Think, Talk, and Design: Exploring the Interplay of Cognition, Communication, and Design Processes

Abstract

Abstract. Individual traits of designers shape how they interact on design teams and with the design process. Additionally, communication between design team members can impact both team dynamics and design outcomes. While prior work has investigated design convergence, there is limited work on how team climate, cognitive traits, and communicative patterns impact the design process. This study investigates the interactions between perceptions of psychological safety, communication, cognitive flexibility, and design actions. Design actions were measured using a behavioral coding schema and audio recordings of design team interactions. In this work, 28 participants and 5 design thinking experts engaging in a design thinking workshop were studied. Contrary to prior work, this mixed-methods study found no significant correlation between perceived psychological safety and design team interactions in engineering design teams. However, a positive correlation was found between individuals’ cognitive flexibility and perceptions of psychological safety, suggesting that cognitive flexibility, or the ability of an individual to adapt to the demands of a task, may be linked with more positive perceptions of team climate. These findings highlight the interactions between individual designer traits, design team communication, and team climate.