Published in: ASM Handbook, Volume 20, Ma-

terials Selection and Design, 1997, pp. 49-53.

Cross-Functional Design Teams

Preston G. Smith, New Product Dynamics, Portland, Oregon

THE TERM TEAMS is used heavily in industry and other external demands that occur ever more Team is a heavily used and abused term in the
today, often with little more than a hope behind it. frequently. workplace today. Any identifiable group of workers
However, as companies strive for greater produc- The Growing Importance of New Prod- is generally labeled a team, and teams form in the
tivity and responsiveness to market changes, ef- ucts. Senior managers often see new products sales, accounting, and research departments and
fective teams often play a central role in initiating as the key to coping with this chaotic environ- from the factory floor to the executive suite. Sel-
organizational change. Such real teams may occur ment. New products promise higher profit mar- dom does calling a group a team change the way in
in any part of the business, but this article focuses gins, opportunities to avoid commodity product which work gets done.
on the particular issues arising in using teams in status by creating market niches and added Effective teams can exist anywhere in the or-
the product design process. value, and an avenue for revitalizing the corpo- ganization, but teams that deliver superior per-
The most effective design teams generally in- rate image. New products are no longer just formance exhibit certain characteristics (Ref 1):
volve a clearly delineated group of individuals something done in research and development
who work full time on the specified project from but have become central to the plans of the cor- • A small (fewer than ten), well-defined group
its beginning until market introduction. The team poration. Many business leaders go beyond this with complementary skills
comprises not only research and development by deciding to use new product development as • A meaningful purpose, specific goals, and
professionals but also manufacturing and market- the keystone in a broader plan of fundamental agreement on concrete operating principles for
ing members, and often members from quality, improvements in how their companies operate. reaching the goals
finance, or field service. These teams cut across An Emphasis on Productivity and Re- • Mutual accountability for results and joint own-
traditional organizational boundaries, thus sponsiveness. Two thrusts come from these ership of work products
changing traditional reporting and decision-mak- management desires:
ing relationships. Team members often report to Teams and Meetings. Katzenbach and Smith
the team leader for the duration of the project and • A requirement for consistently successful new (Ref I) distinguish teams that make or do things
are physically located together (co-located). Al- products in a less predictable environment from those that recommend things or ones that run
though these characteristics can increase produc- • A requirement to obtain these products ever or manage things. Product development teams are
tivity and responsiveness greatly, each also repre- more quickly while using fewer financial and of the type that do things, and it is essential to rec-
sents a major challenge in organizational change human resources ognize that the doing gets done mostly between
for most companies. team meetings. Development team meetings are to
Specifically, such team characteristics encour- Design, or more broadly, development, teams assess what got done, solve problems, and set plans
age the use of generalists as team members, thus have an effect on the product success require- for doing the next work. Although meetings are an
creating challenges in incorporating specialists, ment, but increasingly they are being considered essential tool of teams, if the team equates itself
such as materials engineers or scientists. This essential to achieving productivity and time-to- with meetings and depends on meetings to get
article provides special coverage on alternative market goals. This optimism regarding teams is work done, progress will be slow. In effective
roles for such specialists whose expertise is es- well founded: many stories have appeared in teams, meetings tend to be highly spontaneous and
sential to the success of the project but whose trade and business magazines and research jour- largely transparent. These teams demand far more
involvement with the team may violate some of nals describing how cross-functional teams have of their members than just participating in sched-
the above characteristics. brought new products to market far more uled meetings.
quickly and inexpensively than more traditional Special Characteristics of Cross-
organizational approaches to product develop- Functional Development Teams. Three traits
Background: The Changing ment of product development make development teams
Role of Product Design and As discussed in a later section, a team is not particularly challenging ones to set up and manage:
the answer to every development project, but (a) most of those involved are professional knowl-
Development in Industry teams have demonstrated their power to improve edge workers; (b) a broad range of professional
development effectiveness dramatically. This skills is needed, including engineering, science,
Most manufacturing companies today are under article covers the characteristics of such teams, marketing, manufacturing, and finance; and (c)
heavy pressure to succeed, even to survive. Serv- how to staff and organize them, and the critical innovation is an uncertain activity. Although some
ice industries have taken a dominant role in com- role of specialists, such as materials specialists, exceptions exist (Ref 1,2), most of the team litera-
merce, much manufacturing has moved offshore, in working with such teams. ture treats simpler situations, such as assembly
and many manufactured goods, especially materi- plant operations or mortgage application process-
als, have become commodities. In addition, envi- ing. Consequently, the literature is of limited use
ronmental and product liability issues complicate
manufacturing operations. All of this is occurring
Types of Teams here; this article relies more on tools that the
author and his colleagues have seen work well in
with a rising tempo, as evidenced by market shifts other product development settings.
50/ The Design Process

One insight from this experience in helping cli-

ents set up development teams is that the or-
ganizations doing best at it are those that have al-
ready tried other kinds of teams. They simply have a
greater appreciation for the difficulties involved and
the training required.

