; Whyte et al., 2002). This could help them understand real benefits and possible constraints that may occur before diffusing the ICT initiative throughout their organisation. A pilot small-scale budget strategy can help the organisation to overcome investment barriers and it help avoid any large cost impact if the ICT implementation fails. It also helps create small wins and potential best practice model to help staff understand investment benefits.
A top management decision to adopt ICT often progresses ICT implementation to the individual and group level. These people are key actors who play a significant role in how ICT diffuses throughout an organisation. The research findings indicate that ICT diffusion success at a micro level requires effective management and planning at both macro and micro levels. The individual level constraint model, Figure 2, focused on the lack of learning and training, insufficient ICT investment to meet users' needs, lack of computer skills, and lack of time to learn (C2a, C2b, C2c). Changing ICT users' way adapting to new things is difficult (Regan and O'Connor, 2000). To alleviate user resistance, organisations should provide enough training and learning time for users.
Cited barriers are attributable to the high cost of investment (Marsh and Finch, 1998; Marsh and Flanagan, 2000; Songer et al., 2001; Stephenson and Blaza, 2001), however, the research reported upon here indicates that sufficient support-centred ICT investment influences users' ICT experience that could otherwise generate negative perceptions towards ICT use. O'Brien (2000) confirmed that lack of technology maturity affects investment cost and reliability and access service quality performance.
While many construction organisations attempt to gain benefits from ICT investment, they may merely obtain partial benefits if few people actually adopt and use it (Koskela and Kazi, 2003). Markus (1987) argues that successful communication technologies adoption requires a ‘critical mass’ of adopters. Reported research findings addressed group-level user learning and sharing barriers, such as geographical distance and personal contact. When users adopt ICT, they may require access to help from experience person. User learning and sharing barriers can block the growth number of users and ultimately not achieved the benefit of ICT.
Conclusions and limitations
Figure 1 constraint loops (C1a, C1b, C1c) illustrate organisational level ICT diffusion constraints. These constraints involve a construction organisation's internal and external environment with issues that may influence the investment decision, the organisation's ICT initiative adoption and resulting business results. Research results indicate constraints at the organisational level (C2a, C2b, C2c) that are limited by the ICT investment budget, commitment from other project participants, issues of ICT standardisation, and security problems. At the personal level, Figure 2 constraints include levels of basic computer experience, time available to learn, and clear benefits of ICT use. Finally, Figure 3 constraints at the group level include time available to share information, qualities of personal contact, and geographical distance (C3a). An understanding of these constraints may help the IT project manager to become more aware of the possible delays of ICT implementation through construction firms.
This paper provides insights into what drives and inhibits effective ICT innovation diffusion at the organisational level for construction firms that already have many IT-literate key employees. While results should not necessarily be generalised to construction organisation with low level of IT or ICT experience, they do provide a useful model of potential pitfalls that may be more broadly considered in a wider context of innovative process adoption. The literature and the case study results suggest that organisations should closely manage their ICT initiative decision making and implementation using pilot studies and a reflective learning approach to maximise advantages from lessons learned. ICT application deployment is primarily about people related issues of effective change management, knowledge transfer and leadership by a champion and adoption team to sell benefits and support users.

POSTED BY NADIA EMMA BINTI AZILAH

Challenges to ICT implementation in Multinationals

The Authors
Nurit Zaidman, Department of Business Administration, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel
David G. Schwartz, Graduate School of Business Administration, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Dov Te'eni, Faculty of Management, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges to information and communication technologies (ICT) implementation in multinationals. The paper focuses on contextual variables relevant to the understanding of the implementation of ICT in organizations operating in the Middle East, such as organization culture and power relations. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on interviews with 31 employees of a multinational company that operates in the Middle East. In addition, 60 days of electronic mail of two senior managers were studied and random samples of messages from the computers of six participants collected. Altogether 200 e-mail messages, spanning seven months were surveyed. Findings – It was found that the transplantation of ICT was based on the construction of technology as symbolizing the value of modernity. Although employees did not resist the implementation of ICT tools, several problems related to language and access to data had an impact on their work. Furthermore, the ICT tools implicitly assumed a utilitarian discourse that values computer-mediated more than face-to-face communication, but the organization rejected this aspect of the tools. Practical implications – We argue that more flexible designs of ICT should take into account the particular discourse system employed in order to achieve a better fit between the ICT tools and the users. Originality/value – The paper focuses on a neglected area of research, the implementation of ICT tools in culturally diverse organizations and discusses contextual variables relevant to the understanding of the implementation of ICT in organizations such as organization culture and power relations which have not been extensively discussed in the literature.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have an important role in the operations and management of modern organizations. This role is especially important for multinational companies, for which knowledge is an essential organizational resource (Argote and Ingram, 2000; Mudambi, 2002; Grant, 1996). Indeed, ICT often forms the basis for cross-border interaction and cooperation. Yet despite this global reach, many barriers may be created by the design and implementation of information systems in diverse organizations.
Research has shown that the implementation of information systems in organizations requires a focus on contextual variables such as organization power relations and organization culture (Markus and Pfeffer, 1983). However, the implementation of information systems in diverse organizations such as multinational corporations might also involve the influence of local culture, a topic that has been neglected in the literature.
Our attempt in this paper is to analyze the implementation of information systems in a multinational corporation while considering organization power relation and culture as well as local culture.
Orlikowski and Baroudi (2002) argue that much of information system research reflects a positivistic orientation focusing on rational fit between the attributes of communication media and the communication task requirements. Yet, scholars argue that a wide range of empirical evidence suggests that other factors influence the choice of a medium, including social organizational norms and symbolic meanings attributed to the medium itself (Steinfield, 1992). Furthermore, research has consistently shown that it is the social and organizational context of information systems design, development, and application which lead to the greatest practical problems (Orlikowski and Baroudi, 2002; Harvey and Myers, 2002).
