Organizational systems barriers to engineering effectiveness

Despite decades of research on the organization of scientists and engineers, no widely used measurement systems have been developed to guide productivity improvement. This paper presents an approach to design of surveys for detecting organizational systems barriers that suppress effectiveness of engineers. The approach views organizations as open-systems and specifies the conditions necessary for engineers to be effective within the context of the larger systems. A survey of engineers is conducted to determine where organizational systems pose barriers to effectiveness and estimate the cost impact of these barriers. One application to a large design engineering unit (100 engineers) is presented. The results reveal substantial barriers to effectiveness, removal of which could save the company millions of dollars annually (mainly in reduced warranty and manufacturing costs). The survey approach and its underlying model of productive organizational systems appear to provide a powerful tool for measuring barriers to effectiveness of engineers and white collar workers generally.