Assignment Details

Teams have been used in organizations for many years.  As the need to streamline operations to gain or maintain competitive advantage increases the use of cross-function or cross-departmental teams is increasing.  Coupling this with the common management style of Management by Objectives (MBO) address the following questions.

This DB has four parts:

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cross-functional and a cross-departmental team?
2. When resources are scarce and one group in the equation meets their goals at the expense of the other failing due to lack of resources how would you address the conflict that could arise?
3. When creating the objectives for the team how should the target goals be set?  Should the team members play an active role in setting the target goals for each group within the team?  Explain.
4. What conflict resolution techniques do you believe would be the most effective in a cross-departmental or cross-function team? How would you alter these techniques for a virtual team?

READ AND REPLY BY AGREEING OR DISAGREEING AND WHY?

REPLY 1

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cross-functional and a cross-departmental team?

   Cross-functional teams (such as technical editing, finance, contracts, or process engineering) support all functional teams across the organization. All functional teams need this type of support, but having a “pooled” team has advantages and disadvantages. If cross-functional teams are centralized, there are fewer of these resources required. Most functional teams do not require full-time support from these functions. Another advantage is they are managed centrally and will have better communication, processes and can support one another. A disadvantage of this type of team is they typically have a first in/first out mentality and have difficulty understanding the organization’s priorities.

2. When resources are scarce and one group in the equation meets their goals at the expense of the other failing due to lack of resources how would you address the conflict that could arise?

   One technique I like to employ is cross-training. If employees have goals to cross-train to learn other team members’ processes and functions, then they are able to help on surge times. As the old saying goes, we win as a team and we fail as a team. If anyone is unsuccessful, it reflects poorly on the entire organization.

3. When creating the objectives for the team how should the target goals be set?  Should the team members play an active role in setting the target goals for each group within the team?  Explain.

   First, managers must understand the goals of the organization. Then map the goals of your team by making sure they are contributing to the overall organization’s goals. Then make the goals for the team SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). It is important for team members to understand why the goals are set and how they relate to the organizational goals.

4. What conflict resolution techniques do you believe would be the most effective in a cross-departmental or cross-function team? How would you alter these techniques for a virtual team?

   I have worked on many cross-functional teams and most often the conflict comes from other functional teams’ demands. Another common conflict occurs when team members do not have clear direction or boundaries. Document the cross-functional teams rules of engagement with other departments and communicate it to the organization. That way if conflict occurs, there is a documented set of expectations. For inter-team conflict, good communication is key to resolution. Speak to each person involved in the conflict to get their point of view and then make a decision on how to resolve it going forward. Most employees appreciate being able to speak with the manager to provide their side of the story. A good manager will listen carefully to each participant and then get them together to explain what is expected. For a virtual team, the only difference is the discussions are through Skype or the phone (never email).

REPLY 2

The advantages of a cross-functional and cross-departmental team are the number of individuals that you can levy to solve problems. Depending on the situation if the workflow is stifled in one department, you can easily have another department problems because of the mutual understanding and capabilities that exist in each area. Another advantage is that is that if one department is going to deliver a product to the next level which is also capable of developing the same product they understand precisely what the receiving department expects. This concept also works in reverse. Some of the disadvantages of cross-departmental teams or cross-functional teams are to the requirements for communication. Other obstacles also can be ownership of mistakes and lack of buy-in from multi-departmental teams. You might have typical responses to issues, for example, it wasn’t my department that dropped the ball essentially finger pointing vice collaborative problem-solving.

When resources are scarce, and one team makes it, and the others don’t it comes down to the leader or leaders illustrating that nobody made it. It goes back to the saying if there is no I in the word Team. This type of situation depends on a leader or leaders doubling down on teamwork and the concept of total success or failure.

When I think about setting goals for a team I would like to work in reverse identifying the final goal first. From there you should or can developsub-goals that support the ultimate goal and so. This can start at the macro level and work its way down to the micro level. When establishinggoals for your team, it should be about things that are relevant to the overarching goal. They must be appropriate as well as attainable. An excellent way to determine achievable goals it to murder board what you are trying to accomplish, and the steps required to get there followed by task organization, timelines and so on. Team members absolutely should play a role in setting goals at the micro level for the simple fact that it creates buy-in and usually, the subject matter experts reside at this level in an organization. I don’t believe that they should play a role in all goal setting only when the employee is directly related to the objective.

Conflict resolution techniques for the cross-departmental or cross-function team all revolves around communication. You can have sync meetings that will discuss the current progress of a project focusing on responsibly and timelines. The best conflict resolution technique is to remove blame and create an understanding that there is only success and failure as a team.

DISCUSSION 2

Assignment Details
This assignment has two parts:

Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” theory states that if each consumer is allowed to choose freely what to buy and each producer is allowed to choose freely what to sell and how to produce it, the market will settle on a product distribution and prices that are beneficial to all the individual members of a community, and hence to the community as a whole. 

1. “Invisible hand” in the instant case is being used a metaphor for government control. So you believe that FAR 15 is too onerous? 
2. Are costs associate with complying with FAR 15 having a deleterious impact on small business?

REPLY 3

Invisible hand” in the instant case is being used a metaphor for government control. So you believe that FAR 15 is too onerous?   I believe that FAR 15 is too onerous because of the burden it can cause people who are not familiar with certain regulations. Invisible hand favors customers who know what they need. Those who do not have the same knowledge are left troublesome.

Are costs associate with complying with FAR 15 having a deleterious impact on small business?  

Small businesses are affected because they do not have the same negotiating advantage as large corporations.

REPLY 4

1. “Invisible hand” in the instant case is being used a metaphor for government control. So you believe that FAR 15 is too onerous?   I do believe that FAR 15 is too “onerous” because not everyone is able or capable of finding the right “bids” for them when it comes to healthcare insurance/coverage.  Unless there is a designated group of individuals who are fluent in every coverage that is offered, then it is very difficult to really get a grasp of what they need or should have depending on their situation.  This might not be the fact in every situation or market, but I do feel that healthcare is the most obvious sector that falls short.
2. Are costs associate with complying with FAR 15 having a deleterious impact on small business?  Yes, it is unfair to assume that small businesses (especially sole proprietorships) have the same capacity to “negotiate” as bigger companies or corporations.  Take Petsmart for example, small, independent pet stores cannot compete with Petsmart on a dollar-per-dollar basis, but might have a competitive edge when it comes to customer service or certain products.  Dont mistake this however as being able to necessarily compete with Petsmart, especially when trying to negotiate products that are new to both stores.  Since Petsmart can secure more product on a massive scale- they have more “buying power” than their competitor and therefore can bring in the product at a smaller price (consumers will see this and go where it is less expensive).