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This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

10 - Working with global teams

from Part III - Developing Global Management Skills

Richard M. Steers ,
Luciara Nardon  and
Carlos J. Sanchez-Runde
Richard M. Steers
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Luciara Nardon
Affiliation:
Carleton University, Ottawa
Carlos J. Sanchez-Runde
Affiliation:
IESE Business School, Barcelona
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Summary

Management challenge

So far we have considered four multicultural competencies designed to improve global management techniques: communication, negotiation, leadership, and managing a global workforce. We now come to the fifth competence: working with global teams. If one-on-one relationships can be complicated, imagine how much more difficult it can be to create or work in a cohesive, collaborative work team consisting of multiple individuals from around the world. The challenges here include understanding the strengths and weaknesses of various types of work teams, knowing how to build and then lead a global team, and understanding how to build trust among team members. Clearly, this is no easy task, but in today’s highly competitive environment managers have little choice but to learn how to get the best out of the people around them.

Chapter outline

▪ Global teams page 334

▪ Virtual global teams 339

▪ Managing tasks and team processes 345

▪ Key success factors in global teams 348

▪ Team-building strategies 350

▪ Manager’s notebook: Working with global teams 356

▪ Summary points 360

Applications

10.1 Working together, working apart 336

10.2 Distributed teams at Dow Chemical 345

10.3 Global R&D teams 347

10.4 Global teams at Nokia 350

10.5 Developing collaborative skills at Accenture 352

Getting Americans and Japanese to work together is like mixing hamburger with sushi.

Atsushi Kagayama Former vice president, Panasonic Corporation, Japan

When we sit together as Germans, Swiss, Americans, and Swedes, with many of us living, working, and traveling in different places, the insights can be remarkable. But you have to force people into these situations.

Percy Barnevik Former CEO, ABB, Switzerland
Type
Chapter
Information
Management across Cultures
Developing Global Competencies
 , pp. 331 - 362
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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References

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