In case of fire, please use the elevator: Simulation technology and organization in fire engineering

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dodgson, Mark; Gann, David M.; Salter, Ammon
• 署名单位: University of Queensland; Imperial College London; Imperial College London
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1070.0287
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 849-864
• 关键词: innovation; engineering knowledge; BOUNDARY OBJECTS; simulation; projects

摘要

Interorganizational projects can provide a vehicle for innovation, despite the professional and organizational barriers that confront this form of organizing. The case of fire engineering shows how such projects use simulation-technology as a boundary object to foster innovation in a new organizational field. Engineers use simulation technology to produce radical changes in fire control and management, such as using elevators to evacuate buildings during emergencies. A framework is developed that explores how decisions can be reached and tensions resolved amongst multiple, diverse, and discordant actors striving for a shared appreciation of negotiated futures. This framework extends theories of engineering knowledge and boundary objects. It sheds new light on how to organize collective, knowledge-based work to produce reliable and innovative designs.