The influence of organization alignment on the effectiveness of systems engineers

Abstract

Helix is a multi-year project that aims to clarify what makes systems engineers and systems engineering organizations effective. Initially, the research focused primarily on understanding the characteristics of individual systems engineers and how those characteristics relate to effectiveness. The study indicated that multiple factors influence the performance of systems engineers, a critical one being the organization where they perform their systems engineering activities [12]. There are limited studies that explore the influence of organizational culture, governance, structure, and workforce composition on systems engineering workforce effectiveness [29]. Consequently, the Helix project aims to investigate the connection between attributes of the work environment and the effectiveness of the systems engineering workforce through the implementation of both qualitative and qualitative research approaches. With insights into effective systems engineers clearly defined, the research now focuses on exploring the characteristics of organizations that impact the effectiveness of systems engineers and how these characteristics lead to an effective organizational systems engineering capability. This article presents preliminary results on the development of a web-based collection mechanism that incorporates two organization assessment methods, the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and the Quality of Interaction Index (Qi Index) that could support the understanding of the role of culture and cultural alignment in organizations implementing systems engineering.