Effective Use of the Global Engineering Workforce

With improvements in communication technology, it is now practical to adopt virtual teaming strategies that facilitate better communication and management of global engineering teams. Yet, global virtual teams have many added cultural, economic, political, and technological aspects that must be evaluated and addressed for successful implementation. It is critical that an effective team structure, work sharing plan, and team procedures be developed prior for executing an engineering project with a global virtual engineering team (GVET).

This report summarizes the results of the Construction Industry Institute Research Team 211 (CII Research Team 211) research into the current status and best practices related to developing and implementing global virtual engineering teams. The study included a detailed survey of CII companies, interviews with industry executives, the development of a framework for effectively generate a plan for a GVET, along with the development of a software application to aid in the implementation of this planning procedure within a company.

This report includes a description of the detailed methodology to guide global designers toward successfully developing or optimizing their global engineering workforce. The results provide an implementation support tool for a company’s office or for a specific project that addresses the comprehensive issues involved in establishing successful global virtual engineering teams through the identification of best practices in the utilization of personnel, work processes, tools, and technologies.