Studies within the social-interpretive approach examine the way in which technologies insinuate themselves, with a focus on larger organizational contexts mainly the organization power relation and culture (Jackson et al., 2002; Robey and Boudreau, 1999; Silva, 2005; Markus and Pfeffer, 1983).
Other studies within the social interpretive approach shed light on the symbolic aspects of technologies. Orlikowski and Gash (1994) introduce the notion of technological frames as sense makers for IT in organizations. Technological frames are used to indicate the set of assumptions, expectations and knowledge that the members of an organization have regarding technology in their shared context, including technology itself, as well as the effects of technology in a specific situation, place, time, or project. Orlikowski and Gash consider technologies to be social artifacts that have material form and function embodied by the values, priorities and understanding of sponsors, and developers. Other researches note that information itself is symbolic, and technologies may produce positive social meanings, such as modernity, and status, as well as negative meanings, such as restriction of personal freedom (Robey and Boudreau, 1999).
Based on the growing recognition made of the need to temper the quasi-experimental forms of research with those which are more concerned with contextual analysis (Harvey and Myers, 2002) we designed an interpretive field study that focuses on the implementation of new technology in a multinational corporation. Our main research question is thus: How were ICT tools implemented in a Middle Eastern multinational corporation, and what organizational and cultural aspects need to be addressed in implementing ICT tools in a Middle Eastern multinational corporation?
Case study: Beged Textile Industries Ltd
We conducted our study at Beged Textile Industries Ltd (Beged), a multinational Israeli firm with globally dispersed engineering, production, marketing, sales, and administration. Several divisions and the company headquarters are located in Israel, while production is done in the firm's plants in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. The customers are mostly name brand firms in the United States; another major customer is British.
The Egyptian plant was established in 1996. It is responsible for cutting, sewing and packaging the textile products, mainly underwear. The Egyptian plant has contacts with Egyptian knitting, dyeing and printing factories. It receives supplies from the Israeli headquarters. The headquarters division we studied has contacts with employees in the Egyptian plant, as well as with the Beged team in London and with representatives of the British customer, who set the product's design and specifications.
The Egyptian plant is highly automated, and all production is computer-integrated. The introduction of ICT tools have started 2.5 years prior to the time of data collection. The main database software, Movex, was installed ten months prior to the time of data collection. There are two senior Israeli managers in charge of the plant and several professionals from the headquarters who visit the plant every other week. The plant is under heavy pressure to meet high quality standards.
Method
We have designed our study as a case study (Benbasat et al., 2002). Our intention is to describe and analyze “the native's point of view” and to discuss the phenomenon under study within specific contexts. Among the contexts that are of relevance to the understanding of the implementation of ICT tools are power relations, the specific organization culture and the local culture.
Interviews
Interview sample
We conducted interviews with 31 employees who hold different professional and managerial positions in the organization. Among them were 16 Israelis, including six managers who work in Egypt and one person who works in Jordan as well as 13 Egyptian employees. We also conducted two interviews with British employees who stay several months a year in Egypt.
Procedure
In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with each subject of the interview sample (Saunders et al., 2003). We asked two leading questions:
Can you please describe your job (What do you do? What are your responsibilities?).
Can you please describe how do you use the computer and its different tools in your daily work? and then continued with follow-up questions, depending on the initial answers the respondents provided.
All interviews were conducted face-to-face.
Documents
We studied 60 days of electronic mail of two senior managers, one in Egypt and one in Israel as well as random samples of messages from the computers of six participants, both Israelis and Egyptians. The purpose of the examination was to get a sense of the e-mail culture in Beged. Altogether we surveyed 200 e-mail messages, spanning seven months.
Observations
The authors visited the organization's subsidiaries in Israel and Egypt several times. During these visits, we acquired knowledge about such essential topics as the use of information systems and the process of communication among employees within a subsidiary and between subsidiaries. We also studied Beged's organizational culture.
Power relations and the transplantation of ICT
ICT was implemented in Beged as part of client pressures to set new standards for production, quality control systems, planning systems, sewing instructions, etc. The Egyptian plant had been established by a small group of Israeli managers who had relocated from Israel. At first, they used the management and communication style of a domestic Israeli company, where information is not always organized, explicit, clear, and structured, and where managers tend to be spontaneous and ignore the rules (Shamir and Melnik, 2002). Gradually, over the course of two years, the Israeli managers accepted the principles and practices of their customer. Beged's major UK-based customer set requirements not only for product quality, but also for broader issues such as safety rules and the organization's product files. The client sent supervisors to check the standards of production every three months.
Thus, in response to the client's demand, the Israeli management adopted to some degree new norms of work, which are expressed in the acceptance of rules and procedures and explicitly in the form of a laboratory book of procedures, product files, etc. Although there was some resistance at first, the managers have learned to appreciate this new way of work.
While in previous research there was an emphasis on internal organization power relations and its impact on the implementation of ICT tools (Robey and Boudreau, 1999; Lin and Silva, 2005), we find that external organization forces such as an important customer might have an impact on the implementation and use of ICT tools.
The second stage in the implementation was to introduce the new approach and the new technology to lower level managers and to employees in the plant. These employees were not familiar with ICT:
At the beginning, it took time to explain to people about the computer and its software because they were not familiar with it. They were open to learn the new technology because they wanted to make progress, to know more about computers. They saw that the society outside is progressing, and they were looking for the opportunity (Technical Support person).
Technological progress was not a feature of the general business sector in Egypt at that time: “there are huge technological gaps between the technology in our plant and the technology that people use across the road,” stated one manager. Learning ICT was considered an opportunity for Egyptian employees and it took a multinational corporation like Beged to provide the setting for this training.
