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My interest in organization management emerged while I was doing consulting with Stone and Webster.  Consulting for organizations such as IBM, Chrysler, Boeing, Lockheed, and Cessna made me question why these organizations that were essentially engineering companies were so much more successful than the average engineering services company.  Were they all just fundamentally better organizations, or were they doing something different that led to better results?  Moving to Georgia Tech I had the opportunity to explore these questions (after I spent two years building up my management theory background).

My search for answers on this topic led me on a path which crossed multiple areas of interest.  First, leadership seemed like the logical place to start.  Was there a difference between engineering and design services leaders and the leadership of other organizations?  Not surprising, the finding was yes there was a fundamental difference in the way leaders were developed by consulting engineering organizations and the successful companies I was working for.  However, a difference in leadership could not account solely for the difference in performance and the volatility of the engineering design industry.  As such, I pushed forward into the domain of strategic management.  It was here that I found my first real answers in this domain and had my first success in the design management field.

Through a succession of surveys of over 2,000 design and non-design companies, I determined that strategic management of consulting design companies was significantly lacking compared to other industries.  From the development of vision statements to investing in personnel, the engineering industry in general, and the construction industry specifically, trailed other industries in developing successful companies through strategic planning and management.  However, the question of why this was occuring was still not being answered.  It was clear that it was a personnel issue, but where was the issue?

This question led to the third area of inquiry, Social Network Analysis.  In this final area of inquiry I found a key component to the answer.  Design organizations fail to develop the internal personnel networks that allow for the sharing of knowledge and the building of trust.  The lack of this exchange and trust prevents the organization from collaborating to develop a long-term strategy.  Rather, the individualism of the leaders and the mid-level managers leads to infighting, resentment, and competition which ultimately leads to sub-par performances by many of the organizations.