Abstract
Inter-departmental co-ordination is considered an important factor for the success of a company. Individuals predominantly plan according to the goals of their own department. In cooperative relationships, however, they also try to create possibilities for the optimization of the planning for the other individual. This paper analyzes the influence of organizational structures on inter-departmental collaborative demand planning. Psychological planning theories were applied to deduce typical collaborative planning requirements. This permitted an evaluation of the quality of inter-departmental planning processes. The following characteristics were identified: communication of anticipated events, knowledge of reference field characteristics, goal agreements, negotiation of alternatives, recognition of planning adequacy, monitoring and error diagnosis, co-ordination of opportunistic planning and finally common reflection and decision process for plan cancellation. For a field study three companies with different demand planning structures were selected. Using the critical incident technique, individuals were asked to describe events in which helping or hindering activities in the intra- and interdepartmental context occurred. These events were analyzed with respect to the derived characteristics of collaborative planning. The results indicated the usefulness of the chosen characteristics for describing crucial aspects of (un)successful collaborative planning. There was tentative evidence also that team-oriented structures including representatives of various departments are more suitable for the management of a high amount of planning uncertainty than department-oriented structures. Furthermore, relationships between organizational design, quality of collaborative planning, logistical performance and satisfaction with inter-departmental communication could be demonstrated.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Callister RR, Wall JA (2001) Conflict across organizational boundaries: managed care organizations versus health care providers. J Appl Psychol 86:170–181
Cranach Mv, Tschan F (1990) Mehrstufigkeit im zielgerichteten Verhalten von Organisationen. In: Frei F, et al. (eds) Das Bild der Arbeit. Huber, Bern, pp 208–226
Cranach Mv, Tschan F (2001) Psychology of action planning. In: Smelser NJ (ed) International encyclopedia of the social and behavioural sciences. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 41–45
Crawford S, Mac Carthy BL, Wilson J, Vernon C (1999) Investigating the work of industrial scheduler through field study. Cogn Technol Work 1:63–77
Das JP, Kar BC, Parrila RK (1996) Cognitive planning. The psychological basis of intelligent behaviour. Sage Publications, New Delhi
Ellinger A (2000) Improving marketing/logistics cross-functional collaboration in the supply chain. Ind Market Manage 29:85–96
Flanagan JC (1954) The critical incident technique. Psychol Bull 51:327–358
Funke J, Glodowski AS (1990) Planen und Problemlösen: Überlegungen zur neuropsychologischen Diagnostik von Basiskompetenzen beim Planen. Z Neuropsychol 2:139–148
Galbraith JR (1974) Organization design: an information processing view. Interfaces 4:28–36
Grote G (1997) Autonomie und Kontrolle. Zur Gestaltung automatisierter und risikoreicher Systeme. vdf Hochschulverlag, Zürich
Grote G (2002) Planen in Organisationen: Forschungserfordernisse und -ansätze. In: Silbereisen RK, et al. (eds) Psychologie 2000—Bericht über den 42. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Jena 2000. Pabst Science, Lengerich, pp 576–586
Grote G (2004) Uncertainty management at the core of system design. Annu Rev Control 28:267–274
Grote G, Ryser C, Wäfler T, Windischer A, Weik S (2000) KOMPASS: a method for complementary function allocation in automated work systems. Int J Hum Comput Stud 52:267–287
Hacker W (1998) Allgemeine Arbeitspsychologie. Psychische Regulation von Arbeitstätigkeiten. Huber, Bern
Hacker W (2001) Psychological activity theory. In: Smelser NJ (ed) International encyclopedia of the social and behavioural sciences. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 58–62
Hafen U, Künzler C, Fischer D (1999) Erfolgreich restrukturieren in KMU. Werkzeuge und Beispiele für eine nachhaltige Veränderung. vdf Hochschulverlag, Zürich
Hagdorn-van der Meijden L, Van Nunen JAEE, Ramondt A (1994) Forecasting—bridging the gap between sales and manufacturing. Int J Prod Econ 37:101–114
Handfield RB, Nichols EL (1999) Introduction to supply chain management. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Hayes-Roth B, Hayes-Roth F (1979) A cognitive model of planning. Cogn Sci 3:275–310
Hogg MA, Terry DJ (2000) Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Acad Manage Rev 25:121–140
Hollnagel E, Woods DD, Leveson N (eds) (2006) Resilience engineering: concepts and precepts. Ashgate, London
Kahn K, Mentzer JTM (1994) The impact of team-based forecasting. J Bus Forecast, Summer issue, pp 18–21
Klein GA, Calderwood R, MacGregor D (1989) Critical decision method for eliciting knowledge. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern 19:462–472
Kleining G (1991) Methodologie und Geschichte qualitativer Sozialforschung. In: Flick U, et al. (eds) Handbuch qualitative Sozialforschung. Grundlagen, Konzepte, Methoden und Anwendungen. Psychologie Verlags Union, München, pp 11–22
Lawrence PR, Lorsch JW (1967) Organizations and environments: managing differentiation and integration. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA
