1. Constructing New Product Development Teams
• Team Size
-May range from a few members to hundreds.
-Bigger is not always better; large teams create more administrative costs and communication problems
-Large teams have higher potential for social loafing.
• Team Composition
-Including members from multiple functions of firm ensures greater coordination between functions.
-Diversity in functional backgrounds increases breadth of knowledge base of team.
-Other types of diversity (e.g., organizational tenure, cultural, gender, age, etc.) can be beneficial as well.
-However, diversity can also raise coordination costs.
-Extended contact can overcome some of these challenges.
2. Structure of New Product �Development Teams
a. Functional Teams
-Members report to functional manager
-Temporary, and members may spend less than 10% of their time on project.
-Typically no project manager or dedicated liaison personnel.
-Little opportunity for cross-functional integration.
-Likely to be appropriate for derivative projects.
b. Lightweight Teams
-Members still report to functional manager.
-Temporary, and member may spend less than 25% of their time on project.
-Typically have a project manager and dedicated liaison personnel.
-Manager is typically junior or middle management.
-Likely to be appropriate for derivative projects.
c. Heavyweight Teams
-Members are collocated with project manager.
-Manager is typically senior and has significant authority to command resources and evaluate members.
-Often still temporary, but core team members often dedicated full-time to project.
-Likely to be appropriate for platform projects.
d. Autonomous Teams
-Members collocated and dedicated full-time (and often permanently) to team.
-Project manager is typically very senior manager.
-Project manager is given full control over resources contributed from functional departments and has exclusive authority over evaluation and reward of members.
-Autonomous teams may have own policies, procedures and reward systems that may be different from rest of firm.
-Likely to be appropriate for breakthrough and major platform projects.
-Can be difficult to fold back into the organization.
3. The Management of New Product Development Teams
• Team Leadership
-Team leader is responsible for directing team’s activities, maintaining alignment with project goals, and communicating with senior management.
-Team leaders impact team performance more directly than senior management or champions.
-Different team types need different leader types
• Team Administration
-Many organizations now have heavyweight and autonomous teams develop a project charter and contract book.
• Managing Virtual Teams
-In virtual teams, members may be a great distance from each other, but are still able to collaborate intensely via videoconferencing, groupware, email, and internet chat programs.