Slide 16.1
Chapter 16:
Working with international teams
• The international team: how do teams composed
of people from different cultures operate?
• Concept 16.1:
–
–
–
–
the meaning of the term ‘team’
the elements involved (types and roles)
their processes
how cultural difference affect their performance.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.2
Groups processes during international
encounters (1)
Teams in organizations
Definitions: ‘group’ and ‘team’
• 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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.3
Groups processes during international
encounters (2)
• Trust is a prerequisite for working effectively in a
team, but
– developing a climate of trust is a challenge
– the concept of trust can vary from culture to culture.
• DISCUSSION:
– What is the purpose of group and team?
– How trust is very important in a group?
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.4
• 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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.5
Trusting other people
Degree of trust in other people in other cultures:
Figure 16.1
Trusting other people
Source: based on Inglehart as quoted by Schneider and Barsoux (2003)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.6
Types of teams
According to Robbins (2001) there are four types:
• Problem-solving teams: discuss regularly to
improve work processes and methods.
• Self-managed teams: team members involved
directly in decisions made about work.
• Cross-functional teams: members from different
departments, usually from same level in the
hierarchy.
• Virtual teams: can do same as above, but can also
co-opt members from other organizations (suppliers,
joint partners).
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.7
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.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.8
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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.9
Global management teams
• Develop a global perspective and communicate a
corporate culture while paying attention to the
needs of the local market.
• Establish and maintain relations:
– 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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.10
Task Oriented Culture vs Relationship
Oriented Culture
Adler with Gundersen (2008, 2002) noted differences
between task-oriented cultures and relationshiporiented 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 cultures 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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.11
Strategies for global teams
Gluesing and Gibson (2004) classify strategies in terms
of:
• task
• context
• people
• time (the amount of time the team work together)
• technology (information sharing and collaboration).
Global team-members may well work in different
contexts (in terms of e.g. climate, nationality, education,
political and economic systems.
So, cross-cultural competence and ability of team to
adapt are as important as professional expertise.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.12
Team dynamics
• 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 and Ekelund (2004) have compiled a
table that gives an overview of the ways in which
differences can have an impact on global teams.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.13
The impact of differences in global teams (1)
Source of
difference
Source of
difference
Source of
difference
Source of
difference
Preferred
leadership
styles
Preferred ways
of resolving
conflicts
Expectations
and values
around
interaction and
team behaviour
International
experience
National and
organizational
culture of
origin and
leadership of
the
organization
Preferred ways
of decisionmaking
Cultural preconceptions
Different
geographical
locations
Table 16.2
The effect of differences in global teams
(Source: Davison and Ekelund, 2004, pp. 232–234, Table 12.1, adapted)
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.14
The management of multicultural teams
• Some managers will appeal to the professional
culture of its members to bring an international
team together.
• Other managers will emphasize the
communication between the actors, such as
making the unspoken explicit, rules explicit.
• Multicultural groups with the most harmonious
relations appear to be those whose members:
– have the same status
– do not have contradictory interests
– do not feel that their identity is threatened.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.15
Afro-Western teams (1)
• 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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.16
Afro-Western teams (2)
• Time the key factor
– Time 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 & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011
Slide 16.17
Conclusion to Chapter 16
• 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.
Browaeys & Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd Edition © Pearson Education Limited 2011