Communications in FSR team - building : the interdisciplinary research team

The paper begins by noting several communications problems inherent to the research team, e.g., the professional jargon of diverse disciplines, the tendency of each discipline to define FSR tasks according to its own methods and models, the failure of the academic world to reward interdisciplinary work, and even cultural and socioeconomic differences among team members. The main section of the paper suggests means of overcoming these problems. Discussed in turn are methods for improving communication in terms of quality (listening skills), frequency (regular, frequent meetings and semi-formal colloquia), intensity (retreats, workshops, conferences, and other forms of informal interaction), and a variety of written and oral channels, (regular reporting, joint authorship of articles and joint hands-on activities in the field, information sharing, use of translators, and use of visual aids and of body language). The report concludes that FSR teams would benefit from exploiting the full range of communications options available and suggests that, due to the complex nature of communications, a communications expert be included on an FSR interdisciplinary team.