Now that we know product quality is higher with better interdepartmental interactions what can we do to enhance those interdepartmental relationships? As you read the research results below think through your customer contact organization and how you might encourage the innovation, decentralize the decision-making and structure rewards to accomplish the desired result. Sometimes we get so caught up on the immediacy of our customer contact that we forget to reward the individuals who do take the time to sense and respond to product or service improvement opportunities. So many great opportunities stay locked up in our people because either there is no mechanism to capture the idea or else our people are frustrated. They've communicated before but no action was ever taken (at least none that they know of).
"There are a number of actions that managers can take to enhance interdepartmental interactions. Specifically, positive interdepartmental interactions appear to require a certain level of risk taking by senior managers and a willingness to accept occasional failures of new organizational processes as being a normal part of business. In the absence of such a willingness to take calculated risks, employees are likely to be reluctant to try innovative ideas and might prefer to stay within their designated task areas and not be involved in the overall process. The relationships between an organization's reward system orientation, selected structural issues (such as decentralized decision making), and interdepartmental interactions appear to be strong, suggesting that reward structures and systems should take into account the contributions of individuals in sensing and responding to innovative quality processes. Similarly, empowering employees in the lower levels of the organization by decentralizing decision making appears to help reduce conflicts and improve interdepartmental connectedness. Decision-making responsibilities seem to help employees become goal focused and develop networks necessary to achieve the stated goals" (Menon, Jaworski, Kohli, 1997).
What success have you had in enhancing your interdepartmental interactions?
Reference
Ajay Menon, Bernard J Jaworski, Ajay K Kohli. (1997). Product quality: Impact of interdepartmental interactions. Academy of Marketing Science. Journal, 25(3), 187-200. Retrieved May 28, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 12606198).
