Equipping project teams to win tenders: An insight into Italian architecture projects

Project group structures are a typical configuration in the architecture industry, used as a way to cope with a dilemma typical of architectural firms, caught between artistic and efficiency drivers. Moreover teams are the mechanism these organisations often rely on to be more effective. Nonetheless, the role of team composition for project performance has not been systematically studied yet. The relationship between team composition and performance in competing for tenders for design in architecture projects is therefore explored, investigating what team composition leads to superior performance and how performance induces feedback on team design. Team composition is seen in terms of members' newness (old-timers/newcomers), nationality (national/international) and reputation (archistars/common professionals), while project's performance in terms of tender's result. Italian architectural competitions and tenders from 2004 to 2008 are used as a research setting. For each team submitting a project to a competition, data concerning performance, competition and team s characteristics are collected and a regression method will be used to analyse them. Interviews integrate the quantitative analysis. At this stage the research is predominantly literature review based but it will contribute to understand whether and how team composition in architecture impacts on tenders performance. Moreover it will provide a macro overview of the tenders scenario and of the architects labour market and it will present a unique insight into the Italian architecture industry.