A Case Study on Educating Engineers for Geographically-Dispersed Design Teams

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Dannenhoffer ◽  
Barry D. Davidson ◽  
Anthony R. Ingraffea ◽  
Alan T. Zehnder ◽  
Scott L. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Launch Vehicles ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Reusable Launch Vehicles ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Asynchronous Communications ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Computer Based

The mantra of industry today is to design products and processes using collaborative design teams. While the potential benefits of such a design philosophy are numerous and significant, many organizations find themselves falling short in the implementation. Sometimes these shortcomings are due to cultural and technical difficulties in the organization, but too frequently they are due to a lack of knowledge as to how to collaborate effectively. Described herein is an educational initiative by Syracuse and Cornell Universities to together teach collaborative design methodologies through a common two-semester, senior-level engineering design course. In the course, not only are the lectures taught to the two cohorts of students using at-a-distance technologies, but the students are teamed in cross-university teams to execute a series of 6-week design challenges, from preliminary through detailed thermal-structural design of the external skins of seconds-generation reusable launch vehicles. An Advanced Interactive Discovery Environment (AIDE), which is a computer-based infrastructure specifically designed for this course, is used to support both synchronous and asynchronous communications amongst the team members and with the faculty. Extensive surveys of the students, together with faculty observations, indicate that proper use of collaboration tools can facilitate effective geographically-dispersed design teams, making them as successful as local design teams.

Investigating the Use of Large-Scale Immersive Computing Environments in Collaborative Design

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meisha Rosenberg ◽  
Judy M. Vance
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
3D Cad ◽  
Cad Models ◽  
Computing Environments ◽  
Design Ideas ◽  
Human Motions

Successful collaborative design requires in-depth communication between experts from different disciplines. Many design decisions are made based on a shared mental model and understanding of key features and functions before the first prototype is built. Large-Scale Immersive Computing Environments (LSICEs) provide the opportunity for teams of experts to view and interact with 3D CAD models using natural human motions to explore potential design configurations. This paper presents the results of a class exercise where student design teams used an LSICE to examine their design ideas and make decisions during the design process. The goal of this research is to gain an understanding of (1) whether the decisions made by the students are improved by full-scale visualizations of their designs in LSICEs, (2) how the use of LSICEs affect the communication of students with collaborators and clients, and (3) how the interaction methods provided in LSICEs affect the design process. The results of this research indicate that the use of LSICEs improves communication among design team members.

Trust in Virtual Multicultural Teams

2008 ◽  
pp. 1292-1308
Author(s):  
Iris C. Fischlmayr ◽  
Werner Auer-Rizzi
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Multicultural Teams ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Illustrative Case Study

This chapter analyses the phenomenon of trust with regard to its significance for virtual teams. Guided by the existing literature on trust, this chapter presents different kinds of trust and the development of trust over time. The challenges inherent to virtual multicultural teams, thus to working teams, which are geographically dispersed and communicate with the help of electronic media, raise the questions of their consequences on trust. As virtual teams are mostly used in companies operating in different countries all over the world, the different cultural backgrounds of the team members are taken into account as well. To give an example for the relevance of this issue in practice, an illustrative case study on experiences international business students have made during virtual team projects is presented.

Can Process Metrics Predict Product Success?: A Pilot Study of Student Design Teams

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Bracken ◽  
Francis Xavier Glavin ◽  
Daniel Henderson ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Neeraj Sonalkar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Product Success ◽  
Team Interactions ◽  
Successful Team ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Video And Audio ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Engineering Projects

Abstract Engineering projects typically revolve around producing a deliverable. That deliverable goes to a customer, who either deems it acceptable or in need of further work. The engineering analysis and components of whatever system is to be produced are the subject of much scrutiny. However, the human process composed of team interactions that lead up to creating that final product is frequently treated as a “black box” that simply produces an output. In order to identify what factors in that process are key to a successful product, this work seeks to identify what successful engineering design teams do differently than less successful teams. As part of our larger research project, metrics for measuring team performance during the process of design have also been created. In this paper, we use three of those metrics in a case study of 5 senior-level student design teams. These data are employed in conjunction with feedback from the instructor, acting as their customer, to identify which behaviors had strong links with more successful team results. We also investigate whether any of the behaviors exhibited by the teams correspond to worse results, in order to identify behaviors with the potential to be used to predict poorer performance in advance. This analysis is completed using data collected via a mid-term survey and an end-of-project survey (both completed by the team members), in addition to video and audio meeting data, and data collected from both midterm and final presentations. We present these results as an avenue to move us towards enabling engineers to choose to engage knowingly in behaviors that correlate with better project results.

Understanding the Context of Multidisciplinary Design: Establishing Ecological Validity in the Study of Design Problem Solving

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (16) ◽  
pp. 1082-1086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. McNeese ◽  
Brian S. Zaff ◽  
Clifford E. Brown ◽  
Maryalice Citera ◽  
Jonathan Selvaraj
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Concept Mapping ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Design Team ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Activities

The need to understand the design process in all its complexity is motivated by an interest in the development of tools and technologies that would be capable of aiding collaborative design teams. This development effort depends upon an understanding of design activities as they occur within a real world context. Observations of design activities that are made without direct communication with the design team members may fail to capture many of the subtler aspects of the process - aspects that are best understood when described by the design team members themselves. In order to supplement observational studies, this paper presents a case study in which a dialog with members of a variety of collaborative design teams was established in order to elicit information about the nature of collaborative design. A knowledge acquisition technique, concept mapping, was used to achieve an understanding of the role of human factors specialists within the collaborative design process specific to the Air Force's system acquisition program. Results highlight various findings about the nature of design problem solving such as the way different organizational settings influence human factors input in the design process/product. The paper discusses the usefulness of concept mapping to capture in-depth design knowledge and how this type of knowledge complements other approaches to understanding design.

