Success in virtual cross-disciplinary engineering design teams in industry
Abstract
In today’s fast-paced and innovation-driven world, the nature of the design problems facing industry often requires the use of cross-disciplinary teams in order to maximize innovation. Assembling face-to-face teams to solve the wide variety of design problems that exist is costly, time-consuming, and sometimes impossible, leaving companies with no choice but to call upon virtual cross-disciplinary engineering design teams to quickly and cost-effectively solve design problems. These teams are crucial to competitiveness in the future, but virtual team members need a stronger set of skills in order for virtual teams to be successful. This study answers the research question: What factors contribute to the success of virtual cross-disciplinary engineering design teams in industry? Three case studies were conducted on three distinctly different pre-existing virtual cross-disciplinary engineering design teams in industry. One team was designing a process for working virtually, the second was redesigning an existing product to reduce cost, and the third was working as a part of a customer-led virtual team to design a brand new product. Team members completed questionnaires, participated in interviews, and went through observations of their virtual work experiences over a period of six weeks for each team, and a multi-case study analysis was conducted. The results of this study showed that factors that contribute to the success of virtual cross-disciplinary engineering design teams fall into three major categories: the context in which teams work, the method by which teams do their work, and the media by which teams communicate. This study’s framework provides a platform for future research on virtual cross-disciplinary engineering design teams, both in industry and in education. This study also found that virtual teams need (1) strong processes, (2) high-quality team members, and (3) higher performance in general on team success factors, suggesting that processes may be more important than technology.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Adams, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Management|Industrial engineering|Organizational behavior
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.