Transcript Document 7198464

Understanding Cross-cultural Management
CHAPTER 16
WORKING WITH
INTERNATIONAL TEAMS
• Concept 16.1: Group processes during
international encounters
Slide 16.1
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Group processes during international encounters
Definitions: ‘group’ and ‘team’
• When the members of a team display
complementary skills to achieve a certain goal,
then we can talk of teamwork
• The term ‘group’ usually refers to two or more
individuals who share a collective identity and
have a common goal
• The term ‘teamwork’ implies a synergy from
working together which increases the
performance of the work being done
Slide 16.2
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Working Team?
Slide 16.3
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Types of teams
According to Robbins (2001) there are four
types:
Problem-solving teams
• Self-managed teams
• Cross-functional teams
• Virtual teams
•
Figure 16.1
Types of teams
Source: Robbins (2000), p.106
Slide 16.4
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Groups processes during international encounters
• Trust is a prerequisite for working
effectively in a team, but this very concept
can vary from culture to culture
• Cultures also have different assumptions
as to the purpose of groups and teams:
– to spread information and discuss
problems, or
– to make decisions and take action, or
– to enable the creation of social relations
Slide 16.5
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Team roles
Slide 16.6
Two roles which each member of a team must
perform:
1.show his professional aptitudes as a
specialist in his area (personnel manager or
sales manager)
2.demonstrate personal characteristics: play
interpersonal role within the team
According to Senge et al. (1995) also need for a
trained facilitator:
– helps to clarify how decisions are taken and by
whom
– can improve the team’s whole performance
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
The Belbin model
• The Belbin model is an instrument used by many
organizations to measure the influence of team
member diversity regarding the different roles
played in a team at work
• The model shows
– the different stages of development of the
team: identifying needs, finding ideas,
formulating plans, executing ideas,
establishing team organization, following
through
– the different team roles which should each
dominate in a particular stage of development
Slide 16.7
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Types of teams
Team role
Descriptors and strengths
Completer-finisher
Conscientious, introvert, delivers on time
Implementer
Conservative, reliable, turns ideas into practical actions
Team Worker
Extrovert, co-operative, averts friction
Specialist
Serious, provides knowledge and skills in rare supply
Monitor Evaluator
Introvert, open to change, judges accurately
Co-ordinator
Dominant, good chairperson, delegates well
Plant
Trustful, creative, solves difficult problems
Shaper
Emotional, impatient, has the drive to overcome obstacles
Resource Investigator Diplomatic, persuasive, communicative, develops contacts
Figure 16.2
An overview of team roles in the Belbin model (adapted)
Source: Belbin (1993), p.22
Slide 16.8
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Global management teams (1)
Develop a global perspective and communicate a
corporate culture while paying attention to the
needs of the local market
• Establish and maintain relations with:
– with suppliers, sales people and other intermediaries
– between teams of managers and technical people who
work together in locally operating companies in
different parts of the world
Slide 16.9
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Global management teams (2)
• Internal interactions at all levels go on at the
same time as interactions with the external
environment
• Therefore need for a global teamwork AND
‘pockets’ of cross-cultural teamwork and
interactions that occur at many boundaries
• Global management team members share a
number of national and professional identities
Slide 16.10
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Team processes
• The group itself will develop properties which are
more than the average of the properties of the
individuals composing it
• Individuals influence group and team life but their
behaviour in turn is changed through the dynamics
which occur within the group
• Cultural differences in terms of
– what the organization expects from the group
– how group should operate
• These expectations have to be negotiated in terms of
both task and process
Slide 16.11
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Team processes (2)
Adler (2002) noted differences between taskoriented cultures and relationship-oriented cultures
when international team members first meet:
• Those from task-oriented cultures spent little time
getting to know each other before getting down to
business
• Those from relationship-oriented spent much
more time establishing a personal relationship
It may be more difficult for such teams to build
strong relations than single-culture teams
Slide 16.12
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Process strategies for global teams (1)
Davison & Ekelund (2004) describe three aspects:
• Task and social processes:
– the task process directly influences team performance
– the social process is related to the ability of the team
to work together over a longer time
• Emergent states through interaction, especially
– mutual trust
– collective team identity
– confidence in the team’s ability to achieve its tasks’
• Coordinating mechanisms: face-to-face/on-line
meetings
Slide 16.13
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Process strategies for global teams (2)
• The differences between team members,
particularly in global teams, can be seen at
several levels: profession culture, personality,
style and role, as well as organization.
• These differences can help increase the
performance of the team, but can also be the
source of conflicts depending on the way the
team deals with these differences.
• Davison & Ekelund (2004) have compiled a table
which gives an overview of the ways in which
differences can have an impact on global teams.
Slide 16.14
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The impact of differences in global teams (1)
Source of
difference
Opportunity
presented
Impact on
Experienced as
Integrated
mechanisms
Preferred
leadership
styles
To make leaders
and members
actively search for
the most effective
leadership role(s)
and style where
both adjust &
align their
expectations
Effective
leader/team
member
interaction,
decision-making,
levels of
satisfaction
Frustrations,
disagreements on
form.
