Conflicting paradigms in manufacturing and marketing decisions: The effects of situational awareness on team performance

摘要

The ongoing shift from product-centric to consumer-centric operations highlights the market pressures that force organizations to stand out by satisfying customers. One way to achieve a smooth transition to the consumer centric operation is to minimize the internal conflicts and improve the processes of demand-generating (marketing) and product-generating (manufacturing) functions. The collaboration of teams can be complex due to the idiosyncratic team members' situational awareness - the accuracy and agreement of the interpretations of the business environment. Drawing on the situational awareness theory, this research proposes that a team's ability to accurately understand and agree on the manufacturing and marketing business environment is associated with improved team performance. The theoretical model is tested using 667 experienced MBA students, representing 145 teams. The results suggest that team performance is significantly associated with the degree to which teams accurately understood, but not necessarily agreed upon, the manufacturing and marketing environments in which they operated.