Introduction

Abstract

We are all familiar with cooperative work in our daily lives as we perform tasks where we depend not just on ourselves but also on the efforts of others in order to get the work done. In such instances we often find ourselves spending time and using energy to coordinate our work tasks with the efforts of others. This book is about such coordinative efforts albeit on a somewhat larger scale. That is, the complexity and scope of cooperative work is variable, of course, with some endeavours being more elaborate and complex than others. In the past centuries, developments within industry, technology and not least society at large have resulted in the building process, our case in point, becoming a highly complex cooperative endeavour where sophisticated coordinative practice are in play in order to coordinate and integrate the tasks of hundreds of individuals and scores of organizational units and companies. For those engaged in the building process, planning, designing and constructing a large contemporary building is undoubtedly a source of headaches and exhaustion, broken and made careers as well as pride and joy. To qualify these individuals for this highly complex endeavour most of them have been formally trained and are experienced as architects, building engineers, specialists, masons, carpenters, electricians, painters etc. Based on their acquired skills and experience these actors are able to marry and match a multitude of interdependent cooperative work tasks involving for example the prolonged building design process spanning several design disciplines and organizations as well as the construction process itself involving a multitude of professions and building trades adhering from a plethora of contractors and subcontractors.