The Large and Culturally Diverse Teams Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Specificities of the project management
Need for Effective project leadership
Complexities
Team motivation
Summary
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The 21^st century economy is increasingly liberalized and collaboration in teams that cross different cultural boundaries has become the norm. More often than not, teams are scattered across geographical locations and work through communication enabled platforms made possible by advancing technology.

These teams are normally involved in complex projects and ideally, they are supposed to bring experience and pools of knowledge that should make work easier by creating competitive advantage. In practice, however, many teams do not realize their potential as they create less value due to clashes precipitated by different backgrounds.

According to Johnson et al (1998, p. 89), modern-day firms cannot afford to ignore culturally diverse teams since their value to realizing corporate objectives can no longer be underestimated. It is therefore to corporations and project management firms’ interest that they learn to assemble and effectively manage complex global and culturally diverse teams.

In this discussion, focus will be on the unique complexities that come along with the management of large and culturally diverse teams. These complexities pose obstacles to success of projects which both new and old management approaches have not been able to effectively address.

Great project management teams are those that work together in harmony, using their diversities as strength to consistently deliver superior performance and results. Success of a project is measured against performance variables such as time, budget and predetermined quality specifications.

There is a consensus among many project management experts that a project team does not necessarily have to be large to deliver good results. However, contemporary project teams are too big, disjointed and overly diverse, providing numerous complexities to their managers who rely on old and typical methods of management.

According to O’Rourke & Yarbrough (2008, p. 79), complexities in project management are going to increase, especially given the ever-increasing expectations from overly demanding clients.

Unfortunately, success in 21^st project management is only possible through assembly of large, complex and culturally diverse teams. Such teams will guarantee much needed competitive advantage, which is only possible through acquiring new competencies to manage these complex teams effectively.

This discussion will undertake an analysis of the specificities of the organizational type, which in this case will be project management.

The discussion will also concentrate on how best to use potential motivational factors for the achievement of optimal performance of a global and culturally diverse project management team. There will also be an effort to integrate a leadership model backed by survey results on how to approach leadership issues to bring the best out of a diverse team.

Specificities of the project management

In project management, the complexity dimension helps in identifying the specificities of the organization type. In the dimension, there are independent projects, moderately complex projects, highly complex projects and highly complex programs which are sometimes referred to as mega projects (O’Rourke & Yarbrough 2008, p. 79).

The project management team in independent projects is normally competent and experienced with a team that is conversant with each other and likely to have worked together in the past. Moderately complex projects have leadership teams that are competent but inexperienced with an internal and external team that has worked together in the past and therefore know each other very well.

Their contracts are straight forwards and their past performance and fairly good. In highly complex teams, the project manager is competent but with somewhat poor experience with complex projects. In this case, both the internal and external teams have not worked together in the past.

Their methodology is somewhat defined and diverse while their contracts are complex. Their past performance is normally unknown. Megaprojects, on the other hand, have competent project managers with no experience in mega projects and a team that is characterized with complex structures of varying competencies and records of performance.

Their methodology is undefined, diverse with contracts that are highly complex. Their past performances are mostly poor. In this discussion, the focus will be on the latter two as they espouse the complexity of the project at hand.

Need for Effective project leadership

Increased globalization has increased the need for the involvement of multiple forms of teams in project undertaking. It is important to acknowledge that applying an effective approach to managing a diverse team is in itself a challenging endeavor (Dansby et al 2012, p. 85).

It takes many elements of management to assemble a good team of professionals from different backgrounds to a good team and finally, to a great team capable of effectively implementing the job at hand.

Adaptive team leadership, exceptional team structure, discipline, collaboration, effective communication and coordination make up the most basic of elements critical to effective management of complex and globally diverse project management teams.

Despite the prevailing global economic and social challenges, the scale and portfolio of projects have significantly increased in the recent past and now, it is almost normal for projects with far-reaching consequences to involve complex team structures. More often than not, project stakeholders including customers, designers, planners, engineers and project managers are strewn all over the globe.

Physically managing such a diverse team may prove too overwhelming for a manager which in turn brings to the fore the need to incorporate technology, proven ways of management to facilitate virtual communication instead of the traditional face to face meetings.

Furthermore, the fast-changing business environment of the 21^st century is forcing many business leaders and managers to abandon outdated management techniques in order to remain competitive and relevant.

One way through which most of these businesses have sought to remain competitive is through assembling complex, diverse teams and alliances that enhance deployment and use of virtual models in management.

Before delving into the team motivational approaches for effective project management, it is important the discussion dwells on the complexities that come along with leading a complex, global and culturally diverse team.

Complexities

Adaptive Challenges

According to Dansby et al. (2012, p. 97), it is difficult to predict human behavior because it changes with the prevailing environment. Assembling a global and culturally diverse and helping it to settle down is quite a task that many managers are not prepared for.

Teams, especially diverse ones, are complex systems trying to find harmony in a complex setting. It is therefore important for project managers to approach team management, not project managers but project leaders.

