Multinational teams working in engineering solutions are becoming a common practice in many industries around the world because companies are interested in capitalizing on human resources dispersed globally. This practice has increased significantly due to advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT). The effectiveness of those geographically dispersed teams has been a topic of interest for the authors of this paper particularly the interaction among the team members since the literature recognizes that teams achieve better results when the interaction is strong and the social level of interaction is significant; additionally, that the working environment is more conducive to a positive experience when social interaction is built. This paper presents a description of the findings based on the data collected in a study done on the interaction of teams in a multinational collaborative design project carried out by students from six different countries dispersed in the US, Latin America and Europe. The main objective of this study is to use an assessment tool to evaluate the interaction among the students focusing in its nature, preferred communication tools and perceived value, with a special interest in the observed differences based on cultural backgrounds due to geographical location
The development of multinational collaborative projects in the academia is becoming a practice to educate students with global competencies. This educational approach is being used to expose students to an international experience through project based learning experiences in multinational settings. However, the effectiveness of this approach has not been rigorously assessed. The research team has been working in the understanding of this practice to enhance the overall experience and create a learning environment that fosters the development of global competencies. According to the literature, the interaction among distributed teams is critical in achieving the goals of the team. Therefore, the interaction of students participating in multinational collaborative projects has been a focus of interest for the research team. The aim of this work is to compare, based on the gender, the level of interaction of participants and the use of social interaction during the development of a multinational design project. This paper presents a description of the findings based on the data collected and is the beginning of a subsequent inferential analysis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.