The Managers Challenge
As you have already read, it is difficult to manage teams across cultures
. We all need to learn how to make our global teams more effective. When working in a team, every member shares the responsibility of making the team work.
Structuring for Success
Remember, the essence of a team is that it is judged as a unit based on its collective output. In other words, you can't really be a winner if you're on a losing team. And since the entire team shares the responsibility for success, it becomes incumbent on every team member to learn how to be effective on an intercultural team. Fortunately, there are some steps all teams should follow. Many of these have been covered in more depth in previous articles. Please see those for more information.
Figure 1: Five steps to Becoming a Global Team
1.Confirm goals and objectives
2.Learn about team members
a.What do you know about the non-work lives of your fellow team members (relationship building)
3.Learn and appreciate the role of culture on your team
4.Learn about the style preferences of your fellow team members
a.Expect to affect behavior, not values
b.Respect culture
c.Respect styles
d.Value each other's contribution
e.Express needs
f.Understand that success depends on the contributions you're getting from everyone
5.Define norms, behavior styles you want for your team: rules, roles and metrics
a.Establish standards for constructive dialog
Using Technology to Work Across Time Zones
In 2000,professors Martha L. Maznevski from the University of Virginia and Katherine M. Chudobal from FloridaStateUniversity decided they wanted to see what made
Global Virtual Teams work. Like many other researchers, they were fascinated by the growth and complexity of global virtual teams, and wanted to explore what made one team more effective than another. They spent 21 months investigating, and like those who went before them, they discovered that some teams are high performers and extremely innovative, whereas others never reached their potential. They were particularly interested in how technology and communication techniques would affect the strength of the teams. The two women examined three teams within one multinational company so they could isolate some of the specific issues.
What they discovered was fascinating. They found that the most successful of the three teams had created a strong and distinct rhythm of regular face-to-face meetings.The team members experienced "intense interaction" punctuated by monthly hour-long conference calls and only brief interactive contact to complete day-to-day work (usually by telephone). Although the team members were from several different countries (including the highly individualistic U.S.), they shared the belief that loyalty should be to the group, and believed in careful planning before embarking on any change.
Researchers suggest that global virtual teams must schedule rhythms rather than let them develop spontaneously. This is done through a combination of face-to-face gatherings, daily five-minute water cooler meetings and bi-weekly discussions.This predictable rhythm allows team members to develop social ties and relationships.It gives them the opportunity to use the face-to-face meetings for their more complex, difficult communication challenges and decision-making tasks.
"this rhythm seemed to be as critical to effectiveness as the incidents themselves. While the individual meetings helped in decision making and relationship building, the rhythm of meetings over time provided continuity and long-term stability," said Maznevski and Chudoba. "They reduced ambiguity in the task by structuring expectations and making response times predictable. It was this sense of rhythm that enabled members to work efficiently and confidently alone or in ever-changing subgroups between coordination meetings."
H2 Addressing the Curse of Multi-tasking
One of the activities that frequently occurs in virtual collaboration on global teams is multitasking. Multitasking refers to simultaneously participating in the meeting and engaging in at least one other activity unrelated to the meeting." There's been quite some discussion about both the benefits and negatives of doing more than one thing at a time with researchers as well as anecdotal data, showing that it can have both positive and negative effects.
The reality is, however, that when people are on virtual teams, they frequently multi-task.They may be sorting papers or answering other emails, but they will often not be paying 100% attention to what's going on during the virtual team meeting. One way to avert this is to have visual contact, but often thats not possible.
Researcher Christina Wasson studied people in virtual groups, and came away with the idea that it's not all bad. In fact, she believes it enhances employee productivity because as she says, employees "are usually putting in an extra level of effort, not wasting time." She offers evidence regarding types of meetings where multitasking doesn't cause a problem, as well as meetings where they do. She also offers a variety of solutions to the problems when they arise.
For example, when people forget to put their phones on mute, team members will find this noise distracting. She suggests simply reminding people to put their phones on mute. Another problem is that people may overestimate their ability to pay attention in the meeting as well as do other activities. She suggests that if the team leader suspects this is happening, it would be a good idea to talk with the person offline and point out that the team is losing out on the person's participation. Furthermore, if multi-tasking results in team members not being adequately engaged in the process, Wasson encourages team leaders to create a more interactive environment.
by: Jake McKinsey
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