Interdisciplinary research involves collaboration between scholars from different academic disciplines to address complex problems and explore new research questions that cannot be adequately addressed within the boundaries of a single discipline. By integrating perspectives, methodologies, and approaches from multiple fields, interdisciplinary research fosters creativity, innovation, and holistic understanding, leading to more comprehensive solutions and insights.
The purpose of interdisciplinary research is to bridge the gaps between disciplines, leverage diverse expertise, and generate new knowledge that transcends disciplinary boundaries. The scope of interdisciplinary research encompasses a wide range of topics, from fundamental scientific questions to applied research and policy development in areas such as health, environment, technology, and society.
Principal Concepts
Integration of Disciplines: Interdisciplinary research involves the integration of concepts, theories, and methods from multiple disciplines, often requiring scholars to step outside their disciplinary comfort zones and engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration.
Complex Problem Solving: Interdisciplinary research focuses on addressing complex, multifaceted problems that cannot be adequately understood or solved within the confines of a single discipline, requiring a holistic, systems-oriented approach to problem solving.
Collaborative Networks: Interdisciplinary research relies on collaborative networks of scholars, institutions, and organizations that share a commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry and collaboration, facilitating knowledge exchange, capacity building, and collective action.
Theoretical Foundations of Interdisciplinary Research
Interdisciplinary research draws on principles from various theoretical perspectives, including:
Systems Theory: Interdisciplinary research aligns with systems theory, which emphasizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of systems and subsystems, highlighting the need for holistic, integrated approaches to understanding complex phenomena.
Boundary Crossing: Interdisciplinary research involves boundary crossing, where scholars navigate the boundaries between disciplines, epistemologies, and methodologies to generate new insights and knowledge that transcend disciplinary silos.
Methods and Techniques for Interdisciplinary Research
Interdisciplinary research projects employ a variety of methods and techniques:
Transdisciplinary Workshops and Seminars: Organizing interdisciplinary workshops, seminars, and conferences to bring together scholars from different disciplines to exchange ideas, share expertise, and explore collaborative research opportunities.
Mixed Methods Research: Integrating qualitative and quantitative research methods, data sources, and analytical techniques to triangulate findings, validate results, and provide a more comprehensive understanding of complex phenomena.
Applications of Interdisciplinary Research
Interdisciplinary research has diverse applications across academic disciplines, sectors, and domains:
Health and Medicine: Interdisciplinary research informs advancements in health and medicine by integrating insights from biomedical sciences, engineering, social sciences, and humanities to address complex health challenges, such as infectious diseases, chronic conditions, and healthcare disparities.
Sustainability and Environment: Interdisciplinary research contributes to sustainability and environmental conservation efforts by combining knowledge from ecology, economics, policy studies, and urban planning to develop innovative solutions for mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity, and promoting sustainable development.
Industries Influenced by Interdisciplinary Research
Interdisciplinary research has influenced a wide range of industries and sectors, including:
Technology and Innovation: Interdisciplinary research drives technological innovation by integrating insights from computer science, engineering, design, and psychology to develop user-centered technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and wearable devices.
Policy and Governance: Interdisciplinary research informs policy development and governance strategies by synthesizing evidence from diverse disciplines, such as economics, political science, sociology, and law, to address complex social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Advantages of Interdisciplinary Research
Creativity and Innovation: Interdisciplinary research fosters creativity and innovation by bringing together diverse perspectives, expertise, and approaches to generate novel ideas, theories, and solutions that transcend disciplinary boundaries.
Comprehensive Understanding: Interdisciplinary research promotes a comprehensive understanding of complex phenomena by integrating insights from multiple disciplines, providing a more nuanced, holistic perspective that captures the multidimensional nature of reality.
Real-World Impact: Interdisciplinary research has real-world impact by producing actionable knowledge, policy recommendations, and technological innovations that address pressing societal challenges and improve quality of life for individuals and communities.
Challenges and Considerations in Interdisciplinary Research
Despite its benefits, interdisciplinary research presents challenges:
Communication and Coordination: Interdisciplinary research requires effective communication and coordination among scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds, methodologies, and vocabularies, which can lead to misunderstandings, conflicts, and coordination challenges.
Integration of Knowledge: Integrating knowledge from diverse disciplines and epistemological traditions into a coherent framework can be challenging, as scholars must reconcile conflicting theories, assumptions, and paradigms to develop an integrated understanding of the research problem.
Integration with Broader Research and Innovation Strategies
To maximize the benefits of interdisciplinary research, it should be integrated with broader research and innovation strategies:
Institutional Support: Providing institutional support, funding, and resources for interdisciplinary research initiatives, centers, and programs that facilitate collaboration, capacity building, and knowledge exchange across disciplines.