Thus, the transplantation of ICT in the Egyptian plant was based on the construction of technology as symbolizing the value of modernity (Robey and Boudreau, 1999). In this context, technology is used as social artifact (Orlikowski and Gash, 1994). The acceptance of ICT is explained not only by the existence of technological gaps between Beged and its surroundings and the benefit to its Egyptian employees, but also by the transplantation of a specific organizational culture by Beged's senior leaders.
Senior managers used several mechanisms to justify and promoted the use of new technology. They invested effort to establish a technology-centered culture (Schein, 1990). This culture was promoted in various ways by the plant's managers. As one stated: “our policy is to introduce the best technology. We do not consider the fact that here, in Egypt, one can get cheap labor.” He continued: “What I tell the employees over and over again is that we are going to produce the best quality, and we have the best technology.”
These aspects of Beige's organization culture were expressed in interviews with the Egyptian plant's administration.
Thus, the focus on technology is part of the organization's creed and culture. Like in other multinational organizations, Beige's managers make efforts to build a common technical culture. It is assumed that technical or procedural mechanisms can overcome cultural differences among Beged's diverse population (Hoecklin, 1995).
The premise of technological progress as the basis for the organization's culture is woven together with another idea in the leaders' rhetoric as in the following comments of a senior Israeli manager:
I talk about the national pride of the plant, about national Egyptian pride. It is pride that it is the first plant in Egypt that produces for this specific British customer. We need to keep the tension, to keep up a high level of production. They perceive the plant as an Egyptian plant. I tell them that we produce our goods with the label: Made in Egypt. You want to be perceived as Masri [Egyptian]. It counts for the senior Egyptian manager and down to the last employees. So I tell them: our plant is number one, and we cannot fail.
The transplantation of ICT was not complete across the organization because of management's indecision regarding what data to frame in ICT tools as well as language-related problems. These findings, as we shall see, support recent research about the importance of language in multinationals (Fredriksson et al., 2006). The first problem is that, at certain levels, information is not framed in ICT tools and is not presented in the employee's native language, namely, Arabic. Consider the following example: Lyla is an Arabic-speaking product manager. She gets orders and distributes them among the employees who work on the production lines, on the sewing machines. The information she uses includes work procedures issued by the client; safety procedures and garment files. This information is written in Hebrew, translated into English by one manager, and then translated again into Arabic. This process is not computer-based; it takes time and leaves her with some hesitation with regard to the end result. Under these conditions, performing her job is difficult for Lyla because of the gap between the quality of the data that she gets and her awareness that “the client is very precise.” Furthermore, as a result of this process, Lyla has to approach her managers with questions seeking clarification, which she feels uncomfortable doing because of the distance between employees and superiors. In this case, although managers try to promote the notion of “a quality driven organization,” the local culture which prefers authoritarian boss-employee relationships hinders down-up communication (Brown and Ataalla, 2002).
The example demonstrates the difficulties that arise in routine work processes in multilingual organization when data is not handled by an ICT system and employees speak more than one language.
Another expression of difficulties has to do with the choice of language and the denial of access to information. According to one Egyptian employee:
Israelis are not aware of the fact that they need to speak English instead of Hebrew. When they speak Hebrew, we do not understand. There is no decision regarding a common language. Furthermore, materials (e.g. product files) arrive in Hebrew, as does data in the computer.
Beged's management adopted an instrumental perspective regarding ICT and they made efforts to propagate technology as the core of the organization's culture. Yet they devoted little attention to decisions regarding the corporate lingua franca or a pluralist language solution (Janssens et al., 2004). Because the firm has not established a policy regarding the use of language, we find inconsistency in the norms associated with language use. The people who find themselves in the most difficult circumstances are those who have insufficient language skills to draw attention to their difficulties. Thus, managerial decision-making regarding what data to frame in ICT tools and who will be exposed to what kind of ICT tools influences power relations in the organization by granting or denying employees access to data and hence influences their performance as well.
A more sensitive approach regarding the use of language in an ICT tool can be seen in Beged's selected database software, Movex, which is used by the accounting department, the cutting room, and the storage room, as well as in the production and planning rooms. In this case, the organization management adopted pluralistic language solutions by the establishment of support in both English and Arabic. The IT person reports that the software is written in English, but it has been translated into Hebrew and then again into Arabic. He noted: “The problem was how to translate it to Arabic. I wanted to find the meaningful terms in Arabic but also to find those terms that people would understand.” This responsiveness to the choice of the language (and to people) in an ICT tool may result in better use of the technology.
Thus, we see that ICT was accepted in the Egyptian plant in the wake of some pressure from the initiators, whether the British customer or the Israeli headquarters. These initiators had the formal power, the critical resources and the legitimacy to induce changes (Hardy and Phillips, 2004). Israeli managers effected the transplantation of ICT by promoting an organizational culture focused on technological progress, and by appealing to national pride to enhance a pro-technology orientation (Markus and Pfeffer, 1983). Yet despite these efforts, lower level employees have limited access to data and to ICT tools that have not been translated to Arabic.
ICT as a cultural product
ICT in Beged includes computer-based processes and production, an e-mail system, and specific applications for such areas as accounting and inventory. There are several computer stations that provide information about the work flow: receipt of fabric, cutting, entry into and departure from the sewing area, and delivery to the storage area. What are the underlying assumptions of these ICT tools? And to what extent does Beged's culturally diverse work force accept these assumptions?
ICT has traditionally been designed to provide “a pipeline that will deposit the required data at the proper time to the appropriate decision maker” (Boland et al., 1994, p. 458). The emphasis is on providing the information so that it is useful to both sender and receiver. Most ICT products, including those implemented in Beged have come from the West and from English-speaking countries in particular. It is therefore no surprise that designers have traditionally aimed at developing efficient pipelines, in the sense that the information should be easily and correctly transmitted and extracted.
We suggest regarding ICT as a cultural product of a specific business oriented Western discourse. A discourse system can be defined as a way in which a particular group of people use language to promote their conception of truth or reality according to their ideology (Fairclough, 1995, p. 135). In an organization, employees are simultaneously members of multiple discourse systems, such as a professional group and gender and age groups (Van Dijk, 1997). In multinationals, as is in our case, employees also often differ culturally and are members of different cultural discourse systems.
