Integration Evaluation Framework for Integrated Design Teams of Green Buildings: Development and Validation

Abstract

Integrated design (ID) process encourages integration of team members in the design phase of green building projects through intense collaborative processes and free exchange of information. Although integration in general and ID in particular have been well theorized by construction management research community, there exists no systematic mechanism in the field to help owners, architects, and managers of green project teams assess the level of integration in their projects’ ID team environment in a practical manner. The key objective of the present article is therefore to use a qualitative-quantitative methodology to propose and validate an integration evaluation framework for green project teams and to statistically test the association between integration level and project success. The framework can be used by green project teams for comparison, benchmarking, or educational purposes and for integration evaluation and improvement in ID team environments. This research also provides empirical evidence to anecdotes suggesting positive link between team integration and project success in green projects.