| A team as an isolated island is a constellation that does not work properly in reality. The interdependence between a team and its stakeholders, resources, and other teams is essential for its success. Bridges need to be built to senior management, functional departments and main support groups which deliver funding, staff, resources, and ideas. Furthermore, the goals, responsibilities and vision of a team need to be clearly communicated. These issues are particularly important for an autonomous team that works remotely from its original functional department. The engineering team involved in this study seeks a cross-functional, synergistic collaboration with a design team in order to develop innovative automotive concepts. The purpose of this study is to support this vision by providing theoretical and qualitative input about obstacles and their sources, which prevent from the achievement of this goal. The conflicts evaluated in this study include organizational, leadership, communication and classical design-engineering aspects. |
