Showing papers in "IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management in 1968"

Organizing for product innovation

Abstract: The management of commercial products arising from advanced technology presents a serious challenge to traditional practice. This paper recounts an attempt by outside behavioral scientists to study such problems in one enterprise. Partly as a result of the findings, management has experimented with organizational changes in the cycle of new product development. The findings are consistent with and partially replicate earlier research.

Parallel and sequential R&D strategies: Application of a simple model

Abstract: It is common in technological development to identify and explore several approaches to a particular objective so that the best approach may be chosen. The outcome of any approach is uncertain; hence, it is difficult to choose the best one at an early date. To deal with this uncertainty, two or more approaches to the objective may be continued in parallel until a clear choice between them can be made, i.e., a parallel strategy. Such a strategy can provide better information for a decision, maintain options, or hedge against the occurrence of an unsatisfactory outcome. This paper addresses the manager's problem of deciding when to use or continue a parallel strategy. The principal focus is based on studies of 14 projects and illustrates the application, in one setting, of a general model appropriate to the structure of the decision as it is widely faced in practice. It discusses the information requirements for a sound choice between parallel and sequential strategies and the consequences of choosing a strategy on the basis of incomplete information.

An experiment with the Delphi procedure for long-range forecasting

Abstract: Long-range planning requires the use of a forecast, either implicit or explicit. The Delphi procedure is one method of obtaining an explicit forecast. This experiment was conducted to determine the problems and difficulties associated with the use of the Delphi procedure. It was concluded that the procedure is workable and does not require undue effort to be carried out. Information on man hours required, delays involved, and degree of change of opinion during the course of the procedure is given.

The innovation of innovation

Abstract: The functions or roles of management in our inevitably changing environment are discussed. The evolution of management's role is traced, from that of a programmer of an inanimate, already existing system to that of a system engineer concerned with the process of innovation. This process is the perception, creation, and transformation of relevant science into new and improved products and services. It is suggested that a new view may be appropriate — that of a manager as the selective agent of change — using as an analogy the ecological management of innovation, in which the manager's role is to increase the probability that the adaptive response of the system will succeed.

Simulating engineering design a case study on the interface between the technology and social psychology of design

Abstract: The development of a new design aid (a computer simulation of a particular engineer's design behavior) is described. Improvement in the engineer's technical performance has resulted from the more extensive and systematic examination of design alternatives, which the simulation has made possible. As a case study of engineering design, this study also represents an intensive effort to identify and to model as many variables as possible, both technical and behavioral, affecting a particular engineer's development of a design project. One of the most significant variables affecting the development of a project is the image that an engineer and his client have of one another. Since a behavioral variable like “image” so strongly influences how a design problem is technically conceived, the distinction between what is “technical” and what is “behavioral” is often tenuous and misleading. The consequence is that realistic improvements in the processes of design will only be made by improving on both the behavioral as well as the technical aspects of design systems and design techniques.

Better schedules — Automatically

Abstract: This paper illustrates the use of an industrial dynamics approach for establishing and revising engineering schedules.

Venture activities in the large corporation

Abstract: Discussed is how a large corporation responds to different levels of product innovation between the time they occur and their introduction into the marketplace. A centralized research laboratory of a diversified corporation has a specific role as an interface between the scientific world, which requires a high level of scientific endeavor, and the business world, which requires innovations to justify expenditures. From the product development point of view, there are weaknesses inherent in operating divisions of a corporation on a decentralized basis and indicated are some of the methods used to overcome the obstacles to transferring technology that result from this organizational structure. The methods used at the various levels of product innovation include 1) “selling” incremental improvements, 2) “applied research” funding, 3) corporate funding of existing divisions, 4) establishment of new divisions, and 5) establishing a corporate entrepreneurial task force to operate across divisions. There are also comments on the effect of an entrepreneur in a key management role and on the effect of competition, presumed or actual.

