The research aims at analyzing the internal communication in a new product development project of Sandvik with expectation to explore possibilities of improvement. Throughout the research, internal communication seems to have a great impact on innovation and project performance. Several critical factors in building effective communication were identified as team size, superordinate goals, centralization of communication, early involvement, physical proximity, and leadership. Meetings were considered as a major and efficient method of communication within the project. Based on these issues, recommendations for improving internal communication within the project were suggested.

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between culture and climate as well as the significance of an organisation’s climate on cross-functional behaviour, activities and actions (who, what and when) which forms an integral part of strategy implementation and increasing performance. A key component of an organisational development is team work; which facilitates organisational learning, establish common goals and provide support to achieve these goals. Within the Organisation under investigation there has not been any research into the subject of the significance of the climate on cross-functional behaviour and activities, which is impacted by ‘coopetition’ - the simultaneous role of cooperation and competition within organisations. The research by means of qualitative research should provide some insight into the significance of and if climate impact cross-functional behaviour and activities in organisations. The research methodology included a customised survey which was developed to elicit answers to determine the climate and cross-functional behaviour and activities within the Organisation. Interviews were conducted with Operating Unit Executive Directors of the Organisation. The results indicate that the perceived current climate of the Organisation is not positive and that there is still silo-behaviour within the Organisation which is as a result of the culture of the Organisation, a culture which existed prior to Beyond 60 process. The research confirmed the overlapping relationship between culture and climate and that climate indeed impact cross-functional behaviour and activities at the Organisational and Operating Unit level. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between culture and climate as well as the significance of an organisation’s climate on cross-functional behaviour, activities and actions (who, what and when) which forms an integral part of strategy implementation and increasing performance. A key component of an organisational development is team work; which facilitates organisational learning, establish common goals and provide support to achieve these goals. Within the Organisation under investigation there has not been any research into the subject of the significance of the climate on cross-functional behaviour and activities, which is impacted by ‘coopetition’ - the simultaneous role of cooperation and competition within organisations. The research by means of qualitative research should provide some insight into the significance of and if climate impact cross-functional behaviour and activities in organisations. The research methodology included a customised survey which was developed to elicit answers to determine the climate and cross-functional behaviour and activities within the Organisation. Interviews were conducted with Operating Unit Executive Directors of the Organisation. The results indicate that the perceived current climate of the Organisation is not positive and that there is still silo-behaviour within the Organisation which is as a result of the culture of the Organisation, a culture which existed prior to Beyond 60 process. The research confirmed the overlapping relationship between culture and climate and that climate indeed impact cross-functional behaviour and activities at the Organisational and Operating Unit level. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

<p>The aim of this study is to find out if teambuilding is a good tool to mobilize a project group to increase cooperation and work performance in the team. The master report is a descriptive study of how I planned, prepared and launched a teambuilding program for a project group in a South-Swedish municipality. The team members were hasty put together to launch a public polyclinic treatment program for drug addicts. The project team had less than one year to show good result of its work to get the project granted permanent founding from the municipality. But good cooperation among team members does not occur by itself. After a short time the project manager felt that the project group did not function like it should. I then started my work collected data from the group through interviews, meetings, observations, and questionnaires. My theoretical framework is among others the FIRO-theory, Team Role Inventory and theory X and Y. To be able to measure the effectiveness of the teambuilding I took the use of an individually written questionnaire to measure the situation in the team at one of my early meetings with the team and then again after the teambuilding. The result of my studies did not give a clear answer to the question; if team building is a good tool for mobilizing a project group to increased cooperation and work performance. The survey response on the follow up questionnaire after the teambuilding had too many non-response questions. That makes this study reliability weakened. On the other hand I will state that the development of the group through the teambuilding have shown some positive effects when it comes to cooperation between team members and between team members and team leader. On the other side the collected data also show that some of the project group’s positive advantages were weaken after the teambuilding. I have therefore not been able to verify my hypotheses that team building is a good tool to mobilize a project group to increase cooperation and work performance.</p>

The aim of this study is to find out if teambuilding is a good tool to mobilize a project group to increase cooperation and work performance in the team. The master report is a descriptive study of how I planned, prepared and launched a teambuilding program for a project group in a South-Swedish municipality. The team members were hasty put together to launch a public polyclinic treatment program for drug addicts. The project team had less than one year to show good result of its work to get the project granted permanent founding from the municipality. But good cooperation among team members does not occur by itself. After a short time the project manager felt that the project group did not function like it should. I then started my work collected data from the group through interviews, meetings, observations, and questionnaires. My theoretical framework is among others the FIRO-theory, Team Role Inventory and theory X and Y. To be able to measure the effectiveness of the teambuilding I took the use of an individually written questionnaire to measure the situation in the team at one of my early meetings with the team and then again after the teambuilding. The result of my studies did not give a clear answer to the question; if team building is a good tool for mobilizing a project group to increased cooperation and work performance. The survey response on the follow up questionnaire after the teambuilding had too many non-response questions. That makes this study reliability weakened. On the other hand I will state that the development of the group through the teambuilding have shown some positive effects when it comes to cooperation between team members and between team members and team leader. On the other side the collected data also show that some of the project group’s positive advantages were weaken after the teambuilding. I have therefore not been able to verify my hypotheses that team building is a good tool to mobilize a project group to increase cooperation and work performance.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-164). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-164). Also available on the Internet.

