Acquisition Program Teamwork and Performance Seen Anew: Exposing the Interplay of Architecture and Behaviors in Complex Defense Projects
Abstract
Despite progress in systems engineering and management, many defense programs do not perform well. Our research perspective frames complex engineering as a sociotechnical system, with success and failure driven by interpersonal and inter-organizational dynamics as well as technical system interdependencies. The proposed research aims to uncover the underlying dynamics of complex work and system level performance. Our objective is to leverage complex sociotechnical system research literature to propose a framework and method of instrumentation for defense acquisition programs. The framework will allow managers to design and tune programs for specific needs, support sustainable learning through meaningful instrumentation of the drivers of sociotechnical performance, and retain flexibility to respond and learn. We expect that this work to identify new management control “levers” for design, engineering, test and evaluation, fielding and sustainment. The work will develop a framework, experimental design and collect empirical data on sociotechnical drivers of program performance via case study analysis. The product of this research will be a framework, variables and relationships, and recommendations for a follow-on research program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 28, 2016
- Source ID
- N002441510064
Entities
People
- Oliver De Weck
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- United States Navy