The word education comes from the Latin e-ducere (to lead out). In ancient Greece Socrates argued that education was drawing out of a student or person what was already within them. The latest definition of education is: The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.
This definition is not particularly helpful when we talk about educating people to understand the importance of a company initiative such as BIM, because the word education can mean different things to different people. The dictionary definition of the word education will have little relevance to some, for when you get past this definition then it is a person’s belief of what that word conveys or what they think the company believes is education that is more important.
Once a company has embarked on a mobilisation strategy it is generally accepted that there will always be a number of people within that company or organisation who will be opposed to changes or shifts in the organisations business practices. We think it is important to give a little page space to this in order to try to understand the possible negative responses to this company initiative, in this instance BIM, and why educating and informing a workforce is as important as the concept itself in ensuring a successful outcome.
Why is there resistance to change?
There are levels of resistance to change. At the outset it may be due to a lack of information, confusion or disagreement with the key information offered. The next level may be an emotional and psychological reaction to the change which could be based on fear of loss (job, status) or incompetence.
The last level will be beyond the immediate situation and will be on a personal level. What this change means to the individual may well be deeply ingrained in them. It may not be about the idea itself, they may have no problem with the idea, it may be they do not like you or the people making the proposals, or what you and they represent and that is a considerable hurdle to cross.
In order to involve/empower a workforce to get excited about any initiative they will need to understand why it is important to them and the company. What benefits they may well derive from it, how the company benefits from it and how they can help to move it forward. The workforce must be open minded, but this is most important within the project team who are charged with moving the initiative forward, and is a must if a new way of business is to bear qualitative and quantitive fruit. This open mindedness can be seen as a form of education. Education need not be about lots of classes and exams, it can be as simple as sharing BIM experiences, articles, and good ideas etc. As long as people feel they can contribute and their efforts will be listened to that is a good starting point. There will be some members of the project team and company who will need to be educated in the more formal sense of the word. There are several avenues open to the company and individuals, some of these are listed below.
CITB BIM Training.
- BRE Level 2 BimTraining. PIM (Project Information Manager) TIM (Task Information Manager) PDM (Project Delivery Management) Training.
- Autodesk Courses. Revit etc.
- RICS Certificate in BIM Project Management.
- MSc in BIM distance learning.
- BRE BIM Level 2 Business Systems Certification
There is no right or wrong way to implement a BIM strategy as the implementation will depend a great deal on what the company hopes to achieve, how collaborative its systems are already, and what is has decided are its business objectives.. Remember BIM is a method and a process and you can’t just say we are going to do everything in BIM starting next week. Unless there is an expert in the company who has experience of BIM implementation, or who has been trained up or educated as such, then the company may well wish to engage the services of someone who has the expertise. They can teach the company how to go about it. This will be invaluable to those staff members who are to be involved in the future and also for the person who the company will want to coordinate any further projects. No company will go from a standing start to full implementation of BIM, this will take time and will aggregate from the experiences they will go through with the projects they have earmarked to include BIM elements.
Intellectual Property Rights
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind such as inventions, literary and artistic works and symbols names and images used in commerce. It is divided into two categories. Industrial property and copyright.
The BIM model will consist of contributions from various parties. To avoid liability for infringement of third party intellectual property rights, the protocol should ensure that all contributors warrant that they hold the intellectual property rights over the contributions they make and provide an indemnity to all other parties who may use such contribution in the event of a third party intellectual property dispute. The Protocol includes sections that deal with this.
It is also critical to define who has responsibility to ensure the quality of contributions to the model or models, as well as the level of reliance to be placed on such contributions. This is particularly important where the model contains intelligent objects that may change on account of information derived from other contributors. 1
The BIM Model is reliant on the information put into it. In order to ensure this reaches the standards required and continues to do so through the life of the project there are sections within the Protocol to deal with this. This is usually the domain of The Information Manager who will instigate the processes for testing, validating and incorporating information into the BIM.
It is important to ensure that the parties take out the appropriate insurance to cover their engagement in the BIM process. Where a project wide insurance is available this should be adopted. The UK government has proposed the greater use of integrated project insurance in BIM projects. Where such cover is not available, parties should consider obtaining traditional coverage to protect against the liability for errors or omissions in their contributions to the model. 1
Article number 5 will include: The future of BIM. EBIM (existing buildings) HBIM (Heritage Buildings).
In preparing this article we have made reference to and used information from several publications and websites. They are listed below. We recommend you use them for further reference.
1 Koko Udom NBS Contract and Law Manager. February 2012
BIM DEMYSTIFIED 2ND EDITION. STEVE RACE. RIBA PUBLISHING.
MODERN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 7TH EDITION. FRANK HARRIS, RONALD McCAFFER AND FRANCIS EDUM-FOTWE.
The BIM Task Group
Published by Rod Arkle, Site Manager, Robert Woodhead Limited
The content of this article should be considered as thought leadership.