Between silence and voice: communicating in cross-functional project teams

Despite forecasts of the increasing use of cross-functional project teams in industry, too little is known about how such teams function and how they might come to function more effectively. One organization, a small manufacturing firm in the Southeast, and members of a selected cross-functional project team consented to have a researcher present during the life cycle of a single project. Reflections based on the resulting case study highlight three overarching areas of concern in cross-functional designs: first, equity as an evolving blueprint for project-team work; secondly, trust as the foundation upon which solid progress depends; and thirdly, authority as the visible framework of the process and products of the team´s work