As discussed before, creators of ICT tools have aimed at developing efficient conduits. One can argue that ICT tools are “cultural products” of utilitarian discourse. The utilitarian discourse system is dominant in business, government, and academe, especially in the West (Scollon and Scollon, 2001). The ideology underpinning utilitarian discourse includes a belief in progress, individualism and equality and a definition of human beings as rational and economic entities. Utilitarian discourse strives for clarity, brevity, and sincerity, which are highly valued. The preferred forms of communication within the utilitarian discourse system are anti-rhetorical, positivist-empirical, deductive, individualistic, egalitarian, and public (Scollon and Scollon, 2001).
When examining the transplantation of ICT as a cultural product we found that there were cultural barriers in the application of these tools. A technical support employee describes the situation:
In the beginning, the Egyptians said that they would do something, let's say update the information, but they did not respond on time. We had to teach them that time has meaning. We also had to teach them that there should be a fit between the reality and the report. We used management as a means to put pressure on them.
The assumptions of the utilitarian discourse regarding efficiency and accuracy were unfamiliar to Egypt-based Beged employees, and managers had to educate the employees.
At present, in the Egyptian plant, ICT is perceived by several employees as a system that saves time and reduces anxiety regarding the completion of their work in a demanding environment.
The way the e-mail system is utilized in the company is another example of the acceptance of the assumptions of the utilitarian discourse. In Beged, e-mail is used as a way to transmit task-oriented information. We saw almost no evidence of jokes, gossip, or any other kind of non-task communication. The e-mail culture was built as a medium for conveying “real” documents, as one interviewee put it. That is, transferring information via e-mail is considered evidence of the performance of a specific act.
Although employees have learned to accept several cultural aspects of ICT tools, we found that barriers remain with regard to others: they expressed difficulties to get instructions from superiors via ICT tools. An Israeli manager at the Egyptian plant indicated that he could not use ICT tools because the employees would feel that communication via a written document meant that the manager did not trust them.
The manager's responses demonstrate the importance of face-to-face communication for the Egyptian employees. These workers would be offended if they got written instructions from their superior. Our results support previous research about communication in sewing plants of an Israeli company operating in Arab communities. Drori (2000) found that the use of a professional language with its own vocabulary, codes, and meanings could help unite the sewing plants. Direct communication channels existed between the managers and workers alongside mediation by supervisors, and much of it took place and was interpreted as people interacted directly with each other.
Such results can be explained in light of the musayara discourse system, the Arabic way of speech. The term refers to “accompanying” one's partner in conversation. Behavior designed to enhance commonalities rather than differences, cooperation rather than conflict, and mutuality rather than self-assertion would be interpreted as involving musayara (Griefat and Katriel, 1989). The goal of language from the Egyptian side thus is relationship oriented (Drori, 2000; Brown and Ataalla, 2002). Managers therefore need to ask whether ICT tools in their current forms will indeed be useful, and when and to what extent it would be effective to introduce ICT into organizations that are characterized by a high level of informality and a preference for face-to-face communication.
Conclusions
The results of this study support earlier research that organization culture and power relations are important factors in understanding the implementation process of ICT tools. More specifically, in our case, obtaining initial acceptance depended on pressure by initiators who had the formal power, the critical resources and the legitimacy to compel implementation (Hardy and Phillips, 2004). However, while previous research reflects mainly on actors within the inner cycle of the organization sphere, we found that one of the major actors in the process of implementation was a major customer which may be considered as part of the external cycle of the organization sphere. Actors in similar position might have an impact on the implementation of ICT in other organizations.
Regarding ICT implementation and the organization power relations we also found that ICT per se did not meet resistance or hostility from the employees, despite their unfamiliarity with the technology. Furthermore, those at lower levels did voice frustration at the neglect of their needs for customization and targeted assistance. We argue that this neglect has significant consequences in international organizations in which work is performed by employees who speak different languages. Thus, the transplantation of ICT tools in multinational organization should consider the employee language.
In line with earlier research we found that organization culture takes an important role in the implementation of ICT tools. In our case, we find consistency between the technology orientation of the organization and the rhetoric and managerial efforts to establish technology centred organization culture. This consistency might be one factors explaining successful implementation.
In addition to the above, we find two contextual factors that are relevant to the implementation of ICT which are not extensively discussed in the literature.
The first refers to the characteristics of the organizational field in terms of the level of its technological development. The relatively low level of technological development in the Egyptian organization field on the one hand, and the interest of Beged employees to be part of technologically advanced organization on the other hand, explain employees' general positive orientation toward the implementation of ICT tools. Management rhetoric which draws on national pride also explains a relatively successful implementation process and is based upon the technological advancement of the firm compared to its surroundings. Thus, the organizational field might have an impact on the implementation of ICT tools. Future research should further consider the organization field with a possibility to use the perspectives of institutional theory (Scott and Meyer, 1994; Powel and Dimaggio, 1991).
The second refers to the impact of local culture on the implementation process. In our view, ICT tools are a cultural product of the utilitarian discourse. We found that non-Western employees may not always put up with the assumptions embedded in these tools by their Western ICT designers. For example, Beged's Egyptian employees place a high premium on social relationships, so they disdain use of e-mail, for example, for anything other than specific task-oriented communications. Managers in the plant find it necessary to convey important instructions in person, rather than electronically, or in writing.
We argue that more flexible designs of ICT should take account the particular discourse system employed in order to achieve a better fit between the ICT tools and the users.

