New product development is tied to the ability of a business to remain competitive and
also to the longevity of such a business. Any business that does not realize the importance
of new product development will not last very long as a consequence of the fact that
business is all about innovation and change, making it absolutely necessary for businesses
to adapt to those changes in order to remain relevant (WiseGreek, What Is the Importance
of New Product Development?).
Whatever the case, the development of new products is an essential part of the application
of business strategies by companies. After realizing the vulnerability of new product
development, Merit’s CEO John Kirschner concluded that his legacy should be a vital new
product development team. Research and development (R&D) teams are used to develop
new products and these teams are usually composed of representatives of many different
departments or functions in the organization, making them cross functional nature
((Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson, 2011, p. 296). However going against these norms,
Kirschner unilaterally decided to attract talented team of eight new employees even with
unorthodox background to work on new product designs.
The composition of the group plays vital role in the success of any group because it can
influence number of other characteristics and outcomes ((Ivancevich, Konopaske, &
Matteson, 2011, p. 285). New product development is an innovative process which
depends on harnessing creativity. Like-minded people will usually produce like-minded
results. On the other hand diversity in the team will help companies to break this mold and
