Introduction
This barrier impedes cross-functional processes by grouping all employees involved into performing specific functions into departments, thus reducing the costs but at the same time enhancing the time for achievement of the given goals. In my personal life, I saw this barrier in my mother’s job that has to do with the export of certain goods into Germany. When doing business with German companies, especially large ones, one has to go through lengthy bureaucratic procedures, where each governmental department is responsible only for a very limited part of the work, which dramatically extends the overall serving time.
Measurement and reward system
Most rewards systems are based on functional achievement which means people are rewarded only for the functions assigned to them without considering the additional tasks an employee may complete to facilitate internal processes integration (Bowersox et al., 2020). Thus, instead of rewarding initiative, the companies often reward strict adherence to the established time-consuming procedures. The barrier is well seen in the governmental services system where many employees are rewarded for stand-alone performance and are not encouraged to go outside the narrow frameworks outlined by the tasks.
Inventory leverage
Many companies keep a large amount of inventory which increases the ultimate costs of their production (Ieva & Virgilija, 2019). In my personal experience, I saw large stockpiles of goods in warehouses of the company my mother works for. The company is export-oriented so the management aims to keep large stockpiles to live through any potential emergencies in the supply chain of goods. However, the costs of keeping them turn out to be rather high.
Infocratic structure
The barrier lies in the fact that information is structured in such a way as to meet the functional requirements of a certain department. At the same time, much information is unavailable outside the given department which drastically impedes cross-functional processes. I saw this barrier in my mother’s job where governmental departments that provide services to import-based organizations in Germany do not know the information provided by other departments.
Conclusion
The barrier deals with the lack of knowledge transfer and information sharing among company employees. I saw this barrier in my mother’s job where they had a computer expert who is great at solving different software issues. At the same time, when he quit, the company had great trouble with the software, since no one else understood how to fix computer problems.
References
Bowersox, D., Closs, D., Bixby, M., & Bowersox, J. (2020). Supply chain logistics management (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Ieva, M. K., & Virgilija, V. V. (2019) Analysis on barriers to a collaborative supply chain. Conceptual aspects management of competitiveness the economic entities, 20. Web.