An employee-focused human resource management perspective for the management of global virtual teams

Abstract

The number of global virtual teams (GVTs) has increased in recent years due to globalization of business, improved information and communication technology, and higher innovation needs. Practitioners expect GVTs to be creative, innovative, and high-performing. However, GVT members suffer from interpersonal problems, stress, and misunderstandings based on cultural differences. It is therefore important that the HRM function intervenes in the functioning of GVTs. HRM and GVT research has mostly focused on instrumental practices to improve performance, but globalization and the dynamic business environment require international organizations to adopt new HRM perspectives. To advance research on GVTs and HRM, we draw on the job demands-resources model and research on quality of work life to introduce an employee-focused HRM perspective for the management of GVTs. This new perspective focuses explicitly on improving employee wellbeing in GVTs. We develop a novel theoretical framework that provides HR practitioners and leaders with several employee-focused management tools such as flexible work practices, international training and development opportunities, and fair pay and procedures. These tools are likely to help GVT members to cope with job demands and to improve their wellbeing, and are particularly useful for GVTs due to their interpersonal problems, stressful environment, and cultural differences.     

Towards a strategic understanding of global teams and their HR implications: an expert dialogue

Abstract

Drawing on initial insights emerging from a panel at the EIBA 2016 Conference in Vienna, here discussants and expert panelists engage in a follow-on conversation on the HRM implications of global teams for international organizations. First we set out how HRM can enable global teams and their constituent members to overcome the new and considerable challenges of global teams. These challenges span levels of analysis, time and space. Next we debate global teams as a strategic response to the dual pressures of global integration and local adaptation. We consider what HRM is needed for global teams to successfully resolve this dilemma, challenging practitioners to move beyond the ‘best practices’ and ‘alignment’ dichotomy. Lastly we look to the future to consider implications for research. We propose a rich research agenda focused on the complexities of the global team context.     

MST视角的GVT沟通影响因素案例研究

GVT作为一种新兴的团队组织形式，正以其低成本、高效率、响应迅速的优势被广泛应用于各个领域，但以信息与通信技术沟通为主的协作方式也为GVT管理带来了挑战。本研究以媒体同步性理论为基础，构建GVT沟通影响因素的初步理论模型，并以大连软件园两家软件公司中的4组团队为案例访谈对象，通过案例分析进一步修正和检验模型。分析结果显示：媒体同步性主要受传输速率和并行性影响；沟通过程与媒体同步性相适配的状态对沟通绩效有促进作用；GVT成员的语言能力、媒体经验和明确的沟通规范都会对沟通工具的使用产生重要影响。     

Enabling Shared Leadership in Virtual Project Teams: A Practitioners' Guide

Many virtual project teams perform better when leadership is shared (rather than centralized with the formal team leader); however, team leaders are often neither prepared to identify shared leadership potential nor to actually share leadership responsibility. Based on a study of 96 globally dispersed software development teams we show that team leaders tend to underestimate the team members’ capacity to lead themselves. As a consequence, these leaders monopolize decision‐making authority and provide insufficient levels of autonomy for team members to tackle their tasks. Preventing the team members from unfolding their true potential, these leaders unconsciously jeopardize virtual team performance. Paradoxically, it is thus team leaders themselves hindering leadership effectiveness in virtual teams.     

Can leadership compensate for deficient inclusiveness in global virtual teams?

Although the number of global virtual teams has been growing rapidly, it is still a great challenge to achieve internal collaboration across geographic, cultural, and linguistic barriers. Two factors that have been identified to improve productivity are inclusive group attitudes in the team and the right leadership from the team leader. Although there are strong indications that each of these concepts would have a favourable effect on team member performance, we set out to explore how they function in combination. More specifically, we hypothesise that inspirational motivation from a team leader can compensate for a lack of inclusive group attitudes in the form of team openness to language diversity. We also predict the positive effects of “inspirational motivation” leadership to be stronger than those of the “management by exception” style of leadership. Using responses from 174 team members and their 23 team leaders in the research and development department of a Danish manufacturing organisation, we confirm our hypotheses. This provides clear guidelines for HRM interventions in organisations using global virtual teams.     

