TY  - JOUR
AB  - Many organisations are under pressure to diversify products,
respond more aggressively to competitors, and reduce inventories.
Businesses which operate along traditional, formal lines often cannot
adapt sufficiently quickly to these new demands. To be more responsive,
people in different functions need to be more collaborative and less
insular towards one another. This article, the first of a two part
series, describes techniques which can build understanding and active
co‐operation between departments and hierarchical levels. The techniques
are categorised into six levels: (1) awareness of one another′s
perceived pressures and bottlenecks; (2) appreciating how different
personal strengths can be complementary; (3) designing procedures for
decision making and information flow; (4) setting up temporary teams to
tackle company‐wide improvement areas; (5) identifying roles and
responsibilities; and (6) changing the formal structure. These
techniques are analysed in terms of the usual time‐scale of
implementation and of the potential risk of “getting it
wrong”.
VL  - 23
IS  - 1
SN  - 0019-7858
DO  - 10.1108/00197859110135334
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/00197859110135334
AU  - Berger Mel
PY  - 1991
Y1  - 1991/01/01
TI  - BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS – PART I: INTER‐DEPARTMENTAL
TEAM BUILDING
T2  - Industrial and Commercial Training
PB  - MCB UP Ltd
Y2  - 2024/04/20
ER  -