**Changing Skills in Changing Environments: Skills Needed in Virtual Construction Teams**

Willy Sher1, Sue Sherratt1, Anthony Williams1 and Rod Gameson2

*1The University of Newcastle 2University of Salford 1Australia 2United Kingdom* 

#### **1. Introduction**

30 Applications of Virtual Reality

Zhao Ji et al.(2000).On Implementing Virtual Production Line. *Journal of Northwestern Polytechnical University*, Vol.18,No.4(April 2000),pp.518-521,ISSN 1007-5429 Zhang Longxiang.(2007)*UML and System Analysis and Design(2nd edition)*. Post & Telecom

Press, BeiJing, ISBN 978-711-5159-52-6

This book focuses on virtual reality. In the context of design, virtual reality is an emerging technology that not only allows designers and other stakeholders to gain a threedimensional appreciation of the artifact being designed, it also has the potential to significantly alter the manner in which design occurs. Internet-based technologies have made it possible for designers in different locations to collaborate in developing and refining their designs. Virtual reality has contributed to this environment (Maher, 2005) by allowing designers in geographically-dispersed locations to interact with each other. Software applications have been developed to assist and facilitate these collaborative activities (including Shyamsundar and Gadh (2001) and Lau, Mak and Lu (2003)) but comparatively speaking, little research has been conducted into the people-related issues of collaboration via the Internet. Some of these are the issues addressed in this chapter.

Recent developments in virtual communication technologies have the potential to dramatically improve collaboration in the construction industry (Gameson & Sher, 2002). Furthermore, virtual teams "hold significant promise for organizations that implement them because they enable unprecedented levels of flexibility and responsiveness" (Powell, Piccoli, & Ives, 2004, p. 6). Some authors observe that virtual teams are here to stay (Bell & Kozlowski, 2002) and that organisations will be forced to "embrace virtual collaboration to enhance their competitiveness" (Abuelmaatti & Rezgui, 2008, p. 351). Indeed, current research proposes that "(g)lobally disbursed project teams are the new norm in every industry today" (Daim et al., 2012). However, the skills required to work productively in virtual environments have been theoretically defined but not assessed in the real world. Indeed, many of the studies that have been conducted (e.g. Hatem, Kwan and Miles (2011) and Rezgui (2007)) into virtual teamwork have involved tertiary-level students. Abelmaatti and Rezgui (2008) consider that the challenges of virtual teamwork in the real world substantially outweigh the relative ease with which academics can research and develop virtual team solutions. Furthermore, the differences between virtual and face-to-face teamwork means that an overt and explicit effort is needed to design new work processes to make it successful (Nunamaker, Reinig, & Briggs, 2009).

Changing Skills in Changing Environments: Skills Needed in Virtual Construction Teams 33

variables contributing to effective virtual teamwork (Gaudes, Hamilton-Bogart, Marsh, & Robinson, 2007; Peña-mora, Vadhavkar, & Aziz, 2009). Virtual teams may differ significantly depending upon these aspects and Dubé and Paré suggest that this table could also be used as a diagnostic tool to help assess the level of complexity in a virtual team.

There is still much discussion about the core set of knowledge, skills and attitudes that constitute teamwork (Salas, et al., 2000). We sought to contribute to this debate by identifying the skills that transferred from a traditional face to face (F2F) environment and the ones that required refining for virtual environments. Furthermore, we wished to identify if virtual teamworkers needed any new skills. As a starting point, we investigated the generic skills workers acquire and use on a daily basis. Generic skills are defined by Salas et al (2000: p, 344) as "the knowledge, skills and attitudes that a team member possesses when completing a task or communicating with fellow members, whether in a co-located or virtual environment". Generic skills influence both individuals and teams; they are skills which are "…transportable and applicable across teams" (Salas, et al., 2000, p. 344). A review of generic skills (Cannon-Bowers, Tannenbaum, Salas, & Volpe, 1995) was used to identify those which are used by design team members and is summarised in Table 2.

To examine the skills designers use it is necessary to understand the content of their interactions. A number of techniques facilitate such insights including Protocol Analysis and Content Analysis. Protocol Analysis attempts to infer cognitive processes by examining verbal interactions (Ericsson & Simon, 1993) but has been found to be a limited means of identifying non-verbal design cognition. Even where some comparisons are discovered, a large degree of interpretation is required (Cross, Christiaans, & K., 1996). The subjectivity of analysis and the length of time required to complete analysis also call into question the

Content Analysis, according to (Wallace, 1987), involves coding transcripts of communications in terms of frequency analyses because the underlying assumption is that "the verbal content produced by the individual is representative of the thought processes at

Several content analysis techniques were used to identify and interpret these thought processes and thereby to investigate the generic skills our participants used. We explored micro-level communication processes because these "can provide valuable insights to managers and researchers alike about how to 'read' the health of teams" (Kanawattanachai & Yoo, 2002: p. 210). We identified quantitative content analysis as an effective means of identifying the generic skills of designers. This necessitated the development of a framework by which our data could be coded. Behavioural marker studies (Klampfer, et al., 2001, Carthey, de Leval, Wright, Farewell, & Reason, 2003) provided a template for our generic skills coding framework. Behavioural markers are observable non-technical "aspects of individual and team performance" (Carthey et al, 2003: p. 411) which are related to the effectiveness of an individual and team. The methods for creating behavioural markers informed the development of our framework. In accordance with Klampfer et al's (2001) recommendations, we devised a system that provided simple, clear markers, used appropriate professional terminology, and emphasised observable behaviours rather than

**3. Generic skills** 

appropriateness of this method.

work in his or her mind" (p. 121).

Our studies were part of a project which examined the use of information and computer technologies (ICTs) to facilitate design / construction team interactions. They were funded by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (Maher, 2002) and focused on the early stages of design / construction collaboration where designs for a building are created, developed and revised. Three aspects of collaboration in virtual environments were investigated: (i) the technological processes that enable effective collaboration using these technologies; (ii) the models that allow disciplines to share their views in a synchronous virtual environment; (iii) the generic skills used by individuals and teams when engaging with high bandwidth ICT. The last strand of these investigations was investigated by the authors and is reported on here. Details of the other strands of this project may be found at the project website (Maher, 2002) and other publications (Bellamy, Williams, Sher, Sherratt, & Gameson, (2005) and Sherratt, Sher, Williams, & Gameson, 2010).
