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In the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better management, the engineering manager has a crucial role to play. The history of the engineer is reviewed and his/her possible present role in management is considered. Management objectives are outlined and defined and the specific role of the engineer emphasised. The best managers are leaders, in particular effective leaders of teams, and this is a management task well within the grasp of the engineer. The engineer′s specific training and initial experience give him/her special qualifications in this area. Indeed, there seems to be no reason why the engineer should not climb the management ladder right to the top, especially these days when technology is continually growing in importance. The demands made on the effective chief executive are outlined. It would seem that engineering management has come of age and that with the appropriate management training the engineer should be well capable of filling a senior management role.

The aim of this paper is to make an attempt to find good values of onsite–offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and offshore team to reduce cost and improve schedule for re-engineering projects in global software development environment.

The system dynamics technique is used for simulation model construction and policy run experimentation. The experts from Indian software outsourcing industry were consulted for model construction, validation and analysis of policy run results in both co-located and distributed software development environment.

The study results show that there is a drop in the overall team productivity in outsourcing environment by considering the offshore options. But the project cost can be reduced by employing the offshore team for coding and testing work only with minimal training for imparting business knowledge. The research results show that there is a potential to save project cost by being flexible in project schedule.

The study found that there could be substantial cost saving for re-engineering projects with a loss of project schedule when an appropriate onsite–offshore combination is used. The quality and productivity drop, however, were rather small for such combinations. The cost savings are high when re-engineering work is sent to offshore location entirely after completion of requirement analysis work at onsite location and providing training to offshore team in business knowledge The research findings show that there is potential to make large cost savings by being flexible in project schedule for re-engineering projects.

The software project manager can use the model results to divide the software team between onsite and offshore location during various phases of software development in distributed environment.

The study is novel as there is little attempt at finding the team distribution between onsite and offshore location in global software development environment.

This paper explores the impact of multiple team membership (MTM) on the productivity of team members in engineering consulting firms. MTM refers to employees participating concurrently in multiple teams, a concept closely linked to projectification. Despite the fact that this concept can enhance collaboration, it also introduces coordination challenges that may negatively affect productivity.

Through an inductive approach involving 12 semi-structured interviews with engineering consulting professionals specializing in water and energy infrastructure projects, this paper examines the factors affecting team member productivity in an MTM setting. Following the interviews, a Delphi technique was employed, engaging 16 experts to rank the factors and sub-factors identified from the interview data. This two-stage approach ensured a comprehensive and validated assessment of productivity factors.

This study develops 8 factors process model grounded in structuration theory to explain the socio-technical mechanisms by which multiple team membership shapes productivity outcomes in engineering consulting firms specialized in water and energy infrastructure projects. Key findings surface micro-foundations, tensions in technology provisions, planning processes, and career development that inform theoretical advances and practical improvements.

This research contributes empirically insights into managing MTM in expert service contexts. Applying Giddens' structuration theory, this study reveals how agency and structures shape productivity across organizational, team, and individual levels. In practice, this study provides recommendations for improving productivity within projectified environments, mainly for team members working in an MTM environment in engineering consulting firms specializing in water and energy infrastructure projects.

In this paper we investigate the exploratory nature of knowledge creation and sharing practice in high‐technology industry. Traditional approaches in knowledge management focus on the storage and retrieval of knowledge, but they do not address the tacit dimension of knowledge process. Using data gathered at three semiconductor manufacturers in Japan and Korea, we examine the social processes by which expert teams cooperate across team boundaries despite differing points of view resulting from increasing team specialization. Three engineering teams are studied: design, process, and process integration. They are responsible for trouble management in the production of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), a class of integrated circuit semiconductor devices. Trouble management is the handling of problems that require exploratory, yet routine problem‐solving practice. The findings suggest that the crucial challenge in achieving effective control of the knowledge management process rests not in strategies for collecting and classifying relevant problem/solution information. Rather, it is in the management of “problematization”, a political process involving the articulation behaviors of different teams of engineers.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a study investigating the role of organizational context on the effectiveness of engineering work teams.