Interdisciplinary Training and Education: Incorporating interdisciplinary training and education into academic curricula and professional development programs to prepare scholars, students, and practitioners for interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
Future Directions in Interdisciplinary Research
As interdisciplinary research continues to evolve, future trends may include:
Global Collaboration: Facilitating global collaboration and knowledge exchange in interdisciplinary research through international networks, partnerships, and initiatives that address transnational challenges and promote cross-cultural understanding and cooperation.
Data Science and Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing data science and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to analyze and synthesize large, heterogeneous datasets from multiple disciplines, enabling researchers to extract meaningful insights, patterns, and trends that inform interdisciplinary research and innovation.
Conclusion
Interdisciplinary research plays a vital role in advancing knowledge, addressing complex problems, and fostering innovation in an increasingly interconnected and complex world. By bridging disciplinary boundaries, integrating diverse perspectives, and promoting collaboration, interdisciplinary research generates new insights, approaches, and solutions that have real-world impact and relevance. While interdisciplinary research presents challenges and considerations, it also offers significant advantages in terms of creativity, innovation, and holistic understanding, making it an essential and transformative approach to research and inquiry in the 21st century.
In a functional organizational structure, groups and teams are organized based on function. Therefore, this organization follows a top-down structure, where most decision flows from top management to bottom. Thus, the bottom of the organization mostly follows the strategy detailed by the top of the organization.
In a flat organizational structure, there is little to no middle management between employees and executives. Therefore it reduces the space between employees and executives to enable an effective communication flow within the organization, thus being faster and leaner.
Project portfolio management (PPM) is a systematic approach to selecting and managing a collection of projects aligned with organizational objectives. That is a business process of managing multiple projects which can be identified, prioritized, and managed within the organization. PPM helps organizations optimize their investments by allocating resources efficiently across all initiatives.
Harvard Business School professor Dr. John Kotter has been a thought-leader on organizational change, and he developed Kotter’s 8-step change model, which helps business managers deal with organizational change. Kotter created the 8-step model to drive organizational transformation.
The Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model was created by David Nadler and Michael Tushman at Columbia University. The Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model is a diagnostic tool that identifies problem areas within a company. In the context of business, congruence occurs when the goals of different people or interest groups coincide.
McKinsey’s Seven Degrees of Freedom for Growth is a strategy tool. Developed by partners at McKinsey and Company, the tool helps businesses understand which opportunities will contribute to expansion, and therefore it helps to prioritize those initiatives.
Mintzberg’s 5Ps of Strategy is a strategy development model that examines five different perspectives (plan, ploy, pattern, position, perspective) to develop a successful business strategy. A sixth perspective has been developed over the years, called Practice, which was created to help businesses execute their strategies.
The COSO framework is a means of designing, implementing, and evaluating control within an organization. The COSO framework’s five components are control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities. As a fraud risk management tool, businesses can design, implement, and evaluate internal control procedures.
The TOWS Matrix is an acronym for Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses, and Strengths. The matrix is a variation on the SWOT Analysis, and it seeks to address criticisms of the SWOT Analysis regarding its inability to show relationships between the various categories.
Lewin’s change management model helps businesses manage the uncertainty and resistance associated with change. Kurt Lewin, one of the first academics to focus his research on group dynamics, developed a three-stage model. He proposed that the behavior of individuals happened as a function of group behavior.
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory that transitioned into a for-profit organization in 2019. The corporate structure is organized around two entities: OpenAI, Inc., which is a single-member Delaware LLC controlled by OpenAI non-profit, And OpenAI LP, which is a capped, for-profit organization. The OpenAI LP is governed by the board of OpenAI, Inc (the foundation), which acts as a General Partner. At the same time, Limited Partners comprise employees of the LP, some of the board members, and other investors like Reid Hoffman’s charitable foundation, Khosla Ventures, and Microsoft, the leading investor in the LP.
Airbnb follows a holacracy model, or a sort of flat organizational structure, where teams are organized for projects, to move quickly and iterate fast, thus keeping a lean and flexible approach. Airbnb also moved to a hybrid model where employees can work from anywhere and meet on a quarterly basis to plan ahead, and connect to each other.
The Amazon organizational structure is predominantly hierarchical with elements of function-based structure and geographic divisions. While Amazon started as a lean, flat organization in its early years, it transitioned into a hierarchical organization with its jobs and functions clearly defined as it scaled.
The Coca-Cola Company has a somewhat complex matrix organizational structure with geographic divisions, product divisions, business-type units, and functional groups.
Costco has a matrix organizational structure, which can simply be defined as any structure that combines two or more different types. In this case, a predominant functional structure exists with a more secondary divisional structure.
