Modern business usually goes beyond the borders of one state. Multiculturalism, the exchange of international experience, and cross-cultural communication have got great importance in today’s world. For these reasons, groups composed of different cultures – global teams – are now receiving increasing attention. There is a view that the diversity of staff, their multicultural nature, can improve the team’s performance, and therefore the effectiveness of the organization itself.
Global teams are groups formed from representatives of different cultures to perform various tasks. Unlike single cultural teams, they are characterized by the prevalence of different cultures, mixed languages of communication, and interpersonal interaction styles. As a result of the crossing of different cultures, both negative consequences – conflicts, and positive – mutual cultural enrichment, discoveries, exciting ideas, useful knowledge are possible (Himanka, 2019). Accordingly, to ensure the efficiency of such a team, it is crucial to assess the impact of each member’s critical features on the work of the group as a whole. Representatives of different business cultures in global teams have got different motives, incentives, rules, norms, traditions, communication styles, as well as can perceive working situations in different ways.
In global teams, two scenarios are possible for the development of relations within the group: the establishment of cultural unity and cohesion, or subgroup dominance, and the effect of exclusion from intra-group interaction (Cieri, 2017). In the field of team architecture, the following three essential factors dominate the inclusion of an individual in a multicultural team: professional qualities, ability to work in a group, and respect and tolerance (Maznevski and lane, 2019). Cross-cultural team leaders, just like their members, can solve these problems differently based on their cultural affiliation, which determines the specifics of their approaches and team management strategy (Mockaitis, Zander, and De Cieri, 2018). Thus, the efficiency of communications is a crucial indicator in cross-cultural management, as it is on it that the productive cooperation of international companies depends. It is directly related to the understanding of cultural, national peculiarities of representatives of different peoples and countries. Effective communications are characterized by criteria such as objectivity, transparency, reliability, timeliness, feedback, and targeting.
In the process of forming a global team, its members create their own culture of interaction. Unlike single cultural groups, they have no shared identity and create new, more convenient, and secure ways for them to cooperate (Tang and Wang, 2017). Thanks to this, such teams have got many advantages, for example, obtaining new skills of work, forming unique ideas, and many others. The global team will be able to identify the problem in everyday work and come up with an original solution for it. At the same time, work efficiency depends on several factors (Browaeys and Price, 2019). First, the objectives and tasks of the work must be established. Second, there should be a set of clear rules and roles for each team member to avoid incorrect expectations and conflicts. Third, it is critical to maintaining communication and coordination among all representatives. To meet all these conditions, team members must be great professionals, under the control of a competent leader.
Nevertheless, global teams are vulnerable in situations where it is necessary to solve problems that are not aimed at strengthening the unity of the group, and sometimes contradict it. For example, representatives of the global team will see different ways to address strategic issues and approach group tasks, as they already have their own opinion about them, assessing strategic capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses (Maznevski and Chui, 2017). In such a case, single cultural teams respond more quickly to changes and problems. They are more flexible, and therefore more effective in certain situations.
Taking into account the above arguments, it is possible to claim that the effectiveness of the global and single cultural teams depends on the tasks assigned to them. Under certain conditions, such as openness and tolerance of representatives, competent management, a global group can successfully solve problems requiring a creative and unique approach. On the other hand, a single cultural team will be more effective in addressing some strategic challenges that require flexibility and rapid response. In such a case, the chance that there will be misunderstandings or conflicting approaches is minimized.
In a globalizing business world, cultural differences play a significant role. They can both contribute to and impede the performance of a global team. Cross-cultural communication of team members and the emergence of organizational conflicts due to cultural differences are the greatest problems. Consequently, the ability of managers to use all the diverse elements of group efficiency, focusing on the cultural diversity of team members, gaining additional competitive advantages from them is vital. On the other hand, learning how to define and manage socio-cultural differences, treating national cultures as sources of new knowledge, and as critical factors for achieving competitive advantages, is quite challenging for managers. Companies that have successfully established themselves in the global market and are committed to international development are actively using global teams. They provide the necessary level of flexibility and speed to respond to external changes. They, therefore, allow more efficient use of the company’s human resources, increasing the company’s competitiveness on a global scale.
Reference List
Browaeys, M. and Price, R. (2019) Understanding cross-cultural management. London: Pearson Education Limited.
Cieri, H. D. (2017) International human resource management: from cross-cultural management to managing a diverse workforce. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Himanka, L. (2019) Effects of diversity in global teams. Master thesis. Oulu Business School. Web.
Maznevski, M. and Chui, C. (2017) ‘Leading global team’ in Stevens, M. J., Maznevski, M., Bird, A., Mendenhall, M. E., Oddou, G. R., Osland, J. and Stahl G. K. (eds.) Global leadership: research, practice, and development. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Maznevski, M. L. and Lane, H. W. (2019) International management behavior: global and sustainable leadership. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mockaitis, A.I., Zander, L. and De Cieri, H. (2018) ‘The benefits of global teams for international organizations: HR implications’, The international journal of human resource management, 29(14), pp. 2137-2158.
Tang, N. and Wang, Y. (2017) ‘Cross-cultural teams’ in Passmore, J., Salas, E. and Rico, R. (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell handbook of the psychology of team working and collaborative processes. Chichester: Wiley.