BUS 454 Evolutionary Engineering
In situations in which the complexity of a company and its competitive environment exceeds certain bounds, it is necessary to adopt an approach that mimics and accelerates natural evolution. Founded on the formation and behavior of biological organisms, Evolutionary Engineering represents a conceptual framework that enables managers to safely facilitate rapid innovation and increased organizational adaption and responsiveness. Students will learn about various methods and techniques to design and generate evolving processes and organizations. Key topics include creating an environment that facilitates evolution within the company, designing and managing trial and error processes, utilizing multiple parallel development processes, evaluating experimentally in situ, and increasing utilization of more effective components. Knowledge and skills gained in this class will enable students to design self-organizing enterprises that adapt and respond to external demands organically.