POSTED BY NORHANA BINTI MUSTAFFA (2008261158)

BENEFITS OF COLLABORATIVE ICT ADOPTION FOR BUILDING PRIJECT MANAGEMENT

The Authors
Vanita Ahuja, New Delhi, India
Jay Yang, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Ravi Shankar, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

Abstract
Purpose – Effective flow of data and communication at every stage of a construction project is essential for achieving required coordination and collaboration between the project participants, leading to successful management of the projects. In present scenario, when project participants are geographically separated, adoption of information communication technology (ICT) enables such effective communication. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to focus on ICT adoption for building project management. Design/methodology/approach – It is difficult to quantitatively evaluate the benefits of ICT adoption in the multiple enterprise scenario of building project management. It requires qualitative analysis based on the perceptions of the construction professionals. The paper utilizes interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique to assess importance of perceived benefits and their driving power and dependence on other benefits. Findings – The developed ISM model shows that all the categories of benefits, i.e. benefits related to projects, team management, technology, and organization are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation. But, organization- and technology-related benefits have high-driving power and these are “strategic benefits” for the project team organizations. Thus, organizations are required to give more attention on strategically increasing these benefits from application of ICT. Originality/value – This analysis provides a road map to managers or project management organizations to decide that if they are planning ICT adoption for achieving certain benefits then which are the other driving benefits that should be achieved prior to that and also which are the dependent benefits that would be achieved by default.

Introduction
Construction projects require effective collaboration and coordination among the diverse project participants. It can be achieved by effective communication between all the project participants. Such co-ordination and effective communication is crucial in order to achieve quality standards and to reduce the cost of production effectively (Villagarcia and Cardoso, 1999).
Construction projects are managed by designated project managers, architects, or contractors on behalf of the client or by the clients themselves depending upon the contract and the project type. Effective communication is important to monitor and control projects' activities according to the project plans and for achieving project goals. Thus, the effectiveness of the project manager to communicate, evaluate, and feedback to the rest of the project team during each stage of the project life-cycle determines how efficiently a project's goals will be achieved (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2002).
Communication or data handling often takes about 75-90 percent of project managers' time in the construction industry (Fisher and Li Yin, 1992; Alshawi and Ingirige, 2002). Information communication technology (ICT) is required not only to free up project managers for more decision-making tasks but also to deliver the required levels of “consistency and reliability” of information in the construction supply chains because use of incorrect or incomplete data can compromise the scheduled completion of a project and lead to wastage of resources (Sturges and Bates, 2001). Multi-enterprise scenario of construction projects requires collaborative use of ICT by all the project team organizations, i.e. extent of ICT adoption for managing a project is to be planned before the start of the project, leading to uniform ICT adoption by all the project team organizations.
ICT is being adopted for construction project management. But to date, a methodology has not been developed for the construction industry to examine the potential contributions of information management strategies in efforts to reduce overall project schedule and cost (Back and Moreau, 2000). This inability to quantify process improvements and uncertainty of benefits from process and cultural changes is one of the primary barriers for effective implementation of ICT for construction project management. As a result, the benefits of ICT adoption are primarily perception based and not quantifiable and these perceived benefits define the extent of ICT adoption by the construction industry. Certain benefits drive other benefits and certain benefits are dependent on some benefits. Construction professionals require understanding of this driving power and dependence relationship between the benefits to plan strategic adoption of ICT for building project management.
Research methodology
Construction projects can be categorized under building construction projects and engineering or infrastructure projects. Requirement is to study ICT adoption for both the categories of projects separately, as the characteristics of supply chain issues, management procedures, and contract conditions are different for both the categories of projects. In this research study, research variables are the perceived benefits of ICT adoption for building project management. Authors have identified 31 important perceived benefits from literature and after discussion with the experts from the industry and academics. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique has been used to analyze the relation between these benefits and to understand the dependence and driving power of each benefit with respect to other benefits. This analysis will help the managers to decide that, if they are planning ICT adoption for achieving certain benefits then what are the other driving benefits that should be achieved prior to that, and also, what are the dependent benefits that would be achieved by default. It requires examination of direct and indirect relationships between the benefits of ICT adoption rather than considering these benefits in isolation.
ISM analysis led to the development of a model represented in the form of a diagram, showing the relationship between the studied variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Indian construction industry to assess the importance of each identified benefit as perceived by the organizations involved in managing building projects. Results of ISM analysis were validated by comparison with the analysis of the responses received through the questionnaire survey.
ISM has been used by researchers for understanding direct and indirect relationships among various variables in different industries. It has been used to study higher education program planning (Hawthorne and Sage, 1975), energy conservation in Indian cement industry (Saxena and Sushil, 1992), vendor selection criteria (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994), important elements for the implementation of knowledge management in Indian industries (Singh et al., 2003), strategic decision making in managerial groups (Bolaños and Nenclares, 2005) and barriers of reverse logistics (Ravi and Shankar, 2005).
However, in the literature, no evidence was found of use of ISM methodology for construction-related research. Watson (1978) has specifically discussed about ISM as an appropriate tool for technology deployment assessment and thus ISM was considered appropriate for studying benefits of ICT adoption for building project management.
Benefits of ICT adoption for building project management
Benefits of ICT adoption for managing building projects and improving overall organizational efficiency have been discussed in the literature. Some of the identified benefits are: richer information to aid decision making, project information obtained quicker, improved communication, closer relationships, improved information flow, and greater management control (Hendrickson and Au, 1989; Root and Thorpe, 2001; Love et al., 2004).
Egbu et al. (2001) have discussed that in a survey, the majority of interviewees regarded information technology (IT) as speeding up communication and enabling greater dissemination of written data. It was generally agreed that it is important for overall organizational efficiency and for increased motivation among the team members. As per Jaafari and Manivong (1998), effective implementation of IT within projects, as well as the entire industry would improve the communication processes by an order of magnitude. They have further discussed in detail the various benefits of thus improved communication process.
