Organizational Behvaior Issues Faced in Managing Global Managment Team - Case Study Example

Organizational behavioral issues faced in managing global management team- A global company plans activities on a global basis. Every international firm’s competitive advantage relies on its ability to manage its resources and information across its different geographical locations. Cross border teams consisting of different individuals from different nationalities, working cultures and various business functions are the most important things. These are the issues, which a global management team has to manage.

It is very difficult for a Multi National Corporation (MNC) to utilize the economies of global scale and scopes as well maximize the transfer of knowledge without understanding the nature of global management team even accepting the fact that the team is chosen through a planned way of successive interviews. In case of attaining a global success the management must analyze the hurdles and obstacles, which comes in their way. In such cases they should take the essential steps to overcome those barriers (Govindarajan, and Gupta, 2001).

A Framework of High-Performing Global Management Team In order to get an effective team, a management must consider the three important things consisting of the character of the team, composition of the team and team building process. A tem without proper mix of team members can never succeed. When a team composition is good but the process of building that is not good enough then the effectiveness of the particular team suffers. Individual behaviors and activities effects the global management issues There are various issues, which come in front of the global management team to run and coordinate their business activities globally.

The behavior and activities of individuals have a great impact upon those issues. 1. Communication Problems- Communication problem comes into play because of the different geographical locations languages, cultures and socio-economic factors differs. A. Geographical Issues - A global company has number of members from different countries and time zones, which leads them into the conflict of coordinating their time scheduling. This can lead to major logistical challenges for the management team regarding arranging the team meetings.

It is upon the individuals that how they manage all these issues utilizing their expertise. Technological incorporation in the organization can be the effective consideration while handling these problems. Various facilities like e-mail, video conferencing can be a replacement of face to face communication. Meetings increase the familiarity, faith and trust among the members. These are important social capital and very effective components considering running a large business worldwide. However, individual effectiveness is the main thing to make a proper understanding among the team members whether they communicating face to face or through virtual communication (Govindarajan, & Gupta, 2001).

In case of Sun Microsystems, this company implementing new products and has chosen employees on their talent basis not on location basis. Since the customers are based on Asia, Africa and European region so there is a great involvement of different time zones. To serve these customers company needs experienced engineers but they do not agree to work in the graveyard shift (Neeley & Delong, November 1, 2009, p.6). B. Language related issues- Global management teams have members from different region who speaks different languages.

Lack of ability to understand what another person is saying is always being an important issue, which is a constant headache for managing the global team. Often a common dominant language does not get well accepted among the local employees. They might feel that something has been forcefully imposed upon them. The person having less knowledge of that language may not be interoperating his ideas and thoughts properly to others. Poor communications between the team members reduces the trust worthiness among them and that leads to suffering for the management.

In language related issues considering the individual aspects is essential for building up the effectiveness of the global management team (Govindarajan & Gupta, 2001). While expanding in various European countries like France, global Management team of Sun Microsystems faced the above mentioned problem. This company belongs to United States and English is far different from French, which creates a communication gap between the company and their customers in France (Neeley & Delong, November 1 2009). C. Cultural Issues- Global management team members come from various cultural backgrounds.

Different cultures bring different values, norms, behaviors and assumptions in to the team management. These cultural aspects have a great influence on the decision making process of the team management. For the cultural differences the group cohesiveness can be affected badly, which then generates the conflict between the team management. (Stan, & Alecsandri, 2010, p.475) In case of Sun Microsystems the technical head of UAE, Mr. Nazr says that there performance is suffering because they may not understand the unique culture and business challenges of Middle East.

(Neeley, & Delong, November 1, 2009, p.10) D. Socio-Economic Issues- Different socio-economic background can create major problems towards managing a global team. Sun Microsystems has faced different problems due to compensation mismatch between American and French employees. Number of vacation days creates another problem. U.S. team complained of extra work load due to French teammates having long vacations, which is acceptable in their country law (Neeley, & Delong, November 1, 2009, p.9). Alternative Solutions- Communication problem in terms of geographical barriers, language related issues, cultural and socio-economical differentiations can be eliminated by proper management of the global team.

These above mentioned things are related with the organizational behavior. If the team members are willing to work together they must understand their problems first. The team members must discuss their problems among themselves and try to resolve it. This thing leads them in a good bonding, which also helps them to become a cohesive team. Proper flexible time shifts and technological advancement can reduce the communication problems between different geographical locations. Involvement of an interpreter within the global group helps individuals to express their ideas and understand other’s ideas properly.

Respecting the cultural values of different locations make the team members more effective towards taking any decisions. Following this guideline might help a global management to operate efficiently without any hazards.