University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business Msc BA Change Management

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THE EMERGENCE OF CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAM BUILDING: THE IMPACT OF MEMBERS’ TEAM GOAL COMMITMENT, SUPPORT OF

LINE-MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP A case study in the energy sector

Graduation thesis University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business

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ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate factors that positively or negatively influence cross-functional team (CFT) development by using the outcomes of fifteen interviews. The interviews were conducted within four CFTs at a company that operates in the energy sector. CFT development is divided in three dimensions, namely improvement of knowledge exchange between CFT members, improvement of cohesiveness within CFT and improvement in internal communication. The focus is on the following factors: CFT members’ goal commitment, CFT leader’s transformational leadership and support of line-management. During the interviews there was room for interviewees to share experiences of other factors impacting CFT development.

Results show that all pre-set factors have a positive impact on CFT development. Lack or absence of these factors was not indicated to influence CFT development. Other factors that emerged from the interviews that influence CFT development were physical location of CFT members, workload experienced by CFT members and the nature of CFTs. CFTs can have great impact on gaining competitive advantage for organizations nowadays. Knowledge can be shared more easily throughout organizations, while employees from different departments collaborate to solve non-routine organizational problems. Therefore, companies should focus on how to stimulate CFT development as defined in this research.

Especially for line-management and CFT leaders there are important lessons to be learned. Line-management support and encouragement towards CFT members by enabling members to work on CFT tasks have a positive impact on CFT development. Furthermore, line-management has to find a way to reduce CFT members’ workload whereas high workload has a negative impact on CFT development. CFT leaders should create a learning environment for CFT members in which CFT members feel free to express creative ideas and to make mistakes. Hereby, a nutritious soil for CFT development will arise.

Keywords: cross-functional teams, team development, knowledge exchange, cohesiveness, internal communication, team learning

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1. INTRODUCTION

Many scientists, management gurus and famous sport heroes speak of the importance of teamwork in varying contexts and discuss which characteristics teams should have to be successful. Through the use of teams learning within organizations could be improved when correctly employed. Therefore, organizations should consider how to create team development as it facilitates learning on group-level. Team development focuses on enhancement of team effectiveness through improvement of interpersonal processes within teams (Janz, Colquitt, & Noe, 1997). Proponents of organizational learning elaborate on knowledge-based benefits teamwork creates. When employees work together, they exchange knowledge through internalization, socialization, combination and externalization (Irani, Sharif, & Love, 2009). Thereby, tacit knowledge becomes explicit and available for multiple employees within the organization, which creates organizational knowledge (Irani et al., 2009; Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006). Looking from a resource-based view, by effectively using available knowledge and simultaneously encouraging the development of new knowledge, competitive advantage can be obtained (Lovas & Ghoshal, 2000). This could affect organizations’ reactions to changes in their external environment by continuously improving their processes, products and services (Edmondson & Nembhard, 2009). Therefore, transfer of tacit knowledge between team members can lead to a competitive advantage for organizations while this enables quick responses and adaptation to the changing environment (Chan, Lim, & Keasberry, 2003; Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006).

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problems and difficulties in reaching agreement (Edmondson & Nembhard, 2009). Organizations should pay attention to optimizing use of CFTs and thereby also to CFT development. By focusing on enhancement of interpersonal processes within CFTs, referred to as CFT development, learning within organizations could be improved.

1.1 Factors conducive to CFT development

To benefit from the use of CFTs organizations should consider how CFT development could be optimized. Therefore, more insight in which factors impact CFT development need to be explored. Due to the characteristics of CFTs development within such teams could profit from other factors than team development in functional teams.

First of all, CFTs are challenged by time constraints and possibly by contrasting goals and values of team members. Hence, reaching members’ team goal commitment could be more challenging in CFTs than it is in functional teams. CFT members’ team goal commitment is defined as “feeling personal responsibility for achieving a common team goal” (Hoegl & Parboteeah, 2006: 301). In order for CFT development to occur, it is expected that every CFT member should be willing to reach common team goals. Otherwise internal group processes could be hampered. Furthermore, research shows that members’ team goal commitment is crucial when difficult tasks have to be performed (Hollenbeck & Klein, 1987). As CFTs are responsible for solving non-routine problems in newly composed teams, it could be stated that CFTs are confronted with executing difficult tasks. Throughout this paper CFT members’ team goal commitment will be referred to as CFT goal commitment.

Furthermore, organizations should enable a learning environment to enable CFT development. Learning can only take place when making mistakes is allowed. Leadership is crucial in creating such an environment and to enable CFT development (Sarin & McDermott, 2003). Therefore, CFT leaders’ leadership styles are of interest, since they need to create this learning environment. CFT members are experiencing a changing environment which indicates that transformational leadership is of importance (Tyssen, Wald, & Spieth, 2014).

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1.2 Practical and scientific relevance

Within this study the attributes of CFT leadership, line-management leadership and CFT goal commitment influencing CFT development are researched to gain more insight for organizations in which factors can contribute to CFT development. Previous studies already elaborated on team development’s role on team performance (Tabassi, Ramli, Roufechaei, & Tabasi, 2014). While CFTs have specific characteristics that distinguish them from functional teams, it is relevant to discover whether team development initiatives in CFTs should be approached differently.

As mentioned above, conflicting values and objectives as well as disrupted lines of authority are examples of such characteristics. Conflicting values and objectives may impact CFT development while CFT goal commitment is not being reached and thereby internal processes will be negatively influenced. Leadership of both CFT leaders and line-management must be studied while disrupted lines of authority CFT members face can have varying implications for line-management and CFT leader.

Preliminary research focused on processes and benefits of group learning primarily studied other sorts of work teams although CFTs are widely employed by organizations nowadays. Understanding which factors can support high CFT development and facilitate organizational learning will enable organizations to improve their competitive advantage through the appointment of CFTs.

1.3 Research question

As mentioned above, organizations employ CFTs more frequently nowadays. Therefore, it becomes important to understand which factors contribute to development of such teams. This study is conducted to gain insight in whether and how CFT development is influenced by CFT goal commitment, line-management support and leadership to provide organizations with a better understanding of which factors contribute to CFTs’ performance.