Disappointment due
to failed
expectations
Openness about
leader style and
leader-team
member expectations. Identification of conflicts
and the best ways
to handle them
National &
organizational
culture of
origin &
leadership of
the
organization
Can give core
identity and sense
of cohesion that
can be adjusted /
improved through
experience in
other cultures
People who share
the nationality of
the organization
and its leadership
are perceived as
more influential
than others
Perceived bias in
accepted norms and
levels of influence
and access to
resources. Glass
ceiling based on
nationality
Well-structured
participative
processes and
inclusive policies
Table 16.3 The impact of differences in global teams (source: Davison & Ekelund, 2004, pp. 232- 234, Table 12.1, adapted)
Slide 16.15
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The impact of differences in global teams (2)
Source of Opportunity
difference presented
Impact on
Experienced as
Preferred
ways of'
resolving
conflicts
Confronts team
with need to find
synergistic
solutions
Ability to address Denial of conflict.
difficult challenges Displaced
and conflicts
frustrations. Lack of
trust. Lack of group
efficacy
Joint definition of
which conflicts
need to be
addressed and
how. Also which
conflicts are to be
avoided
Preferred
ways of
decision
making
Creates variety;
highlights need to
make decisionmaking processes
explicit and
suitable for
different contexts
The quality of,
involvement in,
and follow up/
implementation of
decision-making
processes
Collective training
on which type of
decisions
Lack of loyalty to
decision and team.
Dissatisfaction and
lack of respect
Integrated
mechanisms
Table 16.3 The impact of differences in global teams (source: Davison & Ekelund, 2004, pp. 232- 234, Table 12.1, adapted)
Slide 16.16
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The impact of differences in global teams (3)
Source of
difference
Opportunity
presented
Impact on
Experienced as
Integrated
mechanisms
Expectations
and values
around
interaction and
team
behaviour
Forces awareness of
differences,
assumptions, the
tensions that they
bring and the need to
acknowledge and
work with them
Levels of
participation,
misunderstanding
Missed timing,
anger at
inappropriate
reciprocity. Feeling
misunderstood.
Things not
happening
Expectations and
values around
interaction and
team behaviour
Cultural preconceptions
Increased awareness
of these.
Approaching them
with humour, not
acting on them. A
learning opportunity
that there are many
different ways of
seeing the world
Preconceived
perceptions of
more or less
relevant
experience,
education
Stereotypical
comments or
implicit behaviour
toward
"disadvantaged"
people or about
those "in charge"
Cultural
preconceptions
Table 16.3 The impact of differences in global teams (source: Davison & Ekelund, 2004, pp. 232- 234, Table 12.1, adapted)
Slide 16.17
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The impact of differences in global teams (4)
Source of
difference
Opportunity
presented
Impact on
Experienced as
Integrated
mechanisms
International Can bring
experience empathy, flexibility, humbleness,
self-reflection.
People with
internat’l experience can act as
bridges between
core & local sites
Ability to
-understand
implicit rules &
working norms
-speak different
languages.
-empathize with
other team
members
Bias that international experience
& linguistic skills are
more essential for
"other" nationalities
than for those
whose mother
tongue is firm’s
working language
Insist on
international
experience as part
of international
career path and
selection criteria for
international team
leaders
Different
Allows global
geographical efficiencies, local
locations
responsiveness,
and knowledge
transfer and
learning across
the organisation
Who meets face
to face and who
does not. Coordination, timing
understanding of
importance of
required actions
Impenetrable in
groups in certain
locations. Lack of
loyalty, invisible
agendas
Stress integrated
team model spread
across world, not
hub and spoke;
visibility is local and
global
Table 16.3 The impact of differences in global teams (source: Davison & Ekelund, 2004, pp. 232- 234, Table 12.1, adapted)
Slide 16.18
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
The management of multi-cultural teams
• Some managers will appeal to the professional
culture of its members to bring an international
team together
• Other managers will stress on the communication
between the actors, such as making the
unspoken explicit, rules explicit
• Those multicultural groups which appear to have
the most harmonious relations are those
where its members:
– have the same status
– do not have contradictory interests
– do not feel that their identity is threatened
Slide 16.19
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Afro-Western Teams
• In their study on Afro-Occidental teams, Mutabazi
and Deer (2003) show that the problems come
from pre-existing attitudes about relation between
Africa and the West.
• The dominant partner is the west, with its ideals
and concepts of the world: perfect integration
between western expatriates and local
executives, also appears to be impossible.
• However, a high degree of integration can be
achieved resulting in a mutual commitment which
allows for talent within the teams to be developed
the importance of time.
Slide 16.20
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009
Afro-Western Teams (2)
• Time the key factor: needed for a group to develop a
real team spirit, otherwise the team manager loses
credibility and ability to mobilize all team members
• The members of a cross-cultural team must be given
enough time to gain a clear perception of the project
they are undertaking
• Time needed for every individual to grasp exactly the
purpose of their work, the exact goal and period of
time. These elements can then be incorporated into
their own reference system
Slide 16.21
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Conclusion
• Working in a team implies change not only in the
way of doing but also in the way of thinking.
• This teamwork pre-supposes the creation of
common values and ideas, a delicate process in
multicultural teams and organizations.
Slide 16.22
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009