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

Prior research defines brand orientation as an approach in which the processes of the organization revolve around the creation, development and protection of brand identity in an ongoing interaction with target customers with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages in the form of brands (Urde, 1999). This research paper examines how marketing managers perceive corporate brand orientation with a Financial services company, namely Standard Bank Group Limited (Standard Bank) and what influence cross-functional integration has in enhancing the level of brand orientation. The study design was non-experimental and convenience sampling used. The data was collected within the Group and South African marketing functions of Standard Bank both of which are located within South Africa. The survey was delivered to 131 respondents across 30 marketing functions with the unit of analysis being each employee within their respective teams. The research results indicate that cross-functional integration variables of compensation, multifunctional training and cross-functional teams have a positive influence on brand orientation. The findings from this research can contribute to the body of knowledge within the domain of building corporate brand orientation within the financial services industry, specifically with regards to implications for marketing leadership in terms of improving the performance of the marketing department. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / 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.

Background: Project Management is an overall methodology that is used for the execution of specific activities which require resources and planning from the organization. A new project methodology, agile project management was introduced when specific tasks required rapid response to constantly changing conditions. In an agile project management, the cross-functional team consists of team members from various departments in the organization with different knowledge levels. The distribution of knowledge level and various work roles in the cross-functional team can bring up important strategies as different challenges as well. Therefore, it is a great of importance from the management level consider different strategies in order to overcome the challenges. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to present the effective strategies and common challenges of the involvement of cross-functional teams in an agile project to obtain a better understanding about when to implement it and how these can be useful from a managerial perspective.Method: The current study follows qualitative research by performing an interview qualitative study with participants from different professional backgrounds and companies from Sweden by performing semi-structured interviews.Conclusion: The results present the four themes were identified which are: communication, knowledge sharing, leadership as the effective strategies and, identified challenges as the common challenges in a cross-functional team while using agile project management.

För att nå en senior ledarskapsposition ställs det krav på kunskap och kompetens som kan binda samman organisationens olika funktioner mot gemensamma mål. Ett tillvägagångssätt för att införskaffa sådan kunskap och kompetens är genom ackumuleringen av tvärfunktionell erfarenhet, det vill säga ackumuleringen av erfarenhet från olika organisations-funktioner. Sådan erfarenhet kan antas sprida kunskaper och kompetenser i organisationer, något som leder till både förbättrad kommunikation och effektivitet.Trots att mycket forskning har gjorts kring erfarenhetsbaserat ledarskap saknar vi mer konkret information kring tvärfunktionella karriärer och erfarenheter. Denna fallstudie syftar därför till att undersöka fenomenet mer ingående och bringa nya insikter i hur tvärfunktionell erfarenhet kan underlättas i organisationer med ett sådant mål. Dels undersöker studien hur tvärfunktionell erfarenhet värderas i rekryteringssammanhang och dels vad som motiverar tvärfunktionella ledare till att söka sådan erfarenhet.Fallstudien görs på ett välkänt svenskt produktionsföretag och drar en rad slutsatser; för det första kommuniceras inte målet att öka tvärfunktionella erfarenheter internt i organisationen på grund av andra konkurrerande mål; och för det andra så försvårar produktionsföretagets organisationsstruktur tvärfunktionella karriärer. Slutligen drar studien slutsatsen att de tvärfunktionella ledarna stimuleras av interna motivationsfaktorer, något som indikerar att viljan till att utvecklas redan finns. Detta leder oss till vår övergripande slutsats att produktionsföretaget, för att nå det uttalade målet om att öka tvärfunktionella karriärer inom organisationen, att förändra sin syn på hur de hanterar och förädlar talanger. / Reaching a senior leadership position often requires having the ability to bring the organizations’ different functions together towards common goals. One way to accumulate that type of knowledge and competence is through cross-functional experience, i.e. accumulating experience from different business functions. Such experience can be assumed to disseminate knowledge and competences throughout the organization which can lead to both improved communication and efficiency.Although a fair amount of research has been conducted in the field of experiential learning, we lack more concrete information about cross-functional careers and experience. This case study therefore aims to investigate the phenomenon more thoroughly to bring new insights in how the accumulation of cross-functional experience can be facilitated in organizations with such a goal. The case study investigates two aspects of cross-functional careers; (1) how cross-functional experience is valued when recruiting managers and; (2) what motivates cross-functional managers to seek this type of experience.The case study is conducted on a well-known Swedish manufacturing company and draws a number of conclusions; firstly, the aim to increase cross-functional experience isn’t communicated internally due to other competing goals. Secondly, the organizational structure complicates and partly prevents cross-functional careers. Lastly, the cross-functional managers where all internally motivated indicating that the will to develop exists. This brings us to the general conclusion that the organization needs to change how they handle talented managers.This thesis is written in Swedish.