This results in the next research question:

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The following sub research questions are designed to support the research question:

Does CFT members’ goal commitment influence team development of CFTs? Does line-management support influence CFTs’ development?

Does CFT leadership influence CFTs’ development?

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter the concepts introduced in the chapter above are further elaborated on. First, the concepts CFT and CFT development are explained. Furthermore, the factors included in this study are presented, which are CFT members’ goal commitment, support of line-management and leadership of CFT leaders.

2.1 Cross-functional teams and team development in cross-functional teams

Lately, the use of CFTs has demonstrated its importance within organizations. A team in an organizational setting is defined as a formal group consisting two or more members who are collectively responsible for carrying out one or several tasks determined by the organization (Gladstein, 1984; Sundstrom, de Meuse, & Futrell, 1990). CFTs are defined as teams in which employees from different departments work together for a restricted period of time to solve non-routine problems (Webber, 2002; Zhang & Zhang, 2015). Next to their CFT tasks, CFT members are also part of a functional department for which they have to perform tasks during the same period as they are participating in CFTs. Therefore, the time spend on CFT tasks is limited.

Successful CFTs can provide benefits to enhance competitive advantage, such as (1) faster problem-solving, (2) enhanced capability to address complex problems, (3) increased capability to maintain end-user or customer focus, (4) enhanced creativity and innovation, (5) and optimal organizational learning and knowledge generation (Parker, 1994). This study focuses on enhanced creativity and innovation and optimal organizational learning and knowledge generation, because CFT development as defined in this research is aimed at optimizing these benefits.

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members bring along social capital from their own functional department. Furthermore, every team member brings in information on who has certain skills and knowledge within their functional department. Knowledge on where to find these resources can be valuable to other CFT members’ functional departments (Clark et al., 2002). Through CFTs this information becomes more widely accessible.

CFTs also face challenges due to the team members’ different backgrounds (Webber, 2002; Blindenbach-Driessen, 2015; Zhang & Zhang, 2015). First, divergent time allocation among team members is mentioned as a cause of conflicts under which team performance suffers. As each CFT member is part of a functional team as well, time allocated to CFT tasks can differ among team members. Furthermore, the single line of authority is disrupted while every team member has two managers to report to, being the CFT leader and their functional manager. Finally, employees from different functional departments most likely have contrasting goals and values (Ford & Randolph, 1992; Webber, 2002). These conditions distinct CFTs from functional teams and should be considered when studying team development of CFTs. Furthermore, the challenges and conflicts CFTs and their members face could be an opportunity to build learning and collaboration capabilities (Edmondson & Nembhard, 2009).

Therefore, focus on CFT development could increase the benefits of using CFTs, but simultaneously the challenges CFTs face could impede their development (Edmondson & Nembhard, 2009). When people work together in a team, the way in which they work together evolves over time. There is much time pressure on CFTs performance due to their limited period of collaboration. Therefore, the ability to learn rapidly as a team is of great essence for CFTs to be successful. Team development contains of multiple attributes that affect team performance (Tabassi et al., 2014). Research indicates that internal group processes are crucial to team development (Offermann & Spiros, 2001). Therefore, this study focuses on how the attributes of team development that contribute to the learning ability of CFTs evolved over time. The three distinguished attributes are explained below.

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will take the knowledge and experiences gained during their time within CFTs back to their functional department and therefore it enables departments to benefit from these gained knowledge and experiences (Clark et al., 2002).

Cohesiveness within CFTs is the degree to which CFT members feel as they are part of their CFT and support each other. Team members should feel like they are a team in order to come up with creative solutions to problems (Blake, Mouton, & McCanse, 1989). When introducing a new team this will have to develop over time. Team members will have to support and trust each other. Additionally, CFT members experience their participation in CFTs as being meaningful to themselves. Furthermore, in order for learning to happen, an environment must be created where creative ideas are welcomed. Collaborative effort should be one of the main priorities of teamwork.

Internal communication is the degree to which CFT members share their ideas and thoughts on how to improve team effectiveness without hesitation. Good internal communication skills will transform a group of individuals into a team (Marquardt, Ng Choon Seng, & Goodson, 2010). Team members need to feel safe and trust each other. Every member of the team should feel as if they can speak their mind without being judged. Problems are addressed through open and direct communication. Whenever conflicts occur these should be handled in a professional way. Meaning that team members are able to provide constructive feedback that these conflicts do not disturb team relationships. Feedback and critique to individual members and the team as a whole should be used to provide improvement of team effectiveness (Blake, Mouton, & McCanse, 1989:147).

2.2 Factors that influence cross-functional team development

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internal group processes? Furthermore, due to the disturbed single line of authority CFT members are confronted with, both line-management and CFT leaders could impact CFT development. Therefore, these factors are of interest in this research.

CFT members’ team goal commitment is defined as the degree to which CFT members feel personal responsibility for obtaining shared goals (Hoegl & Parboteeah, 2006). Putting together employees from different functional areas in one team is not enough for a cross-functional team to be successful. Performance of teams is influenced by goal commitment of team members (Hollenbeck & Klein, 1987; Locke, Latham, & Erez, 1988). Goal setting theory has proven to be a broadly used theory in organizational sciences as stated in the literature (Hollenbeck & Klein, 1987; Locke & Latham, 1990). According to this theory specific high goals lead to better performance compared to encouraging employees to do their best (Locke & Latham, 2002). Nevertheless, this relationship is dependent on the degree of goal commitment of team members (Hollenbeck & Klein, 1987; Locke & Latham, 1990; Locke, Latham, & Erez, 1988).

Individual commitment of team members depends on whether they believe personal gains are reached by participating (Henke, Krachenberg, & Lyons, 1993). Furthermore, clear goals affect internal group processes, such as relations among members (McComb, Green, & Compton, 1999). Therefore, it is expected that CFT goal commitment contributes to the dimensions of CFT development explained above, as team development is an internal group process as well. This leads to the following research question: Does CFT members’ goal commitment influence CFT development? It is expected that CFT members’ goal commitment leads to team development within CFTs.

