Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In all cases, the role of the team leader is crucial, as he would distribute the tasks and
integrate the results, obtained from the different specialists. Consequently, he/she should
be an experienced professional with broad expertise in the field.
Figure 12.1. The multidisciplinary
team - common principles versus
specialized knowledge.
The balance between common principles and specialized knowledge is a delicate one
and would depend on the specific conditions. This balance is very important with respect
to the process of capacity building in general and academic institutions in particular,
which would prepare the future specialists in the field. It should be reflected in the
academic programs content and structure. However, in numerous cases, the conventional
specialization structures are still in place and water resources managers have mainly a
hydrological background. Academic programs in the field of natural sciences lack basic
knowledge of the specifics of water quality and water resources management. In other
cases, new programs, orientated specifically to water resources management, tend to
cover extended fields of knowledge at the level of basic concepts and definitions. Such an
approach would produce professionals with a broad but shallow base, who are not
capable to solve practical problems, because they lack the specialized knowledge,
methods and tools to do so. We should acknowledge, however, that this is a dynamic
process and new developments and forms are to be sought in future.
The need for a multi-disciplinary approach to the solution of such types of problems is
even more important in the field of research and investigation. The formation of multi-
disciplinary teams is a rare case in the region; the usual practice being to designate a
multidisciplinary task to one researcher or to a research group from one specific body -
academic, parastatal, government or non-governmental institution. It works
independently, and naturally, would tend to solve the problem from its own perspective
and speciality only. Therefore, the need to enhance multi-disciplinary research teams,
working on diffuse pollution topics, is important and would contribute considerably to
the effectiveness of the management process.
