Global Leadership and Global Teams †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Global Leadership and Global Teams. Answer: Introduction Multinational companies use the global team as a strategic solution to its growth around the globe. These groups are formed in different cultural and geographical boundaries. The goal is to improve organizational performance and enhance expertise and innovations irrespective of different geographic locations. It integrates diverse knowledge from different parts of the firm, achieving efficiency through around the clock work across different time zones and reducing the cost of travel, access to customers and local markets. Global teams help an organization in coordinating the work favoritism, it comes along with different challenges which need to teamwork. These challenges. Researchers have found a number of challenges over the last decade in managing global teams as well as. These challenges are mostly consisting of sharing knowledge, communication, different cultures, and different time zones. However, researchers and practitioners have identified various interpersonal mechanisms which can overcome or decrease the effect of these challenges in global teams (Hinds, Neeley Cramton 2014, 540). The literature review consists of different challenges that can exist in a global team. The study of these challenges has been supported by literature from researches and scholars. The literature review also suggests some interpersonal mechanisms that can help to overcome the challenges a global team may face. The objective of this is to understand and learn the challenges in the global team and how these challenges can researchers. Also, this project will help us enable to learn international human resource theories as well. One of the key objectives of this project is to learn how to make a business research proposal. This research involves the investigation of changes and challenges which have been observed in the landscape of global teams. The research seeks to study the challenges that the team faces and the changes they have embraced to counter the challenges. Apart from conducting a research through leaders of this teams, the study will also employ the use of available literature on the challenges faced by global teams. The research is therefore anticipated to mitigate issues which arise due to diversity in culture and use of virtual communication by members of global teams including the leaders. Global clockwork has many challenges as this literature has identified. According to Cramton and Hinds (2014, 1059), it is important to differentiate the distributed teams which come together to form one global team. Global teams are multi-national, multi-cultural and distributed. Nowadays, these teams heavily rely on technology which comes in the form of electronic communication and they include virtual conferences. According to Shipper, Manz and Stewart (2013), global teams face many challenges even though they have adopted the use of technology because mainly, the outcomes of these teams are based on factors which may arise due to differences in time zones, background, geography, cultures and even fluency in a language. The difference in culture is a major issue for remote teams because conflict tends to arise due to diversity in values attitudes and behaviors. Lack of formal meeting and face to face communication is also a major blow to the global teams because knowledge and new ideas cannot be shared effectively. According to Bell (2005), local knowledge is held in local contexts and often face problems when it comes to sharing to others. Management of time and attention is another issue regardless of the presence of social media, emails and instant messaging which can ensure that these teams work effectively. However, if these communication tools are used in excess, it may end up bringing about a lot of work which can cause excessive pressure with the work. These electronic platforms can also cause delays and distractions, well-being consequences and in the end, affect the way these themes share knowledge and remain focused on the task assigned (Hao, 2013, 5). Cultural differences in members of a global team bring about a lot of challenges. Herbert and Zander (2014) developed a study which identified taxonomies which are significant in multi-national teams and they include time orientation, collectivism and individualism and lastly low and high contexts. Cultural orientation to time according to Holmqvist and Ericson (2014) ultimately leads to the development of gaps and indecency to members of global teams. Cultural teams also have a tendency of stimulating the process of categorization at a social level, according to Kirkman and McGurrin (2016, 140), this leads to biasness when it comes to conflict and sharing of information because they tend to bring about either discrimination or being favored. According to Hinds (2015), diversity in culture can ultimately bring an about a conflict which will undermine the outcomes and processes of global teams. Many researchers have come up with recommendations to counter the issues which are being faced by members and leaders of global teams. One of the most notable recommendation is cultural intelligence, cultural agility, and global mindset. According to Maloney, Zellmer and Shah (2015, 246), cultural intelligence can guarantee that leaders of global teams can function properly across different cultures. There is an argument by Maznevski and Dhanaraj (2014) that the success of a global team is based on the presence of a global mindset in team members. The concept of a global mindset, cultural agility and intelligence are interlinked and team members often have to explore the relationship which exists between them as they work towards the objectives in the most effective way possible. Agility, when it comes to culture is very important because for team leaders it is the most critical skill. CEOs and managers have an obligation to apply these strategies to the teams task while also passing the knowledge to members of the team. Expanding the concepts mentioned above ultimately improves the skills of team members who seek to make adjustments to the diverse cultures which may bring about the teams positive attitude and success in the outcomes (Presbitero Toledano, 2017, 20). Currently, scholars and researchers are making examinations of global teams as groups of organized networks. TSM is one of such concepts and it is developed to see to it that knowledge sharing is a reality in virtual teams (Reiche, Mendenhall Stahl, 2016). TSM involves the sharing of knowledge structures and resources within a team and therefore it allows members of a team to acquire new knowledge and effectively share it with other members of the team. With TSM a global team can ensure that redundancy in the provision and access to new information is eliminated because TSM sees to it that expertise is utilized, understood and aligned to individual global distributed teams. Perceived proximity is also another recommendation to help members of the global team. This concept dictates that social identification and a given degree of communication influence proximity perception. The most important factor to take note of is the management of global teams are solely dependent on the fact that perceived proximity is bridged by having effective communication outcomes in the relationships of a team. Very many challenges face a global team especially those who work in different nations of the world. Therefore there is a need for a system to ensure that relationships and dealings are streamlined in teams which are spread over vast distances. This is where Psychological Safe Communication Climate comes in to manage and facilitate the interpersonal relationship and dealings within a given organization (Shipper, Manz Stewart. 