Christiansen, T R (1994) Modeling efficiency and effectiveness of coordination in engineering design teams. PhD thesis, Stanford University, USA.
Abstract
The emergence of globally competitive markets, together with rapid advances in technology, has made facility engineering projects increasingly challenging, both with respect to the efficiency of project execution and with respect to the effectiveness of project outcomes. The challenge facing engineering design teams is to learn how to deliver better facilities faster and cheaper, which requires, inter alia, better project management. In order to improve project management, we need to learn how changes in coordination lead to changes in performance. My research focuses on the effects of coordination policies on project performance, as a means for improving decision making about project communication and control. The objectives of my research were to: (1) build models of coordination load and capacity in project teams, (2) formalize these models so that they can be executed to predict project performance as a function of coordination policy, and (3) test the model's predictions against predictions from theory and observation of real world projects. My work extends the previous VDT model (Cohen 92) with a systematic method for describing the coordination load on different project team members, and with an explicit model of verification failures and decision making about how to handle the resulting rework. I defined a model of coordination load distribution on participants in facility engineering design teams, based on a set of engineering management techniques. I also defined a model that relates project team coordination capacity to project performance, based on a thorough review of organization theory. I implemented these models as a formal executable model in an object-oriented simulation environment, simulated two real-world facility engineering projects, and compared the simulation results against predictions from theory and the project managers. Thus I have shown that my models are testable, and that they may be applied to real-world projects. The main contribution of my research is to extend organization theory with a micro-level theory of coordination in engineering design teams. I have formally modeled this theory and operationalized the model for validation in the field of facility engineering design.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Levitt, R E |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | coordination; effectiveness; efficiency; emergence; failure; market; project team; organization theory; communication; decision making; markets; policy; project manager; project performance; simulation |
| Index terms: | decision-making, validation, emergence, engineering management, project communication, rework, engineering design, project performance, effectiveness, markets, modelling, project management, project team, coordination, efficiency, project manager, project outcome |
| Subjects: | operations management, economic analysis, project delivery, analytical methods, profession, project completion, control systems, decision analysis, systems engineering, management, performance management, project management theory and practice, design process, professional development |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Risk Management, Business Strategy, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here