Abstract
Research reveals that organisations in general are keen to provide their staff with the support needed to boost their competency in BIM and subsequently leverage the effectiveness of its implementation. However, employers need a decision-making tool to make better informed investments in specific work-based education and training that addresses the immediate upskilling needs of their employees. Therefore, the aim of this research project is to investigate the significance of Work-Based Education and Training (WBET) needs through the development of an Organisational Upskilling Model (OUM). A comprehensive literature review retrieved 25 hypotheses that were tested for significance from a questionnaire survey completed by 73 AEC professionals working for a large-scale UK engineering consultancy. Based on the current expert sample, the study revealed a holistic inter-organisational agreement that technology training is in high demand. Whereas, the organisational body of knowledge needs only to be better publicised, as employees were unaware of its immediate availability. OUM proved that the most influential variables to BIM Uptake were Attitude (R2 = 0.569 & Q2 = 0.395), User Competency (R2 = 0.523 & Q2 = 0.369), and Organisational Support (R2 = 0.400 & Q2 = 0.233). Informed by their in-house culture, OUM enabled the sponsoring engineering consultant to predict immediate WBET upskilling needs and plan for the required capital investment. However, ‘OUM’ may be applied by any BIM-adopting organisation seeking WBET informed decision-making assistance for better upskilling, continuous improvement, organisational learning, and ultimately business growth.
Highlights
Organisational Upskilling Model (OUM) provides a nonconventional predictive tool that can be applied to better adopt and implement building information modelling (BIM), while providing a detailed understanding of Work-Based Education and Training (WBET) needs that differ from one organisation to another
In terms of ‘Attitude’, through OUM, the sponsoring organisation realised that there is no resistance to change within their culture, as long as their investments in ‘Knowledge Acquisition’ and ‘Technical Training’ are well managed and maintained
OUM revealed that employees’ demand for ‘Technical Training’ prevailed over ‘Process Training’, which would enable a higher level of confidence amongst the sponsoring organisation to prioritise the training budget towards the technical aspects of BIM adoption
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. It is widely accepted that the most influential barrier to the uptake of BIM is the lack of individual competency pertaining to knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, behaviours and attitude [13,14,15,16] Such studies collectively acknowledge the need for education and training as a resolution, albeit from distinct and limited perspectives. Literature pertaining to WBET high level recommenMoreover, it is unclearFurthermore, as to whatcurrent variables overlap, supersede, orfocuses nullifyonothers as no dations in the form of verified variables, and based on results of exploratory research has proposed a binding framework or an in-situ evaluation mechanism thatreviews, conceptual frameworks, and user-acceptance models Such variables range between socioverifies the applicability of these variables to distinct organisational functions. The hypothesis, which leads organisations to focus their upskilling investments on inter-cultural specific2.needs andReview improvement opportunities
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