Challenges faced by global teams

Question:

Discuss about the Cross Cultural Team Management.

The global teams often face the challenge of successful management of the cross-cultural teams. The global teams should have fairness, consistency and responsiveness as they have vast operations (Carter et al. 2015). There are different challenges that are being faced by the global teams such as different time zones, cultural differences, language backgrounds and limited face-to face interaction. The earlier assignment failed to identify the solutions for managing the challenges of managing the global teams (Holmqvist and Ericson 2014). It is important to understand the ways of creating strong portfolio teams. This research paper would strive to seek various ways of managing the global teams in a smooth manner.

The project would aim to identify the various ways of smooth management of the cross-cultural teams. There are instances when the global managers either lack the time or lack the knowledge of better utilization of the cross border teams. This research aims to provide suitable answers to the problems faced by the global managers.

In a multinational work place, the working groups are often polarized and they often have issues with interacting with each other. There are often issues with the understanding of the roles and responsibilities in a global team, which often leads to misunderstandings that reduces the operational efficiency. This project strives to provide effective solutions that are based in the practical implementation of the global team management. The project scope measures the implementation of the initiatives in a transparent environment so that there can be project success. The implementation of the solutions in companies belonging to same geographical domain is outside the scope of this research.

As defined by Thomas and Peterson (2017), the cross cultural team management is concerned with the management of the work teams in such a manner that it addresses the differences in the practices, preferences and cultures of the consumers in a global context. The earlier assignment focused on the important issues that are faced by the cross border managers in an international context. The global teams operate in a challenging work environment where there are inadequate interactions with each other. The initiation of the internet and the related technologies has led to an increase of the cross border teams. However, there are certain issues associated with the global team functioning. There is perception of power among the global teams and there is often much indifference that comes up between them (Moran, Abramson and Moran 2014). There are instances when there are an increased number of stereotypes and there are situations when there are cultural stereotypes involved. There are issues with the employee engagement initiatives and there are instances of linguistic barriers between the global teams located in different geographical domains. The managers often complain that there are losses in the coordination and they often lack the vision to manage the cross-border teams. There are instances of technical communication glitch and there are also instances of lack of participation of the team members in increasing the organizational productivity.

Solutions to manage cross-cultural teams

As commented by Katzenbach and Smith (2015), one of the most unique solutions of solving global team’s issues are treating the team as “one” and preventing the competition among the same team in the same organizations. It is important to eliminate the “I” parameter and instead focus on the cohesive teams. There should be more emphasis on the team building activities and the teams should not be limited to particular geographical locations only. The teams should comprise of the employees belonging to different geographical locations but working in the same project or for the same division. It is important to increase collaboration so that there is a feeling of togetherness among the cross border employees (Bui et al. 2016). The global team owners should inform their team about all the possible happenings in the organizations. If the employees are well informed about the important decisions of the management, then there are less likely to be clashes in the team. The knowledge transfer and enlightening is important for efficient functioning of the remote team (Reiche, Mendenhall and Stahl 2016). This can be done through the use of different telecommunications network. It is also important to do foster regular communication over the virtual network. Most of the challenges would be sorted out if the team interact more with each other on a regular basis.

Cole, Balcetis and Dunning (2013) argued that the perceived proximity is important for mitigating the various discontinuities of the virtual factor of the global teams. The employees often presume that there are issues with the perceived proximity. But, the perceived proximity gives a sense of co-location benefits while the employees do not have to have to work from one particular location. The employees should be made to believe that the employees located in other geographical locations are their peers from whom they can gain sufficient guidance. The managers should strive to make an environment of “trust” among the global teams so that there is minimal conflict in the team.

The following would be the research questions for this particular research-

• What would be the possible solutions of the cross border management issues?
• How are the managers likely to solve the issues of global teams?
• How can the global teams lead to better organizational efficiency?

This research would involve the use of the mixed research method in which there would be usage of both Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research. The combination method would help in better collection of data and there would be improved quality of data.

