ABSTRACT Title: The Study of Global Team Management & Job Involvement Author: Ju-Hui Tsai Advisor: Professor Bih-Shiaw Jaw The emergence of global teams has been caused by the globalization of the world economy. Multinational corporations are benefiting from the use of global teams; however, they are facing many management challenges as well. This research is to explore current global team management practice & job involvement. After the author interviewed 7 global teams in high-tech multinational corporations, the propositions are as follows: Proposition 1: The less global team experiences the members have, the more local managers¡¦ assistance they need. Local managers assist members engaged in local environment soon. Local managers are also consultative for local legal regulations, salary market & employee development. Proposition 2: The more global team experiences the members have, the higher degree of cross culture knowledge they have. The best way to learn cross culture management knowledge is to realize through daily working experiences. Proposition 3: Those global teams who emphasize more on culture diversity management have better performance. Proposition 4: The key successful factor to increase global team performance is to select mature, experienced & independent members. Proposition 5: The most important criteria for global team selection are language & communication capabilities. Proposition 6: The most challenging for global teams is unable to have effective communication in real time. Proposition 7: Global team model is not sure better than traditional team model for corporations. It depends on the industry & the business scope. Proposition 8: For team members, the advantage of global team experiences is to underst& other countries¡¦ environment. But on the other h&, the disadvantage is lacking in sense of belongings. Proposition 9: The most challenging for global team performance management is how to display one¡¦s capability or to realize employees¡¦ real performance cross time zones & boundaries. Proposition 10: Those global teams who set up regular communication mechanism have higher job involvement. Key words: global teams, cross culture management, job involvement

Abstract Teams, like companies, are going global. As Davision and Ward (1999) note, global teams are necessary for creating a company¡¦s ¡§sustainable global capability¡¨. The increasing complexities of scientific, sociological, and commercial issues demand that people from different cultural backgrounds and different nations collaborate in order to resolve global problems creatively and take advantage of global opportunities. Yet, global teams often face more challenges than collocated teams due to the nature of diversity. Thus, our research is aimed to study how the global team leaders lead to deal with the difference of cultural background, barrier of language, potential conflict etc., and still make a great teamwork. To reach the objective, the research adopts a case study method and takes the interviews with 8 global teams in Taiwan, and three members for each team, including a team leader and members from different countries. After data gathering and analysis, we generate 11 propositions.

Technological developments and the modern economy have changed the way teams operate. Most professionals today are mobile and equipped with everything they need to work from anywhere at any time, including blackberries, laptop computers, email, video conferencing and other personal productivity devices. Doing work this way, allows for a wide range of benefits such as flexibility, diversity and an increase in productivity. However, these virtual teams require specific conditions to help them reach their full potential. This paper will identify the four major characteristics of virtual teams (geographic dispersion, electronic dependence, dynamic structure and national diversity) and use a model of virtual team effectiveness to examine the three team processes (transactive memory, work engagement and collective efficacy) that are most strongly affected by these characteristics. It will further suggest ways in which leadership can help to overcome these process losses through the establishment of trust, psychological safety and conflict management. / text

Background Global teams are considered an emerging topic in the international management literature. Empirical studies conducted in this field include studies on trust, communication, team relationships, conflicts over distance and leadership. Also, the topic of employee relocation has been extensively researched in the international management literature. Despite the fact that relocations in global teams occur in practices, both topics have yet to be researched together. This paper intends to fill this research gap and study both topics together. Aim This paper aims to investigate the consequences of employee relocation in global teams using a multi-stakeholder perspective. Methodology A qualitative study was conducted with eight individuals working in the same global company which operates in the financial services industry and is headquartered in London, UK. Out of the eight participants, five worked in the same global team. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the consequences of relocation in global teams from different perspectives. Findings A thematic analysis of the data revealed four main categories of relocation consequences that are acknowledged across the different stakeholders interviewed for this study: work redistribution, resource management, vulnerable team relationships and shift in communication. Despite a common acknowledgement of the consequences, the study showed that discrepancies between the stakeholders’ views on the consequences affected the way the team handled them. By contextualizing the results around a role, the multi-stakeholder perspective exposed different scopes of awareness on the impacts of the relocation consequences. This inferred that individuals showed a certain level of subjectivity influencing their scope of awareness on the impacts of the consequences of relocations.

