CASE STUDY 3: 75% OF CROSS FUNCTIONAL

TEAMS ARE DYSFUNCTIONAL

BY: M NEHA REDDY
MBA 1ST YEAR
SECTION-B

CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS: Cross functional teams are

groups consisting of people from different functional areas of
the company – for example, marketing, product, sales, and
customer success.
Cross functional groups fail often because of lack in systematic
approach in organization. Unclear governance, lack of
accountability and failure of organization to prioritize the
success of cross functional projects hurt the teams.

1. Do you believe that Cisco can continue on cross functional efforts or it

was one time effort?

To improve router security, Cisco formed a cross-functional team that

included officials from marketing, software engineering, manufacturing,
quality assurance, and customer service. The team was organized into
three layers. The sessions could accommodate up to 100 individuals, but
there was a core group of 20 who communicated back to their respective
functions. A tiny governance team, consisting of two vice presidents, the
company's chief development officer, and the leader of the core team of
20 individuals, sat at the top.

This cross-functional governance initiative was successful. Cisco is now

the most popular router security vendor, with sales increasing by roughly
80%.

Yes, I believe that Cisco can continue on cross functional efforts as it

successfully formed a cross functional team and got the satisfied results
from it through a good leadership.
2. Do you think that the guidelines provided in the case study will make
cross functional teams more effective. Justify your answer?

Guidelines provided in the case study are

 Every project should have an end-to-end accountable leader.
 Every project should have clearly established goals, resources, and
deadlines.
 Teams should have the project’s success as their main objective.
 Every project should be constantly re-evaluated.

Cross-functional teams in large firms with multi-layered hierarchies can

benefit from a mirroring structure. Each function should be overseen by
one end-to-end accountable leader, with one end-to-end accountable
leader supervising everything.The personal accountable leader for each
function also needs to appoint and empower a decision-making substitute
as one of the common breakdowns in cross-functional teams is people
missing meetings.

There should be a budget that has been approved, as well as a charter that
outlines priorities, desired goals, and timelines.

Different functions may have their own priorities, which may conflict
with the project's objectives. That's why it's critical to factor in the
success — or failure — of cross-functional projects in the compensation
and performance evaluations of team members and leaders.

Product Growth Teams(PGT) should retain a list of projects and priorities

and cut those that aren't working or don't correspond with company
objectives on a regular basis. A PGT that does not terminate some
projects on a regular basis is simply not performing its job.

Yes, I think that the guidelines provided in the case study will make cross
functional teams more effective.

3. Give me another example of different company where cross functional

teams have been successful in executing a critical project. Explain what
the project is and how it is executed?

Apple abandons the traditional authoritarian leadership paradigm in

favour of allowing each team member to promote ideas, debate
perspectives, and finally build on each other's thinking to arrive at the
optimal answer.

Even in ways that consumers may not notice, Apple is all about the user
experience. As finished items move through their supply chain and sales
channels, this crew is in charge of keeping things running smoothly. They
collaborate with other Apple teams to find ways to improve operations,
such as making it easier for customers to order products online and pick
them up in store.

The innovative iPhone was created by a cross-functional team at Apple.

They gathered experts from several areas across the company to kick off
what would become the smartphone revolution. They are regarded as one
of the best teams in history for their contributions to innovation.

It is currently known around the world for its hardware, software, and
service breakthroughs. Apple has grown from 8,000 people and $7 billion
in revenue in 1997, when Steve Jobs returned, to about 240,000
employees and approximately $275 billion in revenue by 2020. Apple's
huge success is largely due to its organizational culture, which
encourages cross-functional collaboration, and the leadership paradigm
that goes with it.