A cross-functional team is a group of employees from different functions within an organisation – such as human resources, information technology, marketing and finance – who all focus on specific objectives and have the responsibility to work as a team to achieve shared goals. Cross-cultural teams, on the other hand, are made up of people from different social and professional cultures, who work together toward a common goal.
Managing cross-functional teams is a complex endeavour by itself, but it becomes even more challenging when the cross-cultural component is added to the mix. In fact, the alignment of human resources is just as important as raw materials, production and marketing, as a team that cannot function together effectively will not produce much in terms of results.
What complicates the situation is that in today’s dynamic and volatile business environment, senior HR executives require a keen understanding of relevant factors impacting the formation and utilisation of global teams. However, with cooperative, involved management from senior HR executives, global teams can gain the knowledge and confidence to collaborate effectively within the new environment through the self-creation of shared and actionable project plans.
This can create a “win-win” strategy in two important ways: First, the organisation benefits from safeguarding vital, ongoing business operations and the completion of time- and budget-sensitive projects. Secondly, potential new leaders can be identified from within the organisation.
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In business, a cross-functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. It may include people from finance, marketing, operations, and human resources departments. Typically, it includes employees from all levels of an organization. Members may also come from outside an organization in particular, from suppliers, key customers, or consultants.Cross-functional teams often function as self-directed teams responding to broad, but not specific directives. Decision-making within a team may depend on consensus, but often is led by a manager/coach/team leader.Cross-functional teams should look inward to the team members for problem solving and decision-making and search outward to fellow employees who are not team members for potential issues or new ideas for the team to consider. Acceptance of improvements suggested by team may be better from others outside the team if they were given input to the process through their representative on the team.