Regardless of numerous accomplishments and appreciable rewards of the collaboration in cross-functional teams, the impacts of cross-functional teams has deteriorated in the eyes of business, its ability to deliver having been questioned - businesses often fail to reap the promised benefits. While previous research has concentrated on collaboration in cross-functional teams of new product development, it neglected the outcomes of collaboration in crossfunctional teams and the leader behaviours that impacts and maintains the collaboration in cross-functional teams. This research aimed to understand the perspectives of leaders and subordinates on how leader behaviours could improve the impacts of collaboration in cross-functional teams. First by exploring the outcomes of collaboration in cross-functional teams, confirming importance to business, and then exploring current failures; secondly, by identifying the key leader behaviours that impacts collaboration in cross-functional teams. Preceding initiatives have been ineffective in reviving the value of collaboration in cross-functional teams, due to focal point being new product development collaboration of cross-functional teams and failed to focus on leader behaviours in cross-functional teams. This research, therefore, probed the necessities for collaboration entered into and maintained, looking particularly at leader behaviours which is effective in encouraging collaboration and involvement of stakeholders in cross-functional teams. From the research outcomes, the Leader behaviours Impact Model was designed to set out how collaboration can be established and maintained, optimising the impacts of the leader behaviours while also diminishing its many failures of collaboration in crossfunctional team. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / pagibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The ever increasing utilization of cross-functional teams (CFTs) to address a broad range of complex work challenges has made it imperative that factors supporting their effectiveness be better understand. While these teams have great potential for bringing together different sets of skills to address the needs of organizations their outcomes have been mixed at best with some teams exceeding expectations and many falling far short of initial hopes. The present study seeks to understand the ways in which leader behaviors related to the framing of diversity, team and purpose early in the life of a CFT have an impact on initial team member perceptions. The findings revealed no significant effects for Diversity Framing or Team Emphasis Framing on team member perceptions. Framing by the leader with regard to Purpose Clarity, however, was shown to impact significantly a number of key dependent measures with Clear Purpose leading to higher ratings of Readiness to Engage, Readiness to Learn, and Readiness to Take Risks. In addition, Clear Purpose produced a marginally significant increase in ratings of the measure, Feelings of Valuing of Uniqueness. Lastly, the results showed a significant interaction effect on the measure, Team Potency, with higher ratings occurring in the condition when Purpose was unclear, Diversity Ignored, but when the concept of Team was emphasized by the Leader. The implications of the results for theory and future research are discussed, as are implications for leadership development and the training of team coaches and consultants.

Stovepipes, or also called silos, appear in many different organizations and sectors and contribute to problems when employees or managers tend to look more to their own, or the individual departments, objectives rather than to the organizations. The purpose of this study was to identify different communicative factors that promote stovepipes in order to further identify the most critical factor to disarm. A case study has been done at a selected company, with a stovepipe structure, in order to achieve the purpose of the study. The case study has included interviews and observations to identify different problem areas which then have been compared with three communicative factors identified in previous studies. The factor that had the most connections to the problem areas have been considered the most critical factor. The result of the study indicates that “A lack of understanding each other's work” is the most critical factor in stovepipe structures and that it can be prevented by following five recommendations: bring up positive collaboration continually, raise problems with each other instead of with others, identify different communication paths in and between the departments, implement a long-term model for preventing stovepipes and set up workshops between the involved departments. The conclusion of the study is that stovepipes create several undesirable effects in the organization but that the efforts to counter these problems do not have to be complicated. Following five small steps into a better collaboration and communication can be enough to be on your way to a better organizational structure. / Stuprörsstrukturen visar sig i många olika organisationer och branscher, där den orsakar problem då medarbetare och chefer tenderar att se mer till sina egna, eller den enskilda avdelningens, målsättningar än organisationens övergripande. Studien syftar till att identifiera vilka kommunikativa faktorer som bidrar till stuprörsstrukturen, för att vidare urskilja den mest kritiska faktorn. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en fallstudie genomförts på ett utvalt företag med stuprörsstruktur. Vidare har intervjuer och observationer skett för att kunna urskilja olika problemområden, där de problemområden som identifierats sedan har ställts mot tre kommunikativa faktorer som framkommit som bidragande till stuprörsstrukturer i flertalet tidigare studier. Den faktor som har flest samband med de olika problemområdena har ansetts som den mest kritiska faktorn i studien. Resultatet av studien anger ”Bristande förståelse för varandras arbete” som den mest kritiska faktorn i en stuprörsstruktur och att denna kan motverkas genom att följa fem rekommendationer: lyft positiva samarbeten kontinuerligt, ta upp problematik med varandra direkt när den uppstår, kartlägg hur kommunikationen går i verksamheten, implementera en långsiktig modell samt ha löpande workshops med inblandade avdelningar. Slutsatsen är att stuprörsstrukturen kan skapa flera oönskade effekter i en verksamhet men att insatserna för att motverka dessa inte måste vara invecklade eller vidare resurskrävande. Att följa fem enkla steg mot bättre samverkan och kommunikation kan vara en bra bit påväg mot en bättre struktur.