Identity and Significance in the Design Team

The paper examines the nature of personal identity individuals in the design team are perceived to have, derived from behavioural evidence provided by other members of the team. Personal identity is conceived to comprise of acceptance, security and significance. The evidence for this study comprises of behaviours related to personal significance. The levels of significance and the types of behavioural patterns are analysed for the design team as a whole and by professional role. Particular behaviours are analysed, conceptualised in terms of performance related behaviours, appearance related behaviours, blame based behaviour, shame based behaviour, humility based behaviours, and confidence related behaviours

IDR : a participatory methodology for interdisciplinary design in technology enhanced learning

One of the important themes that emerged from the CAL’07 conference was the failure of technology to bring about the expected disruptive effect to learning and teaching. We identify one of the causes as an inherent weakness in prevalent development methodologies. While the problem of designing technology for learning is irreducibly multi-dimensional, design processes often lack true interdisciplinarity. To address this problem we present IDR, a participatory methodology for interdisciplinary techno-pedagogical design, drawing on the design patterns tradition (Alexander, Silverstein & Ishikawa, 1977) and the design research paradigm (DiSessa & Cobb, 2004). We discuss the iterative development and use of our methodology by a pan-European project team of educational researchers, software developers and teachers. We reflect on our experiences of the participatory nature of pattern design and discuss how, as a distributed team, we developed a set of over 120 design patterns, created using our freely available open source web toolkit. Furthermore, we detail how our methodology is applicable to the wider community through a workshop model, which has been run and iteratively refined at five major international conferences, involving over 200 participants

Conflict, Trust, and Effectiveness in Teams Performing Complex Tasks: A Study of Temporal Patterns

In this study we analyze the evolution of intra-team conflict and trust in teams that perform complex tasks. Using a longitudinal research design with six time intervals over a period of ten months, we collected data on 41 teams. Our findings suggest the existence of two distinct temporal patterns. One pattern develops in a stable manner and is characterized by high levels of trust and relatively low levels of task and relationship conflict. The other pattern is unstable with low, deteriorating levels of trust and high, amplifying levels of task and relationship conflict. These patterns are associated with significant differences in team effectiveness. On a self-perception as well as a stakeholder measure of team effectiveness, teams with stable patterns outperformed teams with unstable patterns.management and organization theory ;

The influence of design team communication content upon the architectural decision making process in the pre contract design stages

Patterns of communication in the decision-making process of Design Team Architects are considered. Variations in the verbal content of Architect and other Design Team member interaction behaviour are analysed over the various stages of the design process. A pilot study building design and a main subject study building design are investigatted on a longditudinal basis. Fourteen other building designs are investigated on a cross sectional basis. The presented results represent a data collection period of approximately eighteen months. Design Team interaction is measured using content analysis. The measurement scales used are largely based upon existing methodologies, although some measurement scales are developed specifically for this research. Quantitative data analysis is by mainframe computer, using analysis programs which are developed specifically for this research. Additional qualitative substantiations are provided by extracts of supportive interview responses. The results show pronounced patterns of variation in the interaction content of Design Team members throughout the design process over a range of design types. The conclusions are of use to Design Team members since they illustrate the likely patterns of future interaction for the future stages of any design process. Potential areas of interaction conflict are presented, together with likely variations in Design Team member preoccupations as the design develops. Reference to the results allow the Designer to design in order to avoid likely design interaction problems associated with long term variations in Design Team interaction behaviour. Results indicate that the Architect becomes less assertive during the middle stages of the design, as does the influence of the initial brief. The Architect is consistently the most creative Design Team member, although cost considerations increasingly influence the decision-making process of the Architect, largely at the expense of aesthetic considerations. The professional Design Team members increasingly form a coalition against the Client Representative, to some extent as a defence against late stage disruptive cost reduction exercises, as construction factors increasingly influence interaction behaviour

Detailed empirical studies of student information storing in the context of distributed design team-based project work

This paper presents the findings of six empirical case studies investigating the information stored by engineering design students in distributed team-based Global Design Projects. The aim is to understand better how students store distributed design information in order to prepare them for work in today‟s international and global context. This paper outlines the descriptive element of the work, the qualitative and quantitative research methods used and the results. It discusses the issues around the emergent themes of information storing; information storing systems; information storing patterns; and information strategy, making recommendations; establishing that there is a need for more prescriptive measures to supporting distributed design information management. This work will be of great value to industry also