ICT adoption for increased collaboration between project team organizations has been discussed in the literature. As per Villagarcia and Cardoso (1999), inter-company communication methods like electronic data interchange (EDI) improve supplier coordination because they mould the suppliers into a common way of working. Back and Bell (1995) stress that electronic data management technologies create an opportunity to simplify and streamline communication and interdepartmental coordination, thus supporting new modes of teamwork and in many instances total process reengineering.
Benefits of using internet as a communication tool and workspace for managing construction projects have been widely discussed (Alshawi and Ingirige, 2002; Chan and Leung, 2004). Some of the discussed benefits are increased speed of information transfer, cost effectiveness and requirement to transfer high volume of information across sites and the head office and between other firms. Specific internet-based tools have also been discussed and highlighted as effective communication management tools. As per O'Brien (2000), a project web site should provide a centralized, commonly accessible, reliable means of transmitting and storing project information, in theory improving project communication and leading to better projects. Benefits of such web-based systems have been identified as: reduced manual distribution costs, integration of project information, simple management of access rights, document storage and archiving, continuous access to project information, and minimal software requirement. As per Chan et al. (2005), there are also intangible benefits associated with project extranets, such as greater certainty of outcome in terms of cost and time, less risk of disputes due to reduced errors, greater collaboration across project teams, and less-wasted effort in the construction process. Veil et al. (2004) have discussed the benefits of e-conferencing.
The inherent fast-track problem in construction projects is due to poor communication leading to re-work and scrap costs. Improved construction site-fabricator-designer communication through the intranet can produce substantial benefits (Opfer, 1997). Using the internet, building project management teams can share and transfer information electronically at a very low cost as compared with other communication means. Fisher and Li Yin (1992) inform that National Economic Development Office of the UK has argued that adoption of IT and EDI will cut UK building costs by 15-25 percent.
Intranets level the playing field enabling small- and medium-sized contractors to have the same high-tech profile as larger contractors. This can improve client satisfaction (Opfer, 1997).
The above, discussed literature study and discussions with the experts from the industry and academics led to summarization of the identified benefits (Table I). Identified perceived benefits are categorized under four groups. Benefits related to: measures of project success, effective team management, effective use of technology and increased organizational efficiency.
Interpretive structural modeling analysis
ISM is one of the tools of interactive management. ISM transforms unclear, poorly articulated mental models of a system into visible well-defined, hierarchical models. It is a well-known methodology for identifying and summarizing relationships among specific elements, which define an issue or a problem and provides a means by which order can be imposed on the complexity of such elements (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994). Developed model is portrayed graphically as well as in words.
The ISM methodology is interpretive from the fact that the judgment of the group decides whether and how the variables are related. It is structural too, as on the basis of relationships; an overall structure is extracted from the complex set of variables. It is a modeling technique in which the specific relationships of the variables and the overall structure of the system under consideration are portrayed in a digraph model (Ravi and Shankar, 2005).
There are two concepts which underlie ISM and which are essential to understanding both the ISM process and the product. One is the concept of reachability and the other is the concept of transitive inference (Watson, 1978). Both the concepts are discussed in the later sections of the paper. Through the use of these concepts, the ISM system offers a formal approach to structuring complex systems and is claimed to be more efficient and effective than less formal unassisted approaches (Watson, 1978).
The various steps involved in the ISM technique are as follows:
Step 1. Variables affecting the system under consideration are listed, which can be objectives, actions, individuals, etc.
Step 2. A contextual relationship is established among variables with respect to which pairs of variables would be examined.
Step 3. A structural self-interaction matrix (SSIM) is developed for variables, which indicates pair-wise relationships among variables of the system under consideration.
Step 4. Reachability matrix is developed from the SSIM and the matrix is checked for transitivity, leading to the development of “Final reachability matrix.” The transitivity of the contextual relations is a basic assumption made in ISM. It states that if a variable A is related to B and B is related to C, then A is necessarily related to C.
Step 5. The “Final reachability matrix” obtained in Step 4 is partitioned into different levels. Final reachability matrix is developed in its conical form, i.e. most zero (0) variables in the upper diagonal half of the matrix and most unitary (1) variables in the lower half.
Step 6. Based on the relationships given in the reachability matrix and the determined levels for each variable, a directed graph is drawn and the transitive links are removed.
Step 7. The resultant digraph is converted into an ISM by replacing variable nodes with statements.
Step 8. The developed ISM model is reviewed to check for conceptual inconsistency and necessary modifications are made.
Structural self-interaction matrix
Consultation and discussions with the experts from the industry and academics, helped in identifying the relationships among the identified benefits. For analysis, a contextual relationship of “leads to” type was chosen. This means that one variable leads to another variable. Following four symbols were used to denote the direction of relationship between the benefits (i and j):
V: benefit i will help achieve benefit j.
A: benefit i will be achieved by benefit j.
X: benefits i and j will help achieve each other.
O: benefits i and j are unrelated.
The following description explains the use of relationships V, A, X and O in the SSIM (Table II):
Benefit 11 helps achieve Benefit 27. This means that when “a complete log of all communications is maintained for tracking purposes” it “improves the capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence.” Thus, the relationship between Benefits 11 and 27 is denoted as “V” in the SSIM.
Benefit 21 can be achieved by Benefit 23. This means “Increased information portability in the ICT environment” helps in “effective joint decision making.” Thus, the relationship between Benefits 21 and 23 is denoted as “A” in the SSIM.
Benefits 20 and 21 help achieve each other. This means “greater management control” helps in achieving “joint decision making” and vice versa. Thus, the relationship between Benefits 20 and 21 is denoted as “X” in the SSIM.
Benefits 1 and 24 are not related. This means that there is no direct relation between “Project completion as per the estimated time” and “reduced hard copy storage of documents/drawings.” Thus, the relationship between Benefits 1 and 24 is denoted as “O” in the SSIM.
Similarly, relationships between all the benefits have been identified and denoted in the SSIM.
