Cross-Functional Collaboration: Overcoming the Barriers to Success

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Abstract: This article examines the critical challenges that hinder cross-functional collaboration in modern organizations despite its essential role in driving innovation and problem-solving. The authors identify four primary barriers: lack of shared understanding between departments regarding priorities and working methods; organizational silos that foster an "us versus them" mentality; insufficient leadership commitment to breaking down barriers; and individual mindsets that view other functions as competitors rather than partners. The research then proposes organizational design solutions to overcome these obstacles, including establishing shared goals across departments, blending functional expertise within teams, fostering communities of practice, leadership modeling of collaborative behaviors, utilizing skilled project managers, and implementing cross-training programs. The authors conclude that intentional realignment of organizational structures toward supporting cooperative behaviors can create environments where multi-disciplinary problem-solving flourishes, ultimately benefiting both internal stakeholders and end customers.

In today's complex business environment, cross-functional collaboration is essential for organizations to adapt, innovate, and solve problems effectively. However, getting different departments such as marketing, engineering, and finance to work together seamlessly is challenging. If left unaddressed, the barriers to cross-functional collaboration can cause initiatives to stall or fail, negatively impacting organizational performance.

Today we will examine some key reasons why cross-functional collaboration frequently breaks down based on research from organizational behavior and leadership studies.

Barriers to Cross-Functional Collaboration

Lack of Shared Understanding

One major barrier to cross-functional collaboration is the lack of a shared understanding between departments regarding priorities, constraints, languages, and ways of working (Gittell, 2016; Scott & Davis, 2007). Without taking the time to understand different perspectives, surface assumptions, and align on shared goals, collaboration will suffer. For example, a research study at a manufacturing company found marketing and R&D frequently failed to collaborate effectively because they didn't understand each other's constraints and needs (Gittell, 2016). This lack of understanding led to misaligned efforts.

Organizational Silos

Functional silos within organizations also undermine collaboration (Lerner et al., 2015; Westley, 1990). When departments are measured, rewarded, and think primarily in terms of their own KPIs rather than enterprise-wide goals, it creates an "us vs. them" mentality that inhibits cooperation. Silos often develop their own languages, values, and ways of operating that are non-permeable to outside influence (Lerner et al., 2015). This makes it difficult for cross-departmental teams to work fluidly together. For instance, at one financial services firm siloed incentives caused product development efforts to prioritize individual department needs over customer jobs that span functions (Christensen et al., 2018).

Lack of Leadership Commitment

For cross-functional collaboration to thrive, strong leadership commitment is needed to break down barriers between silos, align incentives, and role model collaborative behaviors (Gittell, 2016; Scott & Davis, 2007). Yet in many organizations leadership pays more attention to financial results within departments than enabling cooperation across them. Without clear direction and active support from the top, collaborative initiatives will struggle to gain momentum (Bstieler & Hemmert, 2010). As an example, a study of multi-national engineering companies found cross-project teams regularly failed to work together seamlessly due to a lack of leadership reinforcement of collaborative behaviors (Bstieler & Hemmert, 2010).

Individual Mindsets and Behaviors

On an individual level, mindsets that see other functions as competitors rather than partners also impede collaboration (Gittell, 2016; Westley, 1990). People are naturally predisposed to protect their own turfs and credit rather than share information openly. Unhelpful behaviors like excluding others from decisions, hoarding resources/knowledge, and overly hierarchical interactions reduce cooperation across silos. One study documented how account managers at a telecom business resisted sharing tools and best practices with their cross-functional colleagues due to concerns about ceding power (Cirulli & Evans, 2018). Such individual-level barriers must also be addressed.

Overcoming Barriers through Organizational Design

To overcome the barriers discussed and cultivate an environment where cross-functional collaboration thrives, focused effort is required from an organizational design perspective. The following approaches have been shown to effectively promote collaborative mindsets and behaviors across silos when implemented holistically:

• Establish Shared Goals: Aligning KPIs, initiatives, and incentives enterprise-wide around collaborative goals that span functions helps break down silos (Gittell, 2016). For instance, a medical devices company redesigned goal-setting processes to emphasize enterprise goals over individual business unit targets. This shift towards shared aims and metrics noticeably improved coordination across R&D, marketing and manufacturing functions.

• Blend Functional Expertise: Organizations can overcome siloed perspectives by blending functional skillsets within teams, projects and leadership roles (Lerner et al., 2015). For example, a technology firm implemented a policy of staffing all new product initiatives with balanced cross-functional project teams including roles from engineering, sales, and customer support. This early integration of viewpoints facilitated cooperative problem-solving.

• Foster Communities of Practice: Creating communities where peers from different functions can share knowledge and problem-solve jointly helps diminish "us vs. them" mindsets over time (Wenger, 2010). At a global bank, regular forum-style meetings are held across branches for cross-departmental staff at similar career levels to socially bond and strategize collaboratively on initiatives.

• Role Model Collaboration: Leadership must demonstrate cooperative behaviors to shift norms (Gittell, 2016; Scott & Davis, 2007). For instance, an insurance company redesigned executive performance evaluations to reward collaboration as highly as financial targets. Cross-functional participation in decisions was also mandated to show cooperative leadership is a priority.

• Use Project Managers: Having skilled project managers facilitate cross-functional teams can help overcome communication and process barriers stemming from different functional expertise and ways of working (Lerner et al., 2015). At one cosmetics corporation, project managers are specially trained to fluently traverse functions and adopt a partnership-focused facilitation style.

• Provide Cross-Training: Allowing staff exposure to different functions via rotations or education sessions fosters understanding of various perspectives and constraints (Gittell, 2016). A logistics firm implemented an annual employee exchange program where staff spend time shadowing peers in other departments to gain first-hand cross-functional perspective.

Conclusion

In today's complex business landscape, cross-functional collaboration is crucial for organizational success yet faces many barriers if left unaddressed. Overcoming these challenges requires intentional effort to realign organizational structures and systems towards supporting cooperative behaviors and mindsets across silos. Implementing approaches focused on shared goals, blended expertise, leadership role modeling, and cross-exposure can help establish environments where multi-disciplinary problem-solving and cooperation thrive. By focusing on collaboration at an organizational design level, barriers to cross-functional partnership can be removed, allowing initiatives to progress more smoothly and value to be created for both internal customers and end customers across functions. When done holistically and reinforced continuously, such efforts can yield significant dividends by making the most of combined functional strengths within organizations.

References

1. Bstieler, L., & Hemmert, M. (2010). Increasing learning and time efficiency in interorganizational new product development teams. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(4), 485-499.

2. Christensen, C. M., Hart, S. L., & Laden, B. (2018). Managing the Innovators' Dilemma. Masterclass Series. Harvard Business Review.

3. Cirulli, S., & Evans, M. (2018). The sharing attitudes of account managers: Scale development and validation. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 36(7), 1259-1281.

4. Gittell, J. H. (2016). Transforming relations: Relational coordination as a mediator and input of high performance work systems. Human Resource Management Review, 26(1), 3-31.

5. Lerner, J., Li, Y., Valdes, A., & Bente, D. (2015). Cross-functional teams as information processing networks: Lessons from an emergency room. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 60, 1-17.

6. Scott, S. G., & Davis, G. F. (2007). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural and open systems perspectives. Prentice Hall.

7. Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of practice and social learning systems: The career of a concept. In C. Blackmore (Ed.), Social learning systems and communities of practice (pp. 179–198). Springer Verlag and the Open University.

8. Westley, F. (1990). Middle managers and strategy: Microdynamics of inclusion. Strategic Management Journal, 11(5), 337-351.

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Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.

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Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2026). Cross-Functional Collaboration: Overcoming the Barriers to Success. Human Capital Leadership Review, 21(4). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.21.4.7