Preliminary examination of ICT collaborative design and management in the construction industry

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming more comprehensive and more integrated into the design and management phases of the construction industry. Not only are increasingly sophisticated electronic tools being widely used to assist construction professionals design and manage buildings - ICT is making significant contributions by assisting these people to work in virtual, electronic environments. As a result of the application of these enhanced ICT tools there is a trend to move away from co-located teams to virtual team collaboration. The operational differences which result from the use of different electronic communication media and its impact on generic skills on design and construction professionals have been the basis for the research reported in this Cooperative Research Centre Construction Innovation (CRC-CI) paper. The outcomes of this research include the development and mapping of generic skills profiles for virtual design teams. The research findings also describe changes in generic skills profiles between different operational states (low bandwidth-high bandwidth). The paper links our research findings with literature relating to design teams and processes, virtual teams and the generic skills required to effectively participate in these teams. The conclusions of our research indicate that design team participants require ‘appropriate skills’ to function efficiently and effectively, and that the introduction of ICT reinforces the need for ongoing skills mapping and measurement.