Using a Systemic Perspective to Support Engineering Change Management

Engineering change management (ECM) is an important enabler for the overall success of engineering projects. Engineering changes (ECs) occur because engineering projects are exposed to internal and external dynamic influences. The implementation of ECM supports project managers involved in coordinating EC processes, which results in more efficient operations. There are, however, many challenges related to ECM because of the need for internal and external stakeholders to collaborate during the EC process. Many existing approaches that support ECM adopt a reductionistic perspective. This paper takes a novel approach by adopting a systemic perspective. The self-organizing nature of complex systems is of particular interest because efficient ECM is a learning process that requires constant adaptation on different organizational levels. This paper describes how self-organization can be incorporated in ECM processes. A case study at a large construction project illustrates how ECM can facilitate self-organization. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.