Recommendations for Banking
Bankers should make a concerted effort to move their organizations toward the organic orientation insofar as new product development activities are concerned. While we do not suggest that banks abandon their efforts to develop a higher degree of operational efficiency, we do suggest that the typical bank structure does not support the new product development framework as outlined in this text. This framework calls for a high degree of creativity, innovation, flexibility, integration, and coordination—typically characteristics of organic configurations rather than mechanistic configurations.
Selecting between mechanistic and organic structures would be relatively simple if all the performance, environmental, and technological pressures of a given bank were experienced to the same degree in all areas of the bank. Often this is not the case, and a rather diverse form of structural configuration is called for.
A common conflict situation applicable to banking arises when an organization produces a few basic products but begins to face a more uncertain environment. The technology of the production process calls for a mechanistic structure. However, the uncertainty of the environment calls for an organic structure. One solution, and by no means the only one, is to develop a series of externally oriented, organic at the same time remaining open to environmental shifts.
We believe that the new product development function, by its very nature, calls for a structural configuration that tends toward organic. We do not find many banks that have dealt with this issue. Continued reliance upon traditional, mechanistic orientations to develop new products is, in our opinion, dooming the process to failure. Figure 8-10 gives some criteria we believe essential for new product development organizations.
FIGURE 8-10 Criteria Essential for New Product Development Organizations
Creativity
Entrepreneurial ability
Decision-making ability and style
Objectivity
Dedication
Inspiration
Communication
Coordination
Morale
Flexibility for adapting to change
Authority
Responsibility
Adaptability
Integration
Delegation
Supportive climate