PRODUCT QUALITY - IMPACT OF INTERDEPARTMENTAL INTERACTIONS

The authors examine the role of organizational factors affecting inter departmental interactions and their subsequent effects an product qual ity. Results from a national study suggest that product quality is aff ected by interdepartmental conflict and connectedness. importantly the linkage between interdepartmental conflict and product quality appear s to be robust across varying levels of market turbulence and technolo gical turbulence. in contrast, interdepartmental connectedness appears to be more important for product quality under conditions of high mar ket and technological turbulence. The results also indicate that inter departmental interactions are influenced by leadership characteristics (risk aversion of top managers), reward system orientation, and organ ization structure (centralization departmentalization, and hierarchica l levels). Managerial implications and directions for future work are proposed.