Staffing a Development Team

Much like a cooking recipe, this “recipe” first
lists the ingredients (the staffing issues) and then Generalist Specialist T-shaped
moves on to directions for combining them (the
organizational issues). Fig. 1 T-shaped individual. The horizontal direction portrays breadth of experience, and vertical indicates
The Team Leader. Choosing a team leader is depth of specialization.
the most important decision management will make
in setting up a development team. Two criteria
should guide the choice. One is that, because prod- members are remarkably similar to those for
uct development amounts to an obstacle course, the team leaders. In particular, a development team
leader must be strong enough to figure out how to needs self-starters able to work without supervi-
overcome the obstacles and work the existing sys- sion and individuals who will present their
tem. The second is that the leader must operate from thoughts independently. Groupthink is dan-
a business perspective, not a particular functional gerous on a development team, and the best de-
perspective, such as engineering or marketing. fense is team members with the strength of con-
If the team leader cannot deal effectively with the viction to present contrary views.
obstacles, then management must step in, which Another key criterion is a willingness to share
destroys the team’s value and morale. Similarly, if information and credit. A member who tries to
the leader operates from a particular functional per- build his or her own self-worth by withholding
spective, other functional managers will step in to information or credit is disastrous on a develop-
ensure the participation of their function, again un- ment team.
dermining the team’s integrity. Neither of these Generalists Versus Specialists. In the devel-
situations provides the high-quality problem-solving opment of sophisticated products, the tendency
and decision-making infrastructure desired. Fig. 2 Staffing diagram for a project that depended
is to think of using highly specialized people on many specialists, most of whom contributed
In addition, a leader should have a strong, cus- who can contribute that something extra that less than 10 percent of their time to the project.
tomer-centered vision of the product and sense of will yield a competitive success in the market- Source: Ref 4
project direction. This is crucial in providing the place. Usually, the recognition, compensation,
leader with a touchstone for making the countless and promotion systems of a company reinforce
daily decisions that can deflect the team from its this bias toward specialists. Clearly, the specialist-generalist issue applies
course. Leadership, then, is the ability to transform Unfortunately, specialists create several diffi- to a materials specialist whose expertise may be
this vision into action. culties on a team, including scheduling prob- needed for a small portion of the project.
Clearly, another essential requirement is a leader lems, lack of commitment to the project, and Team Selection Process. To enhance commit-
with excellent people skills, including communica- lack of a solid understanding of project objec- ment to the project, team members should have a
tion (listening and providing ongoing performance tives and customer desires. Therefore, the bias say in whether or not they want to be on a team;
feedback), conflict management, and the ability to in selecting team members should swing toward in essence, they should volunteer (Ref 4, p 127–
influence others throughout the organization. A key generalists who have a firm grasp of the job to 128).
part of people skills is giving credit and exposure to be done and can be engaged for the duration of Normally, the team leader recruits team mom-
team members, rather than the leader accepting it. the project. The ideal member is the so-called T- beta after management recruits the leader. Re-
From Which Department? For highly technical shaped individual, one who has depth in a cru- cruiting team members is a negotiating process
products, it is natural to choose a technical person as cial area but is also able and willing to handle between the team leader and management be-
team leader. It seems that only a technical person many other jobs, often under the direction of cause management will be unable to release cer-
will understand the design adequately. Others, with others, when their specialty is not needed (see tain members requested by the leader.
a longer view, might argue that only a marketer Fig. 1). Suppliers on the Team. To leverage their
could provide the customer-focused guidance Figure 2 is a staffing chart for a simple prod- resources, manufacturers are turning increasingly
needed for marketplace success. Similarly, manu- uct developed by a company preferring special- to suppliers to provide larger portions of their
facturing might make a case for a manufacturing ists. Each bar represents one individual on the products. Also, there is a trend toward forming
person as leader because a manufacturable product team, and the height of the bar indicates this strong alliances with a few key suppliers rather
is essential. individual’s degree of dedication to the project, than working with many at arms length to avoid
Unfortunately, all of this discussion misses the that is, the number of hours he or she spent on it being held hostage by a single supplier.
point. No company has enough candidates for the compared against the total number of hours Product development is not as far along as pro-
demanding team leader job, so no company can possible for the duration of the project. Specifi- duction in making these transitions, but the
afford to restrict its search to one function. Besides, cally, five people on the tail end of the chart are changes are definitely occurring in product de-
the qualified person is someone who thinks and purchasing specialists, each permitted to pur- velopment as well. What this means for product
operates as a general manager, not a functional spe- chase only a specific commodity. development is that supplier personnel are join-
cialist. The company represented in Fig. 2 has moved ing their customers’ development teams just as if
Team Members. While much has been written toward generalists. It uses fewer members on a they were employees of the customer. This prac-
about leaders and leadership, little guidance is team, but each is involved at a high level of tice has become routine for automobile manufac-
available on selecting team members. Kelley (Ref 3) dedication. Communication, coordination, and turers where suppliers are involved at many dif-
makes the point that the criteria for selecting team commitment have improved accordingly. ferent levels (Ref 5).
 Cross-Functional Design Teams /51

