Implications of Digitization on a Construction Organization: A Case Study

Abstract

As the construction industry transitions to a post-pandemic world, the use of technology brought forward by Construction 4.0 has accelerated. This increase in technological advancements has placed greater emphasis on the need for digitization and is consequently driving construction organizations to change. Thus, it becomes crucial to understand how digitization is affecting the organizational aspects of construction companies including strategy, structure, people and culture, and processes and technology. This study addresses the gap and presents a case study on a large EPC company (Company X) that has been going through a digitization organizational change of both engineering and construction services since 2017. The company is a legacy company that has been operating for over 100 years and is placed in the Top 400 Contractors List published by the Engineering News Record (ENR). Network analysis was performed on transcriptions from four semi-structured interviews conducted with company representatives to understand: (1) the drivers of digitization (weight of the past, push of the present, and pull of the future); (2) the response of Company X to successfully implement this organizational change (implications on strategy, structure, people and culture, and processes and technology); and (3) the challenges that digitization imposed on the organization. Findings of this paper offer a preview of the dynamics of the digitization organizational change and enable informed diagolgue around the drivers of, response to, and challenges of digitization in the construction industry. Organizations undergoing or planning a digitization information can reflect on the practices identified through this research to succesfully navigate through this organizational change.