This study presents results from a comparative case study of interdisciplinary product designteams from two consecutive years under non-balanced and balanced disciplinary conditions.The main difference between the two conditions was the hands-on exercise modulesfocusing on each discipline (e.g., electronic prototyping exercise) used for the balancedcondition. The purpose of this paper was to examine cultural traits of different disciplines(Electrical & Computer Engineering, Industrial Design, and Marketing) using questionnairesand show the impact of disciplinary balance on the effectiveness of interdisciplinary productdesign teams through qualitative analysis of team meetings and products. The resultsindicated that the teams under the balanced disciplinary condition showed highereffectiveness. Implications and the future direction for the work are also described.
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