A Socio-Technical Perspective on Interdisciplinary Interactions During the Development of Complex Engineered Systems

This study investigates interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the research, development, and early conceptual design phases in the engineering of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as aerospace vehicles. These interactions that occur throughout a large engineering development organization, become the initial conditions of the systems engineering process ultimately leading to the development of a viable system. This paper summarizes some of the challenges and opportunities regarding social and organizational issues that emerged from a qualitative study using ethnographic and survey data. The analysis reveals several socio-technical couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their benefits to the engineered system as well as substantial challenges in interdisciplinary interactions. Noted benefits included enhanced knowledge and problem mitigation and noted obstacles centered on organizational and human dynamics. Findings suggest that addressing the social challenges may be a critical need in enabling interdisciplinary interactions during the development of LaCES