Dealing with cross-border teamwork approach.doc

Dealing with cross-border teamwork approach

In recent years of 21st century, development of technology has extended to a processoriented, e-business world that is increasing in business-to-business, web-centric interactions Beingregarded as a new approach that emerging in today’s global economics, cross-border teamworkbecomes more and more popular in enhancing competitive advantages This paper examines theconcepts of teamwork, cross-border teamwork and virtual teamwork It presents a framework to dealwith cross-border teamwork approach and to build up an effective cross-border team

It can be said that globalization has been one of the most hotly-debated topics ininternational economics over the past few years Unprecedented changes in communications,transportation, and computer technology have given the process new impetus and made the worldmore interdependent than ever Multinational corporations manufacture products in many countriesand sell to consumers around the world In this global prospect, working as team is not only a trendbut also meeting work requirement The term “teamwork” or “cross-border teamwork” is becomingmore and more popular in every organization, enterprise and company Cross-border teamwork isparticularly important in global business management Globalization creates global firms with manysubsidiary that differ in culture, time zones and attitudes, communication and management styles,organizational learning and knowledge management, international negotiations, internationalbusiness strategy, virtual teams, and human resource management issues

In the field of human resource management, building an effective teamwork, especially aneffective cross-border teamwork, will help companies to improve competitive advantages and meetrequirements of globalization process

People in every workplace talk about building the team, working as a team, but fewunderstand how to create the experience of team work or how to develop an effective team

To understand more about forming and developing a team as well as a cross-border team,this paper will focus on 3 main parts as follows:

Part 1: Overview of teamwork

Part 2: Dealing with cross-border teamwork approachPart 3: Building an effective cross-border teamwork

1.Overview of teamwork 1.1 Approach of teamwork

Being aware of the current swift changes in the business environment, foremost on the globalstage, one surely has to underline the growing importance of teams Keeping in mind this new focusin the world of business, commonly described as globalization (Foa, Roberto, 2004), individualskills or self – reliance are in many cases not sufficient to keep up with today’s demand Thisobviously implies the universally accepted notion that teams in general outperform individuals (SeeMooney, Ann C.,2001) In line with this observation Katzenbach and Smith in their widelyacknowledged publication on the advantages of teams put it bluntly as “people so committed tosomething larger than themselves” (Katzenbach, Jon R., Smith, Douglas K.,1993).

Team is defined as a group consisting small number of people with the complementary skillswho are committed to some common purpose, performance goals, and the approach for which they

will hold themselves mutually accountable (Publicguideworld.com, Teamwork).

When a person has all the talents and the enthusiasm in the world and yet he doesn’t havefree time to work, it all turns out useless Availability of every member is very much needed towork as a team If no one’s there, who do you expect to pursue the team’s goals? This work-abilityis not all about free-time, however, it also entails a large amount of adaptability Every membermust be able to expect different possibilities and must know how to react on them should theyarise in the course of events

Understanding among team members is a necessity in every team for every member to beable to work in the best of his abilities Everyone must be open to new ideas and suggestions.Everyone must have the capability to understand people It is in keeping the communication linesopen that the team can more efficiently achieve its goals

Every team member must be able to practice respect so that he can expect to be respected inreturn A team could discuss things and every member could voice out his own opinion in whatevermatter they are discussing without degrading his teammate or his teammate’s suggestions nomatter how irrational they are It is one thing to listen and be able to humbly object and it is

another thing to just avoid to listen Whenever a team is brainstorming, everyone must be able toraise his opinions without having any hard feelings

1.2 Advantages of teamwork

As we mentioned above that working as team is not only a trend but also meeting workrequirement in the globalization context We should also know that there are several advantagesof teamwork

Pooling knowledge and resources is one of teamwork benefits In a team with lots ofmembers, members may be from different apartments of the same company, they have differentexpertise, in such team, members can be free to show their special knowledge, and diversity ofinformation can be provided in the team It will save much more time to find the resources thanindividual work.

