Supporting R&D support groups

OVERVIEW: R&D support groups make essential contributions to the process of innovation and can help speed time-to-market, yet the role they play is often overlooked or undervalued relative to that of their internal customer groups. When status differences interfere with collaboration and the free flow of knowledge between support groups and their customers, process efficiency and effectiveness can suffer. It is therefore important for organizations to understand the relationships between support groups and their customers, and to determine whether or not they are working as equals in carrying out their shared work process. Social network analysis can be used to describe the relationships between support groups and their customers in terms of the amount and direction of interaction that takes place between them, and can highlight those areas where interactions are out of balance and more collaborative partnerships need to be formed.