Decision Making in the U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental Management Office of Science and Technology (1999) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
F Industry's Best Practices in R&D Decision Making
F Industry's Best Practices in R&D Decision Making
Pages 153-168
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 153... ...
Making quality decisions further divides into practices for establishing a sound decision basis, for developing technology strategy, for managing the R&D portfolio, and for developing and evaluating project strategies. Organizing for decision quality subdivides into practices regarding organization and process, relationships with internal and external customers, and R&D culture and values.
|
From page 154... ...
154 ~1 00 8 -c c 1 L ~o ~ ~ e ~ a _ a 3 ~ ~ ~ E 1 1 1 1 ._ ~= at-= ~u E ~ y 8 j ~ 3 ~ o E Y y ~ · a Y A E a ~ E ~ ~ - ~ 8 ~ O .
|
From page 155... ...
Note that the top ten practices in terms of greater actualization by high performers include four decision basis, two technology strategy, two project strategy, and two internal customer practices. The top twenty practices, whose usage discriminates high and low performers, include four decision basis, four technology strategy, three portfolio management, five project strategy, one organization and process, two internal customers, and one culture and values practice.
|
From page 156... ...
Abbott Diagnostics Amoco EPTG Amoco Chemical Amoco Technologies Amoco Corporate Research Apple Mac Systems Division Asahi Glass Central Research Center AT&T Bell Laboratories x 2 AT&T Operating Systems Business Unit AT&T Global Public Network Platforms AT&T Network Systems AT&T GBCS Bayer Pharmaceutical Boeing Commercial Aircraft x 2 Bristol-Meyers-Squibb Project Management Coca-Cola Compaq Corporate Development Compaq PC Product Development HP Corporate Engineering Hoffman-LaRoche IBM Applications Development I&] Medical I&]
|
From page 157... ...
e e ~ O E E o o o o o o o ~ Shoos uo!
|
From page 159... ...
Another reason is that many R&D organizations have a tradition of being independent from their internal and external customers, which is not very appropriate for today's competitive environment. The Strategic Decisions Group and the Quality Director's Network TABLE F.2 Behavior of 79 Organizations Benchmarked by Ten Practices Essential for Excellent R&D Decision Quality as Indicated Potential Contribution to Actualization (0-100°/O)
|
From page 160... ...
160 en a) m m · ~ S-dO t~dO S-Wd saga ~ c, Z-Sd £-01 9-Wd £-90 9-S1 '-kid £-03 Z-S1 Z-~O L-Wd C-01 C)
|
From page 161... ...
jd7 o c ~ o o m m O O O O Uol~eZ! IenI°V O ~O ~W do [-OI C-OS t-~d C-OI grad OIL C-OI S-dO C-8C S-8G Add C-~d )
|
From page 162... ...
TABLE F.3 Ten Practices that Offer the Possibility of Gaining Competitive Advantage Potential Contribution to Actualization (0-100°/O) Decision Quality (0-7)
|
From page 163... ...
The company's strategic business vision usually incorporates information and insights from many internal and external sources -- including the corporate mission statement, integrated business unit strategies, internal business planning documents, and business information obtained from major customers. With a clear, unbiased view of long-range business strategy, R&D can align its programs and projects to achieve business goals and objectives and add value to the company.
|
From page 164... ...
For example, one strategy would be to use technology advances to refresh well-known project brands a strategy that deliberately renders current product versions obsolete. Another would be to gain economies of scale by making capital-intensive investments in long-term projects that regularly produce spinoffs while building toward blockbuster innovations every few years.
|
From page 165... ...
Agree on Clear, Measurable Goals Project success requires a fully empowered team that agrees on strategic objectives, major milestones, and clear, measurable goals. The best approach is to build alignment within the team and give it the power to negotiate, obtain authorizations, and implement midcourse corrections to move R&D toward achievement of the agreed on goals and objectives.
|
From page 166... ...
Ensure Active and Explicit Management Support Management support for R&D strategy and implementation shouIcl be active, explicit, and visible throughout the company. In particular, you can benefit from the involvement of the CEO and board of directors-or senior business unit executives in developing organizational alignment of business objectives, technology strategy, portfolio strategy, and project strategy.
|
From page 167... ...
Refine Projects with Regular Customer Feedback As part of the ongoing technical planning and project development process, successful companies take advantage of a very powerful resource: their customers. in regular customer meetings, they review progress on current programs, develop new ideas, and align priorities; these inputs are then used to guide decision making.
|
From page 168... ...
Empowerment to negotiate midcourse corrections, change direction in the search for better technological solutions, and manage the project according to its own imperatives results in more effective management and decision making because the people closest to the situation are making the decisions. What is required at the project level is also required at the levels of technology and portfolio strategy, where global accountability for success must be accompanied by global authority to direct R&D activities, or management lacks the ability to change course to achieve the best results.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.