MEDISYS CORP: THE INTENSCARE PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Medisys Corp is a US-based medical device manufacturer which has gone through an organizational
change in leadership and work design. The firm has deiced to launch a Patient monitoring system
called IntensCare system in the market and has set a deadline for the same. The product is critical for
their long-term success in the market, and hence the new president of the firm, Mr Art Beaumont, has
reorganized the product development process, thus the Team's nature for a faster cycle of
conceptualization to market launch. The core team established to oversee the product development
finds the deadline very short. The central issue is that the Team has poor communication and
leadership challenges with a lack of accountability. They are reluctant to share their issues,
challenges, and thoughts on the product, leading to ambiguity in the product description and loss of
clarity in its ongoing development. Majorly, there is a lack of consensus on the Modular design of the
product and the inability to adhere to the deadline with constraints of each department issues. The
president is passive in leadership and has not taken the initiative to resolve issues. The lack of respect
and trust has further deteriorated the productivity of the Team. Team members do not share critical
information on different issues with each other.
To establish clear communication team needs to adopt collaborative and open channels and stop
working in a silos approach. The president should define the roles of core members and provide
leadership in resolving conflicts. Accountability of Marketing manager Valerie Merz should be
empowered with the required decision-making ability. The deadline should be reviewed per the final
consensus on Modular design of product and adherence to the regulatory approval process. The
delivery and contingency timeline of software design outsourced to Indian needs to be accounted for
in the production schedule. Team cohesion and mutual trust, and respect should be established with
informal meets. Human resources should design training for such organizational change and reconcile
responsibilities with accountability.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

The Team is suffering from communication challenges and Leadership issues but has to deliver a
critical medical product within a challenging deadline amid pressure from competitors.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:
Medisys corp is a medical device manufacturer planning to introduce a new remote monitoring
system for intensive care unit patients. Medisys has hired new president Art Beaumont for the task.
Beaumont has reorganized the product development process by introducing a core team consisting of
managers from different departments. The core team members for the IntensCare system are Jack
Fogel as Project Leader (Senior Production Manager), Aaron Gerson (Research & Development),
Valerie Merz (Marketing Manager), Bret O'Brien (Product Design & Engineering), Dipesh Mukerjee
(Software Design), Karen Baio (Regulatory Affairs). The Team faces enormous time pressure in the
deadline to deliver the product to market with high quality. The newly hired marketing Manager
Valerie Merz is responsible for timely product launch. In addition to time constraints, the final
product specification has not been decided. The Team is suffering from a gap in personal
Communication between core members as well as leadership. The organizational change in leadership
has resulted in Leadership problems and challenges leading to a lack of trust and respect. The lack of
a proper job description is also a problem that has led to poor cohesion between team members. The
Team needs to deliver the product before the deadline, but due to fear of conflict and low trust, critical
issues like the requirement of modular design, the progress on software development has not been
discussed.
OBJECTIVES:

 Organizational and interpersonal Communication between team members is apparent.

 Team shares defined objectives, including Modular design consensus.

 Organizational change in product development is reconciled with decision-making ability,

reporting, evaluation, and reward structure.

 The quality of high risk and the critical medical product is not compromised, and proper
regulatory process is followed.

DECISION CRITERIA:

1. A clear channel of communication is established between team members.

2. Defined decision-making ability and leadership positions.

3. Establishment of Mutual trust, respect and group cohesion between team members.

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION:

As the director of product design is still not clear, the Team does not have a proper action plan other
than
President Art Beaumont set the challenging deadline. The Team should start with direct interaction
without fear of conflict and make their positions on critical issues known. The final decision on
Modular design needs to be taken. A realistic review of the deadline should be followed. The changes
in the product development process at Medisys resulting in cross-functional teamwork need to be
empowered with transparent decision-making and leadership structure to resolve issues. To enhance
transparency and increase the collaboration between members, the critical path of different
departments should be shared. The environment of mutual respect is necessary; hence Team bonding
over informal meet may be encouraged. Core members should share all the information required to
make sound decisions keeping in mind the broader picture. There needs to hiring of more personnel
with interdisciplinary skillset. The current members need to keep in mind the criticality of the product
for ICU patients and hence follow a proper regulatory process and not compromise with quality and
inspection to meet market competition.

ACTION PLAN AND IMPLEMENTATION:

President Art Beaumont should establish a proper channel of Communication between core members.
A proper accountability structure needs to be designed, especially the roles of Project leader Mr Jack
Fogel and IntensCare system Marketing manager Valerie Merz. Valerie Merz has the responsibility of
IntensCare product account; hence she needs to be empowered with good decision-making ability.

The Team should adopt A chain communication system where anyone can contact anyone, including
the top leadership, to resolve issues quickly.

The Manager of Software design, Mr Mukerjee, should adequately explain the delay in software
design. Based on that, a shared timeline and contingency plan of action should be chalked out if
outsourcing in India does not work out.
The regulatory process, guidelines, and their importance tied with the trust and responsibility of
Medisys to the public should be made clear with all stakeholders.

The choice of team leader needs to be reviewed. The Team may benefit from the long-term
experience and the insights of the original conceptualizer of the IntensCare system, the R&D
manager, Aaron Gerson.

Team members should be compensated with an adequate reward structure for their cross-functional
work, and the Human resources department should organize training for team members for such work.