Exploring Support for Knowledge Utilisation: Decision Making in Complex Interdisciplinary Engineering Systems
type: CreativeWork
description: The objective of this thesis is to gain an improved understanding of information use in complex interdisciplinary environments and to explore key drivers defining behaviours and needs. Following this, a set of requirements are developed to create improved support for engineers during the design process. The methodology uses interviews, observations and shadowing to investigate three industrial UK based organisations. A survey of over 170 individuals with different engineering backgrounds was then used to explore the case study findings further. This research has found that many engineers have been with their organisation for decades accruing specific knowledge. Many of these engineers are nearing retirement and the resulting knowledge loss is predicted to be highly detrimental, especially for innovation in organisations that use adaptive designs that have a high level of complexity. Many managers are concerned about the future impact. Documentation and digital resources are used as a primary coping mechanism. Although engineers recognise the considerable benefits from improving interaction with these materials, many find participation problematic. Documentation is not easy to create, takes a long time to find and it can be hard to comprehend due to lack of context. Engineers are spending many hours a day just to find information, which is accompanied by a high level of frustration. Furthermore, documentation tends to only record formal materials and not support ideation, rationale, learning or deliberation. Digital support tools are failing to meet engineers' needs. Presently these issues are prohibitive and participation in knowledge reuse through documentation is perceived as not worthwhile. Deadline pressures, poor user interfaces and unstable file systems worsen these problems. These issues will certainly become more severe as the amount of information being produced continues to increase. The research uses these findings to present the requirements for improved…
abstract: The objective of this thesis is to gain an improved understanding of information use in complex interdisciplinary environments and to explore key drivers defining behaviours and needs. Following this, a set of requirements are developed to create improved support for engineers during the design process. The methodology uses interviews, observations and shadowing to investigate three industrial UK based organisations. A survey of over 170 individuals with different engineering backgrounds was then used to explore the case study findings further. This research has found that many engineers have been with their organisation for decades accruing specific knowledge. Many of these engineers are nearing retirement and the resulting knowledge loss is predicted to be highly detrimental, especially for innovation in organisations that use adaptive designs that have a high level of complexity. Many managers are concerned about the future impact. Documentation and digital resources are used as a primary coping mechanism. Although engineers recognise the considerable benefits from improving interaction with these materials, many find participation problematic. Documentation is not easy to create, takes a long time to find and it can be hard to comprehend due to lack of context. Engineers are spending many hours a day just to find information, which is accompanied by a high level of frustration. Furthermore, documentation tends to only record formal materials and not support ideation, rationale, learning or deliberation. Digital support tools are failing to meet engineers' needs. Presently these issues are prohibitive and participation in knowledge reuse through documentation is perceived as not worthwhile. Deadline pressures, poor user interfaces and unstable file systems worsen these problems. These issues will certainly become more severe as the amount of information being produced continues to increase. The research uses these findings to present the requirements for improved…
author: Sellman, Emily
language: eng
keywords: Engineering design, knowledge management, Engineering
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/7b36aaba-08e7-4789-88f8-04f453ebad7a/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2021-02-23
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:20Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.65168