PROFESSIONAL

ETHICS HU-
222
Lecture - 09

MILITARY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

RISALPUR
 Cross-functional
▶
Teams
In Top to bottom hierarchy, decision makers and
employees are two different kinds
▶ With changing times smart organizations are moving to flat
hierarchy, close knit working environment, open
workspaces, and new approaches that eliminate
bureaucratic problems. One such approach is developing
cross functional teams.
▶ Cross-functional teams are basically an ongoing effort by
businesses (including popular ones like Google, Facebook,
Netflix, and Amazon) to find agile and innovative
solutions to the various challenges they face during
project planning, project management, and team
collaboration.
 Cross-functional
Teams
The simplest definition of building a cross-functional team
is to put together a group of people with different
functional expertise so that they can use their expertise to
achieve a common goal.
▶ Most organizations work in silos each team focuses on its
job i.e marketing team promotes the business, sales team
drives sales, accounting team keeps check on finances
etc. Teams are doing their job and doing it well, but the
business is moving in too many directions at once. Which
is not good.
▶ Why not show everyone the “big picture” i.e. the
organizational goal. Instead of each team working
independently and delivering moderate efforts, group
them together to pursue a goal more efficiently.
 Cross-functional
▶
Teams
It may include people from finance, marketing,
operations,
and human resources departments.
▶ It includes employees from all levels of an organization.
▶ Adopted generally by startup or small business work
environment. Because of its size, there is no place for
company separation into a vertical organization.
▶ Your marketing, sales, budget, outreach, etc have to work
together on projects simply because they make the
company.
▶ Cross-functional work occurs when you work horizontally
across departments.
 Case Study
ROCK SLOPE STABILITY ANALYSIS
FOR BUKIT AYAM, PENGERANG, JOHOR,
Malaysia

Team Member
Rini Asnida Abdullah (Ir. Dr.) - Geotechnical Engineer
Mushairry bin Mustaffar (Assoc. Professor, Dr.) – Senior Survey
Radzuan bin Saari (Dr.) – Senior Surveyor
Muhamad Junaid - Geotechnical Engineer
Kamrul Zaman Kamisan – TLS Technical Assistant
Hairul Hairi Harun – DCRP Technical Assistant
Why Cross-functional
Teams
▶ Every organization has potential resources scattered within
in the form of various departments- HR, Marketing, Sales,
Production, Purchasing, Accounting, Research, etc. Bring
them all together and here is what you will get:
 The team will be more productive.
 The team will improve coordination and
communication.
 The team will span organizational boundaries.
 The team will lead to better decision making.
 The team will improve problem-solving.
 The team will reduce the overall project management
cycle time.
 How to Create Top
Performing Cross-
Functional
Tips To Create Teams
Top-Performing Cross-Functional Teams
▶ Bring a Little Diversity in Your Organization: A good cross-
functional environment includes teams with individuals of
different experience, age, gender, location, skills, seniority,
and engagement.
▶ Keep the Goals Aligned: The next step is to keep every
individual and team goal aligned with the company
objectives. You need to ensure that everyone in your
organization is rowing in the same direction irrespective of
their responsibilities.
▶ Include Influencers/Subject Matter Experts: Include
individuals that know more than usual about stuff like
processes, procedures, products, and customers so that
they can inspire and advise others
 How to Create Top
Performing Cross-
Functional Teams
▶ Stop Over-Relying on Meetings: First it is time-consuming.
Secondly, there are plenty of great team collaboration
apps that allow communication and progress monitoring
from anywhere, any time.
▶ Embrace Automation and Technological Advancements:
Make sure to keep people excited about daily work with
the latest productivity apps and tools.
▶ Ensure psychological safety: Psychological safety is when
team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable in
front of each other. It is considered the number one
factor for high-performing teams?
 How to Create Top
Performing Cross-
▶ Have a Functional Teams
Leader: While cross-functional teams are
collaborative, there needs to be a leader that is held
accountable for the project success. Without that leader,
there is a greater risk of a rudderless ship that never
makes it to the dock.
▶ Constantly Reevaluate: A cross-functional team is ideal
when you want to speed innovations to market. To
achieve that goal, means for reevaluating approach,
priorities and processes are needed. This includes
performance reviews, because to remain effective, teams
must always be measuring their progress and success.
Check: Were objectives achieved? If not, why not? Adjust
accordingly.
 Self Assignment
What are the limitations of cross
functional teams ? What are the
moral responsibilities of cross-
functional area professionals?