Experiences with an R&D project control model

Abstract: Traditional R & D project cost control systems relate only expenditures with elapsed time, rather than expenditures and achievement with time. Achievement reporting is generally considered separately from cost reporting. A theoretical control model relating cost and achievement with time for R & D projects is developed and described. This model is shown to provide early warnings of impending project failures, a more conceptual pinpointing of the forces affecting these impending failures, and a detailed analysis of the achievement-per-dollar spent. Controlling by dollars-spent-pertime period is shown to potentially yield erroneous conclusions. These results are based on an application of the model to chemical development projects and from an application of the model to a representative sample of chemical research projects at the Monsanto Company. The relationships of these results to the overall development of an integrated planning and control system at the Monsanto Company are shown.

The role of the informal organization in decision making on research and development

Abstract: While an increasing amount of effort is going into the study of the administration of research and development, several facets of the process appear to have gone unnoticed. In particular, we argue that a study of the informal organizations of researchers may offer insights in the administration of such personnel that can lead to improvements in the formal organization. The possibilities explored are presented in the form of four testable hypotheses, which, if shown to be true, have definite implications for the management of research and development. For example, one tentative conclusion indicates a net value in the practice of rotating scientific personnel in and out of administrative positions, appointments being temporary for a fixed duration rather than permanent.

Organization and manpower utilization in research and development

Abstract: The effect of two basic types of organizational form on the stability and flexibility of manpower in companies engaged in research and development for the United States government was investigated. Important criteria for selecting one organizational form rather than another were investigated in order to ascertain which criteria provide the rationale for choosing specific organizational forms.

The complete data model — A new approach to the probabilistic forecasting of manpower requirements

Abstract: A statistical model is presented for use in forecasting manpower requirements for a project oriented organization The model considers proposed projects, with a subjective probability of starting and/or the conditional probability of the starting date, and approved projects with a conditional start date Expected values and variances are developed for use in consolidating the requirements of all projects into a long-range plan

Army materiel command planning principles and philosophy

Abstract: This paper is intended to provide both experienced and inexperienced planners with a common understanding of the underlying philosophy and fundamental concepts of the U. S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) research and development (R&D) planning structure and technical planning processes. It should also assist executives engaged in the management of R&D programs to understand the rationale of R&D technical planning as a means toward improving the quality of decisions in the face of the difficult constraints and uncertainties inherent in the R&D field.

Technical career programs in large research and development laboratories

Abstract: Ninty-nine large research and development laboratories were queried in a study of nonsupervisory technical career programs for scientists and engineers. Sixty-one responded and 48 of these provided significant information. Almost half of the 48 have technical career programs of varying forms and varying degrees of formality. Although technical career titles and structures are not uniform among laboratories, the survey indicated equivalent salary treatment in management and technical career structures in most instances.

A product line for a government-oriented R&D company

Abstract: Some of the problems involved in shifting an organization from a research orientation to a product orientation are discussed. Emphasized is the importance of planning in the process, including the evaluation of what the existing company is really doing, where it is going if it continues as it is, where does it want to go, and how is it to get there. After presenting some reasons often given for developing a product line, two are offered which are considered to be most valid: to increase a company's return on its human resources and to actualize the entrepreneurial bent of management. An organization has a character or profile, which depends upon the purpose for which it was put together, and there are four basic factors that can be used to distinguish between organizations. With regard to the development of products, there is stress on the importance of knowing what the customer wants and on the need for a sales organization to provide the necessary information. In the transition from a research orientation to a product orientation, it is necessary to de-emphasize the technical aspects of a product and emphasize cost. As a result, in EG&G's experience, there was little product fallout from Government R&D, or product development by the engineers in that activity.

Patents and the stimulation of innovation

Abstract: The recent report of the Presidential Commission that studied the U. S. patent laws is criticized and it is urged that the U. S. technological community, rather than lawyers, assume a role of leadership in determining what is needed to stimulate invention and protect industrial property. Three questions have to be considered: how to determine whether an idea is in fact new, who should determine the validity of a contested patent, and whether different types of patents should be granted for different levels of invention. The informal application and “first-to-file” procedures, proposed by the Presidential Commission, are also criticized and a novel Patent Office examination procedure is presented for consideration.