Complexity in New Product Development
Mastering the Dynamics of Engineering Projects
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Beschreibung
In organizational theory the coordination of many interdependent actors in complex product development projects is recognized as a key activity. With increasing project compexity this coordination becomes more and more difficult, and it is not yet known whether this effect can be controlled by frequent and intense communication among project members.
Jürgen Mihm analyzes which factors create complexity in engineering projects and how the negative effects of complexity can be mitigated. He builds a mathematical model of a complex distributed design project demonstrating how complexity inevitably arises from the interaction of simple components. He characterizes the dynamic behavior of the system analytically and with the aid of simulations, and he derives classes of managerial actions to improve performance dynamics.
Engineering organizations developing large complex systems are usually not capable of determining an "overall optimal" system design. Rather, the system is divided in "com ponents" or subsystems (such as an axle in a car or a module in a software product), for each of which a performance can be measured, an optimal design can be found or at least approximated, and for which a designer (or engineer or team of engineers) is responsible. Each engineer then makes, at first, decisions to optimize "his" component. In real orga nizations, designers often develop considerable pride in the solutions they have found for their components. However, it is the very nature of complex systems that the components cannot be optimized in isolation, but that they interact in determining the quality of the overall system (via space constraints, or via the exchange of fluids, air, force, electricity, or information). To some degree, these interactions are known from experience and can be anticipated, or are embedded in accepted design principles. However, in any complex design project that is not entirely routine and marginal, many such interactions are not known at the outset.
In organizational theory the coordination of many interdependent actors in complex product development projects is recognized as a key activity. With increasing project compexity this coordination becomes more and more difficult, and it is not yet known whether this effect can be controlled by frequent and intense communication among project members.
Jürgen Mihm analyzes which factors create complexity in engineering projects and how the negative effects of complexity can be mitigated. He builds a mathematical model of a complex distributed design project demonstrating how complexity inevitably arises from the interaction of simple components. He characterizes the dynamic behavior of the system analytically and with the aid of simulations, and he derives classes of managerial actions to improve performance dynamics.
Autor*in
Jürgen Mihm
Themen in »Complexity in New Product Development«
Complexity Theory Dynamics Engineering New Product Development (NPD) Research and Development (R&D) research & development (R&D)