scholarly journals Lessons from Laos: selecting appropriate communication media for context

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (03) ◽  
pp. C05
Author(s):  
Wesley Ward
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Funding Agencies

Current agricultural research depends on complex contexts that can impose major barriers for communication within geographically dispersed research teams. Such barriers are multiplied where team members originate from and operate in contrasting cultures and economic circumstances. A case study based in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) showed how to identify such barriers between Lao and Australian scientists using transcripts of 30 interviews with these groups. These were analysed using grounded theory analysis to identify these barriers which were operationalised to construct an assessment tool — I-CHET. This tool was subsequently applied to nine online communication technologies used by the interviewees to identify the technology that displayed the fewest problems regarding these barriers — email, and those with the most problems — websites and Skype. The study highlighted the complexity of communication barriers for international research teams, beyond economic and online infrastructural constraints, to include individual and cultural differences as well as language. By addressing these differences, project managers and funding agencies can maximise the benefits from research completed by international teams that provide vital agricultural knowledge and methodologies for many developing countries worldwide.

Trust in Virtual Multicultural Teams

2011 ◽  
pp. 100-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris C. Fischlmayr
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Multicultural Teams ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Team Projects ◽  
Illustrative Case Study

This chapter analyses the phenomenon of trust with regard to its significance for virtual teams. Guided by the existing literature on trust, this chapter presents different kinds of trust and the development of trust over time. The challenges inherent to virtual multicultural teams, thus to working teams, which are geographically dispersed and communicate with the help of electronic media, raise the questions of their consequences on trust. As virtual teams are mostly used in companies operating in different countries all over the world, the different cultural backgrounds of the team members are taken into account as well. To give an example for the relevance of this issue in practice, an illustrative case study on experiences international business students have made during virtual team projects is presented.

Applying Equity Design to Address Oakland’s Homelessness Human Rights Crisis

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia KRAMER ◽  
Julia KONG ◽  
Brooke STATON ◽  
Pierce GORDON
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Thinking Process ◽  
Collaborative Efforts ◽  
Typical Design

In this case study, we present a project of Reflex Design Collective, an experimental social equity design consultancy based in Oakland, California. Since founding Reflex Design Collective four years ago, we have reimagined the role of “designers” to transform relationships structured by oppression. To illustrate this reimagination, we present a case study of our work as ecosystem-shifters. In 2017, we facilitated a co-design innovation summit where unhoused Oakland residents led collaborative efforts to alleviate the burdens of homelessness, with city staff and housed residents serving as allies instead of experts. Our approach to design facilitation differs from a typical design thinking process by pairing our clients with those on the front-lines of social inequity in a collaborative design process. Specifically, we elevate the importance of democratized design teams, contextualized design challenges, and ongoing reflection in a design process. We highlight successes of our design facilitation approach in the Oakland homelessness summit, including outcomes and areas for improvement. We then draw higher-level key learnings from our work that are translatable to designers and managers at large. We believe our approach to equity design will provide managers and designers an alternative mindset aimed to amplify the voices of marginalized groups and stakeholders.

Relationship Conflict and Feeling Communication in Design Teams

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste Roschuni ◽  
Lora Oehlberg ◽  
Sara Beckman ◽  
Alice M. Agogino
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
New Product ◽  
Relationship Conflict ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Team Members ◽  
High Performing ◽  
High Conflict ◽  
Process Medium

Collaborative design team members use feeling language in their communications with one another, dubbed feeling communications, as they negotiate their interpersonal relationships and task, process and relationship conflict to achieve successful outcomes. In this paper, we examine the use of feeling communications by design teams in a new product development class at UC Berkeley, how their use of feeling communications relates to the levels of conflict experienced by the teams throughout the semester, and how both relate to team performance. From this study, it appears that high-performing and low-conflict teams tend to use high levels of feeling communications. High-conflict teams also use high levels of feeling communications, but often suppress its use when given feedback on their process. Medium-conflict teams appear to initially produce less feeling communication, but build up to a normal level over the course of the project. These results are based on our study of 1,926 messages sent by 13 teams in the Fall 2008 class, and present promising avenues for further exploration.

Challenges in Globally Distributed Design Teams: A Case Study

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Design Teams ◽  
Implantable Medical Devices ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
The People ◽  
Geographically Distributed ◽  
A Company ◽  
Globally Distributed ◽  
New Location

This paper describes barriers to effective collaboration between geographically distributed experts jointly participating in design of medical products. The barriers were observed during a study conducted at a company which produces implantable medical devices such as pacemakers and defibulators, but the issues are typical of most international product producing companies. The company commissioned the study because they experienced serious manufacturing difficulties after moving their manufacturing facility to a new location where labor was less expensive, several thousand miles distant from design facility. The company suspected that the difficulties stemmed from insufficient communication and collaboration between the now distant design engineers and manufacturing engineers, but they lacked a sufficiently detailed understanding of the causes to formulate effective solutions. Electronic tools had not resolved the problems. The study found that the added distance greatly exacerbated many existing design/manufacturing collaboration challenges that occur in most organizations even when the two are located at the same site. Additionally, distance resulted in a decay of familiarity between sites with the people, processes and expertise at the other site. More explicit structure and incentives were needed to help distant team members overcome the added collaboration difficulties created by distance. The study concluded that one while one needs appropriate electronic tools to make it possible for distant design team members to communicate easily, additionally, an organization must provide appropriate processes, incentives and resources to motivate people to collaborate over distance.

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