Josh Iorio

Digital Boundary Objects as Negotiation Facilitators: Spanning Boundaries in Virtual Engineering Project Networks

Advances in electronic communication tools have enabled collaborative engineering work to be conducted in virtual project networks that utilize “digital boundary objects” to exchange complex design knowledge. However, little is known about whether and how digital boundary objects facilitate negotiations in virtual settings that feature real-time communication. This article addresses this gap by exploring the role of digital boundary objects in negotiating complex design knowledge in a three-dimensional (3-D) virtual workspace. The authors found that digital boundary objects facilitate negotiations through a three-stage process of structuring negotiation space, structuring knowledge in the structured negotiation space, and framing combinations of structured knowledge.

Messy Talk in Virtual Teams: Achieving Knowledge Synthesis through Shared Visualizations

Engineering teams collaborating in virtual environments face many technical, social and cultural challenges. In this paper we focus on distributed teams making joint unanticipated discoveries in virtual environments. We operationalize Dossick and Neff’s definition of “Messy Talk” as a process in which teams mutually discover issues, critically engage in clarifying and finding solutions to the discovered issues, exchange their knowledge, and resolve the issue. Can globally distributed teams use “Messy Talk” via virtual communication technology? We analyzed the interactions of four distributed student teams collaborating on a complex design and planning project using building information models (BIM) and the CyberGRID, a virtual world specifically developed for collaborative work. Their interactions exhibited all four elements of Messy Talk, even though resolution was the least common. Virtual worlds support real time joint problem solving by 1) providing affordances for talk mediated by shared visualizations, 2) supporting team perceptions of building information models that are mutable and 3) allowing transformations of those models while people were together in real time. Our findings suggest that distributed team collaboration requires technologies that support Messy Talk -- and iterative trial-and-error -- for complex multidimensional problems.

Quantifying the Impact of Facilitation on Transactive Memory System Formation in Global Virtual Project Networks

AbstractBuilding strong ties between geographically dispersed project participants is crucial to project success. In global project networks, many firms have adopted virtual collaboration tools to address the challenges imposed by temporal and geographical distance. Some researchers have examined the role of facilitators and found that process facilitation can improve collaboration. Research has also shown that facilitators can be drawn into content interactions, which may negatively impact collaboration effectiveness in virtual workspaces. Research to date has not quantified this negative impact. In this study, the formation and maintenance of transactive memory systems (TMS) in two facilitated and two nonfacilitated global virtual project networks were investigated, each executing a 2-month project. Using TMS formation and cohesive subgroup formation as a proxy for performance, quantitative evidence was found that demonstrates a negative impact on collaboration effectiveness when facilitators engage in ...

A bridge too far: examining the impact of facilitators on information transfer in global virtual project networks

As the architecture, engineering and construction industry globalizes and the use of virtual environments to connect this workforce becomes more common, it becomes increasingly important to understand how to best support efficient systems of information transfer in technologically mediated workspaces. Previous research has demonstrated that global project networks face technological challenges that can interfere with collaboration, and it has been argued that facilitators are an effective means to help networks overcome these challenges. We conducted a study to determine how facilitators impact the transfer of information through a global project network in a modally robust virtual workspace by examining the centrality of facilitators and actors from different knowledge domains. We used task conflict duration as an outcome variable in comparing the performance of two facilitated and two non-facilitated networks of student teams engaged in complex design and planning projects. Our findings indicate that wh...

Identifying Potential Leaders for Virtual Teams

Virtual teams are becoming more common work structures because specialized knowledge is often geographically distributed. The performance of virtual teams can be increased through effective leadership. Although a growing body of research exists that has identified behaviors exhibited by effective virtual team leaders, we know relatively less about the characteristics of workers or their prior experiences that make them more likely to exhibit these behaviors. Our research seeks to address this gap by examining how the prior technological and interactional experiences of leadership candidates is related to the leadership behaviors that they exhibit during virtual team work. Our results indicate that prior experience working in virtual teams, particularly with the technologies that support the virtual work, are the most significant factors that predict leadership behaviors. Our results have implications for improving current leadership training programs and for providing effective leadership in existing virtual teams.

Examining the Effect of Boundary Spanning Technologies in Virtual Project Teams

Overcoming the challenges of virtual collaboration may require different approaches to achieve performance objectives for virtual teams of mixed nationality participants as compared to virtual project teams of single nationality participants. Many researchers have examined the way multinational project participants collaborate in order to sustain effective collaboration across boundaries. However, we lack a similarly nuanced understanding of networks of individuals on project teams comprised of mixed nationality participants that utilize virtual collaboration environments and new information technologies. In this paper, we examine the role of Boundary Spanning Visualization Technologies (BSVTs) to understand differences that may emerge at the cross-national boundary in virtual teams of mixed nationality participants. We found that BSVTs within the virtual workspace were utilized more frequently by virtual teams of mixed nationality participants. We also identified a positive correlation between effective technology usage and cohesive collaboration among project participants measured by network density. These findings have important implications for the effective functioning of multinational project teams that utilize virtual environments in the construction industry.

Layered Boundary Spanning in Global Virtual Project Networks: Exploring the Role of Cultural Boundary Spanners at Knowledge Domain and Technological Boundaries

As the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry globalizes, design and planning work is increasingly executed in geographically distributed and culturally diverse Global Virtual Project Networks (GVPNs). Within a GVPN, boundaries exist that can interfere with collaboration effectiveness and work processes. In order to increase effectiveness of GVPNs, we need to develop a better understanding of how to span boundaries. Although previous research has examined strategies for spanning individual boundaries, we lack an understanding of how multiple, layered boundaries can be simultaneously spanned. For instance, when knowledge domain boundaries correspond to cultural boundaries, are cultural boundary spanners able to effectively support network interactions? Our research examines a case where cultural, technological and knowledge domain boundaries simultaneously exist to identify effective interactional strategies that minimize the impact of the boundaries on project execution time. Based on a social network analysis, our results indicate that cultural boundary spanners may not be effective when simultaneously spanning knowledge domain and technological boundaries. Our research contributes a preliminary exploration of layered boundaries and layered boundary spanning in GVPNs and provides project decision-makers with insight into effective GVPN team composition and interactional strategies that can lead to more efficient project outcomes.