Non uniformity in interactions

There is no guarantee that people of different backgrounds who have nonetheless worked together will evolve to a uniformly homogeneous team. There is always the risk of bias and resentment towards one another till to a point when they begin accepting one another as members of the same team (Sloma 2010, p. 12).

Often, this happens in the initial stages of team development when interactional uncertainty is at its peak and members of the project team don’t freely share information with one another. In other words, the bias among team members working in a virtual environment breeds trust issues that a project manager will need to tackle if any progress is to be made.

Integration difficulties

Given that complex projects have different people working on different pieces of the project; challenges come up when one is trying to amalgamate the independent solution components (Henze 2002, p. 80). It is prudent that project managers acknowledge different people involved in a project approach issues using dissimilar procedures, practice and tools which result in works whose quality and consistency is not uniform.

Team motivation

According to Sloma (2010, p. 15), project managers must bear in mind that great teams are complex. Leadership of such great teams must, therefore, seek to leverage their potential, exercise exceptional leadership and employ advanced techniques that will help yield sophisticated collaboration, effective communication at all levels and use of smooth coordination systems.

Project managers and business leaders have come to underestimate the importance of teams to the development of an organization and in most cases; many of them overlook the opportunities teams present to organizational growth. Part of the reason why this happens is employment of wrong leadership approach, especially failure to differentiate between teams and teamwork and participative management.

In a study conducted through administration of a questionnaire (Appendix 1) to members of Exxon Mobil global prospecting team, many issues concerning teamwork and project management came to the fore. Exxon Mobil is a multinational company with a market capitalization in exceeding $700 billion and global operations across many countries.

Among the many projects, they undertake is prospecting and drilling oil in different regions of the world. Mostly the different professionals involved in this kind of work are people from different countries who work together with common leadership to achieve company objectives.

These projects are massive, complex and global in scale. Individuals in this project identified the following issues are the main areas where they would like to see a new approach in project management.

Communication, organization leadership, alignment, team productivity, development of a global mindset and recognition and response are the areas that different approaches need to be implemented so that complex, global and culturally diverse teams can achieve their full potential.

Throughout this discussion, the focus has been on the best way to lead a complex global and culturally diverse team. It is safe, therefore, to make an assumption that good leadership is the topmost important aspect in successful project management.

Furthermore, it is safe to assume that the right model of leadership incorporates elements that will easily deal with the issues raised above in order to achieve optimum team potential.

Organizational Leadership

Leadership is the exertion of influence and support to other people so that they work enthusiastically to achieve common objectives. Some scholars view the ultimate test of leadership as the ability to identify, develop, channel and enrich the potential in an organization and its human resource to achieve laid down goals and objectives (Henze 2002, p. 78).

The thinking and behavior of managers is a big determinant of how other employees behave and identify with each other in a culturally diverse organization. Effective project management leadership incorporates cultural sensitivity in anticipation of complexity managing complexity and delivering project goals.

Many a times, organizations have challenges in ensuring managers employ global thinking with perfect understanding of different cultures, create trust to foster innovation and open honest communication and reconciliation of core dilemmas across the different cultures that may be present in an organization.

While there are numerous leadership models that can deliver effective management of a complex and culturally diverse team, Path-Goal model is more suited to ensure effective leadership prevails in an organization not only to fulfill leadership requirements but also to ensure communication, alignment, team productivity, development of a global mindset and recognition and response prevail in a complex team.

The path-goal model uses structure, support and rewards t help employees reach their full potential through creation of goal orientation, improvement of the path towards that particular goal (s) and provision of a balance of task and psychological support.

The figure below illustrates a simplified diagram of the Path-Goal model of leadership that is well suited for the management of a complex and culturally diverse project team. Note that the model incorporates most of the elements identified from the survey on the Exxon Mobil project team employees.

Source: Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.

It is important to add that the path-goal model emphasizes on directive, supportive, achievement-oriented and participative leadership styles. It also takes into account contingency factors such as general work environment, and attention to specific employee characteristics that stress on the locus of control, willingness to accept the influence of others and self-perceived task abilities.

Recognition and response

According to Dean (2007, p. 123), despite the advancement in technology and formation of global organizations, a good number of managers still approach issues within the “local perspective” mentality. It is important to acknowledge that different people are brought up in specific cultural settings with culturally homogeneous values and beliefs.

In a complex, global and culturally diverse setting, it is important for leadership to sensitize members of the usefulness and practical implications of culture in day to day interaction with international business partners.

Also, it is prudent that project leadership differentiates between national and organizational functional factors in resolving problems arising from diversity. It is important for managers to adopt new management techniques that prepare them for an international role that may include operating in new cultural contexts.

Effective Communication

Walker & Miller (2009, p. 50) asserts that effective communication id the most effective way that managers in complex and culturally diverse organizations can build trust and understanding between members. Ability to negotiate and influence interests across cultures is critical to optimal team performance.

Effective communication fosters teamwork through clear delivery of the intended message using a repertoire of different styles. It is best for managers in charge of complex and culturally diverse teams to employ persuasion techniques to enhance cooperation within a matrix organization.

Besides, it is important for managers to communicate across local contexts with a special focus on global goals of the whole team. Deployment of technology backed communication technology that enhances cross-cultural relationships.

