Implications for collaboration during the building of the actor-network

Understanding how John has built the CIS actor-network to implement the main firm’s strategy of innovation and collaboration is important to analyse how collaboration and power dynamics have been influenced among the actors in order to answer the research question5_{. How has collaboration between the contractor and the supply chain changed}

during the moments of problematization and interessement? First of all, actor-networking, that is sociology of translation, always concerns the transformation of the actors involved, and it is about making equivalent and shifting (Law 2007). In this study, the supply chain agreements have changed the relationship and the partnership agreements between the contractor and the supplier firm. Once the Purchasing team has found the right supplier to partner with, a special long-term relationship is established between them, and this relationship is regulated by the agreement itself with duties and benefits for both parties. The relationship which TCC aims to establish with the mandated suppliers is very open and collaborative (e.g. concerns the early involvement of the supply chain during projects, long-

5 _{Does the early engagement of supply chains around innovative technologies and practices foster}

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term relationships with them, open communication and mutual problem-solving), and it is nourished by regular relationship meetings, workshops, and phone calls.

The decision for establishing these long-term partnering with some suppliers has been deeply researched by the contractor, in particular by the Purchasing team. Indeed, as it was discussed in the moment of interessement, John’s strategy is to filter the suppliers’ interests through surveys and questionnaires in order to choose the best partners in terms of capabilities and shared values (e.g. the level of innovation and the willingness to innovate, the type of products or services offered, their expertise, and their strategic vision). This process has been defined as an additional moment of translation to Callon’s model, a “pre-interessement” phase.

Hence, John and the Purchasing team have the power to lead this decision. Although the contractor had the leading role in choosing the suppliers to partner with, the selected suppliers were then put in a position in which they are empowered by the supply chain agreements and the relationship formed with TCC. In particular, entering into these agreements allowed the mandated suppliers to become part of many learning opportunities, such as with BIM and become involved in new and innovative projects (e.g. SHT). In all these occasions they had the opportunity to express their opinions, expertise, problem-solving, and at the same time to count on TCC for support and active collaboration. This process of empowerment will be discussed more specifically in the next chapter.

Secondly, BIM had a great influence on the relationships and roles inside the projects. Indeed, one of the sub-questions of this thesis is to analyse the role of technology (non-human actors), such as BIM, in influencing collaborative activities and interactions among the human actors. Moreover, the implementation of technology also shapes the power dynamics within the group of actors. It can be argued that BIM emphasised the power of TCC as the main contractor because their demand of using BIM in projects have the power to actually change the way of suppliers’ way of working: some sub-contractors may be too weak in terms of capacity to invest, and internal expertise to be their own driving force for an extensive and integrated implementation of BIM in construction projects.

Because of the problematization of BIM within the CIS actor-network, new roles and competencies are expected from the actors, such as an increased need of collaboration. Hence, all of the design processes become more transparent (e.g. because of easily shared

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information) and all of the models need to be accessible to everyone, in particular to the design manager (e.g. the Project Manager in the SHT project) in order to keep control of the leading role in the design process (Linderoth 2010). Nonetheless, the example of the SHT clash detection that I discussed above (see paragraph 5.2.2 and figure 5.1) depicts how collaboration may not happen so easily through BIM when the actors are not completely familiar with the software which has a completely different way of working compared to others (e.g. AutoCAD). The difficulties in understanding all the elements of how BIM works, the different technical names, and the different way of managing collaboration and information may challenge the actors. Moreover, as Linderoth’s (2010) interviews based study with construction managers suggest, in projects regulated by partnering agreements, the implementation of BIM is due to contractual relations in order to make BIM an obligatory passage point. Moreover, BIM adoption can be facilitated by a collaborative environment which is emphasised by the contractual relations, and a greater power of the contractor who can effectively require the extended use of BIM.

During the enrolment phase, in which alliances are eventually built, the suppliers become “Category A” mandated suppliers after signing the supply chain agreements with TCC. In this phase John’s aim is to maintain the interests of the suppliers through continuous negotiations. Hence, suppliers are offered various benefits through this partnership, such as learning opportunities, increased competitiveness, long-term relationship and support from TCC, and special bid conditions for future projects. John’s strategy is indeed to create a long- term trustworthy relationship which is transferred from project to project. Hence, collaboration with the supply chain is fostered and power dynamics are shared in different ways between them. This strategy represents a strong factor for the collaboration of these actors.

Open communication, in terms of sharing of information and opinions, also becomes an important factor of their relationship, such as during the relationship meetings. In particular, as through the interessement phase, the moment in which the actors meet and start to negotiate and collaborate, some spokespersons are present and they represent TCC, or the supplier firms in specific settings. It has been discussed how the met consensus and alliances can be contested at any time, such as through the SHT exercise which represented a trial of strength of the network. Although the design meetings seemed to provide regular improvements with BIM and the Revit model, the clash detection eventually highlighted the

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technical issues of the whole model. The software revealed its limits in terms of collaboration among the actors who, at the same time, trusted the software too much and did not focused properly on communication. Also, the fact of having tight schedule of meetings in which the level of detail should have increased regularly has led the sub- contractors behind in terms of learning of BIM, and the possibility of improving communication through its online platform.

It has been emphasised in literature (e.g. Linderoth 2010; Andersen et al. 2004; Dubois & Gadde 2002; Slaughter 1998) how the disruptive nature of construction projects and of supply chains is a big challenge in terms of re-establishing network for continuous collaboration and innovation, and in particular for re-establishing the network around BIM in future projects. The supply chain agreements developed by TCC aim to solve this issue by calling for long-term collaboration and innovation with a fewer and more trusted number of supplier firms. The establishment of these agreements in previous years for the SP project have shown that this intention was actually implemented, and some suppliers who TCC have worked with in the past are actually part of new projects at the moment. This kind of collaboration thus made possible the development of standardised products, such as pre- designed schools which can be personalised by customers. These products represent the main innovation within TCC who worked with fewer suppliers and sub-contractors, and developed their marketing strategy, such as branding in order to emphasise the fact that they are offering a product (schools).