The University of Dundee

Department of Civil Engineering

CE40011 - Project Management

Essay 1: CIBA Vision (Evaluation of teams and teamwork)

Student Name: Joseph Slattery

Date: 06-11-09

Matriculation No: 080010391

Lecturer: Professor: Andy Munns

The idea of CIBA Vision creating a “daily disposable” contact lens originated in the

company as an attempt to produce the next major potential industry breakthrough. Many

executives felt that this step forward in production was necessary as it was inevitably

going to be taken by their rival companies in the future. As a company, it was necessary

for CIBA Vision to try and predict the direction of the future market and the possible

steps their chief rivals could take to secure themselves with a steady and dominant place

in the market.

This type of planning is vital in the survival and success of a company. Crucial as good

planning may be, it is also imperative that a sturdy team structure supports this type of

revolutionary planning. From the outset, CIBA Vision was confronted with negative team

spirit as the Research and Development sector and the Marketing department of the

company communicated opposing opinions on the plan. This in turn, meant that the

company was faced with major organisational and team issues. As stated, the R&D group

was “too wedded to existing technology”, the manufacturing organisation “lacked

necessary competencies”, and middle managers within marketing “were not committed to

a daily disposable product.” The deficiencies in terms of team structure and spirit were

rife, hence the suggestion of an autonomous team. The reaction to this suggestion also

reflects the state of the teamwork at CIBA Vision.

With Alan Fisher’s suggestion of locating the proposed autonomous team in Germany,

came criticism and opposition. Whilst Fisher was stating his opinion from a production

perspective, Mike Zabrinski resided to a marketing perspective by arguing that the team

be created in the United States. When considering this argument, one must focus on the

advantages of a team and the effectiveness a team structure has. A successful team relies

on good communication and information flow, commitment, ability to learn from each

other, flexibility in the company and a collaboration of intelligence and diligence in

work. With these team foundations in place, a company gets better results due to synergy.

From reading the case study relating to CIBA Vision’s proposed project, one could

conclude that the team is suffering from a lack of unity and flexibility. With this, the

advantages and disadvantages of an autonomous team have to be considered in order for

the company to succeed in the creation of its new product.

It is clear that the boundaries and productivity of the current team structure at CIBA

Vision are limited due to their own inhibitions in relation to the new daily disposable

contact lens. The team also experienced much frustration at various points including the

massive multi-year project code-named “Godzilla” as “the project became mired in

conflicts between R&D and manufacturing.” This project aimed at reducing

manufacturing costs to cope with the enormous variety of products they produced yet it

merely highlighted the weaknesses in the company and its teamwork.

By considering this collaborative project and its failure, it would be fair to say that the

creation of an autonomous team for a product would be far more suitable in terms of

organisation, development and success. When the company worked as a united entity

with all of their products, many team related problems arose such as a lack of reliance

and inter-dependence, “The manufacturing people who were not competent technically

didn’t understand what we were up to. They thought we were stalling. It was really

frustrating.” Compared to this, an autonomous team would share one equal goal, rather

than working on several projects. They would have equal objectives and goals as their

main focus would be on one product rather than several. Greater productivity and

diligence would be existent in an autonomous team as they would thrive to succeed in the

one project that they have rather than struggling with interference and lack of

communication in a multi-project environment. It is clear that a multi-operational team

did not work for this company as they met constant set-backs. Another instance included

the lack of support from R&D when the Excelens process became a disaster, “They were

nowhere to be seen after sign –off. They had another project to work on.” This reiterates

the notion of an autonomous team structure and one equal goal; multi-project work

resulted in poor productivity and enthusiasm amongst the team at CIBA Vision.

From an anti-autonomous team perspective, one could argue that a new, isolated team

could lose out in the synergy and unity of the company by separating into a self-

governing entity. An autonomous team could also be at a disadvantage during the

creation of the new product without the over-all company knowledge and experience.

The isolation of one product could also suffer in terms of overall company marketing and

passion as the company spirit and involvement is separated.

The disadvantages of creating an autonomous team are minimal in relation to the

abundance of advantages. Therefore it would be just to recommend the use of an

autonomous team by CIBA Vision.

By location this new team structure in Germany, the company would not have to close its

contact lens manufacturing plant in Grosswallstadt, as contemplated. This would be

highly cost-efficient as they would be putting an operating branch back into productivity

and use without affecting their current operations in other locations. It would also be

highly feasible for the autonomous team as they would have the isolated location they

would need in order to work as a single entity and not be affected by the operations of

other plants. Although this was the most controversial aspect of the team proposal, one

could say it is the most recommendable as Fisher stated that the Germans were “second

to none” in terms of automation and optical engineering.

In many instances, CIBA Vision experienced a lack of team unity and quality in each

project as there were too many projects to focus on. With the creation of a new product as

revolutionary as daily disposable contact lenses, it is highly recommendable that an

autonomous team structure be acquired in order to guarantee the leadership, inter-

dependence, structure and management that the original team structure at CIBA Vision

lacked.

According to Fisher the creation of an autonomous team is the solution as they would

have “clear objectives and no compromises.” This summarises the argument against the

original team structure and for the creation of an autonomous team. Based on the

recommendation suggested above, the productivity and enthusiasm of an autonomous

team would undeniably be superior to that of the original team at CIBA.

A new, independent team would result in a fresh and enthusiastic approach to produce the

next major potential industry breakthrough for the company without the frustration and

disorientation that would be inherited through the original team structure. Therefore it is

highly recommendable that the company acquire this new team approach in order for

their new product, daily disposable contact lenses, to reach its highest marketing

potential.