Costco’s geographic divisions reflect its strong presence in the United States combined with its expanding global presence. There are six divisions in the country alone to reflect its standing as the source of most company revenue.
Compared to competitor Walmart, for example, Costco takes more a decentralized approach to management, decision-making, and autonomy. This allows the company’s stores and divisions to more flexibly respond to local market conditions.
Dell has a functional organizational structure with some degree of decentralization. This means functional departments share information, contribute ideas to the success of the organization and have some degree of decision-making power.
eBay was until recently a multi-divisional (M-form) organization with semi-autonomous units grouped according to the services they provided. Today, eBay has a single division called Marketplace, which includes eBay and its international iterations.
Facebook is characterized by a multi-faceted matrix organizational structure. The company utilizes a flat organizational structure in combination with corporate function-based teams and product-based or geographic divisions. The flat organization structure is organized around the leadership of Mark Zuckerberg, and the key executives around him. On the other hand, the function-based teams are based on the main corporate functions (like HR, product management, investor relations, and so on).
Goldman Sachs has a hierarchical structure with a clear chain of command and defined career advancement process. The structure is also underpinned by business-type divisions and function-based groups.
Google (Alphabet) has a cross-functional (team-based) organizational structure known as a matrix structure with some degree of flatness. Over the years, as the company scaled and it became a tech giant, its organizational structure is morphing more into a centralized organization.
IBM has an organizational structure characterized by product-based divisions, enabling its strategy to develop innovative and competitive products in multiple markets. IBM is also characterized by function-based segments that support product development and innovation for each product-based division, which include Global Markets, Integrated Supply Chain, Research, Development, and Intellectual Property.
McDonald’s has a divisional organizational structure where each division – based on geographical location – is assigned operational responsibilities and strategic objectives. The main geographical divisions are the US, internationally operated markets, and international developmental licensed markets. And on the other hand, the hierarchical leadership structure is organized around regional and functional divisions.
McKinsey & Company has a decentralized organizational structure with mostly self-managing offices, committees, and employees. There are also functional groups and geographic divisions with proprietary names.
Microsoft has a product-type divisional organizational structure based on functions and engineering groups. As the company scaled over time it also became more hierarchical, however still keeping its hybrid approach between functions, engineering groups, and management.
Nestlé has a geographical divisional structure with operations segmented into five key regions. For many years, Swiss multinational food and drink company Nestlé had a complex and decentralized matrix organizational structure where its numerous brands and subsidiaries were free to operate autonomously.
Nike has a matrix organizational structure incorporating geographic divisions. Nike’s matrix structure is also present at the regional and sub-regional levels. Managerial responsibility is segmented according to business unit (apparel, footwear, and equipment) and function (human resources, finance, marketing, sales, and operations).
Patagonia has a particular organizational structure, where its founder, Chouinard, disposed of the company’s ownership in the hands of two non-profits. The Patagonia Purpose Trust, holding 100% of the voting stocks, is in charge of defining the company’s strategic direction. And the Holdfast Collective, a non-profit, holds 100% of non-voting stocks, aiming to re-invest the brand’s dividends into environmental causes.
Samsung has a product-type divisional organizational structure where products determine how resources and business operations are categorized. The main resources around which Samsung’s corporate structure is organized are consumer electronics, IT, and device solutions. In addition, Samsung leadership functions are organized around a few career levels grades, based on experience (assistant, professional, senior professional, and principal professional).
Sony has a matrix organizational structure primarily based on function-based groups and product/business divisions. The structure also incorporates geographical divisions. In 2021, Sony announced the overhauling of its organizational structure, changing its name from Sony Corporation to Sony Group Corporation to better identify itself as the headquarters of the Sony group of companies skewing the company toward product divisions.
Starbucks follows a matrix organizational structure with a combination of vertical and horizontal structures. It is characterized by multiple, overlapping chains of command and divisions.
Tesla is characterized by a functional organizational structure with aspects of a hierarchical structure. Tesla does employ functional centers that cover all business activities, including finance, sales, marketing, technology, engineering, design, and the offices of the CEO and chairperson. Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, decide the strategic direction of the company, with international operations given little autonomy.
Toyota has a divisional organizational structure where business operations are centered around the market, product, and geographic groups. Therefore, Toyota organizes its corporate structure around global hierarchies (most strategic decisions come from Japan’s headquarter), product-based divisions (where the organization is broken down, based on each product line), and geographical divisions (according to the geographical areas under management).
Walmart has a hybrid hierarchical-functional organizational structure, otherwise referred to as a matrix structure that combines multiple approaches. On the one hand, Walmart follows a hierarchical structure, where the current CEO Doug McMillon is the only employee without a direct superior, and directives are sent from top-level management. On the other hand, the function-based structure of Walmart is used to categorize employees according to their particular skills and experience.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
