RADICAL INNOVATION WITHOUT

COLLOCATION: A CASE STUDY AT BOEING-

ROCKETDYNE

Malhotra,Majchrzak,Carman and LottMIS Quarterly 2001

Aravind Sesagiri RaamkumarKannan VenkataramanujamMuthu Kumaar Thangavelu

AGENDA

• Radical Innovation• Cross Fertilization of Ideas• VC3 team for Rocketdyne’s mission• SLICE TEAM Success Story• Management Practices• Restructuring work with VC3• Implications for practice and research • Key Takeaways

Radical Innovation

In an increasingly complex world, sometimes old questions require new answers !!

Cross Fertilization of Ideas

Hybrid Product

Breed 2Breed 1

Stand alone success rate A

Composition A

Environment A

Knowledge base A

Reactivity AStand alone

success rate B

Composition B

Environment B

Knowledge base B

Reactivity B

Collaborative success rate

>=AxB

Composition AxB

Environment A or B

Knowledge base AxB +

Interaction value add

Reactivity AxB

How about a warm Ice Cream?

• Mapping Market Expectations to Hybrid Element’s attributes• Choosing the best elements for interaction• Forecasting the collaborative value• Choosing the best possible ba• Implementing Process concurrency• Restructuring for a best combination by trial & error method

with prior knowledge on the subject

VC3- Virtual Cross Value Chain, Creative, Collaborative Teamfor BOEING – ROCKETDYNE’s mission

Rocket Engine Design

cost by 100 times Commercialize 10 times

Concept Designer

Combustion Analyst

Manufacturability Engineer

Lead Engineer

Thermal Analyst

CAD Specialist

Stress Analyst

Project Team Leader

Rocketdyne

Raytheon

MacNeal-Schwendler

In terms of complexity VC3 Teams >> Virtual Teams

• Emerging Design & Ever Changing tasks• Consistent need for Shared Understanding• Efficient use of Virtual Interaction Space • Non-rigidity in Role Definitions• Unconventional Communication Protocol

Collaborative platform – A snapshot

SLICE TEAM – SUCCESS STORY“Designed thrust chamber of rocket engine” in 10 months Feature Traditional stats SLICE engineered stats

Parts 1200 6 (200 fold decrease)

Manufacturing Cost 7 mil USD 0.5 mil USD(14 fold decrease)

Predicted Quality Level 6 sigma or 2-4 sigma 9 sigma

First Unit Production Cost 4.5 mil USD 47000 USD

Development Time 6 years 10 months

Data Gathering Tools – Ethnographic Observations, Panel Questionnaire Surveys, Interviews,Group Meetings, Weekly Logs etc

89 virtual meetings and 651 entries in internet notebook and Project Vault

Mgmt Practice 1 – Strategy Setting – Virtual Teaming Umbrella Agreement

Initiated by Senior Managers, Contract Managers and Program Managers of 3 companies well before the SLICE project

Continuous Ordering

AgreementProtection of intellectual

Property and Company’s

Confidential InformationAllocation of

LiabilitySpecification of

level of participation

Best practices sharingRequired Complimentary skills

Trust and consensusNo subdivisions created

Common budgetOpen sharing of ideas SLICE project

kickoff in days instead of

months due to this agreement

Mgmt practice 1

Mgmt Practice 2 - Collaborative technologies are KM technologies

Internet Notebook and Project Vault developed by third party company based on the project requirements

Internet Notebook

Project Vault

Other improvisations

•Secure access from any location•Create, Comment, Reference-link, Sort and hot-linking features

•Electronic whiteboard•Used for all communication and knowledge-sharing needs

•Secure common file storage•Transfer of large and small files•Single version of truth•Document Vault

•Adherence to Coordination Protocol•Face 2 face discussion -> Tech collaborations•Couple written documentation with oral communication

•Incomplete entries for in-depth discussion•Parallel work to complement contribution•Exclusive attention to meetings

Mgmt Practice 3 - Restructure Work without Changing Core Creative Needs

“Adopting to Virtual Collaboration”

Creative Need 1: Create a Shared Understanding

• Enhanced participation meant more productiveness

• Partial decentralization of lead engineer role

• Common language metaphor• Shared artifact- Matrix style

decision enabler tempalte

Creative Need 2: Engage in Frequent interaction

• Guarding against alienation• Virtual interaction with

notebook• Internet notebook became one

stop shop for file sharing, information sharing, proj mgmt plan, status reports, budgets, meeting agendas etc

• Focus on sharing and not completeness

Creative Need3: Rapidly create context-specific knowledge

• 20 designs over 40 weeks - 1 week shelf life

• Synergy by rapid contribution• Sharing of only high context

specific knowledge

Summary of How to Restructure Work with VC3 teams

Successful because work processes were changed to meet its core needs

Clear strategy was needed Lifespan of Strategy,

Technology and Work were different at different times

Implications for Practice

• Shared destiny with other organizations• Importance of global and knowledge

intensive competition• Transitioning from traditional mode of

collocated teams to VC3 teams• Formulation and structuring of inter-

organizational strategy and work process

Early Warning Signs

“Effective Handling of Warning Signals ensure the success of VC3 teams”

Implications for Research

• Conduct research on virtual teams in terms of innovativeness

• Scope for research in building KM systems as a collaborative platform facilitating – Distributed Cognition– Knowledge Capture– Knowledge Fusion– Knowledge Transfer

Effective Virtual Team Working

Takeaways from the Article• VC3 teams are new, exciting and cost-effective work form• Virtual team working is reliant on collaboration between

people• Focus on the need for future research on this type of virtual

teams• Critical Role of Knowledge Management in processes related

to innovation• Importance of careful planning before the start of any

project• The capacity to innovate and make life better is present in

each individual

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU