A recent research study indicates that the
concept of drawing on the coordinated expertise of a group from different
functional areas to investigate and resolve operation issues as a ‘team’
appears to have caught on. In the procurement area, this development will have
a long-run impact on the procurement management organization structure.

Importance of Cross Departmental Collaboration in Procurement

High performers exist in different business units
and building successful cross functional teams brings out the best in
everyone.  Working towards an organization’s common goal is one of the
major benefits of cross functional team collaboration. In practice, the
involvement of cross-functional personnel in these activities appears to be
emerging through the evolution of cross functional teams (procurement point of
view). They are:

            a) Goods / Services Procurement Strategy
Team: Team’s
objective is to rationalize the supplier base, solve specific problem and
develop a strategic procurement plan for the given goods / services.

        b) Sourcing
Team: A sourcing
team focuses on the investigation and selection of one or more sources for a
given items. Operationally, each team member monitors the performance of a
group of suppliers and involves factor such as quality check, cost improvement,
delivery performance and so on. Some sourcing team have an ongoing life, but a
majority are temporary teams.

        c) New
Product Development Team: This
important team usually includes members from design, engineering,
manufacturing, marketing, QC, procurement and one or more suppliers’
representatives. The responsibility is to analyse possible alternative
configurations, develop the product’s design specifications and select the
material for manufacture

Every team needs to consider itself as working cross-functionally
all the time. If you are serious about
success, make sure that every aspect of the project and cross-functional work
shows up in your plan. These teams can “speed innovations to
market,” and “enable the organization to renew itself.” 

The 3 Cs of Cross-functional Teamwork

Design and developing a great procurement system
that allow user to effectively work together is no easy task but working simultaneously with multiple teams across your company can
stretch you to your limits. Cross-functional activities can be divided into
three related activities.

• Communication: The exchange of ideas and
  information. Teams need to be able to efficiently talk, ask
  questions, give answers and offer guidance to one another.

Summary

Frame your
procurement management in this way, which will bring more clarity and help you
understand and improve your process with other teams. Cross functional co-ordination will help you to build sustainable business relationship with them. Let’s build a powerful cross-functional procurement team to achieve organization’s common goal.