Chapter 12 Managing new product development teams Flashcards
What must a organization consider when constructing new product development teams?
how the team’s size and composition will affect its mix of skills, its access to resources, and
its effectiveness in providing communication and coordination across the divisions.
How can the team size effect the new product development team positively?
by combining the efforts and expertise of multiple individuals, groups can often outperform individuals on many problem-solving tasks, implying that the size of the development
team might be related to its potential for success.
What is social loafing?
When an individual in a team does not exert the expected amount of effort and relies instead on the work of other
team members.
What happens when there is a lack of communication?
A lack of communication among the marketing, R&D, and manufacturing functions of a company can be extremely detrimental to new product development. A lack of cross-functional communication can lead to a poor fit between product attributes and
customer requirements. R&D cannot design products that fit customer requirements unless it receives and attends to input from marketing regarding those requirements.
Whys is the manufacturing/ R&D interface of critical importance?
The manufacturing/R&D interface is also of critical importance because of manufacturing’s role in determining two key attributes of a product—quality and price. By
working closely with R&D, manufacturing can ensure that R&D designs products that are relatively easy to manufacture
How can firms address the problem of lack of communication?
One of the ways that firms address this problem is by building cross-functional
product development teams.6 Cross-functional teams include members drawn from more than one functional area, such as engineering, manufacturing, or market-
ing
What is homophily?
The tendency for individuals to like other people whom they perceive as being similar to
themselves.
What do heterogeneous teams possess?
erogeneous teams should possess more information, on average, than homogeneous groups. The heterogeneity of a team can also increase the creativity and variance in decision making, leading to more innovative outcomes and higher overall performance.19 However, to realize this potential performance advantage, heterogeneous teams may require long-term contact and incentives to foster communication
and cooperation
Waht are the 4 types of team structures of new product development teams?
functional, lightweight, heavyweight, and autonomous.
What are the characteristics of team types of the different types: functional , lightweight, heavyweight and autonomous?
see page 296
What are two main points for a new product development team to be effective?
For a new product development team to be effective, its leadership and administrative policies should be matched to the team’s structure and needs.
For what is a team leader responsible?
The team leader is responsible for directing the team’s activities, maintaining the team’s alignment with project goals, and serving as a communicator between the team and sen-
ior management.
What is the project charter?
The project charter encapsulates the project’s mission and articulates exact and measurable goals for the project.
What is the contract book?
Once the team charter is established, core team members and senior managers must negotiate a contract book. The contract book defines in detail the basic plan to achieve the goal laid out in the project charter. Typically, the contract book will estimate the resources required, the development time schedule, and the results that
will be achieved.
What are virtual teams?
Teams in which members may be a great distance from each other, but are still able to collaborate intensively via advanced information technologies such as videoconferencing, groupware, and e-mail or Internet chat
programs.