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CFT goal commitment Transformational leadership CFT leader Line-management support towards CFT CFT development Improvement of;  Knowledge exchange between CFT members  CFT cohesiveness  Internal communication development? It is expected that when CFT members feel support of their line-manager they will feel more secure and willing to contribute to CFT development.

Transformational leadership style of CFT leader is defined as having a visionary approach to reaching team goals, stimulating learning of CFT members and thereby transforming CFT members (Keegan & Den Hartog, 2004). If learning is not managed, the benefits of learning will not be captured (Sarin & McDermott, 2003). Additionally, literature states that team development is a planned activity that does not occur unless there is paid attention to it (Blake, Mouton, & McCanse, 1989). Hence, management plays a crucial role in team development. Certain leadership characteristics contribute to an environment where team development and team learning can flourish. Transformational leadership has proven to be the most effective leadership style during organizational change (Gällstedt, 2003). Participating in CFTs is an uncertain situation for team members and differs from their own department in multiple ways. Therefore, it could be stated that participating in CFTs is organizational change and that transformational leadership will be most effective. Whether transformational leadership of CFT leaders affects team development in such teams is not known yet. Therefore, the next research question is defined: Does CFT leader’s transformational leadership influence CFT development? It is expected that when CFT leaders possess transformational leadership qualities this will positively influence CFT development.

Figure 1: Overview of relations included in this research

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3. METHODOLOGY

In this section the research approach is explained first. Secondly, a description of the case including general company information will be provided. This is followed by an explanation of the data content. Lastly, the data collection method and data analysis method are clarified.

3.1 Research approach

To examine the relationship between the factors elaborated on above and CFT development an explorative case study was conducted. This research method is chosen since there is almost no literature to be found regarding the business phenomenon of CFT development and factors influencing this phenomenon. The found literature is used as an outset to find evidence of linkages between the business phenomenon CFT development and the presented factors. Any additional factors that seem to affect CFT development presented during interviews will be included. The aim of this study is to develop new theory that enriches current literature with new insights.

A case study method was applied to be able to provide an in-depth analysis of CFT development based on a real world situation in a broad environmental view. The case and respondents were selected based on judgment sampling, which is non-random sampling based on the researcher’s judgment (Cooper & Schindler, 2008). The judgment for selecting cases was based on the type of project, as well as on the duration period of the project. Furthermore, the availability of interviewees of different departments within the CFTs was taken into account.

3.2 Case description

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creating a cultural switch regarding security throughout the whole organization. Therefore, the company is interested in how to increase success of such teams.

3.3 Data content

The data content that was aimed to be collected were experiences concerning CFT development shared by the interviewees, which were CFT leaders and subordinates. More specifically, the goal of the researcher was to gather information about incidents where CFT goal commitment, line-management and/or CFT leadership were influencing CFT development and how the interviewees experienced these incidents. The interviewees were part of CFTs that had been working together for approximately 9 months.

3.4 Data collection method

Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted consisting of open-ended questions to collect data about the case. The use of open-ended questions enabled the possibility of deeper probing into the responses of the interviewees and fits with the explorative nature of this research (Cooper & Schindler, 2008). These interviews were concentrated on interviewees’ past experiences as a member of a CFT and intended to gather more information on which factors affect CFT development. The interviews were divided into three sets of questions.

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approximately one hour. The recordings were used to transcribe the interviews afterwards in order to be used for coding. During the interviews the researcher ensured the anonymity and confidentiality of the study.

3.5 Data analysis method

The data collected from the interviews was coded based on deductive and inductive coding. The number of interviews that have been conducted is fifteen. The coding technique was used to diminish the large amount of data obtained from the interviews and to simplify the comparison of the different data. The coded data are fragments from the interviews indicating the presence or absence of factors influencing CFT development and the impact these factors have on CFT development. Only those thoughts and experiences related to concrete events were coded. Assumptions of interviewees were not taken into consideration.

Beforehand, pre-set codes were developed through deductive coding, which means that the codes emerged from the literature review above. The pre-set codes for the identified factors were: CFT members’ goal commitment, supportive leadership of line-management and transformational leadership of CFT leader. The impact of the pre-set factors on the three divided attributes of CFT development were coded. Inductive coding was used to enable inclusion of relevant factors that emerged during the interviews. Insights gained from interviewees’ experiences resulted in additional codes, which were added to the pre-set coding scheme after the researcher coded all the fifteen interviews.

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4. RESULTS

In this section, the findings of the interviews are presented. First, the coding scheme used for the pre-set factors is presented. Secondly, the results of this research are presented per pre-set factor that was expected to influence CFT development, divided in the three attributes elaborated on. As explained in the previous chapters the pre-set factors are CFT members’ goal commitment, support of line-management and CFT transformational leadership. Furthermore, the coding scheme of the emerged codes is presented after which the outcomes on these factors derived from the interviews influencing CFT development are displayed. 4.1 Coding scheme pre-set factors

The coding scheme used for interview analysis of the pre-set factors and the corresponding findings is presented in the table below.

