The Importance Of Cross-Functional Teams

Submitted By Mjones93a
Words: 392
Pages: 2

Trust with a teams is one key to its. Trust is what frees employees to put their full energy and commitment to work (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, p. 312). A cross-functional team requires the support of upper management and the objectives must be clear. Additionally, team members should each have a certain level of competence that is relevant to the team. Team members should be fair to one another. While communicating outside the team is essential, internal team communication is equally important. Honesty, respect, and trust are fundamental in cross-functional teams, even more than in departmental teams.
Cross-functional teams are significantly different from teams that are united on one functional level. The HR team at Google has team members from a wide array of specialties and each person has his or her own perspective and issues. This diversity is both the reason why cross-functional teams can be highly effective, but it’s also the reason that they're often problematic. Leadership is key to the success of this type of team. Having strong leadership creates and nurtures team unity. Because of outside pressures, this type of team must have internal strength and commitment to survive. At the same time, the team leader has to know when and how to allow functional experts to take the lead. Bringing together a diverse group of highly talented people, many individuals within the team may know more about the problem, especially from their own perspective; even more than the team leader. This type of situation requires a careful leadership balance. Responsibilities must be