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Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.1
Understanding Cross-cultural Management
CHAPTER 16
WORKING WITH
INTERNATIONAL TEAMS
• Concept 16.1: Group processes during international encounters
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.2
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.3
Working Team?
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.4
Figure 16.1 Types of teamsSource: Robbins (2000), p.106
According to Robbins (2001) there are four types:
• Problem-solving teams• Self-managed teams• Cross-functional teams• Virtual teams
Types of teams
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.5
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.6
Team roles
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 2009Slide 16.7
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.8
Figure 16.2 An overview of team roles in the Belbin model (adapted)Source: Belbin (1993), p.22
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.9
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.10
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.11
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.12
Team processes (2)
Adler (2002) noted differences between task-oriented 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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.13
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.14
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.
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.15
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 expect-ations. Identific-ation 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)
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.16
The impact of differences in global teams (2)
Source of difference
Opportunity presented
Impact on Experienced as Integrated mechanisms
Preferred ways of' resolving conflicts
Confronts team with need to find synergistic solutions
Ability to address difficult challenges and conflicts
Denial of conflict. Displaced 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 decision-making processes explicit and suitable for different contexts
The quality of, involvement in, and follow up/ implementation of decision-making processes
Lack of loyalty to decision and team. Dissatisfaction and lack of respect
Collective training on which type of decisions
Table 16.3 The impact of differences in global teams (source: Davison & Ekelund, 2004, pp. 232- 234, Table 12.1, adapted)
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.17
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, mis-understanding
Missed timing, anger at inappropriate reciprocity. Feeling misunderstood. Things not happening
Expectations and values around interaction and team behaviour
Cultural pre-conceptions
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)
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.18
The impact of differences in global teams (4)
Source of difference
Opportunity presented
Impact on Experienced as Integrated mechanisms
International experience
Can bring empathy, flexib-ility, humbleness, self-reflection. People with internat’l exp-erience 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 inter-national 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 geographical locations
Allows global efficiencies, local responsiveness, and knowledge transfer and learning across the organisation
Who meets face to face and who does not. Co-ordination, 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)
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.19
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.20
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.
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.21
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
Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-cultural Management, 1st Edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2009Slide 16.22
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.