Teamwork also helps diversify skill and experiences in workplace Every member isspecialized in one field A good organization is really needed in proper distribution of work Thebest member of any group is he who demands work based on what he can do It is every groupmember’s responsibility to ensure that everyone has a work to do and that everyone is always thebest man for his job

A combination of strengths -especially if the team has been chosen carefully, it can get a goodrange of abilities, fields of expertise and personality types, so for every situation there should be atleast one person who can deal with it.

A range of opinions - if "two heads are better than one," six can be better still - a groupmeeting is often very useful for ironing out flaws in a plan, testing it out, spotting pitfalls etc “Thebigger picture drives your actions; your function exists to serve the bigger picture”(Cited by SusanM Healthfield, About.com)

Divided responsibility - while ultimate responsibility rests with the team leader, not much canbe achieved without an effective team The team structure allows those who have strengths in aparticular area to take more responsibility for that area.

Team spirit - a good team, well led, creates loyalty in its members Not wanting to let yourteam-mates down can be a powerful motivating force, as can the sense of pride in being part of asuccessful group

Building a team-oriented environment contributes to the overall success of the organization Inthis environment, one works with fellow members of the organization to produce these results Eventhough one has a specific job function and belongs to a specific department, he or she is unified withother organization members to accomplish the overall objectives

It is necessary to differentiate this overall sense of teamwork from the task of developing aneffective intact team that is formed to accomplish a specific goal People confuse the two teambuilding objectives This is why so many team building seminars, meetings, retreats and activitiesare deemed failures by their participants Leaders failed to define the team they wanted to build.Developing an overall sense of team work is different from building an effective, focused work teamwhen considering team building.

2.Dealing with cross-border teamwork approach

2.1 Key issues for understanding cultural differences

Globalization context requires multicultural knowledge to achieve business results To leadsuccessfully across borders and cultures, it is imperative to understand differences in culturalvalues, and their influences on everyday business practices Key issues covered include: a deeperunderstanding of differences in values, behaviors and attitudes, and their practical implications forleading successfully across borders and cultures

The first problem in dealing with cross-border teamwork approach is Culture It needs to havea general view of general culture, national culture and organizational culture

Culture is defined as a pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by the organization members.These beliefs and expectations produce norms that powerfully shape the behavior of individuals andgroups in the organization (Schwartz and Davis, 1981).

It can be said that culture is the concept we use to explain seemingly patterned behaviors fromthe perspective of a social group Culture is the complex matrix of behavior; a shared system ofvalued sensibilities and practices which influence individuals’ habitual ways of saying and doingthings Culture is all the things taken-for-granted and presumed as a basis for communication.Culture refers to the usual ways of doing and saying Culture is the common sense in situations andtheir affairs and activities People spend all their time learning how and why to act, learning whatemotion goes with what cognitive affair, learning how to use language, how to see things, hearthings, and touch things, learning things so well that they become habits of experience

Every nation has its own national culture The concept of cultural nation poses one of themajor problems in the humanities since there is no consensus how to define it A base line would beto say that the members of a cultural nation are aware of constituting an ethical-political bodytogether, which is differentiated from others by the members sharing a number of defining culturalfeatures Those features can include language, religion, tradition, or shared history All this can betaken as a sign of a historically evolved distinct culture The question whether a nation needs to have

an associated territory is subject of debate (En.wikipedia.org, Nation).

