Creating excellence in a multinational team

Citation

McGee, J.R. (2008), "Creating excellence in a multinational team", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 16 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2008.04416bad.003

Creating excellence in a multinational team

Article Type: Abstracts From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 16, Issue 2.

Creating excellence in a multinational team

McGee J.R. Quality Digest (USA), October 2007, Vol. 27 No. 10, Start page: 24, No. of pages: 3

Purpose to explain how to develop a world-class multinational/multicultural work-team. Design/methodology/approach maintains that four objectives must be achieved in order to create a high quality team, gives these as focus, accountability, discipline and precisely defining what constitutes success, and recommends spending time to understand how team members view the world, how they define quality and high performance, and what techniques they use to work together as a team. Cites Toyota and Wal-Mart as examples of organizations that succeed in multinational and multicultural environments, advises focusing on objectives rather than on diversity, but emphasizes the importance of appreciating and using the strengths of individual members, and of blending the different view-points and cultures into a cohesive unit. Stresses that the leader must be someone who can understand subtle cultural differences and successfully combine the different perspectives, outlines cultural variations that create differences in personality traits and behaviors, and in perspectives on negotiations and contracts, underlines the value of individual relationships and of face-to-face communication, and warns against assuming that others see the world as we do, commenting on the issue of language and possible misunderstandings due to incorrect translation. Identifies publications and web sites offering advice on multinational relationships. Originality/value information for all involved in international businesses and team working.ISSN: 1049-8699Reference: 36BC825

Keywords: Teamwork, Cross-cultural management, Team building, International trade, Diversity management, Team leaders