5. Managing Global Teams Flashcards
What is a global team?
A group of heterogeneous employees from two or more countries, and sometimes two or more companies, who work together to coordinate, develop, or manage some aspect of a firm’s global operations.
Why do companies use global teams?
- Need specific cross-cultural expertise on some aspect of the business or when they partner with a foreign firm.
- Often do a better job than homogeneous teams consisting exclusively of either home- or host-country nationals.
- Opportunity to incorporate widely differing social, cultural, and business perspectives into key decisions affecting the success of international operations.
Advantages of global teams?
- Frequently more creative ideas and solutions
- Takes longer to take decision but often more comprehensive, realistic and acceptable
- Often leads to better understanding of multinational employees
- Often increases understanding of global markets
- Often more effective in working with international customers
Drawbacks of global teams?
- More difficult to develop close-knit groups
- Takes longer to take decision but often more comprehensive, realistic and acceptable
- Action plans can take longer to implement
- Different work habits can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings
What do polychromes believe?
Time stretches to accommodate a task; they devote much time to analysis before proposing solutions
What do monochromes believe?
Time and tasks should be scheduled, organised and managed; problem analysis should be undertaken quickly to avoid loosing valuable time
How do different cultures analyse problems?
Polychrons
Monochrons
People analyse problems from their own cultural perspective
Power-distance-accepting cultures expect
team leaders to make decisions
Power-distance-rejecting cultures expect
everybody to be included in decision-making
Two types of decision making preferences are?
Power-distance-accepting
Power-distance-rejecting
How is decision-making is more complex in multi-cultural teams?
- Members of multi-cultural teams analyse problems differently
- Diverging opinions regarding which alternative is best
- Diversity makes building consensus more difficult
Global teams in Sweden (Meyer)
Learn to make decisions through lengthy consensus building, which can span many meetings but eventually leads to strong buy-in and rapid implementation.
Global teams in France (Meyer)
Descartes-inspired education system teaches that debate and confrontation are necessary elements of any decision- making process.
Global teams in US (Meyer)
Managers are trained to solicit input from a team, choose a direction quickly, and make adjustments as the project moves forward.
Global teams in Japan (Meyer)
Decisions tend to be made in informal one-on-one discussions before a formal group meeting.
Global team linguistic ability
- Teams forced to communicate in one language
- Not all members use their own native language
- Results in miscommunication between team members
- Undermines confidence to participate in teamwork
Global team communication style?
Low-context
High-context
How do low-context cultures communicate?
Directly/explicitly
• What people want to say is on surface of their message
How do high-context cultures communicate
Indirectly/implicitly
• Crucial information of message is hidden below surface
What is mistrust in global teams?
- People prefer to work with members of their own culture
- They tend to mistrust ‘others’
- Mistrust reinforced by inaccurate stereotyping
- Aggravated by tendency to speak own language
What is stress in global teams?
- Mono-cultural teams can openly discuss problems and issues
- Cross-cultural teams are more afraid of offending other members
- Forces a ‘polite diplomatic’ approach to sensitive issues
- Leads to artificial/superficial behaviour that increases stress on organisation
- Team members become frustrated
Advantages of cross-cultural teams?
Diversity raises creativity - Wider range of perspectives - More and better ideas - Less groupthink Increased creativity leads to - Better problem definitions - More alternatives - Better solutions and decisions Teams can become - More effective - More productive
Disadvantages of cross-cultural teams?
Diversity undermines cohesion - Mistrust - Miscommunication - Stress Lack of cohesion prevents teams - Agreeing - Gaining consensus - Taking concerted action Teams can become - Less effective - Less productive
What is the paradox of cross-cultural teams?
As creativity increases productivity decreases
What does the paradox curve of cross-cultural teams show?
Cross-cultural teams can either be highly effective or highly ineffective
Single-culture teams are typically of average effectiveness
Ma Yun, Global year sunergy?
“If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat ten of them.”
What does managing cross-cultural teams involve according to Adler (2008)?
- Using diversity when it can improve creativity
* Minimizing diversity when it can threaten performance
What are Adler’s (2008) guidelines for striking cross-cultural balance?
- Select the right people
- Recognise cultural differences
- Establish a common team vision
- Equalise power
- Create mutual respect
What does selecting the right people involve? (Adler, 2008)
- People with homogeneous ability levels (to facilitate communication)
- People with heterogeneous competencies (to ensure wide range of solutions to problems)
What does recognising cultural differences involve? (Adler, 2008)
- Spend time describing each others’ cultures
- Reflect on how stereotypes affect expectations
- Understand why people think/feel/act as they do
- Determine how different people contribute to team effort
- Ascertain how each contribution complements team effort
What does establish common vision involve? (Adler, 2008)
- Clear visions create cohesive groups
* Lack of vision leads to multiple goals and competing sub-groups
What does equalise power involve? (Adler, 2008)
- Cultural dominance prevents team members from participating in team effort
- Avoid giving too much power to team members from host country, to members of same nationality
What does create mutual respect involve?(Adler, 2008)
• Make all members aware of each others’ achievements
What are the 5 influences on global team synergy?