Leontjew A (1981) The problem of activity in psychology. In: Wertsch JV (ed) The concept of activity in Soviet psychology. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, pp 37–71
Mayring P (2000) Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken (7. Auflage). Deutscher Studienverlag, Weinheim
McKay KN, Buzacott JA, Safayeni F (1989) The scheduler’s knowledge of uncertainty: the missing link. In: Browne J (ed) Knowledge based production management systems. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 171–189
Meunier Martins S, Cheikhrouhou N, Glardon R (2003) Strategic analysis of products for integrating judgement into demand forecasts. In: Proceedings of the IFIP working conference on human aspects in production management, Karlsruhe, 5–9 October, pp 196–203
Nassimbeni G (1998) Network structures and co-ordination mechanisms. A taxonomy. Int J Oper Prod Manage 18:538–554
Nauta A, Sanders K (2001) Causes and consequences of perceived goal differences between departments within manufacturing organizations. J Occup Organ Psychol 74:321–342
Nauta A, De Dreu CKW (2002) Social value orientation, organizational goal concerns and interdepartmental problem-solving behaviour. J Organ Behav 23:199–213
Oesterreich R, Resch MG (1985) Zur Analyse arbeitsbezogener Kommunikation. Z Soz Forsch Erziehungssoziol 2:271–291
Parker SK, Axtell CM (2001) Seeing another view point: antecendents and outcomes of employee perspective taking activity. Acad Manage J 44:1085–1101
Resch M (1988) Die Handlungsregulation geistiger Arbeit. Bestimmung und Analyse geistiger Arbeitstätigkeiten in der industriellen Produktion. Huber, Bern
Rogoff B, Gauvain M, Gardner W (1987) The development of children’s skills in adjusting plans to circumstances. In: Friedman SL, et al. (eds) Blueprints for thinking: the role of planning in cognitive developement. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, pp 303–320
Rogoff B, Baker-Sennett J, Matusov E (1994) Considering the concept of planning. In: Haith MM, et al. (eds) The development of future-oriented processes. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 353–373
Sanderson PM (1989) The human planning ans scheduling role in advanced manufacturing systems: an emerging human factors domain. Hum Factors 31:635–666
Scholnick EK, Friedman SL (1987) The planning construct in the psychological literature. In: Friedman SL, et al. (eds) Blueprints for thinking: the role of planning in cognitive development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, pp 3–38
Schüpbach H (1994) Prozessregulation in rechnerunterstützten Fertigungssystemen. In Schriftenreihe Mensch, Technik, Organisation (4). Verlag der Fachvereine, Zuerich
Shapiro BP (1977) Can marketing and manufacturing coexist? Harv Bus Rev 55:104–114
Sperka M (1997) Zur Entwicklung eines “Fragebogens zur Erfassung der Kommunikation in Organisationen”. Z Arbeits Organisationspsychol 41:182–190
Suchman LA (1994) Plans and situated actions: the problem of human-machine communication. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Susman GI (1976) Autonomy at work. Praeger, New York
Thompson JD (1967) Organizations in action. McGraw-Hill, New York
Tjosvold D, Dann V, Wong C (1992) Managing conflict between departments to serve customers. Hum Relat 45:1035–1054
Tschan F (1995) Communication enhances small group performance if it conforms to task requirements: the concept of ideal communication cycles. Basic Appl Soc Psychol 17:371–393
Ulich E (1994) Arbeitspsychologie (4. Aufl.). vdf Hochschulverlag, Zürich
VDI (1999) Praxisorientierte Logistikkennzahlen für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen. Beuth, Berlin
Volpert W (1994) Wider die Maschinenmodelle des Handelns. Aufsätze zur Handlungsregulationstheorie. Pabst, Lengerich
Wäfler A (2002) Verteilt koordinierte Autonomie und Kontrolle—Eine arbeitspsychologische Konzeptergänzung für die autonomieorientierte Analyse, Bewertung und Gestaltung der Produktionsplanung und -steuerung. Ph.D. Thesis. ETH Zürich
Wäfler T, Grote G, Windischer A, Ryser C (2003) KOMPASS: a method for complementary system design. In: Hollnagel E (ed) Handbook of cognitive task design. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp 477–502
Wehner T, Clases C, Endres E (1996) Situiertes Lernen und kooperatives Handeln in Praxisgemeinschaften. In: Endres E, et al. (eds) Zwischenbetriebliche Kooperation die Gestaltung von Lieferbeziehungen. Psychologie Verlags Union, Weinheim, pp 71–86
Weick KE, Roberts KH (1993) Collective mind in organizations: heedful interrelating on flight decks. Adm Sci Q 38:357–381
Wiers VCS (1997) Human–computer interaction in production scheduling: analysis and design of decision support systems for production scheduling tasks. Ph.D. Thesis. Eindhoven University of Technology
Windischer A, Grote G (2003) Success factors for collaborative planning. In: Seuring S, et al. (eds) Strategy and organization in supply chains. Physica, Heldelberg, pp 133–148
Winterstein H (1998) Kooperative Kommunikation. In: Spiess E, et al. (eds) Kooperation in Unternehmen. Rainer Hampp Verlag, München, pp 143–164
Wittenbaum GM, Merry CJ, Stasser G (1996) Tacit coordination in anticipation of small group task completion. J Exp Soc Psychol 32:129–152
Zölch M (2001) Zeitliche Koordination in der Produktion. Aktivitäten der Handlungsverschränkung. Huber, Bern
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Windischer, A., Grote, G., Mathier, F. et al. Characteristics and organizational constraints of collaborative planning. Cogn Tech Work 11, 87–101 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-007-0083-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-007-0083-y