need to respond to this discussion with three new references (within the last 5 years)

Case for Analysis: Farrington Medical Devices

1) The management processes at Caresource Cardiac, Inc. and Quest Medical Devices were completely opposite of each other. Caresource Cardiac, Inc. was run by Benjamin Farrington, who was focused on efficiency and structure. One of Benjamin's concerns with his management style was to reduce meetings in the organization. Benjamin assigned tasks and set deadlines and performance goals. Tasks for employees were narrow in scope and clearly defined. There was little team collaboration or interpersonal relationships. The formalization in Caresource Cardiac, Inc. was extensive with intimate organization charts, detailed job descriptions, and well-documented procedures. The employee responsibilities were clearly defined and the job descriptions were narrowly focused. Specialization was high at Caresource, with each employee only performing a narrow range of specified tasks. The hierarchy of authority was also high at Caresource, with three levels of management between Benjamin Farrington and the line employees. Caresource maintained a centralized hierarchical level, with control kept by Benjamin Farrington in production and sales meetings. As a centralized business, Caresource was akin to an authoritarian rule (Schlegel, 2023). The goal of this management structure at Caresource was efficiency and profits. Quest Medical Devices was run by William Farrington and he focused on the welfare and happiness of his employees. William believed in collaboration, with an emphasis on team work. Meetings were held regularly at Quests Medical Devices including deadlines and departmental objectives. William promoted creativity and innovation by asking the employees about their opinions or ideas regarding their work, both in meetings and on a one-on-one basis. Process improvements or product change ideas were encouraged from anyone in the company. William encouraged information sharing in the organization through impromptu meetings as well as collaboration between individuals, which quickly disseminated information throughout the organization. William organization a family, small-business culture at Quest Medical Devices. William maintained little formalization at Quest, with little focus on organizational charts or job descriptions. Specialization was kept low at Quest and William promoted cross-training of the employees to improve professional development and employee job experience. The hierarchy of authority was low, with the span of control wide in the organization and delegation of authority given to managers to interact with lower-level employees (Hofmann & Indjejikian, 2021). There were only two levels of management between William and the line workers at Quest. Quest was also a decentralized organization with committees to address operational performance, deliveries from suppliers, quality issues, or production status. Quests' decentralized organization made it more similar to a democratic rule (Schlegel, 2023).

For the first 12 years after they were formed, Caresource and Quest seemed equally effective. Both companies expanded their product lines and were operating in competing market sectors. After the competition from Johnston Medical Care, Quest seemed more effective as an organization. Quest was able to produce 50 prototype units on time from a three-month deadline. In addition to meeting the contractual deadline, Quest exhibited superior quality assurance by delivering all 50 units free from defect. By comparison, Caresource delivered the 50 units nine days late and had a defect rate of 20%, with 10 of the 50 units showing defects. Manufacturing defects can result in significant increases to production cost and delivery schedules (Fragapane et al, 2023). Additionally, Quest has able to identify an error in the specifications from Johnston and were able to resolve the issue overnight.

2) The organizational design of Quest was more appropriate for a competitive and changing technological environment. Caresource was built for efficiency. "Organizational efficiency is the amount of resources used to produce a unit of output. It can be measured as the ratio of inputs to outputs" (Daft, 2021, p. 71). Caresource, a rigid organization built for efficiency must operate in a stable environment and is built to maintain its current production levels. The high levels of specialization would likely contribute to a negative impact on performance at Caresource (Madiedo et al, 2020). The mechanistic design of Caresource made it difficult to adapt to the new requirements of the Johnston competition and would likely be difficult for a changing technological environment. The decentralized and horizontal structure of Quest enabled the organization to be more agile and was better equipped to deal with a competitive and changing technological environment. Quest was an organic design for an organization, which promoted an innovation strategy, was equipped for a changing environment, and promoted an adaptive culture. Quest also had superior communication flow throughout the organization and cross-functional teams that allowed it to deal with changing environments faster. Improved communication can lead to an adaptability advantage for an organization by increasing the company's ability to respond to stresses and changes In the Johnston competition, a source for the missing material was identified by an employee and the defect in the specifications was identified by another employee. William created an environment at Quest that promoted communication from all levels in the organization which expedited resolutions to design and manufacturing problems.

3) Quest would've likely won the complete contract from Johnston Medical Care for the ventricular assist device and would have been selected to produce the unit. Quest delivered on the initial competitive contract on time and with zero defects in the units. Even though the bid for production was 10 percent lower for Caresource, the costs for late deliveries and defective units would have ultimately made Caresource the more expensive option. Additionally, Quest established a positive relationship with Johnston by identifying the print specification error, which helped not only Quest but Johnston and Caresource. By identifying and sharing this information, Quest thought of the interests of others before themselves. "³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others" (NIV, 1978/2011, Philippians 2:3-4). William ran his organization with a focus on the happiness of his people and followed the instruction from Philippians and the decisions made by Quest reflected this philosophy. I believe that because William and Quest followed God's teachings that this would also contribute to them winning the overall contract.