Table 1: Pre-set codes Code

Description Sample

Freq-uency

Specific respondents

Factor _{Impact on:}

Knowledge exchange between CFT members Positive impact of CFT goal commitment on knowledge exchange between CFT members

We all acknowledged that this was a problem that needed attention […] and that we needed to solve it together to come to the best solution. (TM23)

4 TM22, TM23, TM41, TM42 + CFT goal commitment Cohesiveness within CFTs Positive impact of CFT goal commitment on cohesiveness within CFTs

At some point we didn’t talk about ‘them’ versus ‘us’ anymore, but realized that we really did this for each other. That we wanted the same thing and mutual understanding amongst team members grew. (TM43)

8 TL2, TM21, TM22, TL3, TM31, TM41, TM42, TM43 Internal communica-tion Positive impact of CFT goal commitment on internal communication

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Table 1 continued Code

Description Sample Freq- Specific

Factor Impact on: uency respondents

Knowledge exchange between CFT members

Negative impact of lack of CFT goal commitment on knowledge exchange between CFT members - 0 - - CFT goal commitment Cohesiveness within CFTs

Negative impact of lack of CFT goal commitment on cohesiveness within CFTs

A colleague has to perform a task in my opinion but he does not agree […] I am going to escalate it to [CFT leader] because I am really frustrated and can’t do my

job this way. (TM12) 2

TM14, TM12

Internal communica-tion

Negative impact of lack of CFT goal commitment on internal communication

There were situations in which a certain person wanted to portray him/herself in a good light by pushing for a solution that wasn’t in line with what we were trying to accomplish […] discussions could get heated and it would hurt decision-making

processes and irritations would grow. (TM32) ₂

TM32, TM41 Knowledge exchange between CFT members

Positive impact of support line-management on knowledge exchange between CFT members

Line-management support was essential in this project. Otherwise there would have been more resistance on working together from both departments. Now we first felt obligated to work like this but by working together you find out how much benefits

there are and how much you can learn from each other. (TM43) 7

TM11, TL2, TM21, TM22, TM24, TL3, TM43 + Support line-management Cohesiveness within CFTs

Positive impact of support line-management on cohesiveness within CFTs

Generally management isn’t that visible, but [line-manager] shows up at week starts and expresses his enthusiasm by stimulating us to think out of the box […] you feel like you are being taken seriously in your work for this project and that you are

really adding value. (TM22) 5

TL2, TM21, TM22, TM31, TM41

Internal

communication

Positive impact of support line-management on internal communication

We are completely free to decide on how we want to reach our final goal.

Sponsorship of management and the trust they gave us gave a lot of energy and room for creativity […] then ideas such as shooting a movie arise. (TM24)

7

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Table 1 continued

Code Description Sample Freq- Specific

Negative impact of lack of support line-management on knowledge exchange between CFT members

Not every manager is willing to provide the necessary manpower to complete tasks […] our workload increases and we have less time to focus on how to improve our way of working. (TM12) 2 TM12, TM23 - Support line-management Cohesiveness within CFTs

Negative impact of lack of support line-management on cohesiveness within CFTs

My manager told our CFT leader that there was no capacity to get more help on the project from our department […] I am not getting as much out of my contribution as

I could when my manager understood what is needed. (TM23) 1

TM23

Internal communica-tion

Negative impact of lack of support line-management on internal communication - 0 - Knowledge exchange between CFT members Positive impact of transformational leadership CFT leader on knowledge exchange between CFT members

They [CFT members] got the opportunity to show their skills and expertise, that is what I expected from them: their full dedication to try new things […] they developed a new framework which is now also being used by their co-workers. (TL3) 5 TL2, TM21, TM23, TL3, TM42 + Transforma-tional leadership CFT leader Cohesiveness within CFTs Positive impact of transformational leadership CFT leader on cohesiveness within CFTs

Usually the project leader informs the steering group on progress, but [CFT leader] took the whole team to one of those meetings to let us do that […] you feel really involved that way. (TM22)

7 TL2, TM21, TM22, TM24, TL3, TM42, TM43 Internal communica-tion Positive impact of transformational leadership CFT leader on internal communication

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Negative impact of lack of transformational leadership CFT leader on knowledge exchange between CFT members

We did not implement all the process changes we discovered during evaluations […] there was no one checking whether we did this or not. (TM43) 1 TM43 - Transforma-tional leadership CFT leader Cohesiveness within CFTs

Negative impact of lack of transformational leadership CFT leader on cohesiveness within CFTs

I missed team building activities […] every activity we did was focused on project’s content and not on how we could improve our bonding as a team. I wouldn’t mind never seeing them [CFT members] again after the project is finished. (TM23)

2 TM14, TM23 Internal communica-tion

Negative impact of lack of transformational leadership CFT leader on internal

communication

-

0 -

4.2 Pre-set factors

In this section the outcomes of the interviews related to the pre-set factors are discussed. The pre-set factors are mostly perceived as having a positive impact on CFT development by interviewees. Although the negative impact of the pre-set factors on CFT development are mentioned by interviewees, these are elaborated on less than on the positive impact.

4.2.1 Impact of CFT members’ goal commitment on CFT development

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Impact of CFT members’ goal commitment on knowledge exchange between CFT members Knowledge of CFT members is extended whenever they believe this is necessary to reach team goals. As interviewee TM41 explained: “Usually when projects like this are executed our departments don’t work together this closely and there used to be a lack of understanding […] now we work together to reach goals, which creates a stronger connection between the departments […] my colleagues and I know whom we can ask for help or advice from department X.” By working with colleagues from other departments they gained knowledge on what other departments are doing that could help them performing their tasks. CFT goal commitment led to CFT members collaborating to achieve CFT goals. As interviewee TM41 explained: “Everyone was intrinsically motivated to reach team goals and go even beyond what was asked from them to deliver the best service to the customer […] we were brainstorming and helping each other to find even better ways to deliver service.” This positively influenced CFT development, because CFT members were working together and sharing knowledge to come to better solutions. The interviewees did not experience any lack of CFT goal commitment within their CFTs that influenced knowledge exchange between CFT members.

Impact of CFT members’ goal commitment on cohesiveness within CFTs

Enthusiasm on reaching team goals clearly affected cohesiveness in a positive way. As interviewee TM22 explained: “Some members did not experience the common interest in this project […] they were replaced by colleagues that were enthusiastic about what we were doing […] everyone was enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated to participate in this project.” This positively influenced CFT development, while a feeling of cohesiveness arises when CFT members feel attached to the same goal. Furthermore, interviewees indicated that they helped each other when this was necessary to reach goals. As interviewee TM31 explained: “When deadlines were getting closer everyone helped each other to try to reach our goals […] when I needed help finishing my tasks CFT members always helped out.”

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clearly according to all interviewees from this CFT, there still were discussions on team goals. CFT members did not agree on what needed prioritizing.

