Conflicting goals in product development : learning from the fatal Firestone flaw

The human-centered design approach is a powerful methodology for developing products that are considerate of humanity. Yet, in spite of the proven success of empathetic design, we still see products that fail, amplify negative social behaviors, or take advantage of human tendencies for the sake of profit or competitive success. These outcomes are often the result of poor negotiation between conflicting organizational and value-driven goals. The purpose of this analysis is to consider how goal conflict inhibits the product development process and leads to suboptimal or destructive results. This exploration seeks to learn from an analysis of the deadly product failure of Firestone ATX, ATX 11, and Wilderness AT tires in the late 1990s. Drawing from Congressional testimony, expert evaluation, and depositions of relevant engineers, this analysis considers the impact of goal conflict on product design requirements and testing. Recommendations include methods for identifying goals and framing conflict to encourage balance between organizational goals and human wellbeing. This project is the beginning of a larger body of work that aims to equip "makers" with skills they need to reconcile conflicting goals in order to focus on making the world better by making better things.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Moore, Rachel M.(Rachel Meredith)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David Niño.

• Engineering and Management Program.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122338

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122338