Meaning & use
cross-functionality
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablebusiness
The quality of involving people or parts from different departments or areas working together.
Grammar: Uncountable: you talk about cross-functionality in general, not 'a cross-functionality'.
Patterns
- cross-functionality between departments
- improve cross-functionality
The new manager encouraged cross-functionality between sales and engineering.
Cross-functionality helps teams solve problems faster because everyone shares different skills.
Common combinations
- promote cross-functionality
- The CEO wants to promote cross-functionality across all offices.
- lack of cross-functionality
- A lack of cross-functionality caused delays in the project.
- cross-functionality between teams
- We need more cross-functionality between teams to avoid duplication.
Synonyms and how they differ
- collaboration
- Collaboration is broader and can happen within one department; cross-functionality specifically means different functions working together.
- interdisciplinary
- Interdisciplinary is an adjective often used in academic settings; cross-functionality is a noun used in business.
Opposites
Word family
- cross-functional adjective
- Describing a team or process that includes different departments.
- functionality noun
- The range of functions or capabilities of something.
Commonly confused: cross-functionality or cross-functional?
cross-functionality vs cross-functional
Cross-functional is an adjective: 'a cross-functional team'. Cross-functionality is the noun for the quality itself.
Practice
The company improved _____ by creating teams with members from marketing, design, and finance.
Choose one answer.
The noun 'cross-functionality' fits after 'improved'. 'Cross-functional' is an adjective and would need a noun after it (e.g., 'cross-functional teams').
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cross-functionality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.