Developing and Managing Virtual Teams in a Global Community:
The Effect of a Team Leaders Cultural Competence
University
Spring 2015
OC – 6447 Consulting and Group Processes Facilitations
name
Executive Summary (In progress)
Part One: Identification of Issue or Problem
The Need
Globalization is increasingly having a visible impact on the importance attached to cultural competence in organizations, an impact that is even clearer in the context of virtual teamwork. Virtual teamwork is defined by Simsarian (2007) as a process whereby a group of people with a common purpose carries out interdependent tasks using technology as the key communicational interface. In this paper we will focus on global virtual teams (GVT), meaning groups of people representing different organizations and functions, likely to come from different cultural background and traditions. These people rarely meet in person, but are conducting almost all of their interaction and decisions making using communication technology. There are aspects of GVTs context that can hinder the ability of team members to communicate and collaborate, and consequently impact the performance of the team’s diversity and the challenging nature of the task. Reserachers have consistently found that trust among virtual team members is one of the most critical success factors in regard to overall team success (Nilles, 1998). Knowing the imporatnce of trust, this paper seek to understand what facors in a team can contribute to the affect of creating trust in a GVT. Becasue of the diversity presented in the GVTs this paper will investigate of the team leaders culutral competence have a positive effect on virutal teams trust. This is importance to organizations because it can lead to more positive outcomes of the team’s performance, which again is profitable for the organization.
Research Problem
This research report will investigate the relationship between virtual team leaders cultural competence and the trust of the virtual teams members.
Who Will Benefit?
This paper is butting focus on the importance of cultural competence when managing virtual teams. The report is giving awareness to organizations of leadership qualities that is needed when managing virtual teams. If organizations are aware of the effect cultural competence have on trust of a virtual team, they can carefully select leader who have these qualities. Both the team leader and the team members will benefit from this when it can lead to less frustration and irritation within the team.
Report Credibility
The literature review of this report will exclusively support peer reviewed articles and findings. Renowned journals and content relevant websites have been examined through an extensive research online and by using selected databases such as EBSCO for instance. By using such sources, the validity and reliability will be ensured in order to provide useful evidence. Method for investigation the issue is therefore use of secondary sources. I have gather information from previous research studies and case analysis conducted on subjects related to my research problem. Data gathered was then examined on the basis of evidence available from secondary sources, which I believe is accurate. Through research studies already done on similar situations. I have studied the area strict and got rich on the detailed. Using secondary sources as a method for investigation you have to interpret the interpretations that goes from the perspective of a previous interpreter. Only sources that is relevant for my research is used when presenting solutions and suggestion to the problem. The conclusions will be based on findings from gathered sources. Main issues will then be discussed in order to attain meaningful conclusions, which will provide credible information as well as recommendations.
Hypotheses and variables
I. A team leaders cultural competence will have a positive effect on perceived virtual teams trust.
II. A team leaders cultural competence will have a negative effect on perceived virtual teams trust.
III. A team leaders cultural competence will have no effect on perceived virtual teams trust.
This research will investigate the effect a virtual teams leaders cultural competence (IV) have on virtual teams trust (DV)
Independent variable: Virtual Team leaders cultural competence is defined and measures as the leaders understanding and respect towards values, attitudes, beliefs, and traditions that differs across cultures. Leader is able to consider and respond appropriately to these differences in planning, implementing and evaluating.
Dependent variable: Virtual teams trust is described and measured as the teams willingness to be vulnerable to the action of another person based on the expectation that the other will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other person.
Part Two: Literature Review (In progress)
Research Study Literature Related to the Issue/Problem
Aneas (2012) says that trust is evidently important in every culture, but what distinguishes one culture from another is the way in which trust is won and lost. It is also possible to assert that intercultural incompetence, that is work difficulties caused by the lack of awareness of cultural differences, constitutes the greatest single risk factor in the process of establishing and maintaining trust. She says that intercultural relations may have a considerable impact on the outcomes of virtual teamwork as well as on the climate in which the workplace, especially in terms of work planning, social and communicational need and attitudes towards work norms and protocols. If it is difficult to establish these behavior styles, key elements such as trust can again be difficult to establish. In Aneas (2012) research three participants picked up culture connected to trust. One interviewee gave the example of different meanings for punctuality. Thus, Europeans would understand it as impoliteness if one was late for a meeting. However, in another culture being on time is not a matter of trust. Furthermore, in Finland trust can be build in sauna, whereas in other cultures this rather might create mistrust. Hence, trust can be build with intercultural competence. One interviewee suggested that managers should try to create teams with openness, honesty and constructive feedback, positive and negative feedback balanced in order to develop trust.
Similarly Callen (2008) suggest that trusting relationships in a disciplined structured environment is essential to the success of global virtual teams. These relationships are built through increased team member intercultural competence. Building trusting relationships is a differentiator that keeps people motivated, engaged, and committed. When cultural diversity is part of the equation, building trusting relationships means being open-minded, curious, and accepting of others’ differences. Too often, short-term goals supersede the importance of human relations. If culturally inclusive relationship building is prioritized, the effectiveness of global virtual teams will be enhanced.
