Team Dynamics and Its Effect on the Design Process Within the Construction Industry

The traditional approach to delivering construction building projects is a fragmented scheme that promotes the independence of the three phases, design–bid–build. Although the method is predominantly applied in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, it faces many challenges that have contributed to the failures of construction building projects. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the team dynamics at play, while interdisciplinary design teams work on the design management task during the design phase of construction building projects. This was achieved by identifying the key design team members accountable for the design management process, establishing the problem areas hindering design management, evaluating the level of team dynamics encountered by interdisciplinary design teams and testing the interrelation between team dynamics and design management. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The qualitative data was gathered from interviewing interdisciplinary professional service providers involved in construction building projects based in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A total of 15 interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed. Team dynamics can be conceptualized in two different domains, the social domain which is human related social interaction and the technical domain which is task-orientated performance. Team dynamics among interdisciplinary design teams can have a negative and positive effect on the design management output. Indicators of trust, leadership, communication and commitment project goals caused an effect on the design teams’ efficiency to perform the design management task. Team dynamics effect the ability for design teams to collaborate, cooperate and coordinate during the design phase of construction building projects.