Towards a Pattern Language for the Design of Collaborative Interactive Systems

Nowadays, the design of interactive systems addresses diverse communities of end users, each belonging to a certain culture, having a role in the context/domain and using a specific digital platform. More than often, they come together and collaborate in performing their work tasks and need to be supported by virtual interactive systems. This brings a set of challenges and design problems to be faced by interaction designers focused on the design of collaborative interactive systems. The present paper focuses on one approach to overcome these challenges – by making available the knowledge and wisdom within a team of designers to each and every designer in the team by the definition of pattern languages, organized as sets of multimedia, multimodal documents accessible and manageable in the Web. A design pattern language comprises a set of inter-related design patterns able to address interaction design problems and to allow the accumulation and use of knowledge within a team of designers. This paper identifies and describes a set of design patterns addressing the design of collaborative interactive systems together with the possible relationships among them and the operations made available to designers for managing and using the patterns

The case of veterinary interprofessional practice: From one health to a world of its own

BACKGROUND: Research regarding the veterinary professions' involvement in interprofessional practice and education (IPE), either with health care professionals as part of One Health, or specifically within the veterinary health care team, is sparse. PURPOSE: To investigate veterinary interprofessional working and learning in veterinary practices; then ultimately to make recommendations for IPE. METHOD: Two case studies in typical but contrasting practices were conducted. The study consisted of three sequential and complementary weeks: 1) observing the whole team, 2) shadowing selected focus individuals from each profession and 3) interviewing focus individuals regarding teamwork. Triangulation was achieved by synthesis of emergent themes from observational field notes and interview transcripts. DISCUSSION: Facilitators to interprofessional practices included hierarchy, trust and value, different perspectives, formal infrastructure and professionalization. Challenges included hierarchy, spatial and temporal work patterns, professional motivations, and error and blame. CONCLUSION: The veterinary and human health care fields face similar interprofessional challenges. Real life observations, as described here, can provide important insight relevant to the design of IPE initiatives

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions

The mirroring hypothesis predicts that the organizational patterns of a development project (e.g. communication links, geographic collocation, team and firm co-membership) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the system under development. Scholars in a range of disciplines have argued that mirroring is either necessary or a highly desirable feature of development projects, but evidence pertaining to the hypothesis is widely scattered across fields, research sites, and methodologies. In this paper, we formally define the mirroring hypothesis and review 102 empirical studies spanning three levels of organization: within a single firm, across firms, and in open community-based development projects. The hypothesis was supported in 69% of the cases. Support for the hypothesis was strongest in the within-firm sample, less strong in the across-firm sample, and relatively weak in the open collaborative sample. Based on a detailed analysis of the cases in which the mirroring hypothesis was not supported, we introduce the concept of actionable transparency as a means of achieving coordination without mirroring. We present examples from practice and describe the more complex organizational patterns that emerge when actionable transparency allows designers to 'break the mirror.'Modularity, innovation, product and process development, organization design, design structure, organizational structure, organizational ties

Follower Helping Behavior in Engineering Design Teams: Theoretical Constructs and Protocol Analyses

The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of followership behaviors in engineering design team situations by studying leadership behaviors. While leadership in engineering design teams has been studied from role, function or behavior, and individual characteristic perspectives, no studies appear to examine (follower) helping behavior in the context of an engineering design team. Understanding this behavior can lead to intervention strategies that might be employed to improve team dynamics and performance. To this end, a theoretical framework of follower behavior is defined based on a review of “helping behavior” from the literature. Characteristics of follower helping behavior include exhibiting citizenship, voluntary, and extra-role behaviors while not upsetting the status-quo. A model is developed that links leadership style, follower character/mindset, social exchange relationships, influence tactics, group dynamics, and follower performance. The central behavior studied here is helping behavior. The literature-based framework reviewed is primarily based on studies employing survey data, with only a single study using observational studies. Therefore, data presented from a previous protocol study is re-examined in search of patterns of conversions of followers to leaders through behavior modeling. In the previous study, eight teams of four graduate engineering students were tasked with generating a function model for a design prompt. These teams were video recorded, and their behaviors coded for seven leadership actions. Of the eight design teams previously studied, there were 325 total leadership behaviors coded. A follower-to-leader transition pattern was defined where a follower in one behavior immediately exhibited leadership behavior in the next coded activity. Of the activities coded, 131 (40.3%) possible follower helping actions have been identified. These are examined further to determine whether there is a correlation between the initial leadership behavior type and the immediately occurring follower-leader leadership behavior type. Patterns are also sought to determine how often the initial leader also changes to a follower in the subsequent activity, termed a follower-leader. This study shows that there are follower patterns that are found in design activities. Further, these patterns are related back to the (follower) helping behavior model that is derived from the literature, specifically the influence tactics that include: inspirational appeals, consultation, and supplication; as well as social exchange relationships of leader-member exchange (LMX), team-member exchange (TMX), and affect-based trust. Finally, this study provides suggestive evidence of patterns to motivate future systematic study of followership in engineering design