DISCOVERY IN THE CONTEXT OF APPLICATION

This article addresses several issues raised by a very particular patt ern of knowledge generation, called ''discovery in the context of appl ication.'' The case of a hypersonic aircraft research program illustra tes that the organizational design of such programs is a very complex matter. The problem cannot be dealt with in the conventional way by ha ving different organizational forms for different phases of the proces s-say, one for the research phase another for the development phase, a further for the testing phase, and so on-because of its integral natu re. Two modes of organization are considered but neither, on its own, seems to be quire adequate to govern the management of the whole proce ss. The need is to deal with the problem of finding a balance between two (distinct) organizational imperatives: the need to manage the inte raction between a large number of projects that are carried out in dif ferent locations, and the need to bring a wide range of problem solver s into a single entity. The former mode is necessary to facilitate exp eriments in different directions and to decrease the risk of missing a possible successful design, the latter to develop the infratechnologi es and instrumentalities that will underpin the research agenda. (C) 1 996 Elsevier Science Inc.