More importantly, managers must make sure presentation of ideas and proposals is delivered clearly, acknowledging the sensitivity and impact that comes along with a multicultural setting.

Employment of the above communication techniques in a culturally diverse and complex team will increase members’ understanding of each others’ activities which in return will aid in strive for increased productivity without necessarily sacrificing relationships among themselves.

Nurturing and developing a global mindset

It is proven that the way international managers from different locations and cultures think and engage with one another is key to addressing challenges and opportunities in complex and culturally diverse teams (Hackman 2002, p. 124).

Willingness on the part of managers to view problems and opportunities though both global and local lenses with an open attitude and desire to freely and openly interact with people of different background is primary to developing a global mindset.

Additionally, the prevailing attitudes of top management on local entities and willingness to share information in managing the complex setting in which they work is also invaluable in efforts to enhance a global mindset within a complex and culturally diverse team.

To increase effectiveness, local managers must strive to identify what happens in their organizations on a global level, promote and develop competencies that stress on global mindsets and also, hire people who are flexible enough with willingness to reconcile local and global aspects of management.

Development of global mindsets in the long-term help in the development of integrated willing to cooperate across networks for purposes of sharing information on projects across the network.

Team Alignment

Alignment efforts come in handy in an effort to mitigate effects from specific barriers that act as obstacles to complete integration and harmonious working in complex and culturally diverse teams. Managers normally overlook fundamental differences among members on how to communicate and relate with one another in a culturally diverse environment (Goldsmith & Morgan 2004, p. 264).

A scenario such as the above can easily undermine the stated objective of working together especially when some members hold fear of sharing information with people they may consider “outsiders” and whose work ethic and approaches seem to conflict his/her established sense of good practice.

More often than not, team managers overlook the above issues at the commencement of cross-organizational initiatives. It is therefore important for manager to take into account the above alignment issue for better integration of everyone involved in these culturally diverse situations.

Summary

Issues brought out in the above text hardly cover the expansive topic in effective leadership of complex and culturally diverse teams.

The complexities involved in leading diverse teams include difficulties in adapting to the diverse team settings, dealing with human behavior that is impossible to predict and working multi-layered interdependent teams that have different mandates and backgrounds, are dispersed in different geographical areas, are virtual and p[resent different skills that need application of special management techniques.

Additionally, there are complexities associated with undertaking dissimilar procedures, practices and tools that complicate integration issues in the team as well as inadequacies and inconsistencies on the part of risk management that easily breed unanticipated events in the course of project management.

On the backdrop of the above, good management approaches that stress on both adoptive and conventional means of management are applicable t ensure teams conduct their core business effectively.

These management techniques involve establishment of effective communication channels, enhancing personal empowerment and motivation, leveraging the power of teams, encouraging the adoption of a global mindset, ensuring effective alignment in diverse teams and adopting recognition and response tactics that will foster high morale among team members.

Conclusion

Besides implementing the above motivational factors, it is important for project managers to leverage the power of teams for outcomes that are beyond individual power. One element that successful complex and culturally diverse team managers have incorporated to their style of leadership and management is the element of enhancing team performance through development of individual members and emphasis on cohesiveness.

Understanding the dynamics involved in team development is crucial in managing complex, global and culturally diverse teams. There have to be appropriate mindset, training and coaching, proper alignment, effective communication, response and recognition and top-notch leadership approach.

Perhaps the most important aspect that is crucial to team development and effective tem management of a complex and culturally diverse team is the selection of passionate and strategic thinkers who are likely to thrive in a challenging environment. Team members must not only be people with the right skills and knowledge but also people who are willing to appreciate each other’s diversities through collaboration and sharing of ideas and information.

Culturally diverse teams have all the potential to deliver better performance than homogeneous teams. The different backgrounds offer a unique platform for fusion of ideas to make a mini melting pot of experience which can easily spur tremendous growth in their respective areas.

The above however is entirely dependent on effective management that of the people on board to ensure that people read from the same as far as goals and objectives of the project are concerned.

Reference List

Dean, P. 2007. Cultural intelligence in global leadership: A model for developing Culturally and Nationally Diverse Teams, Springer Verlag, Berlin.

Dansby, R. et al. 2012. Managing Diversity in the Military: Research Perspectives from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Springer, Chicago.

Goldsmith, M. & Morgan, H. 2004. Leading Organizational Learning: Harnessing the Power of Knowledge. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Hackman, R. 2002. Leading teams: setting the stage for great performances, Thomson Learning, Melbourne.

Henze, R. 2002. Leading for diversity: how school leaders promote positive Interethnic Relations, Springer, NJ.

Johnson, J. et al. 1998. Leading diverse teams in the Department of Defense, Routledge, New York.

O’Rourke, J. & Yarbrough, T. 2008. Leading Groups and Teams, Sage Publications, London.

Sloma, N. 2010. Leading Intercultural Teams: Potentials and Risks of Intercultural Teams, Cengage Learning, Melbourne.

Walker, J. & Miller, E. 2009. Supervision in the Hospitality Industry: Leading Human Resources, Routledge, New York.

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