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9 Signs of a Losing Organization
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Poor Cross-functional Collaboration:
functional mindset; lack
of cross-functional goals and cross-functional collaboration spirit;
functional, no
enterprise-wide business process management; no
cross-functional management committees; lack of or powerless
cross-functional teams...
More
Why Cross-functional Management?
Cross-functional management emerged from the
following two needs:1
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a need for top management to clarify its quality, cost, and delivery
goals and deploy them to all employees at every level, and
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a need to establish a system of close coordination among different
departments.
What Is Cross-functional Management?
Cross-functional management (CFM)
manages business processes across the traditional boundaries of the
functional areas. CFM relates to coordinating and
synergizing the activities of
different units for realizing the superordinate cross-functional goals and
policy deployment. It is concerned with
building a better system for achieving such cross-functional goals as
innovation,
quality,
cost, and delivery.
Two Components of a Policy
Policy is composed of both goals and measures.
Goals are usually quantitative figures such as
targets for market share, sales, and profits.
Measures, on the other hand, are the specific
means or action programs to achieve these goals.
 A goal that is not supported by a description
of specific measures to achieve it is merely a slogan. Thus,
top management
should determine both the goals and the measures and then deploy them
throughout the organization.
Two Interwoven Goal Categories
The two key management's concepts supporting
the
TQM strategy are cross-functional
management and policy deployment. Management's commitment to these concepts
is expressed by directions provided by top management.
Top management usually formulates
its annual goals on the basis of long-range strategies and plans.
The major goal categories are:
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Goals related to such measurable factors as
products, market share, and profits. These goals are a corporate
response to external requirements such as shareholder pressures for
profits.
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Goals relating to overall improvements in the companies various
systems and cross-functional activities such as employee education,
customer service,
customer satisfaction,
cost reduction, quality assurance, delivery, and
new product development.
These goals is a self-generated move for improvement in corporate
culture, and competitiveness. They call for cross-functional efforts
cutting horizontally across the whole organization.
These two major goals for profit and
improvement are interwoven.
Cross-functional goals should be set prior to
determination of functional goals.
Cross-functional Goals are Superordinate
Ones
In Total Quality
Management (TQM) and Kaizen, the
cross-functional goals of QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery) are clearly defined
as superior to such line functions as planning, design, production and
sales. The positioning of cross-functional goal as superordinate ones
necessitates a new systems approach to
management,
thinking and decision
making. To achieve this, top managers must build their
cross-functional
expertise.
The goals for each cross-function of quality,
cost, and delivery should be determined by either top management or a
cross-functional committee organized at the top-management level.
Case in Point
Toyota
Toyota was first in Japan with cross-functional management
At Toyota, all members of the cross-functional
committee are board members representing the departments involved in a
particular cross-function, such as quality or delivery. The goals and
measures defined by the committee carry almost the same weight as those
coming from the board. Each committee has about 10 members and is headed by
a senior officer appointed by the president.1
Strategic Cross-Functional Management
Peter Drucker likens today's executive and his or her
strategic plan to the symphony conductor with a complex musical score to
direct.2
The conductor cannot hope to play each instrument as
well as the specialized symphony members can, and so those experts are left
alone to perfect their individual contributions. However, the conductor
interprets the score and communicates to the orchestra an overall vision for
how the piece should sound. Without the conductor and this shared
understanding of the score, symphony becomes cacophony. Similarly, without
executive leadership and direction provided through some overall strategic
plan, decentralization and self-direction result in organizational mayhem.
Strategic cross-functional management is central to capitalizing on
functional excellence, and in order for functional specialists to make the
greatest possible contribution, they must take a broader view of their
functions and understand how they fit into the web of the organizational
processes and, ultimately, into the overall
strategy.
Systems Approach to Management
The concept and practices of cross-functional
management were developed to meet the need for
systems approach to achieving the cross-functional goals of quality,
cost and delivery. Within this concept:
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Quality is concerned with building a
better system for quality assurance
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Cost is concerned with building a
system for identifying cost factors and with reducing costs
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Delivery refers to a better system
for both scheduling and quantity.
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