Departmentalization: A Cross-Functional Team

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The quote “No man is an island” is something very familiar for everyone. It implies that man will always need someone else in their lives. They need other people so that they can grow and fulfil what it is that they have to fulfil. Just like in a company, one cannot do all the work alone. They will always work in groups so that one does not have to carry all the burden of the work given to them. They have to work together so that they will be able to finish their tasks in their respective groups given by their managers. And in an organization structure, this is called departmentalization. Departmentalization, as written by Daft (2010), is a “basis for grouping positions into departments and departments into the total organization” (p. 250). …show more content…

These are the cross-functional teams, the permanent teams, and the team-based structure. Cross-functional team, just by the name itself, is a cross of the different functional teams in a company. These different functional teams meet together to resolve some problems regarding the company and work as one team. But most of the time, this kind of team-up is used when the company tries to make some new products or services. Permanent teams, according to Daft (2010), are “a group of participants from several functions who are permanently assigned to solve ongoing problems of common interest” (p. 256). This kind of team gets people from the different functional teams to work together. Although this is like a cross-functional team, there is still a slight difference. Just from the name, this kind of team is permanent – which means that it is a team that will exist forever and have permanent members. Lastly is the team-based structure. Team-based structure is a kind of structure wherein everyone in the company is part of a horizontal team. In this horizontal team, the work of each member is organized and they work directly with the customers they have in order to achieve their goals (Daft, 2010, p. 256). Lastly, there is the virtual network approach. The virtual network approach is something that is greatly connected to outsourcing. Outsourcing is where a company lets another company make or do a specific product or job for them since they are better in that field than them. So the virtual network approach, as stated by Daft (2010), is “an organization structure that disaggregates major functions to separate companies that are brokered by a small headquarters organization” (p. 256). In other words they outsource their major functions to other

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