Each organization has its own distinctive culture, which combined from strategy, leadership,history, size and human It would be said that culture is an important factor that represents theimage of one corporate, and it creates the tradition or “the way we do things around here” (Dealand Kennedy, 1982) There are many researches about corporate culture including GeertHofstede’s theory, which defines culture as the “collective programming of the mind whichdistinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1991) Hestated that culture does not belong to any individual, but to groups

Cross-cultural communication (also frequently referred to as intercultural communication,which is also used in a different sense, though) is a field of study that looks at how people fromdiffering cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves , and

how they Endeavour to communicate across cultures (En.wikipedia.org, Cross-cultural

communication)

Effective teams have at least two common characteristics First character is individuals'behavioral styles and skills are complementary The second is individuals are aware of how culturaldifferences affect cooperation and interactions This knowledge will enable team members to worktogether to assimilate into new teams and quickly become effective In today's multiculturalbusiness environment, high-performing multicultural teams can out-perform homogeneous teams

when their diverse skills and contributions are maximized (Hodge-ia.com, Cross-cultural business

Although human resources departments are becoming increasingly supportive of cultural training for expatriating employees and their families, the effectiveness of this training hasnot kept pace with the increasing demand for practical, performance-related knowledge and skills.As business becomes more competitive, expatriating employees must become competent inworking and managing in the new culture We need to raise the bar; instead of generalities, cross-cultural training must be tied to improving performance and bottom-line results.

cross-2.2 Dealing with Time Zones

Time difference is another problem in dealing with cross-border teamwork approach Timebecomes a problem when people who are not in the same place and need some of their activities tobe synchronized When working with different time zones, individuals can be a day behind ofgetting something done Time zones need to be kept in mind when trying to stay connected withsomeone from another country

The time difference becomes a greater concern as the distance between the teams grows Wehave different time zones all over the world and it may be difficult to get everybody on the righttime It may be midnight in one part of the world and it may be the rush hour in another business.This is a problem because everybody needs to be on the same page and doing the same thing Onemay not desires to schedule one team meeting during regular business hours and the other teammeeting at 2 a.m Anytime that a communication for instance needs to be immediately connected to

Asia countries from the United States, users will have a hard time to obtain communication becauseit will be a different time in Asia countries and people will probably be asleep and not receive theintended communication in time The time difference makes it hard on cross-border teams but isstill an obstacle that can be overcome.

2.3 Communication

One obvious problem that can arise is communication in different language barriers People indifferent countries have different languages One of the main problems in dealing with cross-borderteams is the difference in languages that are spoken

When the team members speak different languages they have trouble in communicating Manythings could go wrong if clear communication is not initiated then many problems could occur insuch things such as orders, measurements, and prices The language problem can be somewhatdifficult to overcome if a common language is not agreed upon The major languages used inbusinesses today are English, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese If a common language can be agreedupon in advance, this problem can be alleviated The language barrier is a small problem but will beovercome if management selects their cross-border team members with great care

Communication is a major challenge because of different cultures among team members.However, it may be not necessary for communication to be the same when we match teams in amulti-cultural environment Clearly transferring information among team members is main problemto deal with Because many of these members reside in different time zone areas, it is a “rule ofthumb” to be precise in what each member wants to know and how well they ask a question Ifteam members phrase their questions carefully the first time, they will get their point acrosssuccessfully without having to deal with sending changes and making up for the time lost(Alexander 2000) Writing clearly and not using acronyms is another way to deal with this issue

Advances in technologies have increased each person’s ability and likelihood of interactingwith people of cultural backgrounds quite different from their own According to Visions Inc,“Multiculturalism is a process of change by which we learn to recognize, understand and appreciatecultural identities, as well as the similarities and differences of people from other cultural groups.”

There are a few issues that can arise from workers from different cultures Maybe someworkers will want to be aggressive about their work and others would not want to be like thisbecause they do not believe in being that way People from different cultures may tend tomisunderstand each other’s behaviors or stereotype people from other countries and hence come todistrust one another (Dash 2001, Alexander 2000, Cascio 2000).

