Best practices for leadership in cross-cultural virtual firms

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

Published: 13/12/2013

1.0 Set of best practices for the leadership of cross-cultural, virtual teams

Teams has been described as a group of people who function under shared and common goals and also interact independently within a large organization [Sandy and Jane, 2009]. On the other hand, virtual teams are those teams that can be dispersed across the organization, space, and/or time boundaries; they are also cross-functional in nature with team members coming from different kinds of department in the organization. As a result of the high level of diversity, the team have a lower frequency of direct contact (face-to-face) with each other [Sandy and Jane, 2009]. Considering the fact that the team is made of people from different departments and yet they barely interact with each other facially, it can easily be conceived that a number of challenges will exist in this kind of team and the purpose of this paper is to design a leadership approach that will eliminate these challenges. The design will be based on the concept adapted from: Sandy and Jane [2009] of the Queens School of Business.

1.1 Challenge 1:  diversity issues

1.      National culture – e.g. religion, view to work, courtesy, transaction vs relationship based orientations.

2.      Organizational / professional culture – e.g. goals, approach to work, team design etc

3.      Individual characteristics – e.g. attitude, motivation, citizenship behaviour etc.

These diversities will yield differences in:

1.      Expectations

2.      Interaction preferences

3.      Power structures

4.      Observable differences

The leadership solutions for these challenges are:

1.   Development of common ground – this will involve creating shared purpose and responsibilities, habits, rituals, history and a common base for mutual agreements or interest that will deepen the level of commitment in the organization. The leader will need to encourage the sharing of personal and virtual office photos, personal and professional achievements, personal web pages, and celebrations. Additionally, the leader needs to facilitate conversations that are not task oriented such as guest lecture, training and discussion of other topics.

2.   Set and maintain team norms and expectations – the manager will need to develop a common team character, values and visions; make sure that every member of the team knows the role they are expected to play; have a well-planned tasks, roles and operating norms; and develop the processes that will be used for communication and dealing with conflicts.

1.2 Challenge 2: team members’ location issues

1.      They can be distributed or hybrid

2.      The frequency of face-to-face meeting is reduced

3.      There can be differences in time zones and distance

4.      Member can be either on the road or in the office or even at home

5.      They can be from any part of the organization (within) or from other organizations (outside)

The solutions for these issues are:

1.      The team needs to be broken into groups (such as their physical location or time zones)

2.      The communication will involve equal treatment of members

3.      The meeting should be rotated from sites, time and working hours

4.      A common communication protocol needs to be established

1.3 Challenge 3: communication issues

1.      Availability of team members

2.      What method to adopt (informal/formal)

3.      When to perform social or task related communication

4.      How to respond in communication

5.      Misunderstanding or conflicts resulting from communication

6.      Will meeting be face-to-face or electronically?

These issues can be solved by:

1.      Developing the right protocols for communication with respect to does and don’t in communication.

2.      Model out appropriate communication behaviours and tools for such communication

3.      Encourage both social and task related communication to increased sharing of information and relationship.

1.4 Challenge 4: leadership issues

The issue with respect to leadership is whether such leadership should be transactional or transformational

The solutions for leadership issues are:

1.  Ensure that the team is maintained – the leader needs to keep the team energized through social communications, celebrations, routine activities and recognitions. The leader also needs to deal with how members join and leave the team.

2.      Evaluate the way works are done – the leader needs to ensure that the team member abide by set protocols and deliver works as expected. Additionally, the focus should be on coordination and communication and not on authorization, command or plan.

1.5 Challenge 5: group processes issues

1.      Communication in the team

2.      Building team spirit

3.      Sharing information

4.      Conflict management

These issues can be solved by:

1.   Increasing trust – the leader should demonstrate integrity with his own level of commitment and maintenance of promises. Additionally, celebration of accomplishments and sharing of excitements are encouraged. The team should be supported communally and provided with necessary incentives and mechanisms for sharing, as well as finding time for social conversations and togetherness.

2.    Decrease conflict – the leader needs to understand that some degree of task related conflicts are beneficial (such as differences in view which can result to innovation), but unbeneficial conflicts needs to be decreased and possibly eliminated from the workforce. 

Reference

Sandy, S. and Jane, W. [2009], 1Designing, Managing, and Working in Virtual Teams. Available at: https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/access/content/group/658f9a4a-9c21-4791-0015-02e440aabd66/exec%20HR%20session%20on%20managing%20VT_s.pdf [Accessed on: 02/10/2013]