Reachability matrix
SSIM is transformed into a binary matrix, called the initial reachability matrix by substituting V, A, X, O relationships by 1 and 0 as per the case. The rules for the substitution of 1 and 0 are as follows:
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is V, then (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes 1 and the (j, i) entry becomes 0.
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is A, then (i, j) entry in the reachability matrix becomes 0 and (j, i) entry becomes 1.
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is X, then both (i, j) and (j, i) entries in the reachability matrix become 1.
If (i, j) entry in the SSIM is O, then both (i, j) and (j, i) entries in the reachability matrix become 0.
The final reachability matrix is obtained by checking for transitivities as explained in the Step 4. Table III shows the “Initial reachability matrix” and Table IV shows the “Final reachability matrix.” Table IV identifies the driving power and dependence of each benefit. The driving power of a benefit is the total number of benefits, which it may help achieve including itself. The dependence of a benefit is the total number of benefits that may help in achieving it.
Level partitions
From the final reachability matrix, reachability and antecedent set (Warfield, 1974) for each benefit are found. The reachability set for a particular variable consists of the variable itself and the variables it drives. The antecedent set consists of the variable itself and the variables on which it depends. Subsequently, the intersection of these sets is derived for all the benefits. The variable(s) for which the reachability and the intersection sets are the same are given the top-level in the ISM hierarchy, as they would not help achieve any other variable above their own level. After the identification of the top-level variables, these are discarded from the other remaining variables (Ravi and Shankar, 2005) and again the process is repeated. From Table V, it is seen that “Project completion as per the estimated time” (Benefit 1), “Project completion as per the estimated budget” (Benefit 2), “Project completion as per the specifications” (Benefit 3), “Effective contract management” (Benefit 13), “Client satisfaction” (Benefit 15) and “Motivation of the workforce” (Benefit 22) were found at Level I. Thus, these benefits are positioned at the top of the ISM model. Table VI shows the levels for each benefit obtained after 11 iterations.
Developing conical matrix
A conical matrix is developed by clustering benefits at the levels achieved, across rows and columns in the final reachability matrix. Table VII shows the final reachability matrix in the conical form. Most zero (0) variables are in the upper diagonal half of the matrix and most unitary (1) variables are in the lower half.
ISM-based model
The identified levels help in building the digraph and the final model of ISM. Based on the conical form of reachability matrix, the initial diagraph including transitive links is obtained. After removing the indirect links, the final diagraph or ISM-based model is obtained. Figure 1 shows the final ISM-based model. It is observed that “Increased information portability in the ICT environment” (Benefit 23) and “ease of retrieval of information” (Benefit 26) form the base of the ISM hierarchy and “client satisfaction” (Benefit 15) and “motivation of workforce” (Benefit 22) are at the top and reflect the effectiveness of all the benefits.
If Benefit 23 is achieved, it leads to “increase in overall organizational efficiency” (Benefit 29) and in “maintaining a complete log of all communications for tracking purposes” (Benefit 11), which further helps in “flow of accurate information” (Benefit 25), “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence” (Benefit 27) and “less time spent in query and approval process” (Benefit 7).
Benefits 23 and 26 help in achieving “effective communication management” between project team members (Benefit 19). “Effective communication management” leads to “maintaining a complete log of all communications,” “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence” (Benefit 27) and “flow of accurate information” (Benefit 25). Multilocational availability of information (Benefit 28) and Benefit 19 are interdependent and Benefit 28 also helps in “maintaining a complete log of all communications” and “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence.”
Benefit 11 helps in “providing clients with a complete one source documentation archive” (Benefit 14), which further helps in “compilation of useful information for other projects” (Benefit 31).
Benefits 25 and 27 are not dependent on each other, but collectively help in “providing richer information to managers for decision making” (Benefit 6), which helps in “improved information assessment and management within the organization” (Benefit 30), which also helps in achieving Benefit 31 and this further leads to Benefit 6 since information from previous similar projects always helps the managers to plan the projects better.
“Effective communication management” helps the project team to “obtain the project information quicker and in real time” (Benefit 5) which further improves the “query and approval process” that is also affected by Benefits 25 and 27. Benefit 5 also affects Benefit 27, but has gone up one level in the ISM model because “improved query and approval process” (Benefit 7) is affected by “improved capability of the system to cross reference to other correspondence” (Benefit 27) but does not affect it even indirectly.
Benefits 5-7 and 19 are interdependent to “effective collaboration and coordination between project team members” (Benefit 18) and are at lower levels in the ISM model because they also collectively help in achieving “better information assessment and management within the organization” (Benefit 30), which further affects Benefit 18.
Benefit 6, 30 and other related benefits help the “managers to spend more time on managerial work” (Benefit 17), which further helps in “effective change management” (Benefit 8) leading to “reduced risk of errors and rework on the projects” (Benefit 9), which is a measure of “effective collaboration and coordination between the project team members” (Benefit 18), but is also helped by it. Benefit 18 and “effective joint decision making” (Benefit 21) are interdependent and help in achieving “greater management control” (Benefit 20). “Effective joint decision making” helps in improving the “query and approval process” (Benefit 7), but is two levels above it in the ISM model, because Benefit 7 affects Benefits 6 and 30 which further help in achieving “effective joint decision making.”
“Effective change management,” “greater management control” and other benefits help in “effective material procurement and management” (Benefit 12), which further helps to complete the project within the estimated time (Benefit 1) and cost (Benefit 2) and “effective contract management” (Benefit 13), which further help in achieving increased “client satisfaction” (Benefit 15). “Effective communication management” (Benefit 19) reduces the “hard copy filing/storage of documents/drawings” (Benefit 24), which further helps in reducing the “administrative cost of document handling and distribution to multiple parties” (Benefit 16) and reducing the project cost (Benefit 2). These two benefits help in achieving increased “client satisfaction.”
