- IC occurs frequently in most businesses, and most people will recognize this scenario: In Toy Company X, the marketing manager wants the company to offer an exciting variety of products to the public. Her career depends on her ability to meet sales targets while competing with the offerings of other companies. However, the production manager's career depends on maximizing cost and efficiency by making long runs of the same product. Recognizing IC for what it is can maximize potential benefits and minimize dysfunction when trying to resolve it.
- Low-level IC can have positive effects when diverse interests make demands and contribute information to a process, making innovation more likely to occur. Toy Company X, for instance, may discover that it can use an identical internal device to animate three different toys.
- IC becomes dysfunctional when competing groups focus exclusively on their own interests, reducing the overall performance of the enterprise. In Toy Company X, if the marketer and production manager focus only on their own limited goals, they may undermine the productivity, stability and adaptability of the company as a whole.
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