SMART project management for SMART cities: Analyzing critical factors affecting trust among Virtual Project Teams

Abstract

SMART cities suggest a domain that attracts an increasing scientific, political and economic attention. Smart Cities have been characterised and defined by a number of factors including sustainability, economic development and a high quality of life. Enhancing these factors can be achieved through infrastructure (physical capital), human capital, social capital and ICT infrastructure. It requires ambitious projects to transform entire urban areas through master planning and infrastructure development. This required SMART project management. In order to accomplish the goals of SMART project management, the construction industries have to rely on multi -disciplinary project teams having varied expertise. Majority of these companies have adopted virtual teams for their business activities. These virtual teams work at global level and face a number of challenges that can have an impact on team effectiveness. This research paper focuses on classification of smart cities and key challenges faced by the virtual project teams. Further to this, this paper reviews existing international literature to identify the variables affecting trust among virtual team members in construction sector of Middle East. The variables are then grouped together to form factors after understanding their definitions and commonalities among them. This research highlights the importance of these factors to project managers of smart city projects and it would be beneficial to Project Managers of Architectural/Engineering / Construction Companies as well as that of other sectors by facilitating them to know the actions required for better team collaboration in virtual teams. This may lead to greater team performance and individual learning.