Lesson 8: Global Engineering Practices

Importance of Standardization

Industry relies on other smaller components being available when needed to complete jobs. If an industry relies on a limited number of people acting as integrators and translators, a bottleneck is created. This makes activities more reactive (responding to delays and slow downs) than proactive (being able to anticipate and prevent delays and slow downs). It has been noted that problems often go unreported beyond two layers of contact or management. This results in many revisions and reengineering cycles resulting in time delays. For this reason, GV Teams should flatten heirarchal leadership so that concerns are addressed.

Obstacles of Foreign Standardization

Several obstacles may prevent the collaboration between international partners.

First, one group may be unaware of the unique standards in a foreign partner. These may be standards that were imposed and maintained for years (i.e. the British unit system imposed on its colonies), or be justified by local conditions (i.e. engineering that allows for very cold weather in the winter and quite warm in the summer).

Second, one country may lack knowledge of the local legal system and customs. This would become important if the law required greater regulation of emissions, increased safety standards, or features that are needed to adapt to unique features of a culture.

Third, the partners may have a different technical culture. The processes used to design and develop products may differ considerably. In some cases one culture may examine a great number of options and test each option in part before choosing a design while another may quickly choose a design and work to complete it dealing with problems as they occur.

Finally, communication between the different international partners may occur. This may occur when the languages are different, but even different dialects may have differences. For example, two different English speaking cultures misunderstood each other by using the word "quite" in a report. One culture understood "quite" to represent a large amount, while the other understood it to mean an inadequate amount. This misunderstanding could result in considerable delays and problems.