Decision making in multiprofessional team interactions. (Phd Project K. Halvorsen)

​Synopsis The proposed project will analyze interaction in multiprofessional teams as it is manifested in actual work processes. Detailed discourse analysis, studying communicative strategies embedded in thorough ethnographic descriptions, will provide foundational insights into the characteristics of decision making in these multiprofessional teams. A central aspect of decision making in this setting is the continuous management of uncertainty related to the planning and execution of future activities. In the framework of “the new work order” and increasing implementation of new work processes, professionals are faced with new modes of collaboration requiring communicative skills as well as multiprofessional competencies. With the prospect of increasing oil production, lowering operating costs, and prolonging field lifetimes, the petroleum industry is actively working to improve its ability to operate in an integrated and efficient manner across geographical, organizational, and professional boundaries. In this setting, Integrated Planning has emerged as an organizational tool for improved, holistic decision making, performed across organizational and professional boundaries and related to operational activities in all domains of an oil and gas asset. As support for decision making, the integrated planning teams apply various forms of technology and collaboration rooms where relevant and realtime information about the asset is presented continuously. Systematic studies of these new and emerging interaction processes are lacking and needed in order to understand the implications of such ongoing workplace reforms. Drawing on discourse theoretical perspectives on language and social interaction, and employing tools from discourse analysis and communicative activity analysis, the project will address the following research questions:  What characterizes and supports decision making in team interactions related to Integrated Planning? 1. How is knowledge produced and negotiated in the team interactions? And how is this related to decision making 2. What communicative strategies can be observed in the IPL team, and to what extent do these strategies support decision making? 3. What role do the communicative strategies of the team facilitator play for the team’s ability to decide? 4. How can the team’s ability to reach decisions be seen in relationship to the surrounding organizational context?​​​​​​​