Previous research was used to operationalize organizational context and work team effectiveness, and a survey was developed to assess both in this research. This study was conducted within two engineering units of a high‐technology company. In total, 16 teams of engineering knowledge workers participated in the study. Correlation and path analysis were used to investigate both direct and mediated relationships between nine organizational context variables and team effectiveness.

Direct relationships between eight organizational context variables and team member satisfaction and between two organizational context variables and team performance were found. Effects of five variables on team member satisfaction were either fully or partially mediated by team processes (TP).

This study empirically validated existing models of team effectiveness and identified multiple dimensions of organizational context that are important to the development of effective teams as measured by team member satisfaction and team performance. The study took place within a single organization. Additional research is necessary to generalize the findings.

A broader cross‐section of organizational context variables were included in this study than in previous studies. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by empirically studying organizational‐team relationships using intact work teams. This research addressed an increasingly important set of teams – teams of knowledge workers. Finally, this research was designed to specifically test for the existence of a mediating variable (TP).

Present research on Concurrent Engineering (CE) mainly focusses on technological aspects like information sharing, and common communication platforms, or coordination systems such as CE-Tools like CAD, CAM, DFA or QFD. In the European context, the implementation of Concurrent Engineering certainly involves changes of organizational management and people. traditional way of work. For the success of Concurrent Engineering, organizational, managerial and human issues are very important.

This chapter presents the results of a current research project that is being carried out at the Chair and Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics of the University of Technology in Aachen, Germany. It shows the results of a study about cross functional teams in a Concurrent Engineering environment. Based on a multi-dimensional model of self directed work organization for teams in Concurrent Engineering, preconditions were generated to design and develop learning organizations which use Concurrent Engineering. Based on this team model for a learning organization in CE, requirements for soft skill qualification for team members were developed.

In the core of the Concurrent Engineering Team research, there are three levels: individual issues, team issues and organizational issues. Individual issues focus on the differences among team members that may influence the cooperation in the team (different specialization, different work departments, different values, different socializations etc.). The team level issue focusses on the internal management of a CE team (goal system, distribution of tasks, sharing of team rules, interaction style, interpersonal relations, team leadership etc.). Finally, the organizational level can be regarded as a team-external support environment for team management (management, commitment and involvement, empowerment of the team leader etc.). The individual and organizational levels influence the team level factors.

But cross functional organization effectiveness in a Concurrent Engineering environment is more than the design of teams. The implementation of Concurrent Engineering must change the whole organization. An effective organization can be based on eight principles of the Learning Organization, as pointed out by Senge or Probst. The objective for the design of this organization is to be self-organized.

To reach these principles in a CE team environment, the involved team members must be qualified to be prepared for new work in a crossfunctional organization. A soft skill qualification system for Concurrent Engineering will be presented at the end of the research project. Contents of this qualification model include communication in teams, techniques of group discussion and project management.

This study aims to look at the interaction dynamics among engineering professionals from the lens of status hierarchies and derive on the role of intragroup conflicts prevalent in engineering teams. It develops and tests a comprehensive moderated-mediation model combining interpersonal status dynamics (of talent and conflicts prevalent within the team) with team external power dynamics (with other teams) and their resultant effect on team performance through the intragroup conflicts.

Data at team level from 1,265 members belonging to 218 engineering teams were used for hypothesis testing.

Process and status conflicts fully explain the negative effect of having more talented members in teams on team performance. High talented teams have lower levels of process and status conflicts and higher levels of performance when they have high power.

This paper contributes to the literature on engineering teams, team status, power and conflicts.

This paper advises manager on where to exactly look for problems in the internal working of talented teams and conditions that could negatively impact their performance.

Research on teams’ internal composition and team performance link remains inconclusive. The established pattern of thinking in both practice and research is that having more talented members in the engineering teams is attached to superior performance. Whereas it is often the case that even after having multiple talented members, teams are not able to perform well. With some exceptions, studies have not paid attention to the dynamics of having more talented members and its flip side on team performance.

This monograph seeks to summarise the key influences of a role‐based perspective on leadership when making decisions as to how organisational resources can best be deployed.

Application of new frameworks provides insight into the leadership roles executives can adopt when part of formal, informal and temporary groups within the organisation's senior management team and those parts of the organisation for which they are responsible. The methodology adopted is qualitative, focusing on application of previously developed frameworks.