Applying cognitive adjustment theory to cross‐cultural training for global virtual teams

Global virtual teams are faced with the challenge of developing trust in a technology‐mediated context to overcome anxiety and uncertainty in their interactions. Research shows that adjustment is a function of an individual's ability to manage his or her anxiety and uncertainty in an unknown context (Gudykunst, 1995). We propose that the type of cross‐cultural training (CCT) received can influence cognitive adjustment in global virtual teams. Building on phenomenology and sense‐making theory, we argue that training needs to develop global virtual team members' capabilities in dealing with the unknown rather than providing ready‐made concepts of cultures. Managerial implications of our theoretical discussion of cognitive adjustment and how CCT influences it are discussed, as are directions for future research. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Global team members’ performance and the roles of cross-cultural training,cultural intelligence,and contact intensity: the case of global teams in IT offshoring sector

Abstract

This study investigates an unexplored form of global team prevalent in the Information Technology (IT) offshoring sector where IT service providers work alongside with client representatives in a global team context. Guided by theories of intelligence and intergroup contact, this study investigates global team members’ individual-level task performance. Specifically, this study examines the development of global team members’ cultural intelligence (CQ) following cross-cultural training. This study also determines the effects of improved CQ on individual-level task performance and examines the moderating role of contact intensity on the relationship between improved CQ and individual-level task performance. Data on the development of CQ, participation in cross-cultural training, and contact intensity were collected from 225 global team members while data on task performance were obtained from each of the global team members’ supervisors. The results of the statistical analyses reveal that: (i) CQ improved following participation in cross-cultural training sessions; (ii) improved CQ is positively and significantly related to individual-level task performance; and (iii) contact intensity moderates the relationship between improved CQ and individual-level task performance. These findings have a number of theoretical and practical implications for international organizations such as those in the IT offshoring sector.     

The benefits of global teams for international organizations: HR implications

Abstract

In this special issue we aim to advance the theoretical, conceptual and empirical knowledge about the relationship between global teams and human resource management in international organizations. We argue that although the prevalence of global teams in international organizations is rapidly rising, simultaneously affecting the management of firms on global, regional and local levels, the response of firms and scholars alike to such changes has been slower, especially in the area of IHRM. The HR function in organizations could play a vital role in understanding, managing and leveraging the benefits of global teams to ensure that they contribute positively to the performance of firms, organizational units, and people. We demonstrate that there is still a disconnect in this respect and we highlight several areas in which the increasing use of global teams may challenge our conventional understanding of IHRM issues, and at the same time offer solutions for improvement in international organizations. The selected articles in this special issue provide both theoretical and practitioner implications by highlighting the need to explore the relationship between global teams and IHRM more generally and fully, as well as the need for HR practitioners and IHRM scholars to focus more on the ‘human’ and less on the ‘resources’ aspect. We trust that readers of this issue will agree that the articles all offer novel insights into key issues that open new avenues for further research in this nascent yet promising area.     

The changing role of the corporate HR function in global organizations of the twenty-first century

The primary focus of this paper is to examine how the increased demand for global corporate strategic consistency and flexibility redefines the roles of the corporate human resource function and its venues of influence. In particular, we analyse possible causal linkages among strategic international HR management, strategic leadership of corporate top management team (i.e. TMT), and alternative global assignment options. As globalization significantly changes not only the operating boundaries but also the symbolic context of the global organization, we argue that corporate HR function can play more influential roles in global organizations than it has in the past.     

TTF视角下的跨国虚拟团队沟通模型——基于中国软件外包行业的案例研究

信息及通信技术的发展使得跨国虚拟团队(GVT)成为可能,但也带来了诸多挑战。本文选取大连软件外包行业为研究样本,采用案例分析方法,提出了技术任务适配视角下的GVT沟通模型。通过对6个团队的多案例研究,提出不同类型的任务对媒体有着不同的需求,任务类型与媒体特征间存在着最优适配,同时外语水平、项目经验等个人因素也会影响媒体使用的感知适配,并最终影响沟通绩效水平。     

Strategic Global Human Resource Management: The Role of Inpatriate Managers

The need for highly qualified multicultural managers will increase as more organizations globalize their operations. These global managers may be perceived as organizational resources and, therefore, a resource-based view of human resource management is utilized. At the same time, relational view of human capital provides insight into the value of managers who have unique local market knowledge (i.e., social knowledge). By integrating the two aspects of the resource-based view, one can develop a dynamic capabilities approach to staffing global assignments. Within this integrative theoretical perspective, inpatriate managers (i.e., host or third country managers who are transferred into the home country organization on a semi-permanent to permanent basis) can be explored as a potential pool of uniquely qualified global managers to be utilized in global organizations. It is envisioned that through this unique building of managerial talents, organizations can develop/maintain a distinct competitive advantage in the markets they enter. This article explores inpatriation as an innovative means to develop managers as strategic resources to be used in formulating and implementing a global strategic plan.     

Virtual team concepts in projects: A case study

This article uses a case study to demonstrate the application of virtual team concepts in a virtual project team formed from existing personnel within an organization. The article is presented as a literature review followed by a case study of a virtual team project entitled the “Country Capital Works Program” undertaken within the New South Wales Police Force, Australia. The case confirms the appropriateness of existing virtual team concepts in a virtual project team formed from existing personnel for a specific purpose. The study has the inherent limitations of any case study in terms of the generalization of the findings.     