Många företag står inför det faktum att arbetet måste anpassas till globaliseringen för att konkurrenskraften skall bibehållas. Ett sätt att göra det är att arbeta geografiskt distribuerat för att på så sätt nå kompetens och fler kunder samtidigt som 24/7-arbete möjliggörs. Men för att effektivt jobba distribuerat över tid och rum krävs en medvetenhet kring de begränsningar som det medför och hur de skall överbryggas. Sandvik IT står inför förändringar och trenden går mot fler geografiskt distribuerade team. Syftet med denna undersökning har därför fokuserats kring det distribuerade arbetets nyckelfaktorer och hur Kanban kan bidra till ett effektivt arbete. Huruvida Sandvik IT’s stödfunktion Service Development Office (SDO) kan stödja det distribuerade arbetet har också utvärderats. Informationsbasen är en sammanställning av litterära verk som böcker och framförallt vetenskapliga artiklar. Från den teorin urskiljdes fyra nyckelområden för distribuerat arbete; arbetssätt och koordinering, kommunikation, ledarskap och teamkänsla. Till detta tillkom en femte punkt som handlar om uppstart för teamet. Utifrån dessa fem områden formulerades sedan intervju - och enkätfrågor. SDO valde ut tre team som informanter, varav teamledarna/koordinatörerna intervjuades och övriga blev tillsända enkäten. Resultatet från informanterna jämfördes sedan med den inledande teorin och via en analys kunde 16 nyckelfaktorer för distribuerat arbete (inom Sandvik IT) konstateras. Några tunga faktorer som konstaterades är; Ledarens medvetenhet, ett väl förankrat arbetssätt, gemensam kunskap och social interaktion. Faktorerna kategoriserades även till; Förutsättningar, teamstart och slutligen upprätthållande och utveckling. Till stor del kunde nyckelfaktorerna och behoven täckas av Kanban, men rekommendationen är att SDO kompletterar med en utbildning för teamledare/koordinatörer. Det kom att ses som en förutsättning för det distribuerade arbetet. Svarsfrekvensen i undersökningen var god och resultatet sammanhängande och därav anses rapporten ha en hög interorganisatorisk validitet och reliabilitet. / Many companies face the fact that the work must be adapted to the globalization so competitiveness can be maintained. One way to do it is to work geographically distributed and reach competence personnel and more customers while 24/7-work becomes possible. But to effectively work distributed over space and time, a consciousness about the limitations that this entails and how to overcome them are necessary. Sandvik IT is facing changes and the trend is toward more geographically distributed teams. The purpose of this study was therefore focused on the key factors for distributed work and how Kanban can contribute to effective distributed work. How Sandvik IT's supporting group, Service Development Office (SDO) should support the distributed work has also been evaluated. The basic theory is a compilation of literary works such as books and above all scientific articles. From the theory four key areas of distributed work was identified; working methods and coordination, communication, leadership and team spirit. A fifth point was also added, which was about the teamstart. Based on these five areas the interview - and survey questions was formed. SDO selected three teams with informants, and the team leaders/coordinators were interviewed and other staff received the survey. The results were then compared with the initial theory and via analysis 16 key factors for distributed work (at Sandvik IT) could be found. E.g. leader's consciousness, a well-established work method, shared knowledge and social interaction. The factors were also categorized into: Set-up, teams start and finally maintenance and development. To a large extent the key factors and the needs could be met by Kanban, but the recommendation is that SDO complements with (in particular) an education for team leaders/coordinators. It came to be seen as a prerequisite for the distributed work. The survey's response rate and the interviews outcome were good and the result was coherent. Hence the report can be seen as a report with high validity and reliability in an inter-organizational view.

