what-when-how
In Depth Tutorials and Information
conflicting interests engage in back-and-forth communication aimed at reaching a
settlement.
8.2.3.1.3 Stakeholders
Stakeholders are parties with direct or indirect interests in the outcomes of a com-
mon undertaking. Regardless of whether stakeholders are directly involved in a
decision at a particular moment, they are always given the opportunity to express
their perspectives toward that decision in the ECN approach. he stakeholder per-
spectives evolve dynamically through the co-construction process in ECN.
8.2.3.1.4 Different Expertise
In ECN, engineering expertise must be expanded from purely natural sciences to
include not only all social, economical, and technical (S.E.T.) knowledge but also
the ability to negotiate efectively with other stakeholders. his expansion requires
techniques that go beyond the traditional engineering approaches. he sociotechni-
cal framework developed in our research is an example of these new techniques and
will be discussed in the next section.
8.2.3.1.5 Mixed Objectives
ECN focuses on the knowledge of artificial which is based on human agreements.
Human agreements are driven by their objectives. Objectives can be in concert or
in conflict, which in turn determines stakeholders' various cooperative or adver-
sarial decision behaviors and leads to the final agreement or disagreement.
8.2.3.1.6 Co-Construct/Co-Construction
Co-construction is a key activity in ECN. In ECN, the stakeholders' perspectives
are influenced by each other and mutually modified through negotiation, and
finally arrive at a shared reality (e.g., new knowledge in the form of consensual
agreements) of a particular matter. his makes ECN diferent from the traditional
engineering, in which the perspectives of stakeholders are assumed to be static.
8.2.3.1.7 Consensual Agreements
Unlike traditional engineering approaches that search for precise answers optimized
for predefined objectives, the final outcomes of ECN are consensual agreements
that suffice to meet the interests of all involved stakeholders. When stakeholders
reach consensual agreements, it indicates that, for all parties, the payoffs from the
consequences of joint decisions are better than if each party had decided to go-
it-alone. In ECN, consensual agreements are the consequences of joint decisions.
