Textile and Apparel Industries

Working Together is Success: Examining Cross-Functional Team Performance in the Global Apparel Supply Chain

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Abstract

Cross-functional teams have been utilized in many companies as a way to organize employees from different specialties to create new products or processes with lower development costs, faster speed to market, greater innovation, and better product design and quality (Sarin & Mahajan, 2001). Drawing from organizational and psychology literature, the study attempted to assess an apparel cross-functional team's performance based on employees' emotional intelligence (EI), job satisfaction, and career success. An online survey method was utilized to collect 135 usable responses in January 2015. The sample included global apparel supply chain members that were recruited by snowball sampling technique. Regression-based conditional process analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals was used for analysis and EI and job satisfaction positively affect cross-functional team success, as well as, job satisfaction mediating the relationship between EI and team success. Implications for the industry are organizations need to develop work environments that support emotionally intelligent employees.

How to Cite:

McAndrews, L. E. & Ha-Brookshire, J. E., (2016) “Working Together is Success: Examining Cross-Functional Team Performance in the Global Apparel Supply Chain”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 73(1).