Fig 3 A functional organization, in which authority rests Fig 4 A balanced matrix, where the team leader and functional managers have equal authority over team
with the functional managers. Source: Ref 4 members. Source: Ref 4

Suppliers should be considered as team mem-

bers when they have essential technical expertise
to contribute, when their parts are critical to the
cost or schedule of the product, or when the cus-
tomer’s design of a part will affect the supplier’s
ability to produce it reliably.
Clearly, many different levels of supplier in-
volvement are possible. It is important to be flex-
ible in molding each circumstance to fit the re-
quirements. When supplier involvement is
planned, the previously covered concerns about
specialists should be kept in mind. A few key sup-
pliers involved heavily are better than many in-
volved superficially.

Organizing a Development Team

Fig. 5 A separate project organization, in which members report solely to the team leader. Source: Ref 4
Every organization has its formal organization
depicted on the organization chart. Each also has
Products of today are often complex, which the balanced matrix (Fig. 4), to the separate proj-
an informal organization, the linkages by which
means a development team must incorporate ect shown in Fig. 5. The critical parameter that
things actually get done, decisions get made, and
several types of technical expertise. Consider varies in these charts is the degree of control and
information flows. These systems have evolved
something as commonplace as a telephone set. influence the team leader has over individuals on
over time to serve the primary needs of the firm.
Due to need and tradition, most of these organiza- Developing a new one requires electrical, me- the team compared with that held by the functional
chanical, and software engineers, acoustics and managers. In Fig. 3, there is no team leader, so all
tional structures are vertically (functionally) ori-
materials experts, industrial design and ergo- decisions flow through functional managers. In the
ented. Although this vertical structure may be best
nomics, and manufacturing process expertise. In balanced matrix, the team leader and functional
for many corporate activities, it does not work well
addition, marketing, purchasing, and finance managers hold equal power over team members. In
for developing innovative new products, which
will be key participants. Thousands of decisions Fig. 5, the team leader has unquestioned authority
require heavy horizontal information flow.
lie ahead, and thousands of problems await over those assigned to the project.
Fortunately, corporate organizational structures
solutions. For the set to be a commercial suc- Important points on this spectrum occur between
are becoming more horizontal as firms delayer,
cess, the developers must reach delicate cross- the illustrated ones. For example, between the
decentralize, empower workers, and move toward
functional balances repeatedly. charts displayed in Fig. 3 and 4 is a so-called
team-based activity. The increasing emphasis on
The present task is to provide an environ- lightweight team leader form, in which a team
new products encourages this shift. However, the
ment, that is, a team, to address such cross- leader exists but has less clout than the functional
growing need for new products is outpacing
functional problems and decisions quickly and managers. This is a popular and often dangerous
changes in inertia-bound organizational structures.
effectively. Without such a team, the more ver- form because organizations have moved to it
Usually, this suggests a bias toward structures for
tical communication infrastructure in a company from the functional form, thinking they have
product development that are more horizontal and
is likely to degrade the quality of the new prod- arrived at teams but not realizing that they
team based than the familiar ones. The change will
uct, add to its cost, and delay it. really need to take more steps. Lightweight teams
require some organizational inventing and pio-
Candidate Organizational Forms. It is are often impotent, as the label suggests, and the
neering. Such organizational innovation is far more
helpful to think of the possible organizational
likely to take root if it is planned and set up before
forms as spanning a spectrum, from the func-
initiating a project.
tional one (strongly vertical) in Fig. 3, through
52/ The Design Process

leader often becomes frustrated. Between Fig. 4 using full-time people, fewer people can handle
and 5 is the heavyweight team leader form, a pow- the project, with the benefit that communication
erful one used by Honda, among others. becomes far simpler. If a full-time member can-
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate another key point. The not be justified, their role should be defined
team leader reports to a general manager, not to a carefully (Ref 4, p 142).
functional manager, such as the vice president of Full-time, end-to-end involvement is much
engineering. Recall the earlier discussion about the easier to accomplish with generalists. This is
team leader functioning as a general manager so one benefit of using generalists on a team, as
that he or she would integrate the viewpoints of all discussed earlier.
functional managers. If the team leader reports to a The first person to be dedicated full time for
functional manager, the project will take on the the duration of the project should be the team
orientation of that function. The other functional leader. Part-time involvement in this key posi-
managers will get involved to inject their opinions, tion is particularly ineffective.
bringing back the shortcomings of the functional The Power and Difficulties of Co-
form. Location. Once a leader is selected, team
Selecting the Best Form for a Project. members are recruited, an organizational form
Every organizational form has its pros and cons. is chosen, and the degree of dedication expected Fig. 6 Effect of separation distance on communication
For example, the functional form is superior for from each member is established, then the last between team members. Communication is much more
maintaining consistency between products in a decision to be made is where to locate this crew. likely to occur if team members are located within about
company’s product line. But it is poor at facilitating The basic choices are to leave members in the 10 m (30 ft) of one another. Source: Ref 7
communication across the functions involved in place where they were before the team formed
developing an innovative new product. Conversely, or to physically locate them close together; this
the separate project form excels at such cross- latter choice is called co-location.
functional communication but is weak in cross- The argument for co-location is that product willing to work very hard to communicate. If they
project coordination. The balanced matrix provides development, especially for highly innovative have to take the effort to dial the phone, compose
some of both but introduces potential conflicts be- products, requires a great deal of cross- a message on their computer, or arrange a video-
cause individuals on the team essentially have two functional communicating, problem solving, and conference, they will instead just make this mini
equal bosses tugging at them. decision making. Placing the participants close decision themselves. After a while, poor mini
The solution to this dilemma is to choose the together simplifies these activities greatly. Proj- decisions pile up.
form with strengths that most closely match the ect focus and easy access to project-related ma- Electronic communications have two other
primary objectives of a particular project, then rec- terials, such as products of the competitors, are shortcomings. One is that they are not very fast;
ognize the shortcomings of the chosen form, and additional advantages. the inherent delays in phone tag and its e-mail
put compensating mechanisms in place to handle Figure 6 illustrates the basic case for co- equivalent are commonplace. The more funda-
them. For example, many firms introduce cross- location. These data from several research and mental weakness is a lack of communication
functional project communication into the func- development sites show how likely individuals quality. The words themselves account for less
tional form by having weekly team meetings. (The are to communicate about technical matters, than half of what a message communicates, most
earlier warning about trying to run a team through depending on their separation. Note that the of the communication being attributed to intona-
meetings should be noted.) “knee” of the curve is at about 10 m (30 ft), tion, body language, and timing. To various ex-
A consequence of this approach to organizational which suggests that there is great value in hav- tents, all of the electronic media filter out this
design is that each project will have its own struc- ing team members close enough to overhear vital information. Even the current resolution of
tural form based on the specific objectives of that conversations of one another. videoconferencing fails to pick up many clues.
project. This makes the organization chart more Thus, true co-location means that team mem- Electronic media certainly have their value, but
complex but enables each project to use the most bers are within conversational distance, not just their limitations diminish their ability to facilitate
effective organizational tools available. in the same building or on the same floor. As rapid, effective team progress. Being aware of the
In general, a form closer to the separate project discussed earlier, this team includes members limitations will help the team to compensate for
should be used for innovative, new-to-the-world from marketing and manufacturing, not just the them.
products, and more functionally oriented forms research and development portion of the team. The Role of Rewards and Other Motiva-
should be used for more routine product upgrades In the author’s experience in working with over tors. Many researchers and authors have ad-
(Ref 6). a hundred product development teams, this type dressed the effectiveness of motivators, such as
There is nothing magical about the terminology of co-location is a powerful tool to shorten de- compensation, recognition, and promotion in im-
used here, for instance the heavyweight team leader velopment cycle time dramatically. proving corporate productivity. This is a difficult
form. Other jargon is used, such as core teams. Although the benefits of co-location are great, subject about which to be definitive, and much of
What really matters is how members are involved the resistance can be equally great in many or- the available material is contradictory. However,
day-to-day, which is the next topic. ganizations. Those who have tried it appreciate two general observations apply to cross-functional
Full-Time, End-to-End Involvement. An- its benefits and would always use it again if development teams.
other important characteristic of effective devel- effective project communication were critical. One is that these systems ultimately have to
opment teams is that, to the greatest extent possi- Many who have not tried it are skeptical, often come into alignment with the behavior desired of
ble, each member serves from the beginning of the due to personal reasons, such as lack of privacy; the team, or the team will revert to traditional
project to its end and is involved full time for that see Ref 4 (p 145–150, 271–272). ways of operating. For example, if the culture
period. Handoffs from person to person or from Co-Location Versus Electronic Team Link- punishes mistakes, then the behavior change
department to department mean breaks in the con- ages. The data in Fig. 6 are from Ref 7, which is sought, learning from mistakes and getting be-
tinuity of vital information. Engineers, according to over 20 years old. Many engineers in high-tech yond mistakes quickly, will not occur. The new
a stereotype that is partially true, often want to industries discount Fig. 6, asserting that modem products developed by the team will not likely be
redesign whatever they receive from someone else. electronic means of communication, for in- very innovative in such a risk-averse environ-
Full-time involvement (also called dedication) stance, faxes, e-mail, and videoconferencing, ment. Similarly, if team cooperation is the desired
translates into higher commitment and accountabil- have superseded the need for physical co- outcome, individuals should not be rewarded.
ity and into greater focus on key objectives of the location. Figure 6 suggests that the threshold Second, substantial dependence on rewards to
project, such as the desires of key customers. By (10 m, 30 ft) is so low that people are not achieve results is likely to backfire. In the
 Cross-Functional Design Teams /53

author’s experience, clients who focus on rewards Joining the Team Option. If the specialist’s without a strong scientific basis. There are few
usually have other, more fundamental difficulties, expertise constitutes a major contribution to the firm rules, and the best solution will depend
such as overbearing top management, and superfi- project, this person should be a regular, dedi- greatly on the specific circumstances involved.
cial fixes with rewards will not overcome the fun- cated, co-located member of the team for at least Much of the supporting evidence is anecdotal, as
damental issue. In the end, team members must be most of the development and testing. The spe- in the case of co-location, for example.
motivated intrinsically by an interest in the work cialist should be a T-shaped individual, as dis- However, this does not mean that there are no
itself, and extrinsic motivators will have limited cussed earlier, to justify end-to-end, full-time preferred solutions. Some solutions are far more
effect. For a sobering view of this subject, see Ref involvement. Limited involvement would mean powerful and effective than others, so it is defi-
8. that this person will be gone when problems nitely worth struggling with the issues to find the
associated with his or her design choices begin solution that works best in a specific situation.
to appear later. Individuals forming a design team should form
The Specialist’s Role on a Expert Contributor Option. This is a popular their objectives, analyze the existing data to select
Development Team middle ground, but it must be treated with care an approach, and then do something. In making
to get a quality, responsive contribution from the progress, action is preferable to inaction.
An assumption underlying this article is that the specialist. This individual is not a member of Initial team “experiments” should be operated
reader is probably a materials specialist or man- the team (trying to include such associates to on a manageable scale where the risk is reason-
ager who is reading it concerning their in- help them feel more involved will simply dilute able, and they should involve the most enthusiastic
volvement on a cross-functional development the significance of the team). people to initiate change. See Ref 4, Ch 15, for
team. Thus, the specialist’s role needs specific Therefore, a regular member of the team acts further information on making such changes. Re-
attention here. as a liaison to the specialist, and clear objec- sults should be monitored, and adjustments should
Balancing Team Needs with the Spe- tives, deliverables, and due dates are estab- be made on an ongoing basis. See Ref 9.
cialist’s Needs. The dilemma of the specialist lished for each task. The liaison should monitor For more detailed coverage of the material in
was covered earlier: the specialist’s expertise is progress closely, watching for slippage due to this article, see Ref 4, especially Ch 7 and 8.
often needed to provide the technical product in- the specialist’s other activities or lack of under-
novativeness essential to marketplace success, but standing of project goals. The specialist must
the specialist introduces several complications in spend enough time with the team that he or she REFERENCES
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izational design factors that should be resolved by cialists to get this direct exposure. Teams, Harper Business, 1993
first satisfying the major project objectives, then The expert contributor option simply pro- 2. G.M. Parker, Cross-Functional Teams, Jossey-
identifying known weaknesses in the specialist’s vides a contracted deliverable, much like a sup- Bass, 1994
role, and compensating for these. This means that plier’s, and should be managed accordingly. 3. R.E. Kelley, In Praise of Followers, Harvard
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cialist’s role dilemma is most evident in the Unlike much of the other material covered in Demands Ongoing Improvement, Research-
stronger team forms. Fortunately, there are options the ASM Handbook, this article covers subjects Technology Management, Vol 39 (No. 2),
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