Impact of CFT members’ goal commitment on internal communication

CFT goal commitment positively influenced communication between CFT members. As explained by interviewee TM21:“X his job will disappear if we implement the changes we came up with […] X responded with: ‘I think it’s great. If we can do without, why should we do it?’ X clearly puts team goals before own interests.” This employee made visible how he was not adding value in his work currently, even when he knew this would change his job enormously. This person still felt open to share his findings, even when he knew the possible consequences for his position.

Furthermore, through CFT goal commitment there was room for discussion without hurting internal group processes. As interviewee TM41 explained: “Results were holy in our team. Everyone acted in interest of team goals […] even though discussions lead to irritations, afterwards when emotions were calmed down, we would discuss it again with our goals in mind and come up with the best solution together.” The interviewees indicated that disagreements never lead to disrupted relationships within CFTs. Sometimes discussions did get heated, but always put in perspective by referring to the main goal.

There also were situations where CFT goal commitment was not always present and that CFT members put their own interests or departmental interests before the CFT goal. This influenced communication between CFT members negatively. As interviewee TM32 stated: “One time I disagreed with X on how we should build something […] I wanted to increase ease of use and he wanted to build an easy code for programmers. X was someone with a strong own opinion, which was sometimes hard to work with.”

4.2.2 Impact of line-management support on CFT development

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Impact of line-management support on knowledge exchange between CFT members

Line-management acknowledged that there would be gains for their own department as well, due to development of these employees. As interviewee TM11 explained: “Knowledge I’ve gained through this team enabled a new career step for me […] my manager really looks at how to improve our learning capabilities as a team.” A positive attitude of line-management created space for CFT members to explore new skills and knowledge. Furthermore, interviewees elaborated on how they involved their co-workers in their own learning process through participating in CFTs. As interviewee TM23 explained: “My own team now uses [technique] to work more efficiently, which is encouraged by my manager. He now wants us to take a training so we can all learn to work this way.”

Nevertheless, interviewee TM23 elaborates on lack of line-management support as well: “My manager thinks that taking a lean training will help everyone to understand the philosophy […] it is only going to work if it saves everyone some time every day/week. If not, it is only a waste of time and it will increase workload due to the time we’ll be in training.” This indicates that support by motivating and encouraging is not enough for knowledge exchange to occur.

Impact of line-management support on cohesiveness within CFTs

When line-management reacted enthusiastic on results presented by CFTs this had a positive impact on cohesiveness. Complimenting employees made them feel more secure on what they were doing. As interviewee TM31 explained: “When we showed our results to management they were very enthusiastic and it really made me feel like we did this all together […] management support gave us the recognition we were doing a good job.”

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Still, there are times when line-management underestimates what needs to be done to truly support CFTs. Lack of support by line-management is portrayed by one interviewee as having a negative impact on cohesiveness. Interviewee TM23 explained how line-management was not willing to deliver the capacity needed for this CFT: “I was the only representative from my team on this CFT […] I had to do all the work by myself and was therefore unable to put all my effort into this, as much as I enjoyed it.” Line-management needs to facilitate CFTs as well; otherwise support becomes a hollow phrase without any meaning. Employees that do not get enough time to spend on CFT tasks risk to feel less part of their CFT and thereby miss out on the development as CFT.

Impact of line-management support on communication between CFT members

The dimension communication is positively affected by management support. When line-management encouraged employees to learn through participating in CFTs employees felt more comfortable experimenting with new ideas. As interviewee TM21 explained: “Our manager propagates out of the box thinking within this CFT. People feel free and encouraged to do so.” Interviewees indicated that line-management needed to understand the new way of working as well to enable CFT development to occur and to improve communication within CFTs. As TL3 explained: “Line-management also took the training on the new method […] CFT needs the freedom to make own decisions without management interfering. As soon as management understood this was needed we got all resources we needed without them obstructing our decisions.”

4.2.3 Impact of transformational leadership of CFT leader on CFT development

The interviewed CFT members indicated that transformational leadership of CFT leader positively influenced all three dimensions of CFT development.

Impact of transformational leadership of CFT leader on knowledge exchange between CFT members

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need for CFT members to learn from each other and let them think about how they could benefit from the project, knowledge exchange is more likely to occur. Through interim evaluations CFT leaders tried to let their CFTs learn as quickly as possible by directly implementing changes to improve internal group processes. As interviewee TM42 explained: “By organizing evaluations on a regular basis we could learn how to improve our way of working together […] in the beginning team members thought it was unnecessary but in the end they also acknowledged the value of these evaluations.”

However, one interviewee did acknowledge that not all improvements they initiated during evaluations were acted upon in the following periods: “We did not have enough time to implement all the process changes we discovered during evaluations […] there was no one checking whether we did this or not.” (TM43).

Impact of transformational leadership of CFT leader on cohesiveness within CFTs

Providing training to introduce CFT members to one another and learn them to understand the project goals contributed to developing unity. As explained by interviewee TM22: “[CFT leader]’s leadership style and the [lean] training we did as a group at the beginning really initiated enthusiasm and group spirit.” CFT leaders dealt with discussions and negative impulses from outside the CFT. They knew how to translate their vision towards the environment, which made it easier for CFT members to focus on CFT development. As one interviewee stated: “Whenever someone was asking a CFT member to work on something else [the CFT leader] would interfere and explain that he/she needed us on this project […] we never had to worry about pressure from outside the project, which enabled us to concentrate on working together.”(TM43).

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Impact of transformational leadership of CFT leader on communication between CFT members

The interviewees indicated that three CFT leaders focused on learning by doing. They expressed that making mistakes is part of a learning process and necessary to come to good solutions. CFT members explained how this enabled them to experience with new ideas and develop new ways of working. As interviewee TM23 explained: “Being vulnerable was not punished but rather seen as an opportunity to learn by [CFT leader]. No one hesitated to say what they were thinking.” Furthermore, one CFT leader tried to optimize CFT development and communication by paying attention on how to create the most fruitful environment to come to the best solutions for problems: “We did a Belbintest to check if we had enough different characters in our team [CFT] to encourage discussions and out of the box ideas.” (TM24). And as TL2 explained: “We did a Belbintest to see whether we had enough people with different characteristics in this team. When we were thinking of possible solutions in a certain area I would invite X to join, because he has creativity as main trait.”

