Engineering and technology leaders are increasingly asked to guide change in environments shaped by complexity, interdependence, and rapid disruption. Organizations operate within larger systems that include supply chains, digital platforms, regulatory structures, innovation ecosystems, and distributed networks of stakeholders. Technical expertise alone is no longer enough. Leaders must learn to understand how systems behave, why systems resist change, and how to influence large-scale transformation across organizational and ecosystem boundaries.
Systems Change for Engineering & Technology Leaders (ENGR 596) equips graduate students and working professionals with practical frameworks and tools to diagnose, design, and guide systems change in complex technical environments. The course combines systems analysis, organizational change, stakeholder motivation, and behavioral dynamics to help learners understand how meaningful change actually occurs inside organizations and interconnected systems.
Through case studies, applied exercises, systems mapping, and project-based learning, students develop the ability to identify high-leverage intervention points, align stakeholders, address resistance, and guide initiatives that improve adaptability, innovation, and organizational performance. The course emphasizes real-world application, preparing engineering and technology leaders to influence systems rather than simply manage isolated projects or teams.
This course is approved for several graduate plans of study in the Purdue College of Engineering including the Masters of Engineering Management, and the Professional Masters Programs in Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering. The course is organization in three modules.
Part One: Foundations & Diagnostics
The course I organizations in three parts. The first introduces learners to the foundations of systems analysis and organizational diagnostics. Students explore how complex systems behave across engineering and technology-oriented organizations, innovation ecosystems, and technology environments. Topics include systems analysis fundamentals, feedback loops, interdependence, emergence, causal mapping, and organizational change frameworks.
Learners also develop practical diagnostic skills to identify bottlenecks, hidden constraints, structural misalignment, and behavioral patterns that shape system performance. The focus is on helping students move beyond surface-level symptoms to understand the deeper structures driving organizational outcomes.
Part Two: Change Strategies
The second focuses on designing and guiding systems change initiatives in complex environments. Students examine stakeholder dynamics, ecosystem coordination, networked systems, coalition building, and the role of influence in organizational transformation.
Through case studies and applied frameworks, learners develop strategies for identifying leverage points, redesigning incentives and feedback systems, and guiding change across organizations and technical ecosystems where authority and control are distributed.
Part Three: Resistance, Adaptation, & Behavioral Dynamics
The final part explores the behavioral and human dimensions of systems change. Students examine why systems resist disruption, how organizations adapt over time, and why many technology transformation efforts fail despite strong technical solutions.
The module also focuses on leading change without formal authority, scaling behavioral norms, sustaining adaptation across systems, and measuring long-term organizational impact. The course culminates in a systems change project where students apply the frameworks and tools from the course to a real-world organizational or ecosystem challenge.
Course Designer and Instructor
This course was designed and is taught by Scott Hutcheson, PhD, faculty member in the Purdue College of Engineering in the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering. For over 30 years, Dr. Hutcheson has had one foot inside the university and the other outside of it. His Purdue graduate courses have been on the programs of study in four different colleges: College of Engineering, Purdue Polytechnic Institute, the Daniels School of Business, and the College of Liberal Arts. Additionally, he directed Purdue’s undergraduate program in organizational leadership.
Dr. Hutcheson also works with corporate leaders and has advised three U.S. presidential administrations on policy issues related to technology and competitiveness. Hutcheson is co-author of Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership (Wiley 2019) and author of Biohacking Leadership: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior to Maximize Your Impact (Wiley, 2025). Biohacking Teams: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior for Peak Performance, and Biohacking the Future: Leveraging the Biology of Behavior for Systems Change (both forthcoming from Wiley). Scott is also a regular contributor to Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, and many other publications. Although he does not currently have an active university research agenda, he has secured support for and served as PI on over $35 million in funded research.
Textbooks and Syllabus
The main texts for this course are The Technology Fallacy and The Phoenix Project along with selected scholarly works. Students will also be given an early look at Dr. Hutcheson’s works in progress. You may find a copy of the course syllabus here.
