Dynamic simulation for effective workforce management in new product development.docVIP

Management Science Letters 2 (2012) 2571–2580 Contents lists available at GrowingScience Management Science Letters homepage: www.GrowingS/msl Dynamic simulation for effective workforce management in new product development M. Mutingi* Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Effective planning and management of workforce for new product development (NPD) projects is a great challenge to many organisations, especially in the presence of engineering changes during the product development process. The management objective in effective workforce management is to recruit, develop and deploy the right people at the right place at the right time so as to fulfill organizational objectives. In this paper, we propose a dynamic simulation model to address the workforce management problem in a typical NPD project consisting of design, prototyping, and production phases. We assume that workforce demand is a function of project work remaining and the current available skill pool. System dynamics simulation concepts are used to capture the causality relationships and feedback loops in the workforce system from a systems thinking. The evaluation of system dynamics simulation reveals the dynamic behaviour in NPD workforce management systems and shows how adaptive dynamic recruitment and training decisions can effectively balance the workforce system during the NPD process. Received April 25, 2012 Accepted 6 July 2012 Available online July 9 2012 Keywords: System dynamics New product development Workforce Knowledge management ? 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Due to evolving market conditions, technological advancements, and business growth, dynamic engineering changes in product design and development are inevitable. Decision makers concerned with New Product Development (NPD) strive