- Title
- The education of virtual teamwork skills in construction management, building surveying and quantity surveying programs in Australian universities
- Creator
- Pitt, Brendan Michael
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
- Description
- Changes in business practices and the volatility of the world economy have led to the development of new business practices to suit the modern business environment. These new business practices utilise the capabilities of available technologies, principally those technologies that facilitate communication. This integration of communication technologies has led to a growing prevalence of virtual teamwork utilising online or electronic environments. Virtual teamwork has been recognised by businesses as an increasingly important tool, yet one that suffers from a lack of sufficient training. In the Construction Industry, this lack of training is problematic due to increasing Virtual Teamwork technologies, such as BIM, that require adequately trained and skilled professionals. This research study seeks to examine whether the prevalence of Virtual Teamwork is recognised by Australian university construction programs, and if these programs are delivering graduates with the required skills for effective Virtual Teamwork. In addition, the issue of alignment between universities, industry representative bodies, and the Construction Industry, is explored to determine if the education of Virtual Teamwork skills is required in the graduate competencies stipulated by the industry representative bodies. It was found that the growing importance of communication technologies in the Construction Industry was recognised by staff, students and representative bodies, and was reflected in the courses taught. In addition, teamwork was acknowledged as an important element of the Construction Industry, and incorporated as part of construction courses. However, the specific and unique skills required for effective teamwork in a virtual environment were not considered important by staff or the representative bodies, and did not form an explicit part of the majority of Australian university construction programs. Interestingly, students recognised the growing importance of Virtual Teamwork skills, with many noting the lack of training in these skills as common to construction programs. These findings are important because they demonstrate the gap between the trends of the Construction Industry and the education of the future professionals.
- Subject
- communication technologies; virtual teamwork; virtual environment; construction industry; university education
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/923567
- Identifier
- uon:9755
- Rights
- Copyright 2011 Brendan Michael Pitt
- Language
- eng
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