Management MahjongTM – Meeting Customer Requirements

Business problem addressed

Large organizations face significant challenges in meeting customer requirements. Organizational structures create mixed incentive systems, where individual and departmental incentives may not be fully aligned with firm objectives. Cooperation, teamwork and communication are necessary for satisfying customer requirements, as individual departments must work together to create satisfied customers. Workflow processes and hand-offs between departments can cause suboptimal results for companies attempting to create satisfied customers.

In this exercise, participants will learn to identify misaligned incentive systems and obstacles in their organization to teamwork and communication which are likely to result in an inability to satisfy customer requirements. In the post-exercise discussion, we will highlight these obstacles and identify potential solutions.

Note on Management MahjongTM exercises - Our Management MahjongTM exercises use mahjong tiles as props, but do not require a knowledge of mahjong by the participants.

Overview of the exercise
Management MahjongTM – Meeting Customer Requirements is designed to teach lessons in aligning incentives, teamwork, communication and organizational structure to achieve optimal satisfaction of customer requirements.

Ideal group size: 40-50 people
Duration: approximately 1 to 1.5 hours, plus a 30 minute follow up discussion
Manpower: 1 facilitator and 1 assistant facilitator
Materials: 1 mahjong set, 9 A5-size memo pads, 9 identifying signs for the 9 different groups

Target participants
• Senior, Middle and Junior managers in large organizations who would like to align incentives, improve teamwork and communication and improve their ability to meet customer requirements.
• Entrepreneurs who would like to structure their organizations for well-aligned incentives, maximum teamwork, communication and satisfaction of customer requirements.

Some of the key areas for learning and discussion are:

1. The relationship among fulfilling customer requirements, cross-functionality and departmental teamwork.
2. The relationships among organizational hierarchies, communication and teamwork (more hierarchical versus flatter)
3. The relationships among organizational structure, communication and teamwork (Silos versus matrices)
4. Impact of various communication methods on productivity and efficiency
5. Relative levels of noise and clarity in various communication methods
6. Differences between horizontal and vertical communication in organizations
7. The importance of trust for clear communication and good teamwork.
8. Impact of differential and incomplete information on teamwork and communication
9. The potential disconnect between departmental and organizational goals and the need to balance these two when fostering teamwork.
10. The roles the various levels play within the organizational framework
11. How the various departments view one another and the impact on satisfying customer needs, teamwork and communication.
12. How the various levels view one another and the impact on teamwork and communication.
13. Responsibility of each level to communicate both good and bad news up and down the chain
14. Challenges and benefits of cross-cultural teamwork (when exercise includes cross-cultural teams).