exam questions Flashcards
the development is a complex set of activities that extend over a considerable time period. describe the six basic elements of the framework, presented by Wheelwright and Clark, senior management can use for understanding that complexity.
Six basic elements of the framework:
1.
Project definition – Determines the scope of the development project, sets the bounds for what is and isn’t included in it and defines its business purposes and objectives. One important activity is that of selling the project to senior management. The best indication that this element has been completed is the official authorization of the project and its goals, objectives and resource commitments.
2.
Project organization and staffing – Defines who will work on the project and how the y will organize to accomplish the work. Important issues include physical location, reporting relationships and the use of support groups.
- Project management and leadership – Includes the role of project leaders and how project tasks are sequenced and managed. Important activities include definition of project roles and responsibilities, how tasks are divided and grouped into phases, how the work in each phase is monitored and the checkpoints or milestones used to signal completion of each phase.
4.
Problem solving, testing and prototyping – Focus is on individual work steps, how they are conducted and how the knowledge required to solve problems is developed. Important parts of this element are the nature of problem solving and how testing and prototyping are used to validate progress.
5.
Senior management review and control – How senior management reviews, evaluates and modifies the project and its goals over time. This signals to those working on the project how much responsibility has been delegated to them and creates incentives and motivation during the project.
6.Real-time/mid course corrections – Feedback and revisions during the project. Important issues are ongoing measurement and evaluation of project status, rescheduling, re-sequencing and redefining the remaining tasks, and resolving differences between problem solving in the lab and on the customer site. Reviews should be done 2-4 times per year, but the faster the industry, the more frequent review required.
In lean product development, there is a clear distinction between “knowledge value stream” and “product value stream”. What does it mean, what is the difference between the two value streams?
there are two distinct value streams in lean product development, namely the knowledge vale stream and the product value stream.
The knowledge value stream is about capturing knowledge that flows through the company, to better the position in capitalizing on it. The aim is to capture and reuse the knowledge.
The product value stream is the flow of tasks, people, and equipment that create the drawings, BOM, and manufacturing process for a product.
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In organizational design jay Galbraith describes the need for creation of lateral relations in an organization in order to increase the capacity to process information. What does he mean with lateral relations, and when/why does this need emerge?
Lateral relations cut across lines of authority and moves the level of decision making down to where the information exist. Hence, direct contact between people of groups of people. Lateral relations are used when the hierarchy is overloaded, goal setting, and rules are nor enough to handle the uncertainty.
What skills are essential for each of the three phases if the design-build test cycle of problem solving according to W&C? where do such skills typically reside in an organization?
Design- understanding about the customer needs and current level of performance in products/services. The skills usually resides in the marketing function, sometimes with support of R&D
Build- this is the hard engineering work do develop the product. The skill usually resides in the R&D function.
Test- is the testing of concept/solution in order to verify the results. The skill usually resides in the lab which is organized under R&D, but it can also be in the production function.
Discussions about platforms are often related to re-use of physical components. But a platform can be many other things to. Describe three other views (except for components) of what a platform is, and the benefits to gain from each of these three views.
Processes- the equipment to make components or to assemble components into products and the design of the associated production process and supply chain.
Knowledge- design know how, technology applications and limitations, production techniques, and testing methods.
People and relationships- teams, relationships among team members, relationships between the team and the larger organization, and the relationships with a network of suppliers.
In organizational design jay Galbraith describes the need for creation of lateral relations in an organization in order to increase the capacity to process information. What does he mean with “increase the capacity to process information” with “lateral relations”, and when/why does this need emerge?
Part of dealing with more complex projects and more task uncertainty is to increase the capacity to process information. When the complexity increases, more communication is need in the company, however an organization must build an infrastructure and an organizational model that makes the communication efficient. This means that a firm must invests in vertical information systems and create lateral relations.
Lateral relations cut across lines of authority and moves the level of decision making down to where the information exist. Hence, direct contact between people of groups of people. Lateral relations are used when the hierarchy is overloaded, goal setting, and rules are not enough to handle the uncertainty.
What kind of team structure (one out of four), using the definitions by W&C, would you claim is used by applied materials in the 5000 project? illustrate your suggestion with clear examples from the case. (5p)
Alternative 1
The 5000 project used an autonomous team structure. The project was collocated in one new area which is typical for an autonomous team structure. Since most team members from the 8100 project had left, Maiden negotiated that he would get the opportunity to hire people that he felt would work well and contribute to the team for the 5000 project. This indicates power, and a demand to set up new rules for this particular project, something that is also a sign of an autonomous team. In addition, there was incentives for the team members in the 5000 project, and the team was in contact with the which also indicates an autonomous team structure.
When the rumor about the competitor started to circulate, Mayden was in charge. It was his responsibility to decide how to act, i.e. how resources should be balanced.
One thing that may contradict that it is an autonomous team is that it was not a break through project. it was more of a development project of a development of a project that was already in the market, but the technology advancements in the market made the project quite different from previous projects. Most indicates that the team structure was autonomous.
Alternative 2
What makes an Autonomous team structure:
An autonomous team is a team whose operations are are autonomous to the rest of a company
They have their own senior project manager that is integrating cross functionally in the team
The work of the new concept was conducted by core members from different functions- as seen in the picture
The 5000 program
Dan Mayden is senior project manager who controls the project
The core members are collected from different departments and put in a new team that is completely isolated from the rest of the firm, to work on a new invention.
A strong evidence that the project followed an autonomous team structure is the incentives. The members of 5000 project are assured with incentives unlike the rest of the firm.
The autonomous team generally becomes a separate department that is difficult to incorporate back into the firm. This happened with the people that worked with the 5000 project.
In conclusion, there are many indications that the 5000 project was of autonomous team structure.
Alternative 3
The closest team structure would be the autonomous team structure, since the project was organizationally set up to become a division afterwards, and the project was headed by Dan Mayden a person with high organizational status based on previous project results. Needs to be exemplified. It is NOT a tigerteam.
What are the three basic goals with project portfolio management and describe one method or tool (per each) that you could use in order to achieve these goals respectively. (5p)
There are three main objectives with project portfolio management;
- Maximize the value of the portfolio
- Have a balanced portfolio
- Create a strong link to business strategy
To maximize the value of the portfolio, both now and in the future, a scoring model can be applied. The scoring model compares different key items that are related to the development projects, and they are compared relative each other which ones solve or live up to the key item/issue and get scored accordingly.
See picture.
To balance the portfolio bubble diagrams can be used. Different projects are of varying complexity and a variety of support and resources are necessary to complete them. The bubble diagram is very useful as it illustrates what commitment is necessary, through the sizes of the bubble, and where in the chart it is located, a company can balance the projects to fit their operations and resources. Different dimensions of the operation are assigned to the x and y axis and
For example: revenue on one axis and required R&D on the other. A company cannot survive on only research projects- they generate a lot of knowledge but not necessarily a lot of revenue. A company must make sure that their project portfolio will ensure both, hence it is not good to have all projects gathered in one area of the chart.
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Strategic buckets are used to ensure that the projects are following the strategy. It may be the strategy to have customers on several markets, maybe these are markets on different continents. this may be measures in revenues from the different markets. A company may use the strategic buckets to evaluate their current presence in the different markets compared to where they aim to be.
See picture!
An R&D manager is daily confronted with a number of challenges and dilemmas and a subsequent need for decisions. Illustrate by three examples of different key challenges/dilemmas, as described by W&C, which were illustrated/exemplified by the mandatory guest lecture by R&D manager Stefan Brämberg from Ascom. (10p)
problems from chapter 2:
- The moving target
- Mismatches between functions
- Lack of product distinctiveness
- Unexpected technical problems
- Unresolved policy issues
Managing R&D is much about management of dilemmas. Describe three typical managerial dilemmas or trade-offs that commonly need to be handled by R&D managers. Relate to examples given by the guest lecture Stefan Brämberg from Ascom. (5p)
The typical managerial dilemmas in R&D are timing of the product launch, technology adaption and cost and quality.
Timing and the product sequence:
Being a R&D manager the primary problem is when to launch the product. This is an issue because the market may not be ready for a new product, perhaps they are not yet accustomed to the new technology, or they do not see what purpose the inventions has in their daily tasks. If a development project runs late it might miss the window of opportunity in the market. Companies want to deliver distinct products, which is easier when you are first to the market, but the market must also be ready to accept the product. At Ascom this is a problem, but there is an awareness within the company that the product is likely to get picked up as the customers mature to the idea of them. New technology is often trickier to introduce to the market, and planning the sequence of product launches in a way that makes sense for the customers is vital. A customer understands new products from previous experiences.
Quality, cost, and time:
A development project takes time, it has costs and is expected to reach certain levels. However, there is an inevitable trade-off between these. For example, if the quality outcome is of great importance, perhaps it regards safety for the users, then the development might need more resources and time than initially expected. A manager must be on the clear on what is most important at all times. Since the market is moving the priorities might change, depending on the project. The product that is to be developed is meant to bring revenue to the company in the future and getting quality right for the time of the launch, and throughout the product lifetime is vital.
Outsourcing R&D:
Another issue that managemenr has to handle is whether or not to outsource R&D. Outsourcing may have great benefits if controlled the right way, but it may also lead to a loss of control of certain processes. a company should not outsource the core activities. At Ascom they handle outsourcing by installing rules and standards.
Organization design by Jay Galbraith describes the need for creation of lateral relations in an organization in order to increase the capacity to process information. However, before this need for lateral relations emerges, organizations use other forms of integration mechanisms in order to achieve unity among different actors/functions. Describe these basic organizational mechanisms. (5p)
The basic organizational mechanisms are A) use the hierarchy, hence, transfer the problem to the manager in charge, B) set up rules and procedures regarding how and what to do in specific situations, C) guide the organization through “Planning and Goal setting” if the situation is outside the rule book, D) Narrow the span of control, decrease the number of subordinates each manager needs to manage. Each mechanism has to be explained.
Traditional functionally organized structures have a tendency to develop barriers to the necessary cooperation and integration between functions. What are the underlying reasons to the existence of the barriers? NOT just a built list. (4p)/ (5p)
The underlying barriers are related to
- Competence
- Status
- Culture
- Organizational affiliation
- Geographic distance
- Goals
- Time pressure
- Information availability
W&C describe four different communication patterns as critical elements of cross-functional integration. Relate these communication patterns to the four models of upstream and downstream integration as proposed by the authors? (10p)
The four modes of downstream and upstream integration are
- Serial/batch
- Early start in the dark
- Early involvement
- Integrated problem solving
The dimensions of communication are
- Richness of media (sparse; documents, computer networkrich; face to face, models)
- Frequency (low one shot batchhigh; piece by piece, on line intensive)
- Direction (one way; monologue two way dialogue)
- Timing (late; completed work, ends the processearly; preliminary, begins the process)
See picture!
Serial mode- downstream tasks begins when the previous one is done. One point of communication, hence there might be a lot of missed information. There is also a risk that the strengths and weaknesses in the downstream group has not been taken into consideration. Not an integrated approach.
Early start in the dark- the downstream group starts working on the project without having any viable information. This often occurs when there is a deadline and the uncertainty is high. This mode starts communication in time, but still quite late in the process and the frequency can be seen as low, it is initiated when the upstream group is in the end of their process. The downstream group who has been in the dark on the new design might be surprised by it and need some time to adapt and understand. Hence the development time might not be shortened, but there is some integration between the groups.
Early involvement mode- the players in the upstream and the downstream groups are partaking in an interactive pattern of communication. These interactions starts earlier than in the previous mode but, the upstream group still starts significantly earlier than the previous mode and it is more of a dialogue than a monologue. Fewer delays and downstream changes. Frequent and fragmented communication.
Integrated problem solving-dialogue, early in the process, frequent and rich. There is a lot of communication between the groups that exchange information on designs in an early stage.
Explain the difference between DFM and DFA. Describe the also how DFA and QFD can/should come to play in the development process. (5p)
DFA (design for assembly) and DFM (design for manufacturing are similar methods, with similar aims, both aim to make the production process more efficient and effective, but they focus on different parts of the production.
The aim of DFA methodology is to reduce the number of parts in a design to make the assembly process more efficient, through elimination and integration.
DFM aims to make the manufacturing process more effective and efficient. Reducing setup-times by making products that are suitable for many purposes is one example of this.
QFD is used to capture the customers requirements and ensure that the design will meet these needs. QFD is used at the very beginning of engineering, right after marketing.
Design for assembly may be used based on previous assembly knowledge during the engineering process, but also when a prototype of a product has been developed. In the latter it is used as a means for discussion and evaluating the opportunities for making the assembly process easier.
Prototypes can be used for different purposes, which are they? (3p)
They can be used as a base for discussion among different functions. Functions generally have very different knowledge, and collectively they can develop great products. but there are also many communication issues among the different functions, hence having a tangible prototype can be a great means for communication. For example DFA.
It may be introduced to customers, as a way to gain more knowledge on whether the product is suitable to their needs-it is a way to get feedback and evaluate the product.
Feedback and learning+ discussion
Communication and information sharing + discussion
Outside evaluation + discussion
Establishing pacing and monitoring the development schedule + discussion