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.

The aim of this research is to develop an understanding of factors that enable innovation teams to conduct agile innovation work in an industrial context. The background and reason for this research are not only that innovation is necessary for companies that want to stay in business, but also that these companies need to increase the speed of their innovation work to stay competitive. Research has demonstrated that cross-functional (X-functional) innovation teams are fast and agile, and are therefore assumed to be suitable for these activities. Still, there is much knowledge to be gained. Prior research has identified factors that are seen as important from an organizational, team, and individual perspective to enable teams to work with potentially innovative outcomes. However, in cases where teams have been created with the purpose of conducting innovation work, i.e. innovation teams, problems related to e.g. performance and learning have occurred, and the innovation work has stopped shortly after conducted research projects due to the high level of complexity. The research question (RQ) that this thesis explores is the following: “Which innovation enablers are important for innovation teams when conducting agile innovation work in an industrial context?” Based on the RQ, two sub-questions are formulated and operationalized to answer the RQ. Qualitative data have been collected from five innovation teams in two phases. Two innovation teams in two small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were studied in the first phase to clarify the situation for innovation teams before innovation work is begun. In the second phase, which built on the first one, three innovation teams in a large industrial company were studied as they conducted three separate innovation projects. This research revealed five main findings: first, knowledge about important innovation enablers (Enablers) revealed from a literature study; second, the Innovation Team Model (ITM), demonstrating innovation teams before innovation work is begun in relation to the individuals and organization in a holistic way; third, the innovation team creation process (CIT-process), a stepwise process in how to create an innovation team; fourth, the innovation facilitator, who supports and facilitates the innovation team throughout the CIT-process and the innovation projects; and fifth, the Extended Innovation Process (EIP), an extension of the traditional innovation process by a pre-phase, i.e. a Preparation-phase, to gather and prepare the innovation teams for forthcoming work. The findings regarding the importance of the CIT-process, the EIP, and the innovation facilitator were unexpected. The findings formed the Innovation Team Framework (ITF), which represents all of the findings in relation to each other. The EIP is used as the basis for which the other innovation enablers are provided to the innovation teams through an innovation facilitator’s competence throughout the innovation project. The ITF is multidimensional: it could serve as a tool to describe both the simplicity and the complexity when creating an innovation team and forthcoming work and activities. All separate findings within this research contribute to prior research in individual ways, however, the ITF is the main scientific contribution of this study to Innovation management. Practitioners can use the ITF as a complement to already established methodologies for product development or similar; however one should be aware of the limited nature of the data set that served as the basis for analysis and development of the ITF. Further studies regarding the ITF and its detailed models and processes are suggested.

To be successful in today s turbulent business environment it is very important for a company to exhibit flexibility in its processes, activities and interfaces. Such a flexible approach enables firms to adapt and improvise in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. In spite of there being ample research on how to achieve flexibility in a variety of business process and activities, there remains little understanding on how flexibility in managing the use of resources reveals itself in intra-organisational interfaces. This thesis sheds more light on this issue and investigates flexibility specifically in the relational context of cross-functional interfaces. The importance of developing and investigating flexibility at the cross-functional relational interface is embedded in the recognition that the ability and willingness of departments to adapt and to accommodate deviations from original strategies through their cross-functional working is a critical factor for success. This research investigates flexibility at one such interface that is argued to be essential in achieving organisational success but that is characterised by conflict, lack of cooperation and distrust the Marketing and Sales interface. A literature review incorporating two broad literature streams; i.e., the Marketing and Sales cross-functional relationship literature and the literature on organisational flexibility helped develop a guiding definition of Marketing and Sales Interface Flexibility (MSIF). This definition was subsequently confirmed in the exploratory phase of the thesis, thereby providing a stronger conceptualisation of the MSIF phenomenon. The concept was found to be predicated on social exchange theory s view on the M&S exchange relationship as a dynamic process in which both continuously adapt to each other s needs through modification of their resources required to match those needs. Consequently, a theoretical model was developed. This model argues for an inverted U-shaped relationship between MSIF and business performance. According to this model, beyond certain optimal point MSIF may reduce business performance. Based on the empirical testing of the model via a survey of 229 UK-based business organisations no support was found for the inverted U-shaped relationship between MSIF and customer performance. Results of the empirical testing indicated that MSIF has an inverted U-shaped relationship with a firm s market performance. These results imply that a firm s market success is secured at lower levels of MSIF whereas further increases in investments in MSIF may, at some point, become detrimental to an organisation s market performance (i.e., market share and sales volume). Therefore, the findings suggest that managers should manage MSIF wisely, hold themselves from over-investing in MSIF and seek to find the optimal level which will provide the best market performance. On the other hand, MSIF was found to have a linear, positive relationship to customer performance indicating that higher levels of MSIF will secure more a satisfied and loyal customer base. The study also incorporates the contingency theory perspective and hypothesises the moderating effect of market dynamism on the MSIF - performance relationship. The results indicate that the value of MSIF for generating market performance decreases as technological turbulence in the market increases. Based on the social exchange theory the relationship between four socially constructed antecedents and MSIF are proposed. The findings highlight the positive impact of, (1) trust in the Marketing and Sales relationship, and (2) rules and norms of social exchange between Marketing and Sales as reflected in compatible goals and joint rewards on MSIF. However, resource dependence asymmetry is found to be negatively related to MSIF suggesting that a misbalanced resource dependency between the two will hamper MSIF. The theoretical and practical implications of the study findings are subsequently presented along with an acknowledgment of the study s limitations and proposed future research to further explore this important area.