Communications needs to be carefully managed when dealing with cross-border teams in orderto work efficiently and effectively Working in a cross-cultural team can create awarenessconcerning the principal cultural differences that affect communication and working situations, andit can provide techniques for lessening culturally-based problems Eventually with the growing useof the Internet to conduct business to business transactions it is essential for cultures to learn toadapt and understand cultural issues

2.4 Virtual team2.4.1. Overview

As we may know that information and communication technologies are impactingtoday's organizations and businesses in many diverse ways The implications are perceived atthe individual, organizational, and national levels The old accustomed-to boundaries ofnational economies and markets are giving way to globalization and newly emerging trends.Due to high competition and the forces of change, the world market will sweep aside the smallmarket players to make way for global organizations that are capable of penetrating the worldmarkets through a massive global outreach strategy In that respect, it is necessary to invest ininnovative business models such as virtual multicultural teams that are capable of handling thepressures of growing competition while capitalizing on the evolution of information andcommunication technology (P ortal.acm.org, The role of virtual multicultural teams in

corporate culture)

Organizations which capable of rapidly creating virtual teams of talented people canrespond quickly to changing business environments Capabilities of this type offerorganizations a form of competitive advantage Virtual teams can provide an organization with

a solid opportunity to compete, making it easier to adapt to different situations and reducingconflicts

A virtual team is defined as a group of people who work on interdependently acrossspace, time, cultures, and organizational boundaries on temporary, non-occurring projects witha shared purpose while using technology (Jarvenpaa, 1998; Lipnack & Stamps, 2000; Robey etal., 2000).

Virtual working is based on the premise that people do not necessarily need to be inthe same location to get the job done It has been driven by improvements in technology suchas email, mobile phone and internet which means there is less of a need to be office or deskbound.

A virtual team consists of a group of skilled people who work together on a projectbut aren’t necessarily in the same location – often they work from home - and in someinstances, colleagues never actually see each other, communicating only by phone, fax andemail.

Virtual teams can be project-based, product based, service and support teams, border management teams, or instant response teams pulled together to address emergencysituation They can of course also be people trying to make a living and build a business at thesame time, requiring the expertise of other workers in areas that will support the company.

cross-Global organizations need to operate through a very flexible structure that allowsfreedom and speed, and replaces the hierarchical models with structures that are flatter andadequate for stronger and more efficient communication Such a structure will allow bottom-up decision making and self-management and will capitalize on the advantages of employingmulticultural teams

2.4.2. Benefits of virtual team

Virtual teams have been now popular in global economics There are many benefitsof virtual working or virtual teams The use of virtual teams is growing in popularity especially

in work-related and educational organizations Research findings business that allows itsemployees to work in virtual teams more effectively.

Working in virtual teams presents unexplored opportunities for peer interaction asteams create new knowledge to resolve their problem or project Damon (1984) asserts that thebest conditions for intellectual accomplishment are environments that are motivated bydiscovery, the reciprocal feedback between mutually respected persons and the free exchangeof ideas

According to Kitchen, collaboration is a second advantage of working in virtualteams It is cited “To collaborate (co-labor) means to work together, which implies a sharedgoals … to create something new or different through the collaboration, as opposed to simplyexchanging information or passing on instructions”(Kitchen & McDougall, 1999)

Working in virtual teams also increase the work-life balance by removing fixedoffice hours and the need to travel work can be accomplished around the other things that lifeis supposed to be about.

People in virtual team also work smarter and more flexibly Wider groups ornetworks can be involved meaning a greater number of brains applied to the problem; virtualworking can mean 24/7 working – not just the eight hours at the office; etc(Businesslink.gov.uk).

2.4.3. Challenges of virtual team

Along with the above advantages , there exist a number of disadvantages of workingin virtual teams as well We will address three those disadvantages, including: the virtualreality of the team, trust, and communication

Firstly, virtual teams, are challenged because they are virtual: they exist throughcomputer mediated communication (CMC) technology rather than face-to-face; they oftentimes report to different supervisors (Cohen & Mankin, 1999) Lipnack & Stamps (2000)assert that “one of the reasons virtual teams fail is because they overlook the implications