Date of Award
Spring 2002
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Mechanical Engineering
First Advisor
Widera, G. E. O.
Second Advisor
Inderrieden, Edward J.
Third Advisor
Matar, Joseph E.
Abstract
I have spent several years of my professional career working in both academic and industrial environments, where I had the opportunity of implementing new systems. I was able to observe that technical issues of the new systems showed differences when compared to human behavior issues, in terms of complexity and challenges, when changes were at stake. When I started dealing with quality programs the phenomenon appeared to be clearer than ever. Even though the new techniques were wrapped with an engineering appearance, their implementation ended up facing all sort of problems related to interactions among human beings. Usually, professionals responsible for the implementation of a Quality Initiative have a technical background and lack knowledge on the human side of organizations. Then, I realized that there were plenty of opportunities to do research work in this field, which I consider to be of fundamental importance for the development of organizations in general.