The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2539

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Chapter 2539: Dysfunctional Department

Several weeks went by as the design teams received their preliminary assignments.

The LMC was a very different company from just a year or even half a year ago. While Ves and Task Force Predator dove into the Nyxian Gap, Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson slowly beefed up the overhead of the company.

This not only resulted in the growth of the Marketing Department, but also led to the formation of the Product Research Department.

When Ves confronted the COO of the LMC about this surprising addition, Raymond supplied his reasoning.

"The Design Department is purely focused on designing mechs while the Marketing Department is mainly oriented towards marketing our existing products. " He explained while he stroked the back of Freddie, his grey Persian cat. "Certainly, the latter is also engaged in researching market trends and such, but the analysts who work there do not possess a good grasp on the technical side of mechs."

"Then why not add some low-ranking mech designers to the Marketing Department?" Ves asked in puzzlement.

"We've tried. It doesn't help. The mech designers assigned to the Marketing Department are too disconnected from the Design Department. There are physical, organizational and information barriers keeping the two departments apart."

"Then why not drill a hole through those barriers?"

"That is what the Product Research Department is for, Ves. It may be a bit more elaborate than a simple channel, but it is the best way to connect the Design and Marketing Departments without leaking too much sensitive data. It is becoming increasingly more vital to keep the core operations of the Design Department confidential. It is easier to do so if we keep it relatively small. For now, it only consists of mech designers. You haven't even hired any secretaries."

Raymond's explanation started to make more sense to Ves.

"I see. You want to keep the departments focused on their primary missions. If the Design Department has to split its focus between designing mechs and performing market and product research, then it may become too muddled."

"I know that time is precious to you and your fellow mech designers. While some aspects of technical market research can only be performed by a mech designer, there are many other forms of research that don't require such an individual. The Product Research Department is filled with analysts of various different backgrounds that select the most suitable mech component licences, discover the availability of specific exotics that play a key role in producing your mechs, identify specific cultural norms or local laws that allow or prohibit certain types of mechs and so on. These are tasks that used to be carried out by your assistants but can now be off-loaded by people who are dedicated to this research."

Ves recognized the greatest benefit of the Product Research Department. "One of the advantages of using this model is that we can easily hire hundreds of analysts without caring about their mech design qualifications. They can be basic Novices or not know anything about mech design at all, thereby sparing my assistants in the Design Department a lot of needless effort!"

He became sold on the idea. The time of mech designers was too precious. Each day, each hour and each second that went by should ideally be spent on work, studying, essential body maintenance and occasional leisure activities. Ves felt increasingly more pressured to to increase the proportion of the former and reduce the proportion of the latter.

Of course, humans weren't machines. It was inhumane to live a life that completely revolved around working as much as possible. Just like overstressed machines, humans tended to break when pushed to the brink so many times.

The Design Department did not go so far. Ves had implemented a fairly generous work schedule. As long as his assistants put in enough work hours, they were free to do what they wanted for the rest of the day.

Rather than forcing his assistants to work more hours, Ves instead implemented a lot of incentives. Those who worked harder, longer and achieved more results would always be rewarded with Larkinson merits, more attention and other benefits.

By driving the competitive spirit of his underlings, they voluntarily increased their output without feeling exploited.

It was rather tasteless to whip their backs. Not only would Ves tire out his arm, his assistants would all build a lot of resentment towards him. Subordinates who began to hate their own bosses might become prone to acting irrationally. Aside from that, they wouldn't put their all into their work.

As someone who believed in the power of mutual interests, Ves was much more inclined to appeal to someone's greed and desires. While it was rather expensive to satisfy the constant needs of so many people, the LMC was already doing well. There was no need to skimp on salaries and other benefits. _{freewebnσvel.cøm}

After Raymond fully explained the role of the LMC's latest department to him, Ves began to ask for a lot more data. He wanted to obtain broader and more detailed market research. He wanted to know the habits and preferences of the mech pilots of each of his mech forces.

He also wanted the Marketing and Product Research Departments to set up subgroups that were specifically geared towards the Red Ocean. Ves wanted to obtain some reports on how the mech and material markets of the new frontier were shaping up. As his future playground, he needed to master the rules in advance.

Once he entered, he needed to know straight away which kinds of mechs were in high demand and what materials he could build them with. Knowing this early would allow Ves to design Red Ocean mechs prior to passing through the beyonder gate!

As every mech designer and the related departments of the LMC paved the way for the next round of design projects, Ves tried his best to manage his two other Journeymen.

"Don't bother me." Gloriana warned the other Journeyman. "Ves may have let you in, but that doesn't mean we're friends."

Juliet grimaced. "I will stay in my own corner of the design lab. If you need anything from me, you can pass your request through Ves."

"As if that would ever happen!"

Neither women liked each other. Gloriana put herself above Juliet in very obvious ways. There were four reasons why she acted high and mighty towards Juliet.