TY - JOUR

T1 - Different networks for different purposes

T2 - A network science perspective on collaboration and communication in an engineering design project

AU - Piccolo, Sebastiano A.

AU - Lehmann, Sune

AU - Maier, Anja M.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the case company for providing the data and the anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and comments. Sebastiano A. Piccolo: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Sune Lehmann: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Anja M. Maier: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - During the design and implementation of engineering systems, as project members solve problems and exchange information with each other, a complex network of organisational interactions is established. The study of organisational networks can provide us with a deeper understanding of how organisations function and can help us devise strategies to improve collaboration and communication. However, it is widely believed that communication networks accurately capture the underlying collaboration amongst the members of an organisation. Here, through the use of multilayer and temporal network analysis methods, we analyse collaboration (through the project activity log) and communication (via emails) in a large engineering project and find that, on the contrary, collaboration and communication networks are only weakly correlated. More importantly, collaboration and communication networks show diametrically opposite purposes, underscored by crucial topological differences. While the email communication network is organised to facilitate the spread of information, the collaboration network is organised to suppress error propagation. We discuss the implications of our findings on how to design organisational networks and how to foster effective communication.

AB - During the design and implementation of engineering systems, as project members solve problems and exchange information with each other, a complex network of organisational interactions is established. The study of organisational networks can provide us with a deeper understanding of how organisations function and can help us devise strategies to improve collaboration and communication. However, it is widely believed that communication networks accurately capture the underlying collaboration amongst the members of an organisation. Here, through the use of multilayer and temporal network analysis methods, we analyse collaboration (through the project activity log) and communication (via emails) in a large engineering project and find that, on the contrary, collaboration and communication networks are only weakly correlated. More importantly, collaboration and communication networks show diametrically opposite purposes, underscored by crucial topological differences. While the email communication network is organised to facilitate the spread of information, the collaboration network is organised to suppress error propagation. We discuss the implications of our findings on how to design organisational networks and how to foster effective communication.

KW - Collaboration

KW - Communication

KW - Data science

KW - Engineering design

KW - Network science

U2 - 10.1016/j.compind.2022.103745

DO - 10.1016/j.compind.2022.103745

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85134703560

VL - 142

JO - Computers in Industry

JF - Computers in Industry

SN - 0166-3615

M1 - 103745

ER -