Learning from cross-functional teamwork

Cross-functional teams are typically composed of individuals who have a functional home base (for example, manufacturing, design, personnel or marketing) but who work collaboratively to solve ongoing challenges requiring input from diverse functional areas.

They confront a different set of performance expectations from conventional work groups, and are often expected to create knowledge and disseminate "best practice".

Issues of inter-organizational trust and unconscious social processes are key factors in their success.

Cross-functional teams offer employers great potential rewards: their diversity of functional specialities, viewpoints and cultures represent the real "coalface" of organizational learning and knowledge management.

This report provides an understanding of the learning process within such teams and the influence of factors such as team composition, task allocation, operating principles and values, and the support of the rest of the organization.

The research draws on the experiences of 72 team members and team leaders from seven major UK employers.