Sharedness of team mental models in the course of design-related interaction between architects and clients

Hernan Casakin,Petra Badke-Schaub

doi:10.1017/dsj.2017.15

Abstract

This study deals with the role of mental models in the coordination of team activities during design problem-solving. The work centers on the sharedness of mental models in a design team setting, mainly on the interaction between an architect and two clients. A major goal is to gain insight into how modifications in mental models affect coordination, and how sharedness develops through the process. Our focus is to explore, through a case study, the individual contributions of the architect and the clients to coordination of the work process, and how sharedness of the development of the team mental model evolves in the early stage of concept generation. Our claim is that work teams develop a certain degree of sharedness of the mental models of individual team members during information exchange. This team mental model can be insufficient or even wrong, but as long as the team members feel agreement in the team, they coordinate their work on that basis. Thus, sharedness of mental models is believed to be a powerful team asset, especially when it is reached in the earlier phases of the design process. Our findings suggest that in order to attain sharedness among design team members, design activities related to the task mental model should be encouraged, specifically the generation of new ideas and the analysis of solutions. Implications for practice and education are suggested.

Highlights

It is a common statement that problem-solving is a complex activity that requires intensive collaboration between members of a team, in a multidisciplinary one
Concerning sharedness of mental models in the architectural design team, the findings show that a large proportion of the Task utterances took place at the beginning of the session, suggesting that team members dedicated most of their communication efforts to the exchange of information concerned with the successful completion of the problem at hand
This paper dealt with the analysis and assessment of a design problem-solving process in a heterogeneous team setting composed of an architect and two clients

Summary

Introduction

It is a common statement that problem-solving is a complex activity that requires intensive collaboration between members of a team, in a multidisciplinary one This is true for design activities, which can be described as complex problem-solving within different social contexts. The interaction between architects and clients is critical to arrive at successful results As communication influences both the design process and the design result, an analysis of design team communication looks promising for gaining insight into how team members interact, and how they arrive at joint decisions. This process can be described as an integration of social and cognitive inter-related activities

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion