The individual vs. the group? Individualization and collectivity among students in collaborative design

Abstract

The various modes in which individuals relate to the collectivity of a group have been fruitfully explored in research on group dynamics. The present paper applies a phenomenological interview approach to understand how this dynamic relationship plays out among design students in a collaborative design situation. Through deep-interviews with the members of a temporary design group, a number of dimensions for this relationship were uncovered. These individual-group characteristics related to instrumentality of engagement, experience of ambivalence and threat and finally to the process of individualization in which the group enabled an individual ''design self''. After having presented the theoretical underpinnings and the empirical results of this study, the paper ends with suggesting a synthesis perspective of the individual-group relation in collaborative design.

Polaridades conceituais e tensões teóricas no campo da Psicologia: o falso paradoxo indivíduo/coletividade

“…Elas incluem fronteiras relativamente fixas, uma ordem normativa, posições de autoridade, um sistema de comunicações e um sistema de incentivos que permite aos diversos tipos de participantes trabalhar juntos na consecução dos objetivos comuns (Hall, 1984, p. 22) Essa separação entre domínios macro ou micro orientados se expressa em uma forte polêmica sobre o poder de agência ou a fonte prioritária de determinação -se está no indivíduo ou na organização, como exemplificada nas argumentações de Giddens (2003), Bourdieu (1989) e Elias (1994Elias ( /1990, e psicólogos como Juckes e Barresi (1993) nos oferecem conceitos e modelos teóricos acerca de como se diferenciam e se articulam indivíduo e sociedade. Poderíamos ainda recorrer, como sugeriu Almeida Filho (1997), ao estudo de relações complexas ou ainda a modelos de compreensão e de intervenção indicados por pesquisas empíricas, por exemplo, para o estudo de identidade nacional em situações conflituosas, como palestinos e judeus (David & Bar-Tal, 2009), ou para o estudo da interatividade e da mudança na relação entre individual e coletivo com estudantes em projetos colaborativos (Hellström, 2007). Tais posições e pesquisas, por suas características heurísticas, estão hoje a merecer atenção mais detida de sociólogos e psicólogos sociais, como veremos a seguir.…”

Reexamining the relationship between design performance and the design process using reflection in action

“…Collaborative design studies have merited considerable attention (McDonnell, 2005; McDonnell & Lloyd, 2009). Related research methods include ethnographic field research (Tory et al, 2008), case studies (Kleinsmann & Valkenburg, 2008), interviews (Hellström, 2007), linguistic analysis (Dong, 2005), and protocol analysis (McDonnell & Lloyd, 2009). An important research theme in collaborative design studies using protocol analysis is reflection in action (Valkenburg & Dorst, 1998; Stempfle & Badke-Schaub, 2002; Adams et al, 2003).…”

Facilitating communication in the interdisciplinary design process

“…Consequently, it is reasonable for the designer to assume that the design process is naturally inherent to the designer's domain and that the decision-making on design specifications is solely limited to the discretion of the designer (Hellstrom, 2007). This is captured in Figure 4.…”

“…This is captured in Figure 4. As a result, the designer very often believes that the information retrieval across disciplinary boundaries is part of the knowledge-sharing process that assists in the completion of design tasks, as opposed to thinking of it within the collaborative design process method (Hellstrom, 2007). Moreover, since the translation of information from verbal or written codes obtained from consultations does not involve specialists from other disciplines, it may encourage the designer to feel as though he/she is the originator and main contributor of the design work, creating a sense of ownership to the design (Von Stamm, 2003).…”