Abstract
Cross-functional collaboration is an opportunity to improve innovativeness in hospitals and, thus, address current challenges in healthcare. To fully benefit from the positive effects of cross-functional collaboration and simultaneously avoid potential negative effects, cross-functional collaboration must be managed actively. However, hospitals have specific characteristics that distinguish them from other industries and that have the potential to impede cross-functional collaboration. Therefore, hospital-specific characteristics must be identified and considered during the implementation and management of cross-functional collaboration. Furthermore, the literature provides numerous success factors for cross-functional collaboration. The aim here is to identify the most relevant and applicable factors. This chapter briefly summarizes the current research on cross-functional collaboration in general, as well as in a hospital-specific context. Furthermore, it describes in detail the most important hospital-specific characteristics and presents a structured overview of applicable success factors of cross-functional collaboration, which can increase the effectiveness of cross-functional collaboration in hospitals.
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Notes
- 1.
Based on an own empirical study of 256 hospital employees (including physicians, nursing and administrative employees of several hierarchical levels) conducted across all departments of three German hospitals.
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Labitzke, G. (2015). Managing Cross-Functional Collaboration to Improve Innovativeness in Hospitals: An Overview of Hospital-Specific Characteristics and Success Factors. In: Gurtner, S., Soyez, K. (eds) Challenges and Opportunities in Health Care Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12178-9_12
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