Cross cultural management - International Teams - Essay Example

Cross Cultural Management – International Teams AFFILIATION: Question Discuss how our understanding of cultural difference, particularly in terms of communication, ethics and other frameworks used to analyze such differences can assist potential improved performance for these teams? Answer In every country, the culture, ethics and communication vary a lot due to which it becomes mandatory for the organizations to first develop an understanding about these key aspects before they start working in international work environment.

In some cultures such as in United States of America and United Kingdom looking straight into the eyes during the conversation means that the person who is speaking is confident and knows what he is talking about; while in others such as in Japan, it is considered as showing disrespect and eye contact is avoided during business meetings. Hence, it becomes important for the companies to understand the dynamics of culture, ethics and communication in different work settings. According to Keogh (2012), the international teams or multicultural teams vary and they need to take account of four important factors to ensure that the team progresses in the right direction i.e. purpose of the team’s existence, degree of personality differences influence, role and impact of both professional and cultural identities and degree emotional intelligence’s importance alongwith the appropriate supporting systems.

From the studies of Taras and Rowney (2011), it is evident that the teams need to first understand the dynamics of the international teams and decide on a common goal. The team needs to understand the purpose of its existence so that every member has fair idea about their role and also the norms and culture of the team as well. The communication medium and interaction activities must be decided on a consensus way so that the teams can have effective communication and everyone has clear understanding about the team’s objectives alongwith the direction.

One of the most effective ways of managing the cross-culture problem among the groups is that the team member should meet frequently so that all of them have cordial relations with each other and the rules of the team are set with utmost ease. Everything for the team must be described in a written form so that each member has a proof that they are part of the team and are aware of the milestones and the goals that are to be met by the team. The most common problem found in the international teams is that they have certain set of preferences for their work and rewards and therefore, they hesitate to move out of that comfort zone.

Hence, the teams should have a leader who has an in-depth understanding about the emotional aspects that the expatriates and local people go through in teams and he should have the leadership skills to handle these problems and provide support to their team members. The leader should have the power to motivate his team members so that they can successfully achieve their goals. Therefore, it is important that the team leader’s alongwith the team members work in a friendly and participative environment so that all the potential problems are addressed in the initial stages of the team formation.

When all the communication, cultural, ethical, reward, work environment and all other issues are properly addressed, then the teams will be able to work towards common goal and the performance of these teams will eventually increase. Hence, when everyone in the team will work in collaboration, the team’s goal will be met which will ultimately increase the company’s performance and eventually the team members will get benefited as well.ReferencesKeogh, J., 2012. International Teams: Beyond Cultural Differences.

[Online] Available at: http://www.drivingstraight.com/Articles/International%20Teams.pdf [Accessed 11 June 2012]Taras, V. and Rowney, J., 2011. Cross-Cultural Group Management: A Review of Research Development in the Field. [Online] Available at: www.uncg.edu/bae/people/taras/CrossCultural_Teams_Review.doc [Accessed 11 June 2012]