摘要
一个最新的理论研究表明授权的作用取决于环境中不确定性的程度。在对212个新产品开发项目的定量研究中,发现了团队授权与创新速度之间显著性相关关系。对由技术新颖性和技术动态性这两个不同因素引起的技术不确定性作了区分。结果发现,团队授权和创新速度之间的关系被技术动态性所调节,而技术新颖性则不能。通过进一步的研究发现,在不确定性较低的情况下,无论来源于技术新颖性或技术动态性,团队授权和创新速度均呈U形函数关系。这说明在不确定性较低的情况下,要么完全授权,要么完全不授权或高层介入,都有利于提高创新速度。与之形成对应,在不确定性高的情况下,团队授权和创新速度之间的关系受技术新颖性和技术动态性的影响是不同的。当技术新颖性高时,团队授权和创新速度之间呈线性关系,而当技术动态性高时,二者呈反U形函数关系。对于后者,极高程度的团队授权并不加快创新速度。这些结果说明,应该根据研发项目的不确定性的不同来源与水平选择不同的团队授权策略。这些发现或许也表明,技术动态性比技术新颖性对不确定性有更重要的影响。
A recent theoretical analysis argued that the effectiveness of empowerment is contingent upon the degree of uncertainty in the environment. In a study of 212 New Product Development （NPD） projects, we found that the relationship between team empowerment and speed to market was moderated by uncertainty stemming from technological turbulence hut not by uncertainty related to technological novelty. Further, we found that the relationship was a U shaped function under conditions of low uncertainty whether the source was novelty or turbulence. The findings imply that NPD teams should be either not empowered or fully empowered under conditions of low uncertainty. In contrast ,when uncertainty was high the empowerment speed relationship differed depending upon the source of the uncertainty. Under conditions of high technological novelty a linear relationship between empowerment and speed was found,but under conditions of high technological turbulence the relationship was reverse U-shaped. Under the latter conditions, a quadratic function indicated that very high levels of empowerment do notreresult in increasing speed-to-market. Thus,a contingent view should apply to choose and implement the empowerment approach. Our findings also indicate that turbulence may he a more important source of uncertainty than newness with different implications for empowerment.
出处
《管理学报》
2006年第5期591-599,共9页
Chinese Journal of Management
关键词
技术动态性
技术新颖性
团队授权
创新速度
team empowerment
speed to market
technological turbulence
technological novelty
