Parallel teams, also known as lateral teams or task forces, are temporary groups of individuals from different departments or functional areas within an organization who come together to address specific issues, solve complex problems, or complete projects outside of their regular roles and responsibilities. Unlike traditional teams, which are typically hierarchical and permanent, parallel teams are formed to provide expertise, resources, and diverse perspectives to tackle cross-functional challenges or opportunities. Parallel teams play a crucial role in promoting collaboration, innovation, and organizational agility by leveraging the collective knowledge and skills of team members from different parts of the organization.
Parallel teams are formed in response to specific business needs, strategic initiatives, or organizational challenges that require cross-functional collaboration.
Team composition is carefully curated to include individuals with relevant expertise, skills, and perspectives from different departments or functional areas.
Problem-Solving and Decision-Making:
Parallel teams are tasked with solving complex problems, developing innovative solutions, or making strategic decisions that impact the organization.
Team members leverage their collective knowledge, experience, and analytical skills to analyze issues, explore alternative solutions, and make informed decisions.
Project Management and Execution:
Parallel teams develop project plans, set milestones, and allocate resources to execute tasks and achieve project objectives within specified timeframes.
Team leaders or project managers oversee project execution, monitor progress, and address any obstacles or challenges that arise during the implementation phase.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
Parallel teams facilitate collaboration and communication among team members from different departments or functional areas.
Cross-functional collaboration fosters knowledge sharing, breaks down silos, and promotes a holistic understanding of organizational challenges and opportunities.
Knowledge Transfer and Learning:
Parallel teams provide opportunities for knowledge transfer, skill development, and professional growth among team members.
Collaborative problem-solving, exposure to diverse perspectives, and cross-functional interactions enhance individual and collective capabilities and contribute to organizational learning.
Benefits of Parallel Teams:
Specialized Expertise:
Parallel teams bring together individuals with specialized expertise, skills, and perspectives to address specific challenges or opportunities that require cross-functional collaboration.
Access to diverse talent pools enhances problem-solving capabilities, creativity, and innovation within the organization.
Flexibility and Agility:
Parallel teams offer flexibility and agility, allowing organizations to assemble and disband teams quickly in response to changing business needs or emerging opportunities.
Temporary team structures enable organizations to adapt to market dynamics, industry trends, and competitive pressures with speed and efficiency.
Strategic Alignment:
Parallel teams align with strategic priorities, initiatives, or organizational goals, ensuring that resources are directed toward projects that create value and drive business success.
Strategic alignment fosters a shared sense of purpose, commitment, and accountability among team members, promoting collaboration and collective ownership of outcomes.
Innovative Solutions:
Parallel teams foster innovation by encouraging experimentation, creative thinking, and risk-taking in problem-solving processes.
Cross-functional collaboration and diverse perspectives stimulate idea generation, leading to innovative solutions that address complex challenges and drive organizational growth.
Challenges and Considerations:
Resource Allocation:
Resource constraints, competing priorities, and limited availability of key personnel may pose challenges to forming and sustaining parallel teams.
Organizations must carefully allocate resources, prioritize projects, and manage workload to ensure that parallel teams have the necessary support and capacity to succeed.
Communication and Coordination:
Communication breakdowns, misalignment of expectations, and coordination challenges may occur due to the diverse nature of parallel teams.
Effective communication strategies, regular updates, and transparent decision-making processes help mitigate these challenges and foster a collaborative team environment.
Integration and Sustainability:
Integrating parallel team outcomes, recommendations, or solutions into organizational processes, systems, and culture may be challenging.
Organizations must ensure that parallel team efforts are aligned with broader organizational goals and integrated into ongoing operations to drive sustainable change and continuous improvement.
Conclusion:
Parallel teams serve as catalysts for collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving within organizations by leveraging the collective expertise, skills, and perspectives of cross-functional teams. By assembling diverse talent pools, aligning with strategic priorities, and fostering a culture of collaboration and learning, parallel teams enable organizations to address complex challenges, seize opportunities, and drive business success in today’s dynamic and competitive landscape. While challenges related to resource allocation, communication, and integration exist, organizations that effectively leverage parallel teams can unlock new possibilities, enhance organizational agility, and achieve sustainable growth.
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.