4.3 Coding scheme emerged factors

The coding scheme used for interview analysis of the emerged factors and the corresponding findings is presented in the table below.

Table 2: Emerged codes

Positive impact of the presence of a physical

location where CFT members could work together on knowledge exchange between CFT members

I looked for a project room close to the user organization where everyone could sit together […] it is easier to get input from co-workers on issues. (TL3) 2 TL2, TL3 + Physical grouping of CFT members Cohesiveness within CFTs

location where CFT members could work together on cohesiveness within CFTs

Having a project room where everyone could work was very helpful in

creating a team spirit […] you get to know each other. (TM41)

1 TM41

Internal

communication

location where CFT members could work together on internal communication

Usually when I work with people from different departments on a project we communicate per e-mail […] now we sat in the same room which improved

the decision-making process. (TM31) ₅

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- Physical grouping of CFT members Cohesiveness within CFTs

Negative impact of the presence of not having a physical location where CFT members could work together on cohesiveness within CFTs

"I don’t really feel as if I am part of that team. I am in another part of the building and just do my tasks and then continue with my other work." (TM11)

1 TM11

Internal

communication

Negative impact of the presence of not having a physical location where CFT members could work together on internal

communication

"E-mails are free for interpretation and easily misread […] A bomb can explode due to non-communication." (TM14)

2 TM14, TM21 - Workload Knowledge exchange between CFT members

Negative impact of workload on knowledge exchange between CFT members

Due to my workload I wasn’t able to get more out of the project for my own department, which I regret […] even though I had a lot of fun, you have to consider how much work you’ll have in the near future if you

choose to put more effort in the project in the present. (TM23) ₂

TM14, TM23 Internal

communication

Negative impact workload on internal communication

We all do our work in our own way, but there is no time to think of a way to make our work more consistent. (TM12)

2 TM12, TM13 + Nature of team Knowledge exchange between CFT members

Positive impact of cross-functionality of the team on knowledge exchange between CFT members

So many different views on one problem leads to new insights […] People approach things differently which makes it a great way to learn. (TM21)

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Negative impact of cross-functionality on knowledge exchange between CFT members

There are a lot of subcultures within this company […] it makes working together in CFTs more difficult because we had to develop understanding towards each other before we were able to trust and accept each other (TM21)

1 TM21 - Nature of

team

Cohesiveness within CFTs

Negative impact of cross-functionality on cohesiveness within CFTs

Because I know this team is temporary I do not really feel like we are a team […] I don’t mind if I don’t see some team members after we’re done. (TM23)

2 TM23, TM41 Internal communication

Negative impact of cross-functionality on internal communication

People try to hold on to their own way of working […] there should be more consultation. (TM11) 4 TM11, TM21, TM23, TM41 4.4 Emerged factors

In this section the outcomes of the interviews related to the emerged factors are presented. The emerged factors are perceived as having both a positive impact and a negative impact on CFT development by interviewees. Except for the factor workload, which was indicated to only have a negative impact on CFT development by interviewees.

4.4.1 Physical grouping of CFT members

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Impact of physical grouping of CFT members on knowledge exchange between CFT members Regular formal meetings positively influenced CFT development as long as it was combined with an available project room at all times where CFT members could meet to work together or discuss issues. Whether these meetings were daily or weekly does not seem to matter. As interviewee TL2 explained: “One goal of our week starts was to see each other […] after week starts people would discuss problems with each other.” Formal meetings created moments where CFT members met each other without the need to organize a meeting with CFT members themselves. They only needed to attend those meetings and then ask their colleague afterwards for help or feedback.

Impact of physical grouping of CFT members on cohesiveness within CFTs

One interviewee elaborated on the impact on cohesiveness: “We had start up meetings every day where information was exchanged on progress and where problems were discussed […] team members that could help each other would meet up right after this meeting to discuss the problems more thoroughly.” (TM41). By regularly meeting each other and being able to work in the same room more collaboration and eagerness to help each other occurred. When CFT members did not have a physical location to work at their CFT tasks they felt less part of their CFT. As interviewee TM11 explained: “I don’t really feel as if I am part of that team. I am in another part of the building and just do my tasks and then continue with my other work.”

Impact of physical grouping of CFT members on internal communication

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4.4.2 Workload of CFT members

Four interviewees indicated that their workload was too high and that it influenced the degree to which they experienced CFT development on two dimensions.

Impact of workload on knowledge exchange between CFT members

Especially in one team the interviewees noted how workload of all CFT members has an impact on the way of working within their CFT: “There is too much work and there are not enough people, so everyone is prioritizing based on personal interests. When the priorities of different people in the chain differ too much this leads to irritations and even more work.” (TM14). Due to a high workload there is no time to collaborate and exchange knowledge. This leads to work not being performed efficiently.

Impact of workload on internal communication

Sometimes workload is so high that decisions are made by one person, while this should be done through the formalized decision-making processes defined by CFTs. As explained by interviewee TM13: “Sometimes we make certain agreements […] but then someone makes another decision because it will decrease their work at that moment or for some other reason.”

4.4.3 Nature of team

CFT members elaborated on the cross-functional nature of their team having impact on all three dimensions of CFT development in a negative way. Only knowledge exchange between CFT members is mentioned as being positively influenced by the cross-functionality of teams.

Impact of the nature of CFTs on knowledge exchange between CFT members

One interviewee elaborated on the nature of his team enabling knowledge exchange between CFT members: “So many different views on one problem lead to new insights […] People approach things differently which makes it a great way to learn.” (TM21). Knowledge exchange between different departments was manifested through the use of CFTs.

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clear we all used the same word but meant something else.” This example illustrates that misunderstanding is more likely to occur in CFTs than it is in functional teams, which impedes internal communication.

