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1 – 10 of over 1000Alexei V. Matveev and Richard G. Milter
Managers working in multinational companies carry out their organizational goals through multicultural teams. Performance of multicultural teams can be examined from an…
Abstract
Managers working in multinational companies carry out their organizational goals through multicultural teams. Performance of multicultural teams can be examined from an intercultural communication perspective. Executives, managers, management consultants, and educators interested in improving multicultural team performance need to know about intercultural competence and how it affects team performance. This article provides a working definition of high‐performance multicultural teams and outlines the challenges multicultural teams face. These definitions along with extensive interview data and detailed self‐reports of American and Russian managers working in multicultural teams emphasize the high importance of intercultural competence in improving the performance of these teams. This article also serves to highlight the characteristics of high‐performance multicultural teams, the common challenges of multicultural teams, and the sources of these challenges.
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Mike Szymanski, Ilan Alon and Komal Kalra
In this study, micro-foundations of strategy as the theoretical framework to study the effect of managers’ individual characteristics on multinational team performance are…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, micro-foundations of strategy as the theoretical framework to study the effect of managers’ individual characteristics on multinational team performance are adopted. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to study managers’ multilingual communication abilities and multicultural background, and their role in, respectively, effectively reconfiguring team human assets and sensing cognitively distant opportunities and threats.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses national football teams competing in national and international competitions and their coaches’ characteristics as the data set to test the theory. Using random coefficient modeling and ordinary least square regression, this paper analyzes two samples of 222 and 79 teams and found that both these characteristics contribute to team performance; however, their effects differ depending on the team environment.
Findings
Multicultural managers contribute positively to team performance only when the team is operating in a highly diverse environment, their effect is not statistically significant in homogeneous environments. In less diverse environments, it is the multilingual manager who can improve team performance through more efficient communication and greater effects of leadership on the team.
Originality/value
Managers’ characteristics such as their multicultural background and multilingual capabilities affect team performance. In particular, these effects come into play in highly diverse and international settings. Micro-foundation literature is advised to focus on the internationalization and multicultural backgrounds of managers as a precursor for organizational international performance.
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Raphael Silberzahn and Ya-Ru Chen
Purpose – Existing research in organizational behavior and social psychology focuses on comparisons in behaviors and attitudes across national groups, instead of studies on…
Abstract
Purpose – Existing research in organizational behavior and social psychology focuses on comparisons in behaviors and attitudes across national groups, instead of studies on interactions among individuals with different national cultural backgrounds. In this chapter, we hope to motivate efforts within cross-national literatures to address some largely unexamined questions regarding dynamics in multicultural diverse teams.
Design/approach – Through a review of the prior perspectives on multicultural teams and a summary of findings in a recent meta-analysis study on multicultural teams in both single nation and multinational settings, we critique the limitations of the current perspectives and propose a new theoretical framework that draws on status perspectives in sociological and ethological research.
Findings – Drawing from status literatures, we explore how the status construction process and the status differential hierarchy of the team may affect trust, psychological safety, and creative problem solving of complex tasks in multicultural teams.
Originality/value – We propose a new theoretical angle of status for future research on interaction dynamics in multicultural teams, and diverse teams in general.
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Aurelia Engelsberger, Jillian Cavanagh, Timothy Bartram and Beni Halvorsen
In this paper, the authors argue that multicultural skills and relational leadership act as enablers for open innovation, and thereby examine the process through which teams can…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors argue that multicultural skills and relational leadership act as enablers for open innovation, and thereby examine the process through which teams can utilize multicultural skills to support the development of relational leadership and knowledge sourcing and sharing (KSS) through individual interaction and relationship building. The authors address the following research question: How does relational leadership enable open innovation (OI) among employees with multicultural skills?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies a multi-level approach (team and individual level) and builds on interviews with 20 employees, middle and senior managers with multicultural experiences, working in open innovation environments.
Findings
The authors’ findings shed light on the process through which social exchange relationships among team members (e.g. R&D teams) and knowledge exchange partners are enhanced by the use of multicultural skills and support the development of relational leadership to facilitate KSS and ultimately OI. The decision for participants to collaborate and source and share knowledge is motivated by individual reward (such as establishing network or long-lasting contacts), skill acquisition (such as learning or personal growth in decision-making) and a sense of reciprocity and drive for group gain. The authors encourage greater human resource (HR) manager support for relational leadership and the development and use of multicultural skills to promote KSS.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the value of our findings, this paper is not without limitations. The authors explained that the focus of this study design was on the work activities of the participants and their skill development and not specific projects or organizations. It was outside the scope of this study to examine variations across organizations and individuals as the authors wanted to focus on multicultural skills and relational leadership as enablers for OI. The authors recommend that future studies extend our research by unpacking how various boundary conditions including relational leadership and multicultural skills impact KSS and OI over the life cycle of innovation teams within large multinational organizations, across countries and ethnicities.
Practical implications
The study’s findings provide managers with improved understandings of how to enable an individual's willingness and readiness to source and share knowledge through multicultural skills and relational leadership. Managers need to ensure that human resource management (HRM) practices celebrate multicultural skills and support relational leadership in innovation teams. The authors suggest managers engaged in OI consider the components of social exchange as described by Meeker (1971) and utilize reciprocity, group gain, rationality and status consistency to support the emergence relational leadership and KSS in innovation teams.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors contribute to the dearth of literature on the boundary conditions for OI by examining the role of relational leadership and characteristics/skills of the workforce, namely multicultural skills and contribute to the scarce research on the role of employees with multicultural skills and their impact on OI and present multicultural skills/experiences and relational leadership as enablers for OI.
