The impact of variances and delays on nonroutine decisions and knowledge utilization in a product development organization

This study examined the source and impact of variances and delays in different stages of the product development cycle in one high technology R&D organization. This was accomplished through the development and application of an empirical method for analyzing key deliberations in nonroutine sociotechnical systems. The results indicate key variances and delays are most severe during the implementation and scale-up stage of the product development cycle. Subsequent analyses of two concurrent projects revealed that knowledge-related variances impact the quality of deliberations leading up to decisions to implement technology. Results from this study also indicated that the structural and process quality of deliberations is correlated with the availability, utilization, and dissemination of technical knowledge. These results generally support the importance of designing deliberations to maximize decision quality and knowledge utilization in R&D organizations.