Understanding Impacts of Social Network Interventions on Engineering Project Outcomes

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

This project will conduct fundamental research to understand how team interactions across disciplines and organizations in complex engineering projects impact project outcomes by studying teams on large engineering projects. Engineering project performance depends on both the performance of individuals and the networks through which knowledge flows between team members. These networks impact information access and the ability of team members to coordinate as they work towards common goals. Establishing efficient knowledge transfer networks is a challenge in engineering project teams, but there is limited evidence about specific impacts of network structure and dynamics on project outcomes. Using information about the distribution of expertise in a project network at any given time, this study will evaluate specific network interventions for their potential to improve knowledge transfer-related behavior in individuals or groups and whether this has a positive impact on project outcomes. The study will focus on construction projects for LEED-certified buildings, but the results will be relevant to large systems engineering projects in many industries, including manufacturing, civil infrastructure, aerospace, and defense. Outcomes will include extensive observational data of the projects, statistical analyses of the data, and an engineering solution to systematically improve coordination in project teams and enhance project outcomes. The research goal is to advance understanding of how manipulating interactions across disciplinary boundaries in inter-organizational engineering project teams can improve individual, sub-group, and project performance. The study will adopt a longitudinal, comparative research design with two architecture, engineering, and construction project teams, one of which will be treated with social network interventions. The research team will pursue an exploratory approach to examine network characteristics and collaboration mediums that can lead to improved individual and team performance and the links between team performance and project outcomes. A quantitative approach will be followed to test the impact of interventions on individual and sub-group performance. The multiple cycles of interventions will inform how engineering project teams react to network interventions at the individual and sub-group levels to improve project performance. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.