Teamwork and the high performance company

Many companies are restructuring key business processes to break down barriers between departments. Underlying these efforts is the belief that value is created through horizontal work flows ‐ flows which cut across traditional vertically organized functions and end at some point of contact with the customer. Central to this is the cross‐functional process team. While there is much evidence that teams can produce dramatic benefits (reductions in cost and cycle time, improvements in quality and accuracy, higher employee morale and lower absenteeism) it is in adopting these team structures that companies often find the greatest problems.