Interdisciplinary Interactions During R&D and Early Design of Large Engineered Systems
A design-science dissertation examining interdisciplinary interactions in the research, development, and early design of large engineered systems.
Make the interfaces visible before local decisions become system constraints.
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- University of Michigan and NASA Langley Research Center
- Topics
- design science, interdisciplinary collaboration, large engineered systems, engineering, organization science
Practice note
Shows how work practices, cognition, organization, and social relationships shape interdisciplinary engineering outcomes.
- Methods
- An integrative qualitative design combined an open-ended survey, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography with experienced engineers and scientists, then interpreted the evidence through organization-science and engineering theory.
- Findings
- Cognitive, organizational, and social conditions dominated cross-disciplinary interactions more than hardware or physics-model integration; culture, structure, system architecture, work practices, and reciprocal social relations shaped outcomes.
Sources
Outside review of a consequential program or decision.
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