This document discusses multifunctional teams in marketing. It begins by explaining that as competition increases, firms are recognizing the importance of managing horizontal aspects across functions and business units through increased collaboration. One way this is occurring is through the use of cross-functional teams. The paper provides an overview of the literature on teamwork and examines the nature, roles, and involvement of marketing in multifunctional teams. It also identifies that more research is needed from a marketing perspective on issues like team composition, communication, and responsibilities of different functions within cross-functional teams.

1. MULTIFUNCTIONAL TEAMS IN MARKETING
David A. Reid, The University of Toledo
Jeen-Su Lim, The University of Toledo
Introduction
As competition and the rate of change continues to
accelerate in most markets, firms are recognizing the
importance of managing the "horizontal" aspects of their
businesses. These "horizontal" aspects have to do with the
linkages or interfaces between the various functions in a
fmn as well as those between the firm's different business
units. The "horizontal" issues become even more
significant given the trend towards flatter organizational
structures with fewer managers and fewer management
levels.
As a number of individuals (Drucker 1972; Peters 1987;
Schonberger 1990) have pointed out, to effectively create
value and serve the firm's customers all functions must be
dedicated to serving those customers. Yet, functional areas
may lose sight of this because of strongly ingrrained
functional thinking. Despite the fact that each function is
part of the same firm, relationships between the various
functions in many firms are often adversarial instead of
cooperative, with each functional area fighting to protect its
turf (Peters 1987). However, as Kanter (1989) notes,
horizontal linkages in terms ofactivity and communication
are replacing traditional vertical ones. In fact, according to
Peters (1987, p. 370), evidence suggests that 75 percent of
a middle manager's time must be spent on horizontal rather
than vertical communication. As firms increasingly require
corporate staffs and functional departments to take a more
strategic role and to engage in greater cross-functional
collaboration, Kanter argues that managers will have to
assume roles and operate in ways quite different than they
have in the past.
Purpose
One such way that this change is occurring is through the
use of cross-functional teams. While teams in various
forms and for various purposes have been used over the
years by business, it is only recently that fmns, as well as
many academics, are beginning to recognize the value of
teams as a key organizational building block. This paper
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provides a conceptual overview of the literature on
teamwork and teams in organizations and examines the
nature, use, role, and involvement of marketing in
multifunctional teams. In addition, this paper also
identifies critical issues in formation and management of
cross-functional teams involving the marketing function.
Research Issues
Most ofthe existing literature has come primarily from the
organizationaldesignandorganizationalbehaviorliterature.
Only limited research in marketing has dealt with the
various cross-functional issues facing marketing. This
research can be divided into studies that have looked at
cross-functional issues from a broad multifunctional
perspective (e.g., Hutt and Speh 1984; Lim and Reid 1992;
Ruekert and Walker 1987) versus those that have focused
more narrowly on relationships between marketing and one
or two other functional areas such as R & D or engineering
(e.g. Blois 1980; Gupta, Raj, and Wilemon 1986).
However, with respect to teams, the extent of marketing's
academic research efforts have been limited mainly to
product development teams and team selling. There is an
urgent need for further research on team issues as they
relate to these two but even more so for research on
marketing's involvement in other teams within the fmn and
between the fmn and its suppliers and customers. In
addition, research from a marketing standpoint is needed to
examine such team issues as composition, communication,
coordination, and the responsibilities and roles of the
various functions involved.
As the pressure for fmns to become more market-driven
continues to increase, due to more intense domestic and
global competition, many firms are recognizing the
importance and usefulness of cross-functional teams and
cross-functional organizational arrangements in becoming
market-driven. With the adoption of a cross-functional
team structure, the role ofmarketing will inevitably change.
The critical issue to be addressed is how marketing will
respond to this challenge.