Social Networks of Systems Engineers in Integrated Product Development

摘要

Can an organization with low process skills reasonably expect to hire contract engineers to increase process skills within a project? This paper examines one large product development project where personnel strength was increased by the addition of contract systems engineers. The study focuses on the social networks formed by contract systems engineers with each other and with staff engineers, looking for clusters which correspond to product development teams and the system integration team. Using social network analyses, this paper examines propositions that temam boundaries will be distinguishable through roles or positions of individuals, and that system integration teams will occupy more centralized positions than contributing product development teams.