“In Case of Fire, Please Use the Elevator”: Simulation Technology and Organization in Fire Engineering

Mark Dodgson (), David M. Gann () and Ammon Salter ()
Additional contact information
Mark Dodgson: University of Queensland Business School, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
David M. Gann: Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
Ammon Salter: Advanced Institute of Management Research and Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

Organization Science, 2007, vol. 18, issue 5, 849-864

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: innovation; engineering knowledge; boundary objects; simulation; projects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1070.0287 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:18:y:2007:i:5:p:849-864

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().