Impact of the nature of CFTs on cohesiveness within CFTs

The limited time most members have available to perform tasks for CFTs stand in the way of feeling part of a team in some cases. As interviewee TM23 explained: “Not everyone had the same amount of time available to work on this project […] some people just came by now and then, I have the feeling that they didn’t really feel like they were part of the team.”

Impact of the nature of CFTs on internal communication

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5. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION

This section is aimed at answering the research question formulated in the theory section. This will be done by interpreting the results of the interviews and by linking this to found literature per sub research question. Furthermore, conclusions are drawn and theoretical and practical implications are given. Lastly, limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are included.

5.1 The impact of the pre-set factors on CFT development

5.1.1 Does CFT members’ team goal commitment influence team development of CFTs?

According to theory in preceding sections, clear team goals have positive impact on internal group processes such as CFT development. Comparing this to the results of this research, this is confirmed. Confusion on what shared team goals can lead to disturbed relationships within CFTs and hinder CFT development to occur. The results showed that three out of four teams agreed upon what CFT goals were and within these teams CFT goal commitment was reached. CFTs are faced with members that are concerned with objectives and goals from their own department, which could differ from other CFT members’ goals and objectives. This was expected to influence CFT development as CFT goal commitment could improve collaboration among CFT members.

Those who did experience a higher level of CFT goal commitment acknowledged the benefits it had on knowledge exchange. They also better understood their CFT members’ point of view and learned to look at problems from other perspectives. It is indicated by interviewees that CFT goal commitment led to better understanding of other departments. As departments usually do not have shared goals they tend to not understand and cooperate with colleagues from other departments in an efficient way. CFT members should use shared knowledge and understanding to develop similar expectations on how to tackle problems (McComb et al., 1999). Participating in CFTs made members more aware of available knowledge in other parts of the organization and enabled them to gain knowledge outside their own department.

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enthusiasm on reaching team goals and CFT members supported each other when necessary. Theory indicates that CFT members that feel personally responsible for achieving shared goals will be more open to helping CFT members when trying to reach those goals. Whereas the one CFT unable to reach mutual understanding on CFT goals, or at least had disagreement on how to prioritize goals, addressed the negative impact lack of CFT goal commitment had on cohesiveness within their CFT. Although CFT members claim that team goals were clear within their CFT, they tend to disagree on which path needs to be taken to obtain these goals.

The results show that all teams indicated that CFT goal commitment positively influenced internal communication within their CFT. Disagreements stayed professional and were focused on problem solving. According to the interviewees CFT goal commitment enabled this approach to conflicts. The results also showed that when CFT goals conflicted with personal or departmental goals this could lead to disturbed relations within CFTs.

Proposed on this factor is therefore that CFT goal commitment has a positive influence on all three dimensions of CFT development. Furthermore, CFT goal commitment is proposed to be crucial for CFT development and for organizational learning through CFTs.

5.1.2 Does line-management support influence CFTs’ development?

Theory suggests that CFT members would feel more motivated to participate in CFTs supported by their line-management. As indicated by all interviewees, their line-management was sponsor of the CFTs they were part of. Nevertheless, there was a difference to be found between line-managers only stating they supported CFTs and line-managers actively seeking for ways to help and support their employees in CFTs. Support of line-management seems to only have positive impact on CFT development. Lack of line-management support seems to have little influence on CFT development. It is proposed that when there is line-management support from most departments, one line-management lacking in support does not impact CFT development.

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knowledge exchange within CFTs. It is proposed that line-management will support their employees to participate in CFTs if they believe there are gains for their department.

One interviewee indicates the downside of line-management enthusiasm as being not realistic in how much time and thereby loss in productivity it costs to exchange knowledge. The interviewee stated that line-management does not want to loose productivity and therefore the team would get stuck in the middle. This would lead to the team not being able to learn everything the line-manager wants them to learn within the limited time the line-manager made available for training. Work will pile up during training hours according to the interviewee. Productivity and learning within CFTs are both of importance to achieve the desired results of CFTs. Learning takes time and therefore there will always be a trade-off between productivity and learning (Edmondson & Singer, 2012). Due to the limited period of time CFT members work together productivity should stay high, while at the same time learning is needed to benefit from different departments working together to solve problems.

Both theory and outcomes of this research indicate that enthusiasm and importance carried out by line-management contributes to cohesiveness of CFTs. CFT members will feel like they are executing meaningful tasks and when line-management express their approval a sense of collective pride appears within CFTs. Nevertheless, this support should be strengthened by allowing CFT members to dedicate time to CFT tasks.

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5.1.3 Does CFT leadership influence CFTs’ development?

Theory indicated that CFT members are dealing with uncertain environments caused by collaboration with unknown or at least non-direct colleagues. Furthermore, CFTs are mostly appointed to solve non-routine problems, which creates uncertainty as well. These characteristics emphasize on the need to combine CFT members’ knowledge and together develop solutions for organizational issues. Team learning is of great importance when this kind of working is introduced. Therefore transformational leadership would be the most effective leadership style for CFT development to occur. CFT members from three out of four CFTs experienced transformational leadership of their CFT leader and acknowledged its positive impact on CFT development.

First, knowledge exchange was elaborated on by CFT leaders to be a critical factor when trying to learn new behavior and participating in CFTs. Three out of four spent attention to CFT learning and knowledge exchange in an organized manner, by having evaluations during the project and open conversations with CFT members on what skills they wanted to develop while participating in CFTs. It made CFT members aware of the benefits they could have from cooperating with CFT members. One interviewee did mention that points of improvement discussed during evaluations were not always adopted into practices caused by lack of follow-ups. In order to learn and add value to the organization through knowledge exchange it is essential that improvements are implemented. It is proposed that transformational leadership of CFT leaders positively influences knowledge exchange.

Furthermore, the capability of CFT leaders to express a clear vision enhanced cohesiveness according to the interviewees. By spending time on CFT development at the beginning of the project cohesiveness started to appear, which is in line with literature stating that CFT development is influenced by events that occur at the start of CFT projects (Ericksen & Dyer, 2004). Team activities in informal settings are crucial to creating CFT identity among CFT members. Especially since most CFT members do not know each other beforehand and have different backgrounds team building activities at the beginning has a positive impact on CFT development. Therefore, it is proposed that transformational leadership of CFT leaders has a positive impact on cohesiveness within CFTs.