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Viktoriya Zipper-Weber and Andrea Mandik
The negative cultural bias vis-à-vis international business and cross-cultural management has been duly acknowledged, necessitating recommendations towards investigating its…
Abstract
Purpose
The negative cultural bias vis-à-vis international business and cross-cultural management has been duly acknowledged, necessitating recommendations towards investigating its positive effects. Methodologically, quantitative research clearly predominates, and there have been calls for alternative approaches. Thus, this conceptual paper addresses the research gap (methodological and thematic) by investigating if multicultural teams can be an essential part of the global workforce and whether positive effects exist regarding dynamic capabilities, learning and knowledge transfer.
Design/methodology/approach
The underlying ethnographic research design enabled exploring within the embedded single case study from an emic perspective, including qualitative observation and semi-structured expert interviews, and provided detailed insights into the company’s multicultural work environment.
Findings
The results reveal that applying a qualitative design allowed the needed exploration and show that multicultural, geographically dispersed teams are positively experienced and considered necessary in today’s globalised world. They are likely to increase in the future. Moreover, dynamic capabilities (multicultural competencies) are indispensable for multicultural teamwork. Regarding learning opportunities, different viewpoints for discussion and the ability to reflect on these offer valuable insights. In line with theory, multiculturality is considered a “two-edged sword”, providing simultaneous benefits and challenges. Contrary to the theory, even highly important information transfers can occur virtually, although occasional physical contact is essential for trust building.
Originality/value
The multinational family business offers a unique example of a positive relationship between multiculturalism and organisational excellence and demonstrates how the application of a qualitative methodology can support theory building by delivering a revised model of dynamic capabilities in multicultural environments with geographical dispersion.
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The rapidly evolving competitive global marketplace with its culturally diverse customers has increased demand for multinational corporations (MNCs) to accelerate global…
Abstract
The rapidly evolving competitive global marketplace with its culturally diverse customers has increased demand for multinational corporations (MNCs) to accelerate global innovation. Leaders increasingly face the challenge of facilitating global and local team knowledge in order to improve strategic planning and execution for new products and services worldwide. An unresolved question in this regard is how global leaders can facilitate multicultural team collaboration aimed at improving performance of global innovation initiatives? Addressing this research question, a qualitative study was conducted focusing on the role of global leadership in facilitating multicultural collaboration and global innovation performance. The study included interviews with 105 global project leaders at 36 MNCs with headquarters based in Europe, Asia, and North America. These exploratory findings demonstrate how global leadership behaviors can facilitate cross-cultural collaboration for international project performance.
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C. Lakshman and Jorge Gonzalez
This study aims to theoretically explore the relationship between potential antecedents of business model innovation (BMI) in multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the paths…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to theoretically explore the relationship between potential antecedents of business model innovation (BMI) in multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the paths through which BMI unfolds in such contexts. This study theorizes how multiculturalism in top management teams (TMTs) influences team-level cultural intelligence (CQ), which enhances firm strategic agility and helps develop BMI in MNEs.
Design/methodology/approach
This study’s cross-level theoretical framework describes the mediating role of CQ of TMTs in the relationship between team multiculturalism and strategic agility, which subsequently influences BMI. This study discusses contributions, limitations and future directions.
Findings
MNEs’ capability of developing and recombining disruptive knowledge from globally dispersed sources and integrating them to innovate is subject to the knowledge-sourcing paradox. Despite the importance of intra-member diversity in the form of multicultural individuals in multicultural teams, inter-member diversity is more prominent in the literature. Regardless, the applicability of a comprehensive conceptualization of diversity in multicultural teams to BMI has yet to be examined. This study’s theoretical model links multiculturalism in TMTs with BMI in MNEs through a cross-level framework.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the International Business literature by proposing a novel conceptualization of team multiculturalism and leverage theoretical underpinnings of the Dynamic Managerial Capabilities perspective to develop a cross-level model of factors influencing BMI in MNEs.
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Malgorzata Rozkwitalska and Beata Aleksandra Basinska
Since prior research into the effects of multiculturalism on job satisfaction in multinational corporations (MNCs) is rather scant and inconclusive, the purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Since prior research into the effects of multiculturalism on job satisfaction in multinational corporations (MNCs) is rather scant and inconclusive, the purpose of this paper is to review the literature and explain why these results are inconsistent as well as propose a new model aimed at responding to these irregularities.
Design/methodology/approach
In the narrative review of the prior research and the proposed model the authors discuss how multicultural settings influence job satisfaction. A Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) lens is applied to the model.
Findings
The effect of multiculturalism on job satisfaction is inconsistent, i.e. the authors concluded that multiculturalism may be positively related to the cognitive component, yet it appears to be negatively associated with the affective one. By applying a POS lens, the proposed model broadens the view on job satisfaction and its links with multiculturalism.
Practical implications
The authors’ model suggests that managers in MNCs should both enhance employees’ positive attitudes towards their job as well as foster positive emotions at work. They should exhibit more concern for employees’ affective states and how they affect cross-cultural interactions. Managers of MNCs need to boost thriving as it benefits both employees themselves and their organizations.
Social implications
Since today’s societies are becoming more and more multicultural, there is a need to increase individuals’ awareness of plausible positive outcomes flowing from multiculturalism, exchange views and experience among diverse individuals and ensure the conditions in which individuals can thrive.
Originality/value
By applying a POS lens to the analysis, the authors attempt to intertwine the positives experienced at work that appear to be associated with MNCs’ multicultural settings, namely job satisfaction and emotional balance. The results may contribute to the literature on job satisfaction in MNCs with regard to multiculturalism.
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