Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2012. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 59-60). / More often than not, large-scale engineering concepts such as those used by creative automotive manufacturing companies require the incorporation of significant capital outlays and resources for the purposes of implementation and production of additional configurations. In most cases, these systems are employed in conditions that are in a constant state of change with regards to the extenuating macroeconomic conditions, market conventions, and customer demands and expectations, requiring a constant inspection of both the performance and quality of the components of the system. With rising fuel prices and a constantly changing global landscape, unique strategies have to be developed and used to create value for the stakeholders by taking into account the aesthetic appeal of the vehicles, their performance, fuel efficiency, and future technological enhancements, while minimizing manufacturing cost and time to delivery. For example, engine selection has a significant impact not only on the design architecture of the vehicle but also on the service infrastructure offered in society. Although strategic management principles hinge on the conventions of maximizing the expected value of uncertainties, flexibility in the architectural design of a large scale complex systems along with its current and future applications have to be taken into account in order to allow the developed systems to not only encompass the theoretical frameworks of conventional engineering but also metamorphose the theories and constructs of modem physics to deliver successful products in conditions characterized by constant geopolitical- social change and increasing global competition. The intent of this research is demonstrate that innovation and better strategic management of automotive designs and its implementation within the construct of the market environment will not only determine the success of the products offered in the short term but also lay the foundation for the long term growth of the enterprise through modular enhancements and serviceability opportunities. / by Mahesh Tampi. / S.M.in Engineering and Management

Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-99). / Organizational structure has a significant impact on performance of organizations and the way companies utilize their resources, develop new products and compete in the marketplace. As companies mature and grow, they undergo several developmental stages, characterized by different organizational structures and management styles used. The questions that this research aims to answer are: (1) What are the reasons for success and failure of various management styles? (2) What reasons or constraints render certain management styles obsolete or inadequate as an organization develops? (3) Based on the knowledge gained, what are the guidelines for applying different management styles in organizations at various stages of their growth, whether naturally or through mergers & acquisitions? This research recapitulates the concepts and principles of General System Theory and Universal Organizational Theory (Tektology) to establish the theoretical and philosophical basis for general methods and frameworks of evaluating complex systems. The broad approach to the studies of organizational structures and evolution is motivated by the conviction that all systems evolve under the influence of the same forces and are subject to the same general principles and universal laws of systems. Therefore, the general system methodologies and frameworks can be applied to solve problems faced by a variety of commercial organizations. This research confirms that a vast majority of modem organizations are based on division of labor, the principle formulated by Adam Smith in 1776. As the complexity of individuals' tasks is being reduced through specialization of labor and knowledge, and complexity of systems increases, more complex organizational structures evolve. Common trends of the organizations' evolution are analyzed. This analysis evaluates each stage of the organizational evolution model aiming to identify organizational structures and management styles most suitable at each developmental phase. As each stage of organizational development is characterized by a period of growth followed by a crisis, the management tends to overemphasize the aspects of organizational behavior that helped solve a previous crisis, inevitably causing the next one. The research highlights the necessity for a balance among several key aspects of organizational performance in order to remain successful at each phase. / by Sergey Nemirovsky. / S.M.in System Design and Management

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2012. / "June 2012." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-65). / Flexibility analysis using the Real Options framework is typically utilized on high-level architectural decisions. Using Real Options, a company may develop strategies to mitigate downside risk for future uncertainties while developing upside opportunities. The MIT-Ford Alliance has extended the techniques of flexibility analysis beyond high-level architecture to core product design decisions in future vehicle electrification. This thesis provides a methodology for a real-time support framework for developing novel engineering decisions. Risk is high in new product introduction. For hybrid and electric vehicles, market demand and technology forecasts have substantial uncertainty. The uncertainty is anticipated, as the high voltage battery pack hardware and control system architecture will experience multiple engineering development cycles in the next 20 years. Flexibility in product design could mitigate future risk due to uncertainty. By understanding the potential iteration of core technologies, the engineering team can provide flexibility in battery pack voltage monitoring, thermal control, and support software systems to meet future needs. The methodology used in this thesis has been applied in a Ford-MIT Alliance project. The Ford and MIT teams have valued key items within the core technology subsystems and have developed flexible strategies to allow Ford to capture upside potential while protecting against downside risk, with little-to-no extra cost at this early stage of development. A novel voltage monitoring technique and a unique flexible thermal control strategy have been identified and are under consideration by Ford. The flexibility methodology provided motivation and support for unique decisions made during product design by the Ford team. / by Matthew J. Renzi. / S.M.in Engineering and Management

Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / The Global Business Climate has been rapidly changing and has become more competitive. Enterprise now not only needs to operate at a lower cost to compete, it must also develop its own core competencies to distinguish itself from competitors and stand out in the market. The focus has now moved towards improving operational efficiency to stay competitive. Supply Chain is one of the important areas which almost every company is currently working to improve their operation efficiency. Improving operational efficiency in supply chain has three aspects including improving supply chain strategies, following better supply chain management practices, and aligning supply chain strategy with overall business strategy. Our thesis research objective is to understand what policies, capabilities, and strategies of an enterprises leads to best supply chain management. The research is cross industry, across all supply chain management domain and will shed light on what makes companies "best performer" by identifying and exploring the distinctive capabilities required in five key supply chain domains that contribute to high performance in the relevant operational metrics. The domains studied in our research are supply chain planning, fulfillment, service management, product lifecycle management, and, manufacturing. Another objective of our thesis is to relate domain performance of the firm with the firm's value proposition. The three value propositions considered in the thesis are product leadership/innovation, cost competitiveness, and customer service. / by Nitin Gulati & Amar Sharma. / S.M.in System Design and Management

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, June 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "June 2012." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-116). / The prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other related behavioral health conditions among active duty service members and their families has grown over 100% in the past six years and are now estimated to afflict 18% of the total military force. A 2007 DoD task force on mental health concluded that the current military psychological health care system is insufficient to meet the needs of the served population. In spite of billions of dollars committed to hundreds of programs and improvement initiatives since then, the system continues to experience provider shortages, surging costs, poor access to and quality of care as well as persistently high service-related suicide rates. We developed a model to study how the resourcing policies and incentive structures interact with the operations of military behavioral health clinics and contribute to their ability to provide effective care. We show that policies and incentives skewed towards increased patient loads and improvement in access to initial care result in a number of vicious cycles that reinforce provider shortages, increase costs and decrease access to care. Additionally we argue that insufficient informational feedback contributes to incorrect attributions and the persistence of ineffective policies. Finally we propose a set of policies and enabling performance metrics that can contribute to sustained improvement in system performance by turning death spirals into virtuous cycles leading to higher provider and patient satisfaction, better quality of care and more efficient resource utilization contributing to better healthcare outcomes and increased levels of medical readiness. / by Dmitriy Eduard Lyan. / S.M. in Engineering and Management

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 75-77). / Technology development is hard for management to understand and hard for practitioners to explain, however it is an essential component of innovation. While there are standard and predictable processes for product development, many of these techniques don't apply well to technology development. Are there common processes for technology development that can make it predictable, or is it unpredictable like basic research and invention? In this thesis, after building a foundation by looking at product development processes, I survey some of the literature on technology development processes and compare them to a handful of case studies from a variety of industries. I then summarize the observations from the cases and build a generic model for technology development that can be used to provide insights into how to monitor and manage technology projects. One of the observations from the product development literature is that looping and iteration is problematic for establishing accurate schedules which becomes one of the fundamental disconnects between management and engineering. Technologists rely heavily on iteration as a tool for gaining knowledge and combined with other risks, technology development may appear "out of control". To mitigate these risks, technologists have developed a variety of approaches including: building a series of prototypes of increasing fidelity and using them as a form of communication, simultaneously developing multiple technologies as a hedge against failure or predicting and developing technologies they think will be needed outside of formal channels. Finally, I use my model to provide some insights as to how management can understand technology development projects. This gives technologists and non-technical managers a common ground for communication. / by W. Andrew Oswald. / S.M. in Engineering and Management

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-101). / During economic crises, governments establish policies that facilitate the creation of jobs, goods and services that make their economies more resilient. Often this requires innovative social programs that match global migratory trends to local labor demand. The implementation of such programs requires a significant degree of innovation that requires models that can capture the complexity involved. To explore this phenomenon, we provide a multi-disciplinary view of innovative social programs that shed light on the dynamic characteristics of the political, social, technological and economic aspects of circular migration. Our focus is a case study of the European Union-funded circular migration program to support the strawberry harvest in the province of Huelva in Spain. Covering the time period of 2002-2011, this thesis provides a system dynamics model to represent the key elements that led to the success of circular migration from the standpoint of economic and labor supply management. The model helps explain the essential factors that make the program robust not only under recent economic crisis conditions but also under policy constraints. Based on a qualitative analytical approach, the model demonstrates how adaptive policies can enable macroeconomic equilibrium in environments where circular migration can be implemented. We also show that circular migration is not an impediment to economic recovery; in fact, it helps stabilize the labor supply in times of high uncertainty. / by Rafael Marañón-Abreu. / S.M.in System Design and Management

