Multidisciplinary Teaching – MSc Course on Teamwork and Operation

Industrialization and technical development led to a split of the traditional role of the master builder into two: the architect and the engineer. Additionally, new demands on functionality such as energy and cost efficiency led to an increasing need of functioning collaboration in large teams during the design phase; as well as a need of new work methods within the process. This calls for employees who are experienced in collaborating in interdisciplinary teams. To fulfill this demand a multidisciplinary course in “Advanced building design” has been developed at the Technical University of Denmark. The goal of the course is to provide training in teamwork at the final stage of the engineering education. The course has been carried out twice. It was held by a multidisciplinary team of professors in periods 2008/09, 2009/10 and 20010/2011. Teams of students were subject of a questionnaire investigation on collaboration and team work. The study has the following findings. The latest year there has been a special focus on team work and all members tested their role according to Belbin’s theory on teamwork. The work has the following findings: Collaboration was generally good. However the extra focus on teamwork did not lead to a improvement of the team work in contrary. The team-structure was generally flat and decisions were mostly made in consensus. It is worthwhile to offer a multidisciplinary course and give engineering students experience in collaboration methods.