The qualitative research would be performed with the study of the literature, online sources, online publications, company official websites, government records and other relevant online sources.

Research questions

The quantitative research would take place with the help of online surveys and face to face interviews.

The employees from the age group of 25-45 years would be considered from this research. Only the employees of multinational companies would be considered for the purpose of data collection. The managers who are handling the cross border teams would be used for the purpose of this research.

The sample size for this research is 70 and it would be based on simple random sampling. There would be multinational companies involved in the research and the participants would be chosen randomly from 5 companies. A sample of 14 employees would be selected from each of the five multinational companies and hence the total interviewed candidates would be 70.

The research would be performed in both online and offline locations. In the online research, the surveys would be sent over the emails and the employees of the organizations would be shared a survey link on which they can answer the questionnaire. The offline mode of research would be carried out with the help of multinational companies which would belong to different industries. The employees would be asked about their viewpoints on the topic and they would also be asked according to the questionnaires. This would enable the collection of data within limited time frame.

The resources required for this research would be questionnaires, computer, Google forms, email, telephone and others. It is also important to gather the contacts of the multinational companies from which the data collection would be done.

The primary mode of data collection would be Microsoft Excel, in which the data from quantitative research would be analyzed (Anderson Sweeney and Williams 2014). The data analysis would be performed via the usage of pie-charts, charts, tables, bar graphs and scatter diagrams. The qualitative data analysis would be performed with the help of critical observation and analytical techniques.

The ethical considerations used in the research are as under (DeCamp et al. 2017)-

• No participants were forced for this research and all the correspondents have given their voluntary responses.
• The research data are handled in a confidential manner and they were not disclosed with a third party.
• There is no fabrication of data or falsification of the data and only real responses are recorded.

The limitations of the research would commence when the research would be actually carried out. There are instances that there would be lack of reliable data for the quantitative research, which would make the survey ineffective (Velte and Stawinoga 2016). There are also chances of lack of availability of the global managers from which the best data can be collected. The project may not stick to the timelines and there would be unnecessary delay of the project.

Conclusion

The cross border management of the teams is an important aspect of the global teams of modern times. It is important that the cross-border issues are managed in an urgent manner. This research aimed to provide solutions for the various problems associated with the cross border management. The global teams should be managed carefully so that there is an overall increase in the organizational productivity. It is also important to create a “sense of belonging” to the employees working in remote locations so that there are greater team cohesion.

References

Anderson, D., Sweeney, D. and Williams, T., 2014. Modern business statistics with Microsoft Excel. Nelson Education.

Bui, H.T., Baruch, Y., Chau, V.S. and He, H.W., 2016. Team learning: The missing construct from a cross-cultural examination of higher education. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 33(1), pp.29-51.

Carter, D.R., Seely, P.W., Dagosta, J., DeChurch, L.A. and Zaccaro, S.J., 2015. Leadership for global virtual teams: Facilitating teamwork processes. In Leading Global Teams (pp. 225-252). Springer New York.

Cole, S., Balcetis, E. and Dunning, D., 2013. Affective signals of threat increase perceived proximity. Psychological science, 24(1), pp.34-40.

DeCamp, M., Crump, J.A., Sugarman, J., Todd, T., Walker, X. and Ali, A., 2017. 13 Existing and emerging ethical standards in global health education. Global Health Experiential Education: From Theory to Practice.

Holmqvist, J. and Ericson, A., 2014. HOW GLOBAL TEAMS SHARE EXPERIENCES–A STUDY OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES. In DS 77: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2014 13th International Design Conference.

Katzenbach, J.R. and Smith, D.K., 2015. The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.

Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014. Managing cultural differences. Routledge.

Reiche, B.S., Mendenhall, M.E. and Stahl, G.K. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.

Thomas, D.C. and Peterson, M.F., 2017. Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.

Velte, P. and Stawinoga, M., 2016. Integrated reporting: the current state of empirical research, limitations and future research implications. Journal of Management Control, pp.1-46.