Wakes of Innovation in Project Networks: The Case of Digital 3-D Representations in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction
Top Cited Papers
- 1 August 2007
- journal article
- Published by Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in Organization Science
- Vol. 18 (4), 631-647
- https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1070.0304
Abstract
Changes in the technologies of representation in a heterogeneous, distributed sociotechnical system, such as a large construction project, can instigate a complex pattern of innovations in technologies, practices, structures, and strategies. We studied the adoption of digital three-dimensional (3-D) representations in the building projects of the architect Frank O. Gehry, and observed that multiple, heterogeneous firms in those projects produced diverse innovations, each of which created a wake of innovation. Together, these multiple wakes of innovation produce a complex landscape of innovations with unpredictable peaks and valleys. Gehry’s adoption of digital 3-D representations disturbed the ecology of interactions and stimulated innovations in his project networks by: providing path-creating innovation trajectories in separate communities of practice, creating trading zones where communities could create knowledge about diverse innovations, and offering a means for intercalating innovations across heterogeneous communities. Our study suggests that changes in digital representations that are central to the functioning of a distributed system can engender multiple innovations in technologies, work practices, and knowledge across multiple communities, each of which is following its own distinctive tempo and trajectory.Keywords
This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit:
- Collaboration Networks, Structural Holes, and Innovation: A Longitudinal StudyAdministrative Science Quarterly, 2000
- Digital architectural visualizationAutomation in Construction, 2000
- A study of 2D- and 3D-oriented architectural drawing production methodsAutomation in Construction, 1996
- CASE Tools as Organizational Change: Investigating Incremental and Radical Changes in Systems DevelopmentMIS Quarterly, 1993
- Flexible Sketches and Inflexible Data Bases: Visual Communication, Conscription Devices, and Boundary Objects in Design EngineeringScience, Technology, & Human Values, 1991
- Building Theories from Case Study ResearchAcademy of Management Review, 1989
- Institutional Ecology, `Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39Social Studies of Science, 1989
- Organizational LearningAnnual Review of Sociology, 1988
- The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational FieldsAmerican Sociological Review, 1983
- Producing Drama: Symbolic Communication and the Police*Symbolic Interaction, 1982