Adoption of an appropriate leadership role, and the timely switch from one role to another as circumstances change, are found to facilitate improvement in the ability of executives to mobilise organisational resources, and in so doing effectively address those challenges with which the organisation is faced.

A one‐organisation intensive case study of a multinational engineering company engaged in the design, development and manufacture of rotating turbomachinery provides the platform for the research. The research intent is to validate two frameworks in a different organisation of a similar demographic profile to those in which the frameworks were developed. The frameworks will require validating in organisations of different demographic profiles.

The concepts advanced, and implications discussed, provide an insight into the role‐based nature of leadership. The practical steps individual executives can take to develop their ability to adopt different leadership roles are highlighted.

This monograph is an investigation into, and study of the contribution of theory that provides insight into, the process by which executives effectively mobilise organisational resources. This differs from the original contributions to theory, which focused on methodology, data gathering and validation in contrast with the current study that is focused on practical application.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the knowledge management (KM) loop process in a work package (WP)-based project engineering management method. The purpose of the KM loop is the routine capture of learnings to improve work practices in both the project and the firm.

A conceptual model for a project KM loop is developed by researching various KM theories found in the literature and incorporating the most applicable concepts and bridging any gaps in an attempt to overcome the reported impediments to learning in projects. A specific WP-based project engineering method (the STBQ method) is chosen as the framework for illustrating the workings and advantages of the KM loop. The author’s experiential judgement is used in applying selected academic concepts to create a KM process particularly useful for consulting engineering firms engaged in the detailed design phase of heavy industrial projects notwithstanding the fact that it may be beneficial in other project environments.

Completion of a WP can be used as a natural point in time for the collection of lessons learned (LL). At post-WP debriefing meetings, intuitive learnings can be contributed by individuals and interpreted in the context of the recently completed WP. When seen to be applicable, the project engineer integrates this newly gained experiential knowledge into the project’s job instructions for immediate implementation on other WPs remaining in the project scope. Through the project manager, these new or revised job instructions are proposed as candidates for new or revised standard practices to the senior managers of the engineering firm who can institutionalize them by approval for use in other in-progress or future projects.

The KM loop described here is specifically intended to be used with the STBQ method where the 100 per cent rule is applied and where each WP sub-team is tasked with the delivery of their WP safely, on-time, on-budget and with no quality deficiencies as the criteria for success of their WP. A research limitation is that capturing learnings throughout the project does not solve the problem of capturing post-project learnings from design errors surfacing during construction, in commissioning, or after start-up during on-going operations and maintenance. Nonetheless, innovative ideas and improvements can be found during the detailed engineering phase and the KM loop captures these for intra-project and inter-project use.

The extra effort of decomposing requirements into WPs not only helps control project costs, schedule, quality and safety but also provides an effective way to capture knowledge from project learnings for intra-project and inter-project use.

The lessons-learned sessions held at the completion of each WP provides an opportunity to provide motivation and morale boosting to the WP sub-team members.

This paper contributes what is believed to be the first WP-based KM loop in project engineering management using a specific application of the 4I framework of organizational learning. In addition, when applied in the STBQ method or any other method that uses interim WPs for both planning and reporting, the LL sessions can be pre-scheduled and budgeted separately from the subject WP. This helps to overcome the problem widely reported in projects that not enough calendar time or person-hours can be spared to attend the LL sessions.

Requirements engineering is a crucial phase in software development. Software development in a virtual domain adds another dimension to the process of requirements engineering. There has been growing interest in virtual teams, and more specifically in virtual software development. While structured software development methods are the obvious first choice for project managers to ensure a virtual software development team remains on track, the social and cultural aspects of requirements engineering cannot be ignored. These social aspects are especially important across different cultures, and have been shown to affect the success of an information system. The discussion in this paper is centred around the requirements engineering processes of a virtual team in a Thai Software House. This paper explains the issues and challenges of requirements engineering in a virtual domain from a social and cultural perspective. Project managers need to encourage a balance between structured methods and social aspects in requirements engineering for virtual team members. Cultural and social aspects influence the relationship between the virtual team and the client.