Title: Informatics for technology management

Authors: Jan Osterlund

Addresses: Royal Institute of Technology, Engineering Design, Storhagsvagen, 41, S-125 54 Alvsjo, Sweden

Abstract: In the new product development (NPD) organisation at a Swedish company making high-technology products, some problems were recognised. Development of very deep core competencies was vital to the company. This required an organisation of strong monodisciplinary competence groups. The product complexity resulted in many such groups of different competencies. This caused problems for the project management to coordinate the different resources. Another problem area was the need for extensive communication for external, cross-functional, and internal cooperation to achieve fast time to market of matured products of the right quality. The situation is structured into time aspects and |living| systems components. The Resource Box model is applied to the NPD process for structuring it into information axes. Examples are provided of the Resource Boxes as an informatics tool. Management by informatics is defined by its components in perspectives of individuals, organisation, and communication technology.

Keywords: communication; competence; corporate structure; informatics; learning; living systems; management by informatics; organisational culture; systems science.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1997.001726

International Journal of Technology Management, 1997 Vol.14 No.2/3/4, pp.415-438

Published online: 18 Aug 2003 *

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