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Ponton, H, Osbourne, A, Greenwood, G and Thompson, N (2018) Understanding the Dynamics of Construction Design Team Meetings through Joint Laughter. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (Eds.), Proceedings 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2018, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 88–97.
- Type: Conference Proceedings
- Keywords: Collaboration, Construction design, Group dynamics, Laughter.
- ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-9955463-2-5
- URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/e4c0bb796a60abfe7e6ed02551c28839.pdf
- Abstract:
Joint laughter is recognised to have strategic importance when theorising the social interactions between members of a group. Construction project design team meetings are standard practice in the UK construction industry: they are the face-to-face mechanism for group decision-making between the client, design, and construction teams during the design development phase of contractor design-led procured projects. The importance of the design phase in relation to the overall success of a project is well documented. Design team meetings provide an essential platform from which to facilitate successful group collaboration and promote the integration of ideas between the fragmented sub-teams of traditionally procured schemes. Both task- and inter-personal-focused interactions of the group dynamic need to be understood and managed effectively to gain the most from the limited timeframe the meetings provide. Understanding the role and impact of joint laughter within group dynamics is the aim of this research, which is a subsidiary study to a larger PhD project. Data were gathered from 3 consecutive design team meetings during a live construction project using real-time non-participant observation. Using qualitative data analysis software, data were structured and organised to focus on critical incidents during the meetings when joint laughter occurred. This acknowledged that laughter can be associated with or without a humorous event. The results show that instances of laughter do not occur at random but during specific times during the meetings and are connected to specific events. These events include reducing tension during controversial group discussions and the building of a good team working environment. Ultimately, group collaboration and integration may benefit from knowledge about strategic joint laughter in terms of resolving group conflict, improving group decision-making, and creating feelings of collegiality. Understanding joint laughter appears to be a beneficial aspect of team dynamics that can help to improve task-related performance and achieve organisational goals.