Comparing the effectiveness of face to face and computer mediated collaboration in design

Hatem, Wadhah Amer Hatem 2012. Comparing the effectiveness of face to face and computer mediated collaboration in design. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Construction projects are complex and organisationally characterised by a high degree of fragmentation. This results in a need for clear communication and collaboration between the project participants in order to ensure the success of a project. Advances in communication technologies have enabled construction project members to supplement face to face (FTF) communication with methods based on computer mediated communication (CMC). The latter has reduced the need for travelling and hence results in savings in aspects, such as cost and time. One aspect of this CMC based communication is the emergence of modern design software which, together with other communication tools enables designers to undertake collaborative design while being geographically remote from one another. The research in this thesis compares the effectiveness of FTF and CMC based collaboration for teams of two people at the design stage of a construction project. The comparison deals with many points that have been not addressed in previous studies and the analysis leads to the conclusion that CMC results in a more effective process than FTF in many aspects. For productivity, the results of this research reveal that team productivity for CMC is higher than for FTF and intriguingly further results show that the productivity score of two people collaborating is higher than for a single designer. Better time management has been found to occur with CMC than FTF. This research found a method of measuring degree of collaboration between users in a team, as well as the results prove that the degree of collaboration in CMC better than FTF. In terms of design quality, the results show that the design quality for FTF is nearly equal to that for CMC. Other aspects of this research examine the relationship between non-verbal and verbal communication as well as between non-verbal communication and team productivity plus the impact of emotional factors on productivity and quality is also examined.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Engineering
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	collaboration; communication; face to face (FTF); computer mediated communication (CMC); design; non-verbal communication
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2023 08:41
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/37337

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