“Effective collaboration and coordination” and other benefits help in multiple design alternatives to be assessed leading to “Life cycle concept becoming a competitive factor” (Benefit 4), which helps in completing the project in estimated cost (Benefit 2) and leads to “Client satisfaction.” “Effective change management,” “reduced risk of errors” and other benefits lead to application of “concurrent construction management,” which further helps in completing the “project on time,” “effective contract management,” “increased client satisfaction” and also leads to “motivation of the workforce” (Benefit 22).
“Effective change management,” “reduced risk of errors” and other benefits also lead to completing the project “as per the specifications” (Benefit 3), which “satisfies the client” and “motivates the workforce.” Project completion on time also increases the chances of “Project completion within the estimated cost” and successful project completion is an indication of “effective contract management” and satisfies the client and motivates the workforce for future projects.
MICMAC analysis
The objective of the cross-impact matrix-multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis is to analyze the driving power and the dependence of the variables (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994). Driving power and dependence of each benefit is shown in the final reachability matrix (Table IV).
The benefits are classified into four clusters (Figure 2). The first cluster consists of the “autonomous benefits” that have weak driving power and weak dependence. These benefits are relatively disconnected from the system, with which they have only few links, which may be strong. Benefits 14 (“one source” documentation archive maintained for clients) and 24 (reduced hard copy storage of documents/drawings) come under this category. Second cluster consists of the dependent benefits that have weak driving power but strong dependence on other benefits. These benefits primarily come at the top of the ISM model. Top-level benefits in the ISM model like “Client satisfaction” (15), “motivation of the workforce” (22), “effective contract management” (13), “project completion as per the estimated time, budget and specifications” (1-3), etc. come under this category. Third cluster has the linkage benefits that have strong driving power and also strong dependence. These benefits are unstable because of the fact that any action on these benefits will have an effect on other benefits and also a feedback on themselves. Primarily, middle-level benefits like “effective collaboration and coordination” (18) and “effective communication management between project team members” (19) come under this category because these benefits are dependent on other benefits but also drive top-level benefits. Fourth cluster includes the independent benefits having strong driving power but weak dependence. These benefits primarily lie at the bottom of the ISM model like “ease of retrieval of information” (26) and “multilocational availability of information” (28).
The benefits, which lie in the third cluster, need special attention and proactive attention from the management, since these have high-driving power but they are also dependent on other benefits.
Discussion
The developed ISM model provides a structure to the complex issue of the importance of perceived benefits of ICT adoption for building project management. It shows that the project-related benefits are primarily at the top of hierarchy, team management-related benefits are primarily in the middle and technology and organization-related benefits are primarily at the bottom of hierarchy. But, organization and technology-related benefits have high-driving power and these are “strategic benefits” for the project team organizations. Thus, organizations are required to give more attention on strategically increasing these benefits from application of ICT and if application of ICT for general administration in the organization is matured, appropriate IT tools are included in the working framework and team management issues are planned at the earlier stages of the project, then project-related benefits would be achieved by default. The four groups of benefits are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation. This analysis provides a road map to managers or project management organizations to decide that if they are planning ICT adoption for achieving certain benefits then what are the other driving benefits that should be achieved prior to that and also what are the dependent benefits that would be achieved by default. Thus, it forms an important component of the benefits management plan for the building project management organizations.
Validation of ISM-based model and future scope of work
A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Indian construction industry to assess the use of IT tools and ICT for general administration and building project management by the construction organizations. The questionnaire had different sections, but to remain within the scope and objective of this paper, the section of the questionnaire dealing with benefits of ICT adoption for construction project management is discussed.
This section contained identified 31 perceived benefits as listed in Table I. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of each benefit on a five-point Likert scale. On this scale, 1 and 5 corresponded to “not important” and “most important”, respectively, whereas 3 corresponded to “moderately important.” In total, 149 complete responses were received and analyzed. Responses of this section were tested for reliability by calculating Cronbach's alpha. The value was 0.8, which is acceptable (Carmines and Zeller, 1979 cited in Prahinski and Benton, 2004; Nunnaly, 1978 cited in Santos, 1999).
The scores for each group of benefits were aggregated and Pearson correlation was calculated among the four groups of benefits (Table VIII). Data analysis shows that there are significant correlations among the four groups of benefits.
This validates the results obtained from ISM analysis that all the four groups of benefits are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation.
Future scope of work included complete questionnaire survey data analysis for mapping ICT adoption for building project management and studying perceptions of project managers for perceived barriers, enablers, and industry drivers affecting ICT adoption for building project management. ISM analysis discussed in this paper and further data analysis led to the development of a causal model of relationships between factors affecting ICT adoption for building project management. The model was tested through structural equation modeling analysis.
Conclusion
Researchers and building project managers have identified the benefits of adoption of ICT for building project management. But, the measure of these benefits is perception based as it is difficult to quantitatively assess these benefits in the multiple enterprise scenario of the construction industry. Construction professionals require understanding of the driving power and dependence relationship between the benefits to plan the method of ICT adoption in their organizations and for building project management. Paper has utilized ISM analysis as a technique to understand such a relationship between the identified benefits of ICT adoption for building project management and the developed model can form an important component of the benefits management plan of building project management organizations leading to strategic adoption of ICT by these organizations. The developed model shows that organization, and technology-related benefits have high-driving power and these are “strategic benefits” for the project team organizations. Thus, organizations are required to give more attention on strategically increasing these benefits and if application of ICT for general administration in the organization is matured, appropriate IT tools are included in the working framework and team management issues are planned at the earlier stages of the project, then project-related benefits would be achieved by default. Also, the four groups of benefits are inter-related and cannot be achieved in isolation. The results of ISM analysis are further validated through a questionnaire survey data analysis. ISM analysis studies perceptions of Indian construction managers. But, the results can be generalized for other countries after due considerations as the benefits were identified after an extensive literature review.

POSTED BY NORHANA BINTI MUSTAFFA (2008261158)