Forward
The organizational learning history you are about to read emerges from a unique collaboration among practitioners, academicians and product development professionals. It is an important document because it lays out the dilemmas, paradoxes, and human emotions associated with teamwork in today's complex organizations. Our future will most certainly depend on how well we learn to manage conflicting needs in large systems.
This study is more about learning how to learn, than about the nuts and bolts associated with designing and building great automobiles. More often than not you'll conclude it's not about who is right or wrong, but about a world of perception and interpretation. For me, this is a human story because it reveals how different attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions rise to the surface, and may rule the day.
What's especially revealing is how the product development function is demystified as an exact science of equations, engineering procedures, and computer-driven technology. Instead, you'll find dedicated people at all levels relentlessly seeking alignment, recognition, and assurances that the day's effort will yield value-added results over chaos and self-interest. This dedication also requires a balanced perspective. We can be extremely efficient by way of quality, cost, timing, and flexibility. But, these objectives must be in service to the customer. Outstanding teams of the future will need to balance multiple initiatives more than ever before.
For me, this learning history is about a beginning, not an end. We are building on what we've learned with this first MIT effort by applying the methods and tools in two other vehicle programs. Additionally, there are many organizational learning projects going on in the Company outside of product development. Perhaps this will enable us to see the connections among all these efforts and move to yet another new level of understanding.
Senior Vice President -- Product Development
AutoCo
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