Teams, Cross-Cultural

Conceptual Overview

Several factors account for the use of CCT in organizations. When a subsidiary does not have enough capabilities to solve a problem, to take advantage of opportunities, or to respond to threats, it may take advantage of capabilities residing in other parts of the organization. In other cases, the need for efficiency precludes the constitution of local teams when the necessary knowledge exists elsewhere and may be accessed. The time it takes to build new capabilities can also discourage a company from building a new team from scratch. Sometimes, certain capabilities (e.g., R&D) may be scarce and inimitable or may be locally bounded. Companies may also want to take advantage of competencies located at different places (e.g., local market skills, knowledge of competitors, or best practices) or to gain insight about ways to achieve the overall integration, local differentiation, and learning at the global level. The constitution of a CCT for managing international joint ventures (IJV) is also frequent.

Considering the above, some companies are trying to develop networks of people with diverse capabilities throughout the organization and to mobilize them quickly into well-functioning teams operating at the global level. CCTs are thus emerging in several distinct contexts, including the management of IJV, the development of products for multi-country markets, the formulation of integrated strategies for a wide range of countries, the rationalization of worldwide manufacturing operations, and the composition of talented top management teams.

Cross-cultural teams can thrive on cultural diversity, although people from different cultures tend to differ in their values, cognitive schema, outward physical behavior (e.g., eye contact, punctuality, conversational style, interruption patterns, and conflict resolution) and language. Historical animosities between neighboring countries may lead to a lack of trust between individuals on the same team, who may also come to the team setting with different understandings of what teamwork is all about. The meaning of “leadership” also depends on national culture and differs for team members on the basis of their cultural background.

Culture can thus create barriers to communication and understanding and be a source of interpersonal conflict. It can also create different judgments and reactions to the same leader behavior. These effects may be especially problematic during the early stages of the team's life cycle, when cultural differences [Page 1531]create time-consuming discussions and introduce uncertainty into the relationships between/among members or between members and their leader.

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