Slide 16.1 Chapter 16 Working with international teams Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16.2 Groups processes during international encounters • Trust: – a prerequisite for working effectively in a team – Developing a climate of trust is a challenge – varies from culture to culture • Cultures: – have different assumptions as to the purpose of groups and teams: • • • to spread information and discuss problems; or to make decisions and take action; or to enable the creation of social relations Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16.3 Trusting other people Degree of trust in other people in other cultures: Figure 16.1 Trusting other people Source: based on Inglehart (1997) as quoted by Schneider and Barsoux (2003) Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16.4 Team dynamics • The differences between team members: – profession culture, personality, style and role, as well as organisation • These differences: – help increase the performance of the team – be the source of conflicts • depending on the way the team deals with these differences Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16.5 The management of multi-cultural teams • Some managers: – will appeal to the professional culture of its members • to bring an international team together - will emphasise the communication between the actors - such as making the unspoken explicit, rules explicit • Multicultural groups: – with the most harmonious relations appear to be those whose members: • • • have the same status not have contradictory interests not feel that their identity is threatened Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16.6 Afro-Western Teams (Continued) • Time the key factor – Time: • needed for a group to develop a real team spirit • otherwise the team manager loses credibility and ability to mobilise all team members – The members of a cross-cultural team: • must be given enough time to gain a clear perception of the project they are undertaking – Time needed: • for every individual to grasp exactly the purpose of their work, the exact goal and period of time Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16.7 Conclusion • Working in a team: – implies change not only in the way of doing but also in the way of thinking • This teamwork: – pre-supposes the creation of common values and ideas, a delicate process in multicultural teams and organisations End Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross-Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 ... deals with these differences Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross- Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16. 5 The management of multi -cultural. .. threatened Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross- Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16. 6 Afro-Western Teams (Continued) • Time the key factor... time Browaeys and Price, Understanding Cross- Cultural Management PowerPoints on the Web, 3rd edition, © Pearson Education Limited 2015 Slide 16. 7 Conclusion • Working in a team: – implies change