A bridge too far: examining the impact of facilitators on information transfer in global virtual project networks

Abstract

Research on the role of facilitators in project networks has determined that facilitators are most effective during certain types of activities that occur throughout the duration of work meetings. More specifically, facilitators are most effective when they have: 1) a high level of involvement in activities such as rapport building and managing meeting processes, and 2) a low level of involvement in activities related to task. Through network analysis of the interactions between participants in two global virtual design and planning project networks, we contrast the impact of appropriate and inappropriately high levels of facilitator involvement on project network structure. We provide three examples that demonstrate on one hand, that appropriate levels of involvement during rapport building activities increases the density of the network, which helps to build a sense of community between network participants. On the other hand, we demonstrate how high levels of involvement in task activities create inefficiencies in the networks, which can ultimately fragment the network. The findings from our research have implications for facilitator training programs and for our understanding of how best to support global project networks.