Design teamwork in distributed cross-cultural teams
Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Man, Jinfan; Lu, Yuan; Brombacher, Aarnout
Series: ICED
Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, The
Page(s): 039-048
ISBN: 978-1-904670-50-6
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
In the recent decades, design teamwork in international teams has been taken into account to meet the requirement of product development with different cultural backgrounds in the context of globalization. The aim of this research is to explore the effect of different design teamwork modes (competition, collaboration, cooperation) on design process and support designers to improve design teamwork (design quality and team satisfaction) in the distributed cross-cultural teams. A case study was designed and conducted to investigate the effect of three different teamwork modes in distributed design teams with Dutch and Chinese students. In this research, it is found that different teamwork modes affect design quality and team satisfaction in international teams. In addition, cultural differences also have influence on design teamwork. The result of this study can be used for improvement of design teamwork, it is important for designers to be aware of cultural differences and make use of teamwork modes in design process.
Keywords: Teamwork, collaborative design, uncertainty, cultural differences