Socio-technical aspects of distributed collaborative engineering

Sammanfattning: In light of globalization, it is becoming increasingly important to take into account both advantages and disadvantages associated with world-wide product development efforts. While globalization means that costs and risks can be decreased, or shared in the case of collaborative projects, it also means that changes in traditional organizational structures are inevitable. The current trend is towards global virtual teams, in which collaboration proceeds across time as well as across geographical, cultural, and functional borders. Work in distributed design teams put demands on both physical and virtual environments that support these geographically dispersed groups with regard to collaboration, communication, and coordination. With longer distances between people, many of them with different responsibilities and activities within the organization, there is a clear need for the members of the organization to communicate efficiently in spite of the challenges that go with working in a geographically distributed work environment. Also, we must consider that engineering design is not a purely technical activity: it is also a highly social process. Technical artefacts are ultimately designed for human needs and purposes, and the design activities involve intense communication and interaction between individuals and groups in complex social settings. This thesis deals with socio-technical aspects of distributed collaborative engineering. The research presented in this thesis fundamentally aims to make investigations into the everyday work practice of engineers in order to better understand the social character of engineering design. Further, the research aims to establish a strong relation between these understandings of work practice and the design of appropriate, useful technology that supports and improves distributed collaborative engineering.