#63 from R&D Innovator Volume 2, Number 10          October 1993

FORUM—from our readers

It's Not Just a Race . . .

I can relate well to the story in Forum (Volume 2, No. 6) about an R&D executive who was unaware of raging turf-battles and how much energy those battles consumed.  My previous boss was a vice president who forced us to build fences between departments and protect our turf by demanding strict accountability to formal work assignments.  Since salaries and bonuses came from one pocket (his), the departments were pressured to compete, with the greatest rewards going to the department(s) coming closest to schedule and budget.

The VP liked everything in its "right place" and discouraged any type of collaboration between departments.  "You have enough to do with your own assignments," was his typical comment; the result was an atmosphere that resembled a race to meet our objectives.  In the eyes of upper management, the VP and our department were considered examples of how R&D should be run, and even I felt "successful."

But behind our "success" was a fierce competition between departments, and we had little interaction outside of formal meetings.  Even when I had an idea that might have helped another department, I sat on it, although I might grumble to people in my department, "Why couldn't those dummies think of doing it such-and-such a way."

Eventually, when my boss finally was replaced by someone with an utterly different attitude about collaboration, I began to appreciate how detrimental to my company this atmosphere had been.  While we were "successful" in the past, we have become much more so with the new VP.  Rather than making only incremental advances, we now have some spectacular achievements which have attained company-wide recognition.  As I look at these achievements, almost every one arose from interactions between departments.

It's also more satisfying to feel that I'm a member, not only of a department, but of the entire R&D effort.  Perhaps this note will get administrators like my former boss to evaluate the loss of opportunity by not fostering team-playing within the entire organization.

 Anonymous