Technology strategies for globally dispersed construction teams

Peña-mora, F; Vadhavkar, S; Aziz, ZUH

Abstract

SUMMARY: Groups of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed members are increasingly being assembled to accomplish a wide range of organizational tasks using a combination of telecommunication and information technologies. The emergence of such technologically savvy globally dispersed teams has also heralded a complex and largely uninvestigated area of interaction practices of such team members. By enabling team interactions via non-traditional media, information technologies have actually expanded and transformed the conventional team interaction space. This paper assesses the impact of team interaction space on perceived team performance using qualitative and quantitative research techniques. To collect qualitative data, interviews were conducted with members from globally dispersed teams from three Global 500 companies. Audio, video and face-to-face team interactions between these team members were observed and analyzed. A survey on team interaction space was administered to the team members to substantiate the research hypotheses with quantitative data. Triangulating the qualitative and quantitative data, significant correlation was discovered between the effectiveness of the team interaction space and perceived team performance. Factor, path and qualitative analysis demonstrated that organization protocols, communication technologies and spatial setup positively affect interaction space effectiveness. The paper introduces team interaction space as a mediating variable to explain the role of technology, organizational processes and spatial setup on perceived team performance. To apply the research findings in industrial settings, the paper develops a team interaction space framework for designing and managing the environment for globally dispersed teams.

Citation

Peña-mora, F., Vadhavkar, S., & Aziz, Z. (2009). Technology strategies for globally dispersed construction teams. Journal of Information Technology in Construction, 14, 70-80

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 10, 2008
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2009
• Deposit Date: Dec 8, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Information Technology in Construction
• Volume: 14
• Pages: 70-80