Torrington Co.: Teamwork And The Product Development Cycle

Teamwork and Product Development

When developing a new product as a group, teamwork is essential to the success of the product development cycle. Team members must work together and cooperate with each other in order to function as a unit. Webster’s dictionary defines Teamwork as “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole” (Webster’s 2015). Many companies use a teamwork approach to their product development cycle.

An example of a company that uses a Teamwork process is Torrington Co, a leading supplier of precision bearings and components for the automotive industry. Torrington president, Allen Nixon, claims that they have an extra commitment and initiative that sets them apart and provide better benefits to their clients (Nixon 2015). This extra commitment is a team based product development process they use to launch more new programs efficiently (Nixon 2015). Nixon states Teamwork drives the entire process of product and program development at Torrington. They focus on meeting goals that have

Knowing what each of the six facets means is important to understand. Communication can be defined as the extent to which there is sufficient frequent, informal, direct, and open communication (Dayan 2015). Coordination is the extent to which individual efforts are well structured and synchronized within the team (Dayan 2015). Balance of member contributions are the extent to which team members are able to bring in their expertise to their full potential (Dayan 2015). Mutual support is the extent to which team members help and support each other in carrying out their tasks (Dayan 2015). Effort is the extent to which team members exert all efforts to the team’s tasks (Dayan 2015). Lastly, Cohesion is the extent to which team members are motivated to maintain the team (Dayan