Examining the Relationship between Military Integrated Product Team Performance and Commercial Cost Reduction Program Success.

摘要

Executives of some successful U.S. companies found methods of reducing product costs in order to become, and remain, competitive within the global economy. To achieve competitiveness, companies have assembled integrated product (or process) teams (IPTs) to develop commercial cost reduction programs (CCRPs). Due to current and future budget reductions, U. S. military leaders may implement IPTs to adapt CCRPs in military organizations. Successful adaptations of CCRPs may mitigate the loss of funding, thereby retaining an additional measure of military strength. A non-experimental quantitative correlational study was conducted to find whether or not a relationship existed between military IPT performance and CCRP success. A questionnaire distribution yielded 80 acceptable responses, and Spearman's rank order correlation and ordinal regression were employed for correlation and predictor significance analyses, respectively. The Spearman correlation coefficient analysis results revealed a strong positive relationship between the IPT Performance and CCRP Success, rs = .70, p < .01. The correlation coefficients between each of the six variables of IPT Performance and CCRP Success were IPT Communication rs = .64, p < .01, IPT Coordination rs = .57, p < .01, IPT Balance of Member Contributions rs = .51, p < .01, IPT Mutual Support rs = .65, p < .01, IPT Effort rs = .36, p < .01, and IPT Cohesion rs =.67, p < .01. Ordinal regression analysis yielded three significant predictors, IPT Coordination (Estimate = .23), IPT Effort (Estimate = -.40), and IPT Cohesion (Estimate = .24). CCRP Success items yielded relatively high mean averages (M > 3.50) with the exception of CCRP rework. Based on the study results, IPTs appeared to be a valid method of adapting and implementing CCRPs. Recommendations included that military organizational managers should first assess whether or not their organizational systems are conducive to hosting IPTs and whether or not their organizations contain the necessary resources for hosting IPT subsystems. Other means of implementing CCRPs were provided, such as by manager direction. Future researchers should employ a larger sample and a qualitative study to find, for example, the contents of team tasks or activitie..