Tangible Results at HP's Network Peripheral Solutions Division
But how did NPSD get there?
Managing according to Information Age principles - achieving a high Organizational IQ - has been a hallmark of NPSD's management. Over the last few years, NPSD's management team repeatedly has asked Synesis Inc. to benchmark NPSD's Organizational IQ against other leading high-tech companies in core areas such as new product development, new product introduction, and customer service, and to develop suggestions for a new information and decision architecture.
In 1998, Hewlett-Packard's Network Peripheral Solutions Division (NPSD), the world market leader in print servers, was rewarded the prestigious President's Quality Award. The award, presented by then-President and CEO Lew Platt, recognized that NPSD is one of the best performing organizations within all of HP. NPSD has lived up to the highest standards of employee satisfaction, operational and financial performance.
One of the results of these projects was the formation of cross-functional "solution teams" focused on driving the success of one specific product line. "Operations teams" that developed basic technology and processes utilized by the "solutions teams", complemented the "solutions teams". The teams were empowered to make far-reaching decisions within a clearly defined framework of organizational objectives. "Letting those people make decisions who have the best knowledge and perspective," was the guiding principle behind the new organizational structure.
"The solution- and operations teams fundamentally changed the way we do business," states Charlie Lisherness, Lab Manager Integrated Solutions at NPSD. "Increasing NPSD's Organizational IQ has resulted in tangible and measurable results."
"Introducing solution- and operations teams absolutely helped to improve operational performance; external benchmarking keeps us well-grounded in reality and focused on improvement opportunities. All this contributes to winning the President's Quality Award," confirms Terry Pierce, Manufacturing Manager at NPSD.
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