7.5.1 Capacity for Engineering Systems Thinking (CEST) and Project Success

Abstract

AbstractDespite the vast amount of literature available on systems engineering and project management, about two‐thirds of all projects still fail. A review of both project management and systems engineering publications reveals that most of these works focus on processes. We suggest focusing on people – project managers and systems engineers. One of our previous studies dealt with project managers; the current paper focuses on systems engineers. The paper presents findings of a study aimed at exploring the relationship between systems engineers' capacity for engineering systems thinking (CEST), project types and project success. The study findings show that there is a significant correlation between CEST and project success. The extent of the project's novelty is a moderator variable that affects this correlation. The more innovative the project is, the higher the correlation between the subjects' CEST and project success.