Supply Chain And Marketing Integration: Tension In Frontline Social Workers

Behavioral Effects of People Interacting in Cross-Functional Social Networks for the Retail Supply Chain

Internal integration describes how well internal people and units can function as a single, cohesive whole. Looking at the integrated structure of individual networks within a consumer packaged goods  (CPG) manufacturing company. The findings of the social network study show that the cognitively embedded "social capital" kind of integration with retail outcomes has a declining return.

Frontline workers perform worse when they become central in problem-solving networks, a study at the University of Bristol has shown. Employees who are frustrated with management build independent social networks that limit the ability of managers to empower their workers. When employees have access to resources and knowledge that are pertinent and significant, empowerment is vital.

Implications

Managers give employees the authority to make decisions for the store when they have social capital. Frontline workers are more deeply ingrained in more structural information-sharing networks, cognitive problem-solving networks, and relationships of relational trust. The "correct combination of connections across groups to obtain cross-functional information is what propels empowerment.

Managerial Implications

Empowering frontline employees to address marketing, sales, and inventory concerns that develop in the retail shop must be the first step in innovative marketing tactics. This empowerment must come from an across-functional network.

Executives need to understand that interactions with immediate supervisors are not the only way that frontline personnel are empowered.

Future studies should examine cross-functional interactions with managers of downstream retail stores in addition to relationships within the focus firm.