Background: The reason for conducting this master thesis within the field of knowledge management derived from the realization that there was a need for an increased understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics of the integration and transfer of knowledge in cross-functional new product development projects. Research advocates that organizations with organic project-based environments with fluid team boundaries may aggravate routine-based work and organizational memory, which in turn may lead to an organizations’ inability of capturing and storing existing personalized knowledge for internal storage and future transfer (Koskinen, 2004). For this reason, the conversion of knowledge for re-use between and within projects in an organization is not supported in a natural way (Lindner and Wald, 2011). To this end, organizational culture is critically important in facilitating a knowledge transfer culture within an organization that supports such knowledge conversion processes (Davenport and Prusak, 1998a). Thus, an increased understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics of knowledge integration and transfer in cross-functional projects is viewed as an opportunity to contribute with findings with interest in both industry and academia. Increasing the understanding of organizational culture’s role in knowledge conversion facilitation is particularly seen as an important research area in existing knowledge management research. The study aimed to produce a deeper understanding of these social processes by exploring and interpreting them in their real-life social contexts. Research question: How does organizational culture and knowledge management strategies support as well as hinder knowledge integration and transfer between cross-functional product development teams and specialists in a project-based organization? Purpose: To increase the understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics of knowledge integration and transfer in cross-functional projects. In order to study the socio-cultural elements, a case study in a global Swedish company engaged in new product development was conducted during the spring of 2016. Method: The research design of the study was case study. The empirical data was collected through face-to-face interviews, observations and studying of internal steering documentations. The author found it necessary to adopt an interpretivist epistemological position with a qualitative focus in alignment with employing abductive reasoning in order to understand the collected data and to explore the posed research question. Quality measures with respect to qualitative research studies were cautiously considered. Conclusion: This study found that an organization with a network-based knowledge culture and a standardized process with standards and routines for effective knowledge conversion processes are two sides of the same coin that can support the knowledge integration and transfer between cross-functional product development teams and specialists in a project-based organization. Further, both a single dominant organizational culture and multiple local cultures within an organization can both support and hinder the integration and transfer of knowledge. In extension to this finding, inconsistencies in the knowledge integration and transfer processes may evolve across these different cultural interpretations which may further support or hinder the social dynamics in an organization. Moreover, my study suggests that a network-based knowledge culture can interact with a standardized process in order to enable effective knowledge integration and transfer routines.

It has shown to be a challenge for many actors in the retail industry to adapt to the constantly changing consumer behavior. This challenge is argued to partly be caused by the industry’s pattern to work in silos. Cross-functional projects are the opposite of silos because they involve project members from several different departments that come together to work towards a common goal. Cross-functional projects promote knowledge sharing and are frequently used in development projects to adapt to a constantly changing business environment. This study aims to identify and understand some of the challenges that hinders actors within the retail industry to meet the constantly changing consumer behavior the industry is facing by doing a case study of a development project (Project A) with a cross- functional character in a large Swedish retail company (Company A). 11 interviews were conducted with various project members and several findings were made of the different challenges Project A had faced. One of the challenges was related to the project members struggle to balance their regular work with the work in the project which lead to low motivation from the project members to contribute to the project. Another finding was the challenge to synchronize the different activities in the project. However, the main finding of this thesis is that many of the challenges that occurred were due to Company A’s lack of project competence. How project competence has a direct influence on the project outcome is the theoretical contribution of this thesis to the existing literature and for this a revised model is proposed.