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This paper examines the effectiveness of organizational problem solving in response to technological change in the production process. First, the paper measures the degree of uncertainty associated with a given technological change by examining (1) the novelty of specific new features and functions, and (2) the required departure from established operating assumptions and organizational relationships. Second, the paper identifies three modes of problem solving that organizations use in dealing with technological change: modification prior to implementation (preparatory search), joint work with external technical experts during production start-up (joint search), and integration of engineering and manufacturing functions engaged in start-up (functional overlap). The effectiveness of these approaches is then tested on a sample of 48 new process introductions undertaken in eight plants by a leading global producer of precision metal components. Results indicate that the measured characteristics of technological change are significant predictors of the difficulties encountered in introducing new process technology. Findings also suggest that intensive problem solving efforts can significantly improve change outcomes, both shortening the period of disruption experienced and increasing the operating gains achieved. In addition, there was some evidence that the three organizational problem solving activities discussed here are not equally effective for responding to all types of process change. Specifically, the higher the level of technical novelty involved, the less useful was overlap between engineering and manufacturing functions. This challenges the general prescription that cross-functional team involvement in major technical projects always should be maximized, regardless of the nature of the change involved.

The article presents a conceptual model that hypothesizes how information technologies may assist in accomplishing two key functions of communication in research and development. The first function is to provide state-of-the-art information on the organizational technologies that are employed. This function is typically carried out via a functional organization structure, which groups together individuals with similar technical specialties. The second function is to accomplish coordination across technical specialties applied to the same task or project. This is typically accomplished by a project form of organization, which groups together individuals working on the same task. The cost of selecting one structure is the loss of the advantages of the other. Information technologies, such as electronic mail, computer conferencing, bulletin boards, and document search and retrieval systems, may be employed to augment the chosen structure and compensate to some degree for its limitations.