Kayworth and Leidner (2000) say that given the potentially diverse composition of virtual teams, groups may consist of individuals from both formal and informal cultures. As a result, team members may have conflicting perspectives on certain attitudes related to project schedules, planning, and punctuality with deadlines. Team memeber intervurewd expressed taht trust was the big issue. They reflected that they needed to trust eac other if they would be able to do the best possible job. Team members also commented on cultural issues saying that the team leader needs to remember that there are cultures that are more relaxed than others and may need more prompting to provide information on a timely basis.’
According to Gibson and Cohen (2003) virtual team members must understand that their trustworthiness will be assessed based on their behavior, not on their good intentions. In their research they interviewed a technology manager. He expressed that his biggest challenge to virtual team are the cultural differences among team members. This manager shared the story of a virtual team whose one Asian member, because of his cultural heritage, avoided open conflict with others. When he disagreed with his virtual teammates, he remained silent so others in the controversy could save face. Over time, others on the team learned to interpret their Asian colleague’s silence as respectful deference.
Kramer (2005) found that open-mindedness, flexibility, interest in and sensitivity toward other cultures, ability to deal with complexity, resilience, optimism, energy, and honesty are qualities that allow a virtual leaders to work in complex and unique environments where change is constant and where group challenges, process complications, and project setbacks might be more common-place than for traditional co-located teams. These personal attributes are also important for the trust building process, especially when diversity and distance increase. The ability to build trust is an absolutely essential role required of a virtual leader or any leader. Incorporating these attributes, especially honesty, open-mindedness, cultural sensitivity, and optimism will aid in the creation of a trusting environment
Rød (2002) argues that most business people will insist that good business relations are about trust. As humans working in an intercultural environment we need to pay constant attention to how we can create credibility and trust in our relationships. She say that successfully leading a global virtual group teams leaders need to ask themselves What behavior creates trust in one culture compared to another? What do I need to do in order to create that trust; what separates us and how can I build bridges? What do we have in common and how can I leverage that? If our intention is to create trust and the desired impact is that people have an emotional experience of trust when dealing with us, what behavior is needed to create it? How can we develop the flexibility to adapt our behavior given different cultural circumstances without losing our essence as a person? Understanding ourselves and understanding others whether it is as individuals, teams, or organizations is key to creating trust.
According to Richardson (2014) understanding how leadership works across cultures, one must carefully look at every participant or stakeholder to understand how he or she might understand the situation. Cultural differences in leadership expectations affect the perception of who the leader is. Different cultures have different prototypes of what a leader should be. A leader who can meet followers’ expectations can expect to develop their trust and build relationships. To be a culturally competent leader, one must use knowledge and mindfulness to develop a repertoire of behaviors adaptable to these situations.
Jarvenpaa and Leidner (2006) explore the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team whose members transcend time, space, and culture. They say that Trust and intercultural competence form two intertwined success factors for global virtual teamwork. Being aware of cultural differences helps to avoid misunderstandings, which might lead to mistrust, frustration and consequently results in ethnocentrism.
Chang, Chuang, Chao (2011) found partially support for a positive relationship exists between the cultural adaptation and the member trust in virtual teams. They report that cultural adaptation was important to the member trust in most virtual teams. However, when there is a strict stratum in the team, cultural factors would be ignored because lower level members had to listen to their leaders completely.
Evaristo (2003) suggested that one of the reasons people may not initially have trust in one another is the lack of knowledge about the rationale for past or present behaviours and intentions, and therefore the lack of willingness to risk vulnerability to an unknown situation. Furthermore, when there are deep cultural differences colouring the perceptions of individuals across distributed groups, the most difficult situation develops. In that case, individuals may not even understand the cause and effect relationships that determine how certain behaviours originate from stimuli. As a result, behaviours intended to generate trust with the other distributed sites may be misinterpreted.
Options Identified in the Literature for Approaching the Problem
Summary of the Literature Review
Part Three: Conclusions and Recommendations (In Progress)
Conclusions
Approaches/Options
Implications of the Findings
Recommendations
References (in progress)
Callen, D. (2008). Leveraging global virtual teams through intercultural curiosity, sensitivity, and respect. Graziadio Business Review, 11, 4,
Aneas, A. (2012). Intercultural competence as a trust factor in virtual team work.
Encyclopedia of Human Resource Information Systems
Chang, H. H., Chuang, S., Chao, H. S. (2011). Determinants of cultural adaptation, communication quality, and trust in virtual teams’ performance. Total Quality Management, 22, 3, 305 –329
Jarvenpaa, L. S., Leidner, E. D. (2006). Communication and Trust in Global Virtual teams. Journal of computer-Mediated Communcation, 3, 4,
Richardson, B. (2014). Culture-Induced Complexity. What every project and program manager needs to know. Project Mangement Institute, Inc
Rød, A. (2002). Working with intercultural teams to optimize performance. OD Practitioner, 44, 1, 28- 33
Gibson, B. C., Cohen, G. S. (2003) Virtual teams That Work. Creating conditions for virtual team efectivness. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey Bass
Kayworth, T. Leidner, D. (2000). The global virtual manager: A Prescription for success. European Management Journal, 18,2, 183-194
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|