- Clear, engaging purpose
- Performance goals and measures
- People
- Results-driven processes
- Preparation and practice
Features of a Clear, engaging purpose? (Global team synergy)
- Provide direction, inspiration and motivation
- Clear purpose keeps team together
- Should be consistent with organisational values
- Create urgency
- Be positive and inspiring
- Easily understood
- Performance based
- Flexible, attainable but challenging
Features of performance goals and measures? (Global team synergy)
- Specific and measurable goals
- Focus on results
- Show how each member contributes
- Milestones to build team commitment, confidence and competence
Features of People? (Global team synergy)
- Members need to have complementary skills needed to accomplish task
- Committed to teams purpose
- Specific skillset that contributes
- Problem-solving, decision-making and implementation skills
- Relationships skills
Features of results-driven processes (Global team synergy)
- Processes to identify problems and opportunities
- Relationship processes to help deal with conflict and develop trust
- Can be implicit or explicit
Features of preparation and practice? (Global team synergy)
- Preparation and disciplined practice critical to team success
- Reflect on performance, identify skills needed and acquire them
What are Global virtual teams / dispersed global teams?
Take advantage of technology to draw knowledge and resources from different parts of the organisation and different geographical locations without relocating workers
How are Global virtual teams / dispersed global teams possible?
Due to advances in computer and telecommunication technologies such as videoconferencing, collaborative software system, and internet-intranet systems
Advantages of dispersed global teams
- Save cost
- Flexibility
- Possibly enhanced productivity
- Increased creativity
- Better problem solving
- More effective and productive
Special challenges of dispersed global teams
- Time difference
- Lack of mutual knowledge and context
- Overdependence on technology
- Loss of useful details
What is the conundrum of dispersed teams?
While they often need more information than co-located teams, they usually share less
Members in dispersed teams often:
- Do not realize what information is important.
- Take their own context for granted
- Assume similarity between locations
- Have a difficult time imagining what is different for other members
Dispersed global teams social distance?
Low social distance: degree of emotional connection among team members
What is the Framework for building social distance?
Neeley, 2018
SPLIT
What is SPLIT?
Structure and perception of power Process and the importance of empathy Language and the fluency gap Identity and the mismatch of perceptions Technology and connection challenge
What is the S in SPLIT?
Structure and perception of power
• Who we are
• What we do
• I am here for you
What is the P in SPLIT?
Process and the importance of empathy
• Feedback on routine interactions
• Unstructured time
• Time to disagree
What is the L in SPLIT?
Language and the fluency gap
What is the I in SPLIT?
Identity and the mismatch of perceptions
• Learn from one another.
• A savvy leader will avoid making assumptions about what behaviors mean. Take a step back, watch and listen.
• A case in point
What is the T in SPLIT?
Technology and connection challenge
• Should communication be instant?
• Do I need to reinforce the message?
• Am I leading by example?
Who came up with the framework for building social distance?
Neeley, 2018
Harvard Business Review
Language and the fluency gap 3 categories?
Fluent speakers- Dial down dominance
Less fluent- dial up engagement
Team leaders- Balance for inclusion
What are the features of dial down dominance?
- Slow down pace
- Familiar language
- Refrain from dominating
- Ask if understand
- Listen actively
What are the features of dial up engagement?
- Resist withdrawal or other avoidance
- Refrain from reverting to native language
- Ask if understand
- Ask to explain or repeat if don’t understand
What are the features of balance for inclusion?
- Monitor participants
- Balance their speaking and listening
- Actively draw contributions from all
- Solicit participation from less fluent speakers
- Be prepared to define and interpret content
Strategies for managing globally dispersed team, People:
- Select member with right skills, abilities and motivation
- Provide training on tech, virtual communication and cultural sensitivity
- Align rewards system with nature of dispersed work
- Set clear expectations and measurable goals
Strategies for managing globally dispersed team, Tasks:
- Select appropriate tasks for virtual work
- Use richer media for more complex problems
Strategies for managing globally dispersed team, Processes:
- Disseminate info among members
- Arrange periodic face-to-face meetings
- Allow time for info sharing via video
- Provide intercultural communication training
- Develop team-building interventions
- Ensure individuals don’t feel isolated
- Communicate frequently
What are the 6 aspects of leadership and team building?
- Select members based on skills
- Provide clear direction
- Build positive team culture
- Build team camaraderie
- Tie rewards to performance
- Recognise and build on differences
Grenier and Meters 1992
Work together apart
Global teams work together across
Space time and geographic boundaries (Lipnack and Stamps 1997)
SPLIT
Structure Process Language Identity Technology
Grenier and Meters 1992
Work together apart
Global teams work together across
Space time and geographic boundaries (Lipnack and Stamps 1997)