IT-enabled awareness and self-directed leadership behaviors in virtual teams

Despite the pervasiveness of self-managing virtual teams, organizations find it particularly challenging to motivate virtual team members to exhibit and manage their leadership behaviors. This study contributes to virtual team leadership literature by specifically shedding light on how distinct awareness forms enabled by information technology (IT) signal important cues to virtual team members to self-lead, that is, self-direct their leadership behavior in their team. Our results reveal that IT-enabled disclosure awareness is key to inducing several leadership behaviors: directive leadership, supportive leadership and interpersonal helping. Further, for directive leadership and interpersonal helping, the relationship is contingent on IT-enabled task knowledge and IT-enabled presence awareness. At low IT-enabled task knowledge awareness or high IT-enabled presence awareness, virtual team members who perceived IT-enabled disclosure awareness employed directive leadership and interpersonal helping. Opposite results were found at high perceived IT-enabled task knowledge awareness and low perceived IT-enabled presence awareness. This research highlights the critical role played by specific awareness forms enabled by IT in motivating virtual team members to engage in self-leadership.     

The effectiveness of teams in organizations: a meta-analysis

The proposed meta-analysis of 61 independent samples aims to identify whether, and if so under what conditions, team working in organizations is related to organizational effectiveness. Team working had a significant though small positive relationship with both performance outcomes and staff attitudes. Our contingency analyses further showed that team working had a stronger relationship with performance outcomes if accompanied by complementary HR measures and in non-health-care settings. Finally, we found that team working is more strongly related to attitudinal outcomes in Sociotechnical Systems and health-care settings.     

The state of total quality management: a review

As quality is seen as becoming a competitive mandate, many organizations are said to be embracing the practice of total quality management (TQM) as an improvement strategy. In this paper, we will be examining the extent to which quality management (QM) - TQM in particular-has been adopted by organizations. Just as there are companies that claim that QM is benefiting them, the concept is also increasingly being criticized for not bringing about the promised results, and in the following review, studies that have highlighted this disparity in opinions will be reviewed. Increasingly, doubts have been raised as to whether partial quality management - and not TQM - is being practised in organizations. This paper will also examine the difficulties companies may be faced with in their attempts to embrace TQM.     

Work Teams: Perceptions of a Ready-Made Support System?

Much research on work teams has been focused at the team-level, considering such issues as effectiveness, productivity, and overall interaction. Using qualitative in-depth interviews, the author has asked the question: what is the experience of the individual working within a team? This paper discusses one theme to have emerged, that of perceptions of support being provided within the team. Respondents' accounts presented an expectation that support would be forthcoming from other team members. The discussion considers the experiences of respondents both when this support was received and when it was not, prompting a reconsideration of our understanding of work teams. Further discussion shows how the expectation and provision of this support has implications for how individuals view both teams and organizational work in general, and how consideration of this issue can assist managers in the renewal of employees' energy and well-being.     

民营医院构建虚拟团队的可行性实证研究

人才问题是民营医院发展的瓶颈,随着虚拟团队理论的成熟,借鉴已有的远程诊疗技术的发展,民营医院可以考虑构建自己的虚拟团队,实现人才资源的共享。本文就民营医院构建虚拟团队的可行性进行了实证研究,通过对四个不同区域的民营医院的实际调查,分析不同类型的医疗成员对于民营医院构建虚拟团队的认识,得出民营医院构建虚拟团队是可行的,为民营医院管理者提供决策依据。     

Startup team contributions and new firm creation: the role of founding team experience

The likelihood of nascent entrepreneurs making the transition from a new venture idea to a profitable business is argued to be contingent on the breadth of the resources available within the startup team. Team industry and startup experience are deemed to influence the entrepreneurs’ ability to profitably establish the venture in the market via the mobilization of team resources. Using a sample of nascent entrepreneurs in the USA, we show that team resource heterogeneity has a positive impact on profitable firm creation. Moreover, this positive effect is greater as the team has more experience in the industry in which the new business will compete.     

Meeting the Challenges of Effective International HRM: Analysis of the Antecedents of Global Mindset

The full force of globalization has hit today's organizations, and it is clear that there are many cultural and human problems. International human resource management (IHRM) is being asked to better understand and develop multinational organizational leaders to meet the challenges. A prominent solution that is receiving increased attention is the construct of global mindset, which has growing rhetoric but little research support. To help fill this need, after first theoretically framing global mindset as made up of one's cultural intelligence and global business orientation, this study identifies and empirically tests some theory‐driven antecedents. Utilizing a diverse sample (N = 136) of global leaders of a well‐known multinational, we found that personal, psychological, and role complexity antecedents were related to the participants' level of global mindset. The practical implications of these findings for effective international human resource management conclude the article. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.