The relationships that managers build with other managers, i.e. managers of other departments as well as the superiors are equally important to team relations within a department.
These relationships that are built between departments can be called the ‘internal supplier-customer value chain’. As the name indicates, work is received by your department from your internal suppliers, the processing of work takes place within your department and work is delivered to your internal customers, who then repeat this process.
The same rules for building relationships with other departments can also be applied to other internal business partners such as your manager, your subordinate managers, and other entities within the company that you render a service to or that supply you with goods/services. The process is illustrated in the figure below:
External Stakeholder Network