2013, 180). This system has seen to it that members of a given team can share information because of the encryption which has increased the sec urity and therefore ends the differences which exist based on nationality by creating a single global village using the internet. With this system, innovation and other positive outcomes were achieved by global teams. Identification is the last factor accompanying global teams and it is basically ones feeling of belonging and sense of importance in a team. Identification is also applicable at an organizational level and its importance is seen where virtual problems are reduced while purpose and meaning are brought to employees who are working on their tasks (Steers Nardon, 2013). This research paper is guided by the question What are the challenges facing global teams and how are the leaders of these teams addressing the challenges which are brought about by diversity in culture and virtual communication? Research Design and Methodology This qualitative research study will interview a sample of 6 selected team leaders based on: The leaders will be from Australia or the United Kingdom. The author will be required to have previous knowledge of the team leader. The leaders will have different levels of experience in levels of experience in terms of experience in years and leadership positions. The leaders will have experience working in a cross-cultural team while using virtual communication. The sample will be asked a total of nine questions and the interview will be split into two sections where the first section will be based on their experiences of managing a cross-cultural team and the second section will be concerned with the leaders experience and understanding of virtual communication. The interview will be conducted in a semi-structured format which includes structured questions which will help in deducing information which is factual. Open-ended questions will also be used so as to provide encouragement to the sample population in terms of providing enough details when it comes to their behaviors, feelings, and beliefs. The list of questions used in the interview is found in this papers Appendix A. The questions will be sent to the sample prior to the interview so as to give them enough time to prepare. The interview will be conducted in a location which is mutually convenient to the author and each individual sample. Each interview will not go past one hour and on average each interview will last for 45 minutes and there is hope of doing all the interviews face-to-face while recording using an audio recorder. The second option is using video conferencing and lastly, email if the sample cannot make it take the interview physically. The interview will be anonymous and devoid of preference in gender and age. In terms of language, English will be the first choice and the samples cultural background will be considered because it is important to note how it affects their responses. The interviews results aim at identifying the issues faced by the sample as they manage global teams who are cross-cultural and use virtual communications. What the study also aims at achieving is the identification of the frequency of communication while also investigating the steps taken by the sample to stop or control the issues. Due to its flexibility, the interview is expected to yield different or additional information which the author had not planned for and therefore a rapport will be established and maintained throughout the interview by the author who will not bring his own reaction or perception for it may influence the responses of the sample. The research was limited to the analysis of how differences in culture and virtual communication bring about challenges to members of global teams including leaders. To ensure that this objective is achieved, primary and secondary data were utilized. Even though there are many other problems which affect the global teams and how the leaders handle the issues, this study only concentrated on how diversity in culture affect the outcomes of global teams and how the leaders of these teams use virtual communication to ensure that the team stays on the right path, share knowledge and complete tasks. This problem is examined from the leaders viewpoint and it is particularly concerned with the functions of a team leader and the relationship between members of the global team and the diversity of cultures as they use virtual communication. The exclusivity of team members was observed as a major limiting factor in this research. Time Schedule Total time available 4 months (until Date Year) Activity Period in time Date (From X until Y) I. Collecting and reading through previous literature 3 weeks 1 November 21 November II. Material development 1 week III. Learning how to use method 2 weeks IV. Developing questionnaire 1 week V. Finding samples 2 weeks VI. Administering tests 3 weeks VII. Data analysis 2 weeks VIII. Writing 1 week IX. Rewriting 1 week X. Proofreading 1 week XI. Submission 1 week Conclusion In the research, the most common strategy used by team leaders from the United Kingdom and Australia to address the issues of or which arise from diversity in culture and virtual communication is the application of the right business etiquettes and best business practices when it comes to team work. What is very important is that communicating with caution, adhering to good business practices, team playing and use of accessible language is the key to a successful global team. Being very dynamic, the culture will change and so will technology as it continues to improve but what will remain is the fact that the challenges facing global team will always be experienced by the members and leaders of every team given that they are geographically apart. Therefore it is to leaders themselves to find ways of handling the differences while working to find the perfect balance in the work practices at the global level. References Butler, C. and Chongarova, I., 2014. 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