Abstract

Conceptual design projects are commonly complex projects that need more than one individual designer to work on them for project accomplishment. This group of people gathered together toward a similar objective of accomplishing a project is called a design team. The design team is a crucial success factor in conceptual design projects and designing the design team remains an inevitable part of the design problem for any project manager.

In this thesis, we approach the team design problem by employing a design methodology called Environment Based Design (EBD). Along with demonstrating the application of EBD in this design problem we propose a framework which can support the project manager in human resources management processes in a design project while complying with PMBOK as a widely-practiced project management method. Finally, we conduct a case study to validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

This thesis provides two models which can support the designing of a team during the project execution. The first model introduces an approach for designing and evaluating projects in the project-based learning context regarding the learning objectives. The other model is a descriptive model which describes the design phenomena in a design team based on a theoretical model of creativity and organizational capability. Using these two proposed models, the project manager can maintain the design team performance by training the team and resolving raised conflicts among the team. These models are provided within an integrated and systematic staffing framework which enables the project manager to staff conceptual design project teams by appropriate designers effectively throughout the conceptual design project.