L ÍNEAS METODOLÓGICAS E INSTRUMENTOS IMPLICADOS

The purpose of the research is to test if integrated collaborative technologies can have an impact on team collaboration. In order to answer this, the researcher identified the sub-factors of team collaboration: individuals (skills), teams (roles, relationships, share knowledge/awareness, common ground, group processes and composition), the interaction process (learning, coordination, collaboration and decision making), support (tools, networks, resources, knowledge management, error management) and context (organisational structure). In addition to these factors, integrated collaborative technologies and their features have been introduced which can impact on team collaboration. In particular, integrated collaborative technologies in the construction sector are those tools that can help stakeholders work collectively towards problem solving without being impeded by geographical distance. Their features, amongst others, are: BIM, collaborative design software, workflow systems, documentation management systems and knowledge management systems. These features provide the basis for the following sub-hypotheses.

4.1.1. Research Hypothesis

Considering the main hypothesis that integrated collaborative technologies can impact on team collaboration (H1) the research sub-hypotheses are:

 H1a: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the understanding of roles within a team.

 H1b: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the relationships between the project partners (stakeholders)

 H1c: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the knowledge sharing and awareness between the project partners (stakeholders)

 H1d: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the common ground / understanding of the project brief (scope, aim, objectives, budget, timeline, stakeholders)

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 H1e: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the group processes (group effectiveness and performance)

 H1f: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the collaboration in terms of the heterogeneity and the size of a team

 H1g: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the interaction processes between the project’s stakeholders in terms of learning

 H1h: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the interaction processes between the project’s stakeholders in terms of coordination

 H1i: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the interaction processes between the project’s stakeholders in terms of communication

 H1j: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the interaction processes between the project’s stakeholders in terms of decision making

 H1k: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the structure of a project: Organisational Breakdown Structure

 H1l: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the structure of a project: Work Breakdown Structure

 H1m: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the accessibility of projects’ stakeholders to information

 H1n: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the networking accessibility and capability between the projects’ stakeholders

 H1o: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance project managers’ access to projects’ knowledge required in order do/control/manage their job

 H1p: Integrated collaborative technologies can enhance project managers’ capability to identify, analyse and manage/control both errors and violation of a project/task

4.1.2. Questionnaires

In order to answer the Hypothesis H1 and its sub-hypotheses, the researcher designed the survey and the questionnaire considering information and communication technologies and team collaboration. Figure 4.1 represents the potential impact of integrated collaborative technologies on team collaboration.

 Chapter 4 – Integrate Collaborative Technologies and Team Collaboration

59 | P a g e Figure 4.1 The sub hypotheses between integrated collaborative technologies and

team collaboration

4.1.3. Research Methodology

Methodologically, the survey aims to test if integrated collaborative technologies can enhance team collaboration, and structured interviews were designed to answer how integrated collaborative technologies can enhance the understanding of roles within a team. The same group of project managers (n=24) responded to both the survey and the structured interviews in order to express subjectively the strength (link) of influence. For the survey the researcher used the Likert scale between 0 and 10 where 0 indicates no influence and 10 indicates high influence. For the discussion of the quantitative data, statistical descriptive analysis techniques have been used, and for the discussion of the qualitative data a content analysis technique has been used. In particular, any value 0<x<1 where x represents the value that integrated collaborative technologies do not influence team collaboration and 1<y<10 where y represents the value that integrated collaborative technologies do influence team collaboration the researcher accepts any value y ≥5. This will secure the highest degree of influence of integrated collaborative technologies on team collaboration. As a result any value 1<y <5 and 0<x<1 were rejected. The terms used for the analysis are presented in italic form below:

60 | P a g e The mean is the average rate of the scale in a set of data. The mode is the value that appears most often in a set of data. The median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The minimum is the lowest value that appears in a set of data. The maximum is the highest value that appears in a set of data. The standard deviation (σ) shows how much variation or "dispersion" exists from the average (mean). The sum shows the total sum of the data set. The skewness shows a measure of the asymmetry of the probability distribution of a real-valued random variable. The

confidence level (95.0%) indicates the reliability of an estimate in a set of data. The same group of project managers responded simultaneously to an in-depth discussion on how integrated collaborative technologies influence team collaboration.