Distributed team cognition in problem-solving in project management context

Abstract

The behaviour of project team-members is an important factor for organisations and should be appropriately managed. The need to cultivate, manage, monitor, and anticipate the continuous development of human behaviour that constitutes the foundation of soft-skills is becoming increasingly evident. Unquestionably, the success of a project depends on the human behaviour of the project team-members, who must already have well-resolved the technical aspects of hard-skills. Although technical skills are vital and indispensable in any methodology considered (agile - traditional - hybrid), the fact is that the contribution of team-members behaviour can surpass that of technical knowledge. This thesis aims to propose a distributed team cognition model for collaboratively problem-solving in the context of projects. The research encompassed the development of three studies and a technical-technological product represented by a bibliographic product (CAPES GT 1). The first study examined how cognition was approached in the project management area using an SLR based on 138 scientific articles extracted from SCOPUS and Web of Science, resulting four categories with sixteen subcategories and a cognition model based on these categories. The second study investigated how distributed team cognition enhances collaborative problem-solving in the context of projects through qualitative research and in-depth interviews with a sample of 32 project managers with experience in traditional and agile methods working in Brazil and internationally, resulting in the confirmation that distributed team cognition is significant for collaborative problem-solving. The third and final study examined the relationship between distributed team cognition and collaborative problem-solving in the context of projects, employing a quantitative study with 417 participants to assess the efficacy of a distributed team cognition model in enhancing collaborative problem-solving capacity, resulting in the validation of the distributed team cognition model as well as in the identification of important project management elements for project managers. The purpose of the technical-technological product was to establish a connection with practitioners by suggesting a bibliographic product containing methodologies and resources for collaboratively problem-solving challenges in the context of project management employing distributed team cognition. Due to its managerial nature, the distributed team cognition model and its proposed elements in this thesis can be applied to projects in many fields, industries, and approaches. The theory of distributed team cognition in project management, which emphasises the capacity for collaborative problem-solving, stands out as a significant theoretical contribution. As a practical contribution, the intention is to propose a model of distributed team cognition, which may be applied in professional and/or academic sectors, aiming to enhance collaborative work among team-members for problem-solving in project contexts. This research is aligned with research line 3: "Innovation in Projects", linked to the Postgraduate Programme in Project Management - PPGP UNINOVE, as well as this thesis is also aligned with other research linked to the project axis "Behavioural Economics". In addition, this research is aligned with the research line 2: "Project Management," linked to the Postgraduate Programme in Project Management - PPGP UNINOVE, as well as this thesis is also aligned with other research linked to the project axis "People Management and Project Management".