Why do(n't) actors in collaborative design understand each other? An empirical study towards a better understanding of collaborative design

This paper presents an empirical study of collaborative design projects in industry. Two case studies were conducted to investigate which factors influence the creation of shared understanding. Furthermore, collaborative mechanisms, i.e. the patterns underlying the relationship between these factors, were investigated. The results showed that shared understanding was influenced by factors on three organizational levels: the actor-, project- and company level. These influencing factors also affected the collaborative mechanisms within four different types of interfaces between the actors involved that could be distinguished based on the results.