Tools and teams: competing models of integrated product development project performance

Three models of the relationship between the tools and methods of integrated product development or concurrent engineering (CE) and project task performance are specified and tested on an international, multi-industry sample of CE project teams. The three models drawn from the literature are, respectively, a 'linear independence' CE tools model, a 'reciprocal interaction' CE tools model, and a 'serial' CE tools plus intervening team effectiveness model. Comparison of the model tests lends support to a composite, serial multipath specification where both team effectiveness and the CE methods for increasing development process simultaneity contribute directly to project performance and mediate the contributions of other CE tools. Team effectiveness was higher for teams using CE tools and methods which standardize engineering methodologies. The use of simultaneity methods was higher for project teams using some other CE tools. CE Tools for data integration and for increased customer input made no contribution to project task performance. The model specifying an interactive synergy between the tools and methods of CE was the least successful. Most of the benefits from the tools and methods of CE can be achieved by focusing implementation effort on increasing simultaneity in the development process and improving team decision-making effectiveness. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.