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Drawing upon configurational theory, work group design research, virtualness concepts, and the software agility literature, the purpose of this study was to provide a starting point for theorizing about the successful configuration of globally distributed agile teams by exploring the dimensions of team structure, virtualness, and agility. Due to the complex nature of this topic, the need to examine the phenomenon within its natural setting, and the limited amount of research that has been conducted in this particular area, this study adopted an embedded multiple-case research design. The primary data collection method consisted of semi-structured interviews involving members of globally distributed agile teams within three U.S. based organizations with members located in distributed sights in multiple countries. Additional data were collected from archival records. Within-case and cross-analysis was conducted using qualitative data analysis software. This study provides a starting point for answering the question of how the configuration of globally distributed agile teams differs from the configuration of other types of globally distributed teams; it synthesizes past research and findings into a comprehensive theoretical framework; it provides a starting point for theorizing about the successful configuration of globally distributed agile teams; it helps practitioners to identify and address the challenges related to the configuration of globally distributed agile teams; and it presents a set of best practices which will inform organizations on how to configure their globally distributed agile teams.

Purpose - The aim of the paper is to understand how management is affected by having the customer as a member of the global virtual team within agile work methods. Research Method - This research is based on a qualitative methodological choice, and an embedded single case study conducted through a cross-sectional time horizon. The research is based on primary and secondary data. The primary data has been collected from management, employees, and customer, through semi- and in depth interviews, and observations in Sri Lanka. Secondary data is conceptualized from literature in the Global Virtual Team research field. Results - A customer is seen as a colleague and a critical team member, where the developers and management work closely with the customer. However, the customer is not fully seen as a traditional colleague. The customer’s influence outweighs the influence of the supplier, resulting in a dynamic shift of influence towards the customer. Not allowing the dynamic shift, i.e. not increasing attention towards the customer significantly, could result in a loss of business. Furthermore, the background of the customer affects the manager’s role as a Bridge Maker. How efficient the collaboration turns out within the team is dependent on the customer background, and how well the management allocates time and efforts accordingly. Research limitations - Due to time and resource limits, and the depth scope of the study, only one case firm and one customer laid the basis of this paper. Further investigation of how management is affected by having the customer as a member of the global virtual team could be the direction of future studies. Practical implications - The findings allow management to allocate their time and resources more effectively cross projects and increase the understanding of how the firm is affected by having the customer as a member of the team in the global virtual team setting. As a result, it will potentially increase the overall success of the company. Originality/value - This study supplies the contribution to existing management literature as it includes an external stakeholder, the customer, in the global virtual team, which is a growing phenomenon that has not been captured by current literature. Keywords - Global teams, Virtual teams, Multicultural teams, Customer as a team member, Bridge Maker, Team leadership, Biculturalism, Agile work process Paper type – Master thesis

Application of multisource feedback (MSF) increased dramatically and became widespread globally in the past two decades, but there was little conceptual work regarding self-other agreement and few empirical studies investigated self-other agreement in other cultural settings. This study developed a new conceptual framework of self-other agreement and used three samples to illustrate how national culture affected self-other agreement. These three samples included 428 participants from China, 818 participants from the US, and 871 participants from globally dispersed teams (GDTs). An EQS procedure and a polynomial regression procedure were used to examine whether the covariance matrices were equal across samples and whether the relationships between self-other agreement and performance would be different across cultures, respectively. The results indicated MSF could be applied to China and GDTs, but the pattern of relationships between self-other agreement and performance was different across samples, suggesting that the results found in the U.S. sample were the exception rather than rule. Demographics also affected self-other agreement disparately across perspectives and cultures, indicating self-concept was susceptible to cultural influences. The proposed framework only received partial support but showed great promise to guide future studies. This study contributed to the literature by: (a) developing a new framework of self-other agreement that could be used to study various contextual factors; (b) examining the relationship between self-other agreement and performance in three vastly different samples; (c) providing some important insights about consensus between raters and self-other agreement; (d) offering some practical guidelines regarding how to apply MSF to other cultures more effectively.

This qualitative study examined fifteen organizational members across four international technology companies to discover how they behave and manage daily interactions in a virtual environment within a geographically distributed team. Using a grounded theory methodology, an extensive analysis of the interview data was conducted. Three core themes emerged that focus on the individuals’ attempts to manage impressions in an environment that demands multicommunication. The themes of time stacking, participation predications and performance are discussed in detail using the theoretical lens of impression management. / text