Books. Learning from Cross-functional Teamwork

Citation

(2001), "Books. Learning from Cross-functional Teamwork", Education + Training, Vol. 43 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2001.00443aad.002

Books. Learning from Cross-functional Teamwork

Books

Learning from Cross-functional Teamwork

P. Kettley and W. HirshInstitute for Employment Studies2000ISBN 1 85184 285 3

Keywords: Teamwork, Learning

The potential of cross-functional teams to act as powerful "learning vehicles" has been recognised for some time. However, surprisingly, little empirical research has been undertaken. This study goes some way to filling this gap. The authors locate their research in the context of criticisms of knowledge management's "failure to pick up the 'learning organisation' baton and address human issues associated with knowledge creation and exchange". Kettley and Hirsh argue that cross-functional teams represent the "coalface" of organisational learning and knowledge management.

The study is based on ten teams selected from six major employers who took part in the research. Findings are based on 72 structured interviews with team members and a short questionnaire.

The report explores reasons for the popularity of cross-functional teams and develops a useful model of cross-functional team types based on dimensions of "synergy" and "integration within the organisational structure". A major focus in the report is "what is learnt". This is categorised into learning about self, learning about the organisation and learning about other specialisms. Interviewees consistently reported that it was the "softer" skills around their self awareness and personal effectiveness that they had developed most 40 per cent ranking this as most important.

In terms of how individual learning is translated into team learning and how team learning is harnessed into organisational learning, similar problems of "definition" and "measurement" faced the authors that have beset other researchers on these complex issues. The authors acknowledge that their study provides only a snapshot of the learning experience of cross-functional teams and their members at a particular point in the team's development. Nevertheless, there is much value in the guidance offered on what helps teams learn most effectively i.e. making learning an explicit and important part of teamworking; positive attitudes of individual members' "home functions"; diversity within the team and autonomy in organising its own work and using team processes for learning. Such points will be of value to anyone responsible for organising project work and developing teams, whatever the context.

A particularly interesting feature of the report is the critical note sounded by the authors on the relationship between information technology (IT) and organisational learning. "People learn from people not systems" it is argued. Organisational learning, it is suggested, has been hijacked by IT in the guise of knowledge management and employers are struggling to address the human issues associated with knowledge creation and exchange. The authors point out that virtual communication is no substitute for face-face interaction and that IT systems and software may struggle to capture tacit knowledge and suffer from problems of tensions between "public" and "private" space.

The report is written clearly and without recourse to difficult jargon. It is illustrated throughout with reference to the case studies developed in the course of the research.