Approaches to joint problem-solving in multi-disciplinary distributed teams

This paper focuses on the different approaches that multidisciplinary teams adopt when solving a design problem. After a literature review on terms regarding work across more than one discipline, the Disciplinarity Matrix merges the terminology present across literature into a single classification, displaying which kind of multidisciplinary work can be expected depending on the project setup, followed an application on an educational Global Design Project across four universities in which students designed an artefact in a distributed, multidisciplinary team. Their approaches are discussed and the design output is taken into account in order to classify and evaluate the teams’ success. The key findings include that both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches can be successful, but need sufficient resources, especially time, to unfold their potential. Recommendations for multidisciplinary team work are not limited to the setup, but include requirements such as openness, a common language and moderation skills, which provide avenues to successful work in both educational and industrial multidisciplinary projects

Future Shock: Editing for Ad-hocracy

Future structure of organizations in government, education, and business will be characterized - if not already - by many task forces, project teams, interdisciplinary groups, multidisciplinary teams, multifunctional projects, and other impressively named, committee-like groups

Analyzing Multidisciplinary Team Effectiveness in an Engineering Environment: A Case Study of the West Point Steel Bridge Design Team

The West Point Steel Bridge Design Team is a group of five undergraduate seniors working to design and build a steel bridge for the annual ASCE Steel Bridge Competition. The purpose of our group’s research is to discover how multidisciplinary teams perform in academically competitive environments. This project provides a unique opportunity in the field of multidisciplinary collaborative work because the team’s success can be objectively measured against this year’s competitors and the team’s performance in previous years. The traditional structure of the West Point team consisted of three-to-five civil engineering majors. This year’s team includes a law and legal studies major and five civil engineers, two of which recently switched from systems engineering. Past designs have relied heavily on the work of previous years, which has led to stagnant performance at competitions. Our hypothesis is that by entering different perspectives into the group at an early stage, a revolutionary approach will ensue and overall performance will increase. The team did not completely disregard the designs and methods of previous teams, but the reliance on their decision-making process was more heavily scrutinized with the current multidisciplinary team. Our research is not solely limited to competitive performance. We also analyzed the decision-making process of this year’s team in comparison to previous years. While data on decision-making is not readily available, both the faculty advisor and two current team members who served on the team last year were able to provide personal insight into how the teams compare. Ultimately, this research seeks to provide groups in similar academically competitive environments an indication of whether a multidisciplinary composition will provide benefit to their team’s performance.Cockrell School of Engineerin

A Multicultural Experience Boosted by Specialized European Master: A Real Approach to Internatioanl Project Management

When the Specialized Master in International Project Management started in Madrid in 2009, ESCP Europe, a high-level school of management with international scope, decided to reinforce the European institution and also to foster innovation sustaining a wide international partnership network. Students and executives came from around the world and the school offered them a model of Project Management which prepared them for the multicultural future where geographically dispersed projects teams must collaborate with a common goal. Created in 1988, this Master keeps evolving and is a truly international program with international students and a real methodological revolution in Project Management education including international seminaries and destinations in emerging countries: Either, India and China, or Brazil and Argentina. This Specialized Master makes significant use of inductive teaching methods and interactive activities (project simulations, case studies, business plan development, etc.). This guarantees the skills acquisition needed to work in multidisciplinary, international and multicultural teams. The teaching methods emphasize experimentation and simulation exercises including International Consultancy Projects which requests an intensive use of Information and Communications Technologies in order to enable the international experience

Exploring Multiple Disciplines in Building Design Practice

While there are numerous benefits to working in teams comprising multiple disciplines, we do not have sufficient documented information on the functioning of multi-disciplinary teams in the building design context. As functioning impacts project outcomes, an understanding of the operation of building design teams comprising multiple disciplines is important. To contribute to the body of knowledge that addresses this gap, this paper examines literature on disciplinary types and team performance. Using an analytic framework identified in literature, this paper studies the organizational and social aspects of building design practice in order to shed light on the ways in which the multiple disciplines involved building design work together. Findings presented in this paper suggest that building design teams combine and integrate knowledge, skills and capabilities in a multidisciplinary manner. In addition, this paper discusses four social and organizational characteristics of multidisciplinary building design teams – the project delivery approach, disciplinary roles, preexisting social and professional relationships, and location and geographic proximity – and documents their impacts on team functioning.  &nbsp

New Methodology for Integrating Teams into Multidisciplinary Project Based Learning

