functional

Examples of functional in the following topics:

• Functional Structure

  • An organization with a functional structure is divided based on functional areas, such as IT, finance, or marketing.
  • Functional departments arguably permit greater operational efficiency because employees with shared skills and knowledge are grouped together by functions performed.
  • Functional structures may also be susceptible to tunnel vision, with each function perceiving the organization only from within the frame of its own operation.
  • This organizational chart shows a broad functional structure at FedEx.
  • Each different functions (e.g., HR, finance, marketing) is managed from the top down via functional heads (the CFO, the CIO, various VPs, etc.).

• Functional vs. General Management

  • General managers focus on the entire business, while functional managers specialize in a particular unit or department.
  • Functional management and general management represent two differing responsibility sets with an organization.
  • Functional managers are most common in larger organizations with many moving parts, where different business functions are led by managers within those respective fields (i.e. marketing, finance, etc.).
  • Each functional manager is in control of a particular area of expertise—e.g., operations or policy and planning—and the general manager supervises all the functional managers.
  • Differentiate between functional management and general management from a business perspective

• Cross-Functional Teams

  • A cross-functional team comprises people from different departments and with special areas of expertise working to achieve a common goal.
  • Many business activities require cross-functional collaboration to achieve successful outcomes.
  • In this example, the team brings together people from five different functional areas.
  • This can make communication between members of a cross-functional team difficult and subject to misunderstanding.
  • Perceived differences in relative importance or credibility can undermine the effectiveness of cross-functional collaboration.

• The Role of Management in an Organization

  • Organizational design is largely a function based on systems thinking.
  • These functions enable management to create strategies and compile resources to lead operations and monitor outputs.
  • All levels of management perform these functions.
  • Middle-management will generally focus on operations within functional or geographic areas.
  • Lower-level managers will look at specific processes within functions or regions.

• Matrix Structure

  • Common organizational perspectives include function and product, function and region, or region and product.
  • In an organization grouped by function and product, for example, each product line will have management that corresponds to each function.
  • In a matrix structure, the organization is grouped by both product and function.
  • Product lines are managed horizontally and functions are managed vertically.
  • This means that each function—e.g., research, production, sales, and finance—has separate internal divisions for each product.

• Types of Teams

  • Depending on its needs and goals, a company can use a project team, a virtual team, or a cross-functional team.
  • Common types of teams found in organizations include project teams, virtual teams, and cross-functional teams.
  • Members of a project team often belong to different functional groups and are chosen to participate in the team based on specific skills they can contribute to the project.
  • Cross-functional teams combine people from different areas, such as marketing and engineering, to solve a problem or achieve a goal.

• Basic Types of Organizations

  • Weak/Functional Matrix: A project manager with limited authority is assigned to oversee cross-functional aspects of the project.
  • Functional managers maintain control over their resources and project areas.
  • Balanced/Functional Matrix: A project manager is assigned to oversee the project.
  • Power is shared equally between the project manager and functional managers, combining the best aspects of functional and project-oriented organizations.
  • Functional managers provide technical expertise and assign resources as needed.

• Increasing Coordination

  • It is a managerial function in which different activities of the business are properly adjusted and interlinked.
  • Employees within the functional divisions of an organization tend to perform a specialized set of tasks, such as engineering.
  • There are a number of ways to improve upon the coordination of different departments, work groups, teams, or functional specialists.
  • At a high level are multiple functional groups, or "modules"—technical, marketing, and intellectual property.
  • The linked working groups (e.g., data coding workgroup, security workgroup, and audio and video compression workgroup) within the technical functional group likely have coordinated functions.

• Frontline Management

  • Frontline management balances functional expertise with strong interpersonal skills to optimize specific operational processes.
  • At the front line, managers are often highly skilled and even functional specialists.
  • Core skill sets for frontline managers can change depending on what function they are overseeing.
  • If we are talking about an accounting manager, they must be able to balance the books and understand enough of everyone's specific function to fill the gaps.
  • This is a particularly good example of hierarchical thinking, as militarizes often function with a high degree of hierarchical authority.

• The Role of Teams in Organizations

  • In organizations, teams can be constructed both vertically (varying levels of management) and horizontally (across functional disciplines).
  • The underlying assumption of a well-functioning team is one of synergy, which is to say that the output of a team will be greater than the sum of each individuals contribution without a team architecture in place.
  • Some organizations have a need for strong cross-functional teams, which enable various functional competencies to align on shared objectives.