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creative solutions for issues without feeling pressure to deliver results. As theory already suggested, CFT leaders need to create a learning environment in order for CFT development to occur. The interviewees indicated that three out of four CFT leaders knew how to create such an environment and how this led to an improvement of internal communication within CFTs. In CFTs specifically it can be challenging for CFT leaders to create a learning environment, due to the diversity of CFT members. It is proposed that transformational leadership of CFT leaders has a positive impact on internal communication within CFTs.

5.2 The impact of other factors on CFT development

Other factors derived from the experiences from interviewees that have an impact on CFT development were physical grouping of CFT members, workload and the cross-functional nature of the team.

5.2.1 The impact of physical grouping of CFT members’ on CFT development

As to the first of these factors, physical grouping of CFT members, the interviewees experienced that the availability of project rooms enhanced all three dimensions of CFT development. Together with the organization of regular formal meetings it especially had impact on internal communication. It enabled the possibility to regularly seeing each other and being able to discuss issues with CFT members. Interviewees also amplified on the negative effects it had when CFT members were not located near each other or did not have a project room to work in. Literature already states that closeness of team members increases the possibility of interpersonal contact and thereby increases the three dimensions of CFT development defined in this study (Mobach, 2009).

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5.2.2 The impact of workload on CFT development

The second factor that influenced CFT development was the workload experienced by interviewees. Workload prevented knowledge exchange and internal communication to develop to its fullest. Several interviewees elaborate on their line-manager having no influence on their workload. They state that their type of work, which is mostly operational, is the cause of workload being an issue when focusing on CFT development. CFTs are frequently composed of employees from operational departments who experience high workloads even without participating in CFTs. This could hinder CFT development, because CFT members do not have the time necessary for CFT development to occur. Furthermore, high workload could lead to stress and thereby negatively influence CFT development (Lee & Sukoco, 2011). Therefore, it is proposed that high workload has a negative impact on knowledge exchange and internal communication within CFTs.

5.2.3 The impact of nature of CFTs on CFT development

The last factor, the nature of the team, indicates that cross-functionality of teams will always lead to a paradox. As was already stated in the literature section, CFTs can lead to benefits but at the same time this cross-functionality brings along challenges that need to be overcome. Interviewees amplified on the temporality having a negative effect on cohesiveness, as team bonding is not a high priority to CFT members. Furthermore, miscommunication is more likely to occur and knowledge exchange should be carefully managed (van der Zee, & van Oudenhoven, 2006). Nevertheless, the different views CFT members have on problems and solutions make knowledge exchange and learning within CFTs beneficial for the whole organization. Literature states that heterogeneous teams experience more communication problems than homogenous teams in the beginning, but that heterogeneous teams produce more ideas on the long term (van Oudenhoven, 2002). It is proposed that the nature of CFTs has both positive and negative impact on CFT development.

5.3 Conclusion

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development on the three dimensions elaborated on. Besides that, it could be concluded that several other factors influenced CFT development.

The pre-set factors positively influenced all three dimensions of CFT development, being knowledge exchange between CFT members, cohesiveness and internal communication. CFT goal commitment seems to be crucial to CFT development. Without CFT goal commitment, CFT development is less likely to occur according to the outcomes of the interviews. Support of line-management is of importance to enable CFT members to participate in CFTs and allowing them to spend the needed time on CFT tasks. Interviewees indicated that sponsorship of line-management assured CFT members of the ability to perform their CFT tasks and support of their line-managers. CFT leaders’ transformational leadership is essential to facilitate learning within CFTs. From the beginning CFT leaders should create a learning environment to make CFT members feel like they can speak their minds and feel part of their CFT (Ericksen & Dyer, 2004). The negative impact of the pre-set factors on CFT development have not been experienced by many interviewees.

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5.3.1 Theoretical implications

This study contributes to the literature by gaining more insight on which factors have impact on CFT development through the use of experiences from CFT members of four CFTs. Figure 2 shows an adjusted model of figure 1 including all factors that were found to have impact on CFT development in this research. The factors are ranked on the impact they had on either one of the three dimensions of CFT development.

Figure 2: Factors influencing the three dimensions of CFT development

5.3.2 Practical implications

Recommendations can be made to improve CFT development within organizations and thereby gain competitive advantage. Practitioners should understand the contribution CFT development could have on organizational development. First, CFT leaders and line-management together should emphasize on the importance of learning throughout CFTs from the start of the project. Involving line-management from the beginning in carrying out this message is of great importance together with transformational leadership of CFT leaders.

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Besides that, line-management support is valued by CFT members and has great impact on CFT development. It should be noted that support consists of more than encouraging employees to participate in CFTs. Line-management has to show support through actions, such as enabling employees to spend enough time on their CFT tasks.

Furthermore, transformational leadership of CFT leaders is necessary for learning to occur within CFTs. Creating an environment in which making mistakes is seen as an opportunity to learn and grow fosters CFT development. CFT leaders also influence the degree to which CFT members feel unity within their CFT. The establishment of unity amongst CFT members could lead to benefits for the departments participating in CFTs, because mutual understanding and willingness to help and support one another is created. Relationships between departments could be strengthened and collaboration is more likely to occur. This could lead to improved ways of working for those departments involved.

Lastly, collaboration within CFTs only takes place when CFT members experience that they share the same goals. CFT goal commitment seems more logical than it is in practice. It consists of creating goal clarity and all CFT members knowing how to prioritize goals. In some cases CFT goals conflict with personal or departmental goals. In these situations CFT members should put CFT goals first in order to improve CFT development. CFT leaders could interview CFT members in the beginning to discover their motives to join CFTs and whether they support CFT leader’s vision.

5.3.3 Limitations and suggestions for future research

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University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business Msc BA Change Management

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

3. METHODOLOGY

4. RESULTS

5. DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION