A review of the literature on cross-functional integration (2010-2020):Trends and recommendations

Purpose: Structural and technological changes are driving functional reorganization in many organizations. To date, there are very few articles that explicitly, consistently and cumulatively focus on cross-functional integration. This paper aims to review and explore the literature that does directly address cross-functional integration. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a literature review within the general management domain for the time frame 2010 to 2020 and identified 71 relevant articles that provide an overview of current practices and trends. Findings: This conceptual paper reviews this identified literature and outlines key trends, noteworthy articles and a summary of relevant theories, and provides an overview of outcomes linked to cross-functional integration in the literature. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for practitioners and an outline of potential research areas for academic researchers, including a call for more theory integration, building and testing in the area of cross-functionality. Originality/value: This paper is the first of its kind to attempt to summarize the literature on cross-functionality (published between 2010 and 2020), a currently very fragmented field of study spread out across different management disciplines

Blood work:Managing menstruation, menopause and gynaecological health conditions in the workplace

The menstrual cycle remains neglected in explorations of public health, and entirely remiss in occupational health literature, despite being a problematic source of gendered inequalities at work. This paper proposes the new concept of blood work to explain the relationship between menstruation (and associated gynaecological health conditions) and employment for women and trans/non-binary people. We build on and extend health and organisational literature on managing bodies at work by arguing that those who experience menstruation face additional work or labour in the management of their own bodies through the menstrual cycle. We discuss how this additional labour replicates problematic elements that are identifiable in public health initiatives, in that it is individualised, requiring individual women and trans/non-binary people to navigate unsupportive workplaces. We present findings from an analysis of qualitative survey data that were completed by 627 participants working in higher education, revealing that employees’ blood work comprises distinct difficulties that are related to the management of painful, leaking bodies, access to facilities, stigma, and balancing workload. We suggest developing supportive workplaces and public health policies, which refocus the responsibility for accessible, equal workplaces that accommodate menstruating employees, and those with gynaecological health conditions

Understanding perspective taking and its role in relation to teamworking and diversity

In the current thesis I focus on perspective taking as a fundamental social process guiding productive and cooperative interactions within and between work teams. I define perspective taking as the effortful and effective understanding of diverse cognitions, emotions, and identities tied to particular targets in particular situations. Little attention has been given to perspective taking as a situational or state concept that can vary across groups, time, and contexts. Previous research has typically treated it as a stable personality difference or a temporary mindset induced in laboratory settings. In this thesis, I conduct three studies with data collected from Masters of Business Administration (MBA) study teams and one final study with military teams to examine how perspective taking supports effective teamwork interactions. In the first study, I use data collected from MBA team members to develop and validate three self-report, state indicator measures of active perspective taking: effort, empathic concern, and positive attributions. In the second study, I demonstrate positive reciprocal relationships over time between the three perspective taking indicators and cooperative team member outcomes. In the third study, I show that entire MBA teams can exhibit shared perspective taking at the team level of analysis. The results also confirm that team perspective taking indicators mediate between team diversity and team states of potency and reflexivity. In the final study, I develop a self-report measure of team perspective taking effectiveness or understanding and show that it is positively related to perceived performance, helping, and morale in military teams. I show that team perspective taking effectiveness is supported by elaboration of task perspectives and effective perspective taking for the external targets of other teams. The practical and research implications of the studies for understanding situational perspective taking, team effectiveness, and finding value in team diversity are discussed