Análise da integração interfuncional nos pontos de contato de processos de desenvolvimento de sementes

Abstract

Product development (PD) includes many activities that must be performed by professionals from different areas, with a pluralist and complimentary perspective. The existing literature presents an important subject that is poorly explored: the points of contact, that is, activities that require cross-functional integration to be carried out. Thus, the purpose of this study is to characterize the cross-functional integration in the points of contact points of seed development processes, in the agricultural industry. We interviewed 10 employees representing different stages of the PD process, of two multinational seed companies. Based on this it was possible to obtain opinions on the characteristics of the stages: initial, intermediate and final. Through the interpretation of the results, it was possible to create a framework with the following dimensions: cross-functional integration, PD phases, and PD objectives. Depending on the area where the employee works, he/she participated only in a particular phase, decreasing his/her knowledge of the subsequent phases and vice versa. Thus, they do not have a multidimensional view of the PD process, which can be a source of conflicts in the PD process as a whole. There are also cases where, within a given phase, there is a high integration level between functions, however, when the process reaches the next phase, there is a low integration level between the functions of previous and subsequent stages.