Analyzina social capital to improve product development team performance: Action-research investigations in the aerospace industry with TRW and GKN

被引:26
作者
Brookes, Naomi J. [1 ]
Morton, Sue C.
Grossman, Steve
Joesbury, Paul
Varnes, Duncan
机构
[1] Aston Univ, Aston Business Sch, Operat & Informat Management Grp, Birmingham B4 7ET, W Midlands, England
[2] Loughborough Univ Technol, Wolfson Sch Mech & Mfg Engn, Innovat Mfg & Construct Res Ctr, Loughborough LE11 3TU, Leics, England
[3] Rossmore Grp, Solihull B90 8AE, W Midlands, England
[4] Swift Grp Ltd, Cottingham HU16 4JX, E Yorks, England
[5] GKN Driveline, Aldridge WS9 8TD, W Midlnads, England
基金
英国经济与社会研究理事会;
关键词
new product development (NPD) teams; performance improvement; social capital; social networks;
D O I
10.1109/TEM.2007.906859
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
Social capital is gaining preeminence as a concept to interpret the behavior of organizational entities, especially in new product development (NPD). Significant research is accumulating that links the performance of NPD teams with the patterns of social capital that they exhibit. Them research suggests that analyzing teams' social capital could provide insights to improve substantively the performance of NPD teams. However, the pragmatic use of social capital presents a number of difficulties. Investigating and resolving these issues is vital if the concept of social capital can be used to achieve performance improvement. This paper reports on an investigation in the aerospace industry, the aim of which was to establish the feasibility of mapping and analyzing a team's social capital in order to provide insights and to highlight productive interventions. The investigation used an action-research methodology involving the codevelopment and coimplementation of solutions with two multinational companies, GKN Aerospace and TRW Aerospace Group, and a management consultancy organization, the Rossmore Group. This paper reports on the encapsulation of social capital research in a management tool and its application within GKN and TRW. The results of the investigation indicate that analyzing the social capital of NPD teams provides a useful approach to improving their performance.
引用
收藏
页码:814 / 830
页数:17
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