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With global specialization of work units within organizations, interdisciplinary work practices comprised of collaborative efforts between technical and business teams are increasingly common in today's workplace. While higher education has responded by creating opportunities for remote teams to learn from collaborative work, occasions for interaction between remotely situated significantly diverse teams such as business and engineering are few. This study describes a pedagogical offering between U.S.-based business teams and U.K.-based engineering teams that delivers such an experience around mutually dependent, socially responsible projects. Results from student surveys and reflections confirm that the pedagogical design is able to generate perceived interdependence between these diverse teams. Student responses to surveys also suggest that the collaboration is effective in raising student confidence in interdisciplinary and remote team work among students. The study concludes with recommendations for transferability and actualization of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Almost every knowledge worker can relate to feelings of Information Overload (IO), but in reality the phenomenon is not well understood. IO can be critical for individuals and organizations. Despite intensive research during the last decades this complex scientific discipline lacks comprehensive research for parts of the possible impact factors. This research presents a conceptual framework and some variables to the type of information. A case study approach has been conducted to examine the relationship between bad-, irrelevant- and relevant information with IO. The research found out that too much bad information as well as relevant information has a positive effect on IO. The contribution to the field of IO research is a better understanding of the concept and the impact of the type of information to IO.

This paper delineates workplace and work based learning before going on to discuss in detail the application of workplace learning, based on experience gained from a number of case studies. The rationale, operational aspects and quality assurance requirements are described, before attention is turned to delivery methods, project management and financial considerations. The paper identifies the problems and opportunities associated with adopting this form of academic delivery for an existing university programme, and provides suggestions for likely future development.

The International Material Data System (IMDS) is an internet-based application for the global collection of material data within the automobile supply chain. As outlined in the EU Directive 2000/53/EC concerning End-of-life vehicle management the data for future recycling has to be gathered before 2015. Eight automobile manufacturers together with the IT service provider Electronic Data Systems (EDS) developed and implemented the system in 2000. Subsequently, other car manufacturers have also joined and the participation of more companies is being negotiated.