This paper describes the collaboration among students and professors in four different subjects, to develop multidisciplinary projects. The objective is to simulate the conditions in a company environment. A new methodology based on student interaction and content development in a Wiki environment has been developed. The collaborative server created an ‘out of the classroom’ discussion forum for students of different subjects, and allowed them to compile a ‘project work’ portfolio. Students and professors participated with enthusiasm, due to the correct well-distributed work and the easiness of use of the selected platform in which only an internet connected computer is needed to create and to discuss the multidisciplinary projects. Quality of developed projects has been dramatically improved due to integration of results provided from the different teams

Integrating Teams In Multidisciplinary Project Based Learning in Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical/Industrial Engineering students at Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineering (ETSII) of Technical University of Madrid (UPM) receive an in-depth knowledge of mechanical design and manufacturing processes, but the increasing interaction with other engineering branches, induces the need to integrate concepts which allow students to make an integral design of new products, and thereby facilitate their subsequent integration into multidisciplinary engineering teams in industry. Complex engineering projects are usually carried out by the assimilation of different work teams, which could even be located geographically distant. Collaborative Web environments are proven to be ideal knowledge repositories, as it has seen in Academia and in Industry. The work here presented reproduces the organization of actual engineering projects, and brings it into the classroom. This new way of developing Project Work documentation and discussion has helped students become self-directed learners who internalize specific topics from different subjects, programmes and courses with their own interests, and has been considered as an easy alternative to promote active learning, not only in this area but in other courses. Project were launched in the engineering disciplines, each offering possibilities for the application of specific skills in the following courses: TEC -Manufacturing Technology-, CAD -Computer Aided Design-, SIM -Simulation in Mechanical Engineering-, and FAB -Fabrication / Manufacturing. TEC and SIM are applied in the Mechanical Engineering programme at ETSII, while FAB is part of the Industrial Engineering programme; finally CAD is voluntarily employed by students in different semesters and programmes. The new approach is oriented towards inducing collaboration within multidisciplinary teams. This paper describes the experience of collaboration among students and teachers in order to develop multidisciplinary projects, and to reproduce as closely as possib- - le, the team's integration into a company environment. A new methodology based on student interaction and content development in a Wiki environment has been developed. The collaborative server has allowed creating an “out-of-the-classroom” active discussion forum for students of different teams /topics, and to compile an important “project work” portfolio. This experience has been very satisfactory for students and teachers, who have participated with enthusiasm due to the exit of the well-distributed work and the easiness of use of the selected platform (Wiki). The quality of the developed projects has been dramatically improved due to the integration of the results provided by the different teams

Designing and Teaching Multidisciplinary Project-Based Courses to Satisfy the ABET 2000 Engineering Criteria

One important educational outcome required of any engineering programme, as per ABET 2000 Criteria 3, is the ability of engineering graduates to function in multidisciplinary teams. In order to address this requirement, the curriculum committees of the engineering programmes at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Fort Wayne, USA, have designed several multidisciplinary project-based courses. These courses involve computer, electrical and mechanical engineering students. Five multidisciplinary project-based courses, which are distributed over the freshman, sophomore and senior years, have been developed and implemented. In these courses, real world multidisciplinary design experiences are used to prepare IPFW graduates to enter today’s workforce. In this article, the authors present a brief description of these courses along with the authors’ experiences in the development and teaching of the five multidisciplinary project-based courses

A new approach for integrating teams in multidisciplinary project based learning

This paper describes the experience of collaboration among students and teachers in order to develop multidisciplinary projects, and to reproduce as closely as possible, the team's integration into a company environment. A new methodology based on student interaction and content development in a Wiki environment has been developed. Students and Teachers have participated with enthusiasm, due to the correct well-distributed work and the easiness of use of the selected platform in which only an internet connected computer is needed to create and to discuss the multidisciplinary projects. The quality of the developed projects has been dramatically improved due to the integration of the results obtained from the different teams

Developing effective teams in global multidiscipline engineering and manufacturing organisations

In today’s competitive business environment most activities in global relationships (subsidiaries, outsourcing, joint ventures) are carried out by multi-cultural and multidisciplinary teams which may be collocated or distributed. The members of these teams comprise a variety of experts of diverse cultural, organizational, and professional backgrounds. Within the project lifetime they are connected together with time and money constraints for a specific period of time to accomplish certain distinct objectives. The aims of this paper are to report on findings from an extensive literature review regarding multi-cultural and multidiscipline team work and to provide a basis for discussion and analysis of challenges such teams experience. A case study is carried out in a global multidiscipline engineering organization to identify empirical evidence of potential challenges in projects carried out by multicultural and multidisciplinary collaborative teamwork