ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Leadership alignment and cross-functional collaboration are increasingly recognized as essential for achieving strategic coherence and organizational performance, particularly in dynamic sectors such as real estate. Misalignment among leadership teams often manifests through unclear roles, fragmented communication, and inconsistent decision-making, undermining collaboration and strategic execution. This review aims to identify the underlying causes of leadership misalignment, examine effective organizational and behavioral interventions, and explore how learning processes sustain alignment and collaboration within evolving organizations. Using a structured review approach guided by PRISMA 2020 elements, literature from Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar was analyzed. Eight empirical studies published between 2020 and 2025 were synthesized, focusing on leadership development, cross-functional collaboration frameworks, and organizational learning practices across multiple sectors. The analysis revealed that leadership alignment, collaboration, and learning are mutually reinforcing processes. Effective interventions such as leadership coaching, reflective learning, integrated decision systems, and participatory governance enhance role clarity, communication coherence, and strategic adaptability. Studies highlighted that digital transformation, when combined with socio-technical alignment and psychological safety, can strengthen collaborative performance. Conversely, siloed structures, hierarchical cultures, and weak feedback loops continue to impede sustained alignment. This review concludes that leadership alignment should be viewed as a dynamic and iterative process rather than a static goal. Embedding reflective learning and adaptive collaboration mechanisms enables organizations, particularly in emerging markets like Malaysia, to achieve sustained strategic coherence, innovation, and resilience in rapidly changing environments.
Aarons, G. A., Ehrhart, M. G., Farahnak, L. R., & Sklar, M. (2014). Aligning leadership across systems and organizations to develop a strategic climate for evidence-based practice implementation. Annual Review of Public Health, 35, 255–274. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182447
Alateeg, S., & Alayed, S. (2025). Enhancing Project Management Performance through Green Innovation, Quality Planning and Strategic Leadership. Decision Science Letters, 14, 539–548. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.dsl.2025.5.005
Ayu, I., Maharani, K., Usman, I., Alfina, A., & Jafar, R. (2025). A Bibliometric and Configurational Investigation of Strategic Leadership and Crisis Management. General Management, 26(205), 330–344. https://doi.org/10.47750/QAS/26.205.33
Chughtai, M. S., Syed, F., Naseer, S., & Chinchilla, N. (2024). Role of adaptive leadership in learning organizations to boost organizational innovations with change self-efficacy. Current Psychology, 43(33), 27262–27281.
Cooke, H., & Appel-Meulenbroek, R. (2024). A multi-disciplinary view on a corporate real estate alignment model. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 26(1), 5–20.
Cooke, H., Appel-Meulenbroek, R., & Arentze, T. (2021). Inhibitors and facilitators of corporate real estate dynamic alignment. Journal of European Real Estate Research, 14(2), 272–293. https://doi.org/10.1108/JERER-08-2020-0048
Ford, J., Ford, L., & Polin, B. (2021). Leadership in the Implementation of Change: Functions, Sources, and Requisite Variety. Journal of Change Management, 21(1), 87–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2021.1861697
Gadafi, A., Tudzi, E. P., & Alhassan, T. (2024). The alignment of corporate real estate strategy with corporate strategy: experiences from selected higher education institutions in Ghana. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 26(3). https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRE-05-2022-0010
Hamzah, E. (2025). Winning Leadership and Management Strategies in Real Estate Organization. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, VIII(XII), 2879–2887. https://doi.org/10.47772/ijriss.2024.8120240
Mishra, C. S. (2025). International Review of Law & Economics Balancing power and performance?: The role of managerial rent in competitive advantage. International Review of Law & Economics, 82(March 2024), 106258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irle.2025.106258
Peláez Zuberbuhler, M. J., Salanova, M., & Martínez, I. M. (2020). Coaching-Based Leadership Intervention Program: A Controlled Trial Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Phong Nguyen, N. (2020). The effects of cross-functional coordination and competition on knowledge sharing and organisational innovativeness: A qualitative study in a transition economy. Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business. https://ojs.hh.se/
Shih, W., & Liu, K. (2025). Global Leadership Dynamics?: Refining Executive Selection in Multinational Corporations. In Journal of the Knowledge Economy. Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-01794-3
Thanh Hoai, T., & Nguyen, N. P. (2021). How does cross-functional cooperation influence organizational performance? The mediating role of management accounting systems. Cogent Business and Management, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1907011
Ude, A. O., Adaeze, E. E., & Ogochukwu, L. (2020). Collaborative Management and Performance of Real Estate Companies in. IAA Journal of Management
Yin, Z., Caldas, C., de Oliveira, D., Kermanshachi, S., & Pamidimukkala, A. (2023). Cross-functional collaboration in the early phases of capital projects: Barriers and contributing factors. Project Leadership and Society, 4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plas.2023.100092
Zulu, S. L., & Khosrowshahi, F. (2021). A taxonomy of digital leadership in the construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 39(7), 565–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2021.1930080
Phing, N. T., & Ramli, R. (2025). Leadership Alignment and Cross-Functional Collaboration: A Review of Organisational and Leadership Interventions. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(12), 2573–2586.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode