One of the most significant of the recent contributions in engineering management within the context of interdisciplinary engineering involves decision making processes. Increasingly in the contemporary environment, engineering managers are being required to make decisions within environments that are characterized by higher levels of ambiguity and conflict than engineers in earlier periods have had to confront.1 Making decisions within such an environment is a difficult process at best. It becomes an even more difficult process in the contemporary shift towards a global economy, where in critical decisions can affect the continued viability of an organization. The interdisciplinary approach provides a strong foundation for the development of an organizational system wherein conflict can be defused and ambiguity can be clarified.2 The mixed mode decision making process that is characteristic of situations involving interdisciplinary engineering is particularly effective in situations wherein there are many stakeholders with potentially conflicting goals and objectives.3
Both the quality revolution and the shift toward a more globally oriented economy have created situations that demand the introduction of behavioral change into engineering organizational cultures. Interdisciplinary engineering has proven to be an
1Paul C. Nutt, Making Tough Decisions (San Francisco: Josse Bass Publishers, 1990), 3.
approach to organizational management that enhances the process of introducing behavioral change into engineering organizations.4 The interdisciplinary approach helps prepare an organization for change, as well as point to the most effective ways of achieving a desired change.5
Another significant contribution of the interdisciplinary approach to engineering management is a reduction of organizational rigidity.6 Reducing organizational rigidity improves the responsiveness of organizations, enabling them to compete more e...