Thesis (S.M. in System Design and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2010. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / Cloud computing, a term whose origins have been in existence for more than a decade, has come into fruition due to technological capabilities and marketplace demands. Cloud computing can be defined as a scalable and flexible shared computing solution in which third-party suppliers use virtualization technologies to create and distribute computing resources to customers on-demand, via the Internet browser. Cloud computing is steadily replacing more rigid software and services licensing models in both small/medium business (SMB) and in the enterprise. This analysis poses a twofold examination of cloud computing as a disruptive technology. First, cloud computing has replaced existing software and services licensing business models, owing to its scalability, flexibility, and utility-based pricing. Second, as cloud computing takes hold as the prominent computing services business paradigm, other disruptive forces will surface to further integrate and differentiate the cloud computing landscape. These forces include the customer-driven need to create hybrid clouds between private and public cloud domains, vendor-agnostic solutions in the cloud, along with open standards to make cloud computing ubiquitous. Three criteria are assessed in characterizing cloud computing as a disruptive technology (Christensen, 2002).1 First, cloud computing as an innovation, must enable less-skilled and/or less-wealthy individuals to receive the same utility as only the more-skilled and/or more-wealthy intermediaries could formerly attain. Second, cloud computing must target customers at the low end of a market with modest demands on performance, but with a performance trajectory capable of exceeding those demands and thus taking over markets, tier by tier. As a corollary to this second criterion, the cloud computing business model allows the disruptive innovator to achieve attractive returns at prices that are unattractive to the incumbents. Third, an ecosystem in the form of a fully integrated single entity or a set of modular entities is required to successfully support the disruptive innovation. The analysis has shown that cloud computing is replacing traditional outsourcing and premise-based data centers for software applications and services delivery. Scalability, flexibility, virtualization, and cost are essential business drivers. However, current cloud computing solutions, especially in the enterprise, lack sufficient security and customer control. This gives rise to numerous subordinate disruptive business solutions which enable the enterprise and emerging demographics to develop and deploy their applications and services in a secure, controlled, profitable, and ubiquitous environment. / by Alexis Krikos. / S.M.in System Design and Management

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 78-80). / The information processing view of organizations [1] and subsequent works highlight the primary role of information processing in the effective functioning of markets and organizations. With the current wave of "big data" and related technologies, data-oriented decision making is being widely discussed [2] as a means of using this vast amount of available data for better decisions which can lead to improved business results. The focus of many of these studies is at the organization level. However, decisions are made by teams of individuals and this is a complex socio-technical process. The quality of a decision depends on many factors including technical capabilities for data analysis and human factors like team dynamics, cognitive capabilities of the individuals and the team. In this thesis, we developed a systems theory based framework for decision making and identified four socio technical factors viz., data analytics, data sensing, power distribution, and conflict level which affect the quality of decisions made by teams. We then conducted "thought experiments" to investigate the relative contribution of each of these factors to the quality of decisions. Our experiments and subsequent analyses show that while improved data analytics does result in better decisions, human factors have an out-sized contribution to the quality of decisions, even in data rich environments. Moreover, when the human factors in a team improve, the predictability of the positive impacts due to improvements in technical capabilities of the team also increases. / by Shirish K. Nilekar. / S.M. in Engineering and Management

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, System Design and Management Program, 2011. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-93). / The political transformation and transition of post-Soviet societies have led to hybrid structures in political, economic and technological domains. In such hybrid structures the roles of government, state enterprise, private business and civil society are not clearly defined. These roles shift depending on formal and informal interests, availability and competition for limited resources, direct and indirect financial benefits, internal and external agendas. In an abstract sense, a hybrid is "anything derived from heterogeneous sources, or composed of elements of different or incongruous kinds" (Hybrid). If transition is a process from one state to another, hybrid is a state unto itself. In the context of this thesis Hybrid Socio-Technical Environment means the co-existence of different institutions and policies, state and private business entities, old and new technologies, managerial models and practices of planning and market economies, collectivist and individualist value systems. Rapid technological progress, coupled with shifts in political and economic structures, may produce long-lasting disturbances in a society. Such disturbances are result of the hybrid society's contradictory nature. Some of these disturbances appear in the form of large-scale systemic accidents, such as the Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelectric Power Station accident. The rigid and outdated Soviet socio-technical system was broken down into multiple independent systems and subsystems to increase operational flexibility, with very limited capital investment. A twenty-year transition period (1990-2010), proved the survivability of the Soviet system, which was able to perform its primary functions even with partial capacity. However, recent large-scale accidents are clear signs that the system is stretching beyond its limits. Changes in the socio-technical landscape (multiple stakeholders and variety of interests) suggest that the traditional approaches of Reliability Theory, with its inward focus, may not be an effective tool in identifying emerging challenges. The outward-focused System theory approach takes into consideration key characteristics of the changing hybrid socio-technical landscape, as well as motivations of multiple stakeholders. The research concludes that insufficient capital investment and backlog in maintenance shifts are key systemic factors that allow migration of organizational behavior from a safe to an unsafe state. Additional analysis has to be conducted to prove this conclusion. / by Azamat Abdymomunov. / S.M.in Engineering and Management