TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving cross-functional teams’ effectiveness during supply chain disruptions
T2 - the importance of information scouting and internal integration
AU - van den Adel, Mitchell J.
AU - de Vries, Thomas A.
AU - van Donk, Dirk Pieter
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by NWO [Grant 439.16.811 and 016.Veni.195.257]. NWO had no role in the research process other than its funding.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2023/4/28
Y1 - 2023/4/28
N2 - Purpose: Organizations increasingly rely on cross-functional teams to deal with supply chain (SC) disruptions. These teams may use their broad range of connections and expertise to gather or scout relevant information, enabling them to develop integrative countermeasures and increase their organization’s resilience. Despite their potential, cross-functional teams often struggle to attain information scouting’s prospective benefits for effectively resolving disruptions. By drawing from group information-processing theory, this study aims to explore when and how cross-functional teams can realize information scouting’s full potential for ensuring their organization’s resilience. Design/methodology/approach: Multisource, multi-informant data were collected from 80 cross-functional teams exposed to SC disruptions in a realistic SC management simulation. Findings: The results show that a cross-functional team’s ability to effectively use information scouting for ensuring its organization’s resilience is contingent upon the degree to which the team’s members share information and align decisions internally (i.e. internal integration). The findings further reveal that this moderating role of internal integration is strengthened when the cross-functional team faces a volatile environment in which multiple SC disruptions are likely to occur (i.e. higher SC vulnerability). Originality/value: This study contributes by advancing a more complete perspective on how a cross-functional team may contribute to its organization’s resilience. Specifically, the present research reveals how the benefits of a cross-functional team’s information scouting for dealing with SC disruptions are critically dependent upon internal conditions within the team, as well as external conditions related to its organization’s overall SC (i.e. beyond individual dyadic relationships).
AB - Purpose: Organizations increasingly rely on cross-functional teams to deal with supply chain (SC) disruptions. These teams may use their broad range of connections and expertise to gather or scout relevant information, enabling them to develop integrative countermeasures and increase their organization’s resilience. Despite their potential, cross-functional teams often struggle to attain information scouting’s prospective benefits for effectively resolving disruptions. By drawing from group information-processing theory, this study aims to explore when and how cross-functional teams can realize information scouting’s full potential for ensuring their organization’s resilience. Design/methodology/approach: Multisource, multi-informant data were collected from 80 cross-functional teams exposed to SC disruptions in a realistic SC management simulation. Findings: The results show that a cross-functional team’s ability to effectively use information scouting for ensuring its organization’s resilience is contingent upon the degree to which the team’s members share information and align decisions internally (i.e. internal integration). The findings further reveal that this moderating role of internal integration is strengthened when the cross-functional team faces a volatile environment in which multiple SC disruptions are likely to occur (i.e. higher SC vulnerability). Originality/value: This study contributes by advancing a more complete perspective on how a cross-functional team may contribute to its organization’s resilience. Specifically, the present research reveals how the benefits of a cross-functional team’s information scouting for dealing with SC disruptions are critically dependent upon internal conditions within the team, as well as external conditions related to its organization’s overall SC (i.e. beyond individual dyadic relationships).
KW - Cross-functional teams
KW - Information scouting
KW - Internal integration
KW - Organizational resilience
KW - Supply chain disruptions
KW - Supply chain vulnerability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144908940&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/SCM-06-2022-0243
DO - 10.1108/SCM-06-2022-0243
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85144908940
SN - 1359-8546
VL - 28
SP - 773
EP - 786
JO - Supply Chain Management
JF - Supply Chain Management
IS - 4
ER -