Incorporating electronics and software systems into manufactured goods is becoming very common in manufacturing companies. New technical functions, increased flexibility, and compensation for mechanical design weaknesses are some key drivers of this technological change in our everyday products. The automotive industry exemplifies this trend, since approximately 80–90% of new functions in cars are based on electronics and software, and it is expected that at least a third of the total cost of a car will eventually be accounted for by electronics and software. However, one of the main downsides of this technological trend is the increasing number of quality issues related to these new technologies, something usually claimed to be a result of the increased product development complexity. Previous research into product development management has mainly concentrated on either physical products or software systems, but not concurrently on both. Additionally, much of the research has concentrated on issues of integrating marketing, R&D, and manufacturing in these companies, and has treated the engineering disciplines in R&D as a homogenous group. Motivated by this change in technology content and the lack of research into complex product development and especially into integration between engineering disciplines, the present work investigates how to increase operational performance in multidisciplinary engineering organizations. This work has especially focused on interdisciplinary integration and the feasibility of various so-called integration mechanisms, such as building common physical facilities, job rotation programs, the implementation and use of information and communications technology, and computer-aided engineering tools. Both qualitative and quantitative research has been performed, involving 11 different companies and over 300 respondents. Supported by the present findings, it is demonstrated that interdisciplinary integration is a crucial factor to consider, and it is concluded that certain integration mechanisms stand out as more important than others. Organizational structure, work procedures and methods, training, social systems, and computer-aided engineering were the five types of mechanisms that displayed the greatest potential for improvement. It is further concluded that the ability to successfully match the body of practices to current products is essential, since there is a high risk of current practices becoming out-dated with respect to the technology content. Furthermore, inadequate identification of or managerial ability to establish the currently most important interfaces complicate the choice of trade-offs between various technologies that are found to be essential to cope with the inherent dynamic complexity. The organizational powerbase is often re-positioned in the studied organizations, and the loss of decisive power can result in a demoralizing ignorance of newly established disciplines and their design practices. Additionally, rigid structures and counterproductive traditions can reduce the potential gains accruing from new boundary-spanning innovations, so organizational responsibilities and mandates must be declared unambiguously, in many cases differently from how they have been in the past. Based on these conclusions, it is suggested that managers in organizations like those studied must be able to do the following: cultivate software knowledge in all parts and levels of the product development organization; reassess their recruitment strategies; organize for interdisciplinary collaboration; articulate and communicate the technology fusion strategy to all disciplines; and realize and disseminate the fact that product launches do not only concern manufacturability. / QC 20100621

自一九八Ο年代威權體制開始解體以來，臺灣的公民教育已然進入另一個新的蛻變階段，而其所賦予的積極意義，乃在於反映並凸顯出對以往整體公民教育的價值取向、概念論述、典範遞移、課程內涵、以及課程決定等有關問題面向所作的一種審視與反思，從而標舉一個能以「公民社會」理念作為建構總體教育目標時代的正式來臨。影響所及，值此一轉變關鍵的時刻，國人如何循由對「政治民主化、經濟自由化、社會多元化、文化本土化、以及意識主體化」等五大價值取向的認知與涵養，結合民主教育、法治教育、倫理道德教育、以及生活教育等四大核心課程內涵的深化與落實，並在致力於涵蘊「公民社會」為其學科典範遞移最高指標的同時，能進一步以強調「差異的（或多元的）公民資格觀」的概念論述及推動「公民參與」的課程決定方式，藉以充實及強化公民教育的運作機制和功能，業已成為今後公民教育責無旁貸的重要發展趨勢所在。 關鍵詞：公民教育、公民社會、價值取向、課程內涵、概念論述、典範遞移、 課程決定、公民資格、科際整合、顯著課程。 / Since the authoritarian system was began to fall apart during 1980’s in R.O.C.（Taiwan）, civic education at school has gone into an another new transformation stage and bestowed a progressive meaning too, it is so necessary as to make a review and self-examination that reflect or manifest the totality of problem dimensions about value orientation, conceptual discourse, paradigm shift, curriculum content, and curriculum decision-making for the past. Thus much to construct and mark a period of “civil society” concept of the macro educational goal is coming formally. Due to the impact, especially it happened just changing time, we need how to recognize and nourish the five value orientations of “democratization to politics, freedom to economics, plural to societies, localization to culture, and subjectivity to conscious”. Combine with the four codes of curriculum content about democracy of education, law-related education, ethics and moral education, and experiential education that must be deepened and practiced for the citizens. At the same time, it also devoted to cherish the conceptual of “civil society” to be the highest characteristic of a paradigm shift of the civic education course. Moreover, it is obliged to emphasize the “differential or plural citizenship” and push the curriculum decision-making model of the “civic participation” that its operational machinery and functions could be fulfilled and competent. In summary, there is no passing buck to these important developmental tendencies of civic education in the changing future. Key Words: civic education, civil society, value orientation, curriculum content,conceptual discourse, paradigm shift, curriculum decision-making,citizenship, interdisciplinary integration, evident curriculum.