Influence of Psychological Factors on Product Development

Product development is a major determinant of quality and cost as companies throughout the world struggle to optimize product development processes. Engineering tasks are usually implicitly assumed to be a primarily technical activity, but in reality they also feature numerous nontechnical factors. This book focuses on the inter-relationships of social, technical, and organizational aspects of the product development process. Cases observed in industry and research laboratories are presented and interpreted based on the socio-technical system approach (Emery/Trist) of examining the reciprocal relationship between the technical and the social subsystems. This book is primarily intended for engineering and quality professionals who want to know the limitations of up-to-date methods used in product development, examine the so-called soft factors by means of grounded studies of their effect on R&D performance and not only to acknowledge the influence of soft factors, but to actively consider their potential to improve the work environment. Academic researchers of the topic should also find many references and material for advanced courses on project and quality management. In addition to numerous cases from the aerospace industry, its general solution concepts are generalizable to other industries in which the high degree of product complexity necessitates effective interaction among different disciplines. The historical evaluation is neither intended for introductory purposes nor to propose a return to the past, but as a survey of the relevant factors to be applied in present and future projects.