Purpose

The purpose of the research work is to investigate the importance of the communication in the cross-functional teams and in what which communicational tools provide better convenience of communication in cross-functional team members.

Methodology

An empirical study including the data collection from the interviews conducted from the participants working in cross-functional teams. Qualitative approach has been adopted to understand the communicational attributes in the cross-functional teams. For the analysis both deductive and abductive approach has been used. With the help of theoretical framework and empirical data, conclusions drown for better understanding of the concept.

Findings

The author has divided the search in two main segments, communicational effects on cross-functional team performance and effectiveness of particular communicational tools used by team members and team leaders. Empirical findings shows that without proper communication, cross-functional team are less tend to perform well to achieve set goals as well as face to face communications are more effective than other communicational tools. 

Research limitations

The research work is limited to Scandinavian countries. Organizational communicational structures are not studied due to time factor. Other limitation of this research work is effect of cultural differences on communication.

Implications

The research work provides deep understanding of the different communicational effects on cross-functional team performance. The choice of communicational tool and proportional importance for the team members will help managers while selecting the tools of communication with the team members.

Originality / value

During the literature studies, author determined that there is potential of research for the communicational tools used in cross-functional team communications. The social media is taking over the traditional communicational tools which provide value for findings.