Managing Global Virtual Teams in International Management

This report discusses the importance of managing global virtual teams in international management and highlights the challenges faced by managers. It also explores the skills and practices used for successful management. The case study focuses on Daimler, a German automotive corporation.

INTERNATIONAL
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Global virtual teams....................................................................................................................3
Training and developing manager for effectively managing the global virtual team.................4
Challenges faced by manager .....................................................................................................5
Skills and practices used by manager in successfully managing the staff..................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
International management is defined as the proper management of the operations and
other activities of business at the international level. The world has become a single economy
and any country can trade with any other country and for this it is necessary for the company to
have effective management (Madura, 2020). The present study is based on company Daimler
which is a German automotive corporation and is headquartered in Stuttgart in Germany. The
present report will start by highlighting the global virtual team and role of culture in international
business. Further it will outline how important it is to manage the global virtual team for success.
In the end the discussion will highlight the different challenges faced by the manager in
effectively managing the team and skills required to manage the business successfully at
international level.
MAIN BODY
Global virtual teams
In this highly competitive world where the business has to trade at international level in
order to become successful. This is necessary because of the fact that the in international trade
any country can trade with any other country and for this it is essential that all the employees
work in effective and efficient manner. When the companies operate at international level then
the employees are hired from different cultures and background and different countries as well.
Thus, it is very crucial for Daimler to understand the different roles and try to manage effectively
different people coming from a variety of cultures.
This is necessary for Daimler because if there will not be proper communication and
coordination among the employees coming from diverse cultures then the working will not be
proper. This will result in decrease in productivity of employees and the company as well. Thus,
for this it is necessary for Daimler to properly understand the role of culture within the
international business management. Hence, for this it is necessary that Daimler respect all the
employees coming from diverse cultural background and make policies in order to keep the
employees happy and satisfied (Bekaert and Hodrick, 2017).
Another reason for managing cultures within Daimler is that the company has different
global virtual teams who carry on the working and operations of the company. Thus, for
becoming successful it is very necessary for manager of Daimler to manage these team in

effective manner. The major reason underlying this fact is that in a team there are employees
coming from diverse cultural backgrounds (Lasserre, 2017). Hence, it is very necessary for the
manager of Daimler to promote effective coordination among the team members so that their
working is directed towards the attainment of goals of business. This is necessary as team
members are form different culture and it is not necessary that every team member is
comfortable working with other team members. Thus, here it is responsibility of manager of
Daimler to maintain a balance between all the team members so that goals of business can be
attained.
Therefore, in order to have a successful team it is necessary for the company to spread
equality among all the member of team irrespective of their culture and background. This will
assist the manager in maintaining the proper control and coordination among the team members.
The manager must make the policies of the company keeping in mind the people coming from
diverse and distinct culture. This is necessary as every person has their own specific needs and
requirements and it is the duty of manager to provide for those needs. Thus, the goals of team
must be set in such a manner that the personal objectives of team members are attained
automatically.
Training and developing manager for effectively managing the global virtual team
Thus, from the above discussion it is clear that for getting successful it is necessary for
the companies and manager to effectively manage the global virtual team. This is necessary
because if the management of team will be proper then the working of the whole organization
will be smooth and successful. Hence, in order to promote effectiveness and efficiency it is the
duty of manager of Daimler to effectively handle all the employees and team together.
For this the most effective thing is that the manager needs to have complete and proper
knowledge and information relating to all the different culture from which the employees come.
This is necessary because of the fact that if the needs and demand of employees will not be
satisfied than they will not work in effective manner. Thus, the manager can provide services to
the needs of team member only if they have proper knowledge of different cultures (Uphoff,
2019). Therefore, it is necessary for manager of Daimler to gather knowledge relating to the
different beliefs and values of a variety of different cultures (Machlis and Tichnell, 2019).
This can be only possible if the manger by themselves try to gain knowledge relating to
different cultures and also the company must try to organize some events and programs for the

promotion of different types of cultures within the company. Also, the company must provide for
celebrations of different types of festivals and of all the cultures from which employees belong to
within the company. This is necessary because this practice of celebrating every festival within
workplace will motivate the employees (Linehan, 2019). This is majorly because of the reason
that this happy and healthy environment will motivate the employees and they will like the fact
that their festivals and important days are being celebrated by the company. Hence, the
employees will also try to give their efforts in attaining the objectives of the company in
effective and efficient manner.
Also, it is necessary for manager of Daimler to manage the global virtual team because of
facing the high and intense competition. This is majorly because of the reason that the
competition is high and if the employees and team members will work in effective manner then
Daimler will effectively manage and sustain in the high competitive world.
Challenges faced by manager
While working at the international level the duties and responsibilities of manager in
managing the business are very high. Thus, it is very important for the manager to manage the
complete business in proper and effective manner. But as the company is operated by a large
number of employees hence, there are many different challenges being faced by manager of
Daimler. The major challenges and factors affecting the manager in managing the global virtual
team in effective manner are as follows-
Balancing the objectives- This is the major challenge faced by the manager of Daimler
because of the fact that there might be deviation among the personal goals of the team members
and the overall goal of the company. Thus, this will pose a challenge for the manager as if the
goals of team member do not coincide with goals of business than team members will not work
in effective manner. Thus, this is the challenge of manager of Daimler that is bridging the gap
among the personal and team goals
Team conflict- This is another major challenge which is being faced by the manager of
Daimler in order to manage the global virtual team. This is majorly because of the reason that
while working in team there are many different conflicts and at time of global team there can be
large number of team conflict (Storey, 2018). This may be because of the fact that people coming
from different cultural backgrounds might have different thinking and perception relating to

something. This might result in conflicts among the thoughts and thinking of different people
coming from different cultures and backgrounds.
Miscommunication- This is another major challenge which might be faced by the
manager of Daimler at time of managing the virtual team in effective manner. This is a major
challenge because miscommunication can take place because of any reason which might impact
the efficiency of the whole team (Smircich, 2017). The miscommunication can be in form of
noise in the environment, misinterpreting the message, other person being neglecting the
message and many other reason. This can also lead to challenge because if the team members are
not able to understand what manager is saying then the work will not take place in the intended
manner.
In the end it can be said that there are many different challenges being faced by the
manager of Daimler at time of managing global virtual team. Also, it is because of the fact that
every person is different from another and it is the responsibility of manager of Daimler to
entertain need of each and every person within the team.
Skills and practices used by manager in successfully managing the staff
For the successful working of the company it is very necessary for the company and the
manager to have effective skills and make use of effective practices which will lead to attainment
of goals of buisness. This is necessary because of the reason that these skills will help the
company in managing the work in proper and effective manner. The different variety of skills
required by the manager of Daimler in managing the global virtual team are as follows-
Effective communication- This is the most important skill which will assist the manager
of Daimler in effectively managing the team. This is important because without communication
no work can be carried on within the business. This is majorly because of the reason that of the
communication will be proper in the team then every person will clearly know that what work
they have to do. Thus, there will be no confusion and this will foster the working in the team.
Proper delegation- This is another skill which need to be possessed by the manager of
Daimler because if the task will not have delegated on basis of the capability of the employees
then they will not be able to work in effective manner (Sin and Poluan, 2018). Thus, manager of
Daimler must have effective skills of delegation as if the employees get the task in which they
are expert then this will increase the efficiency of employees and this will assist them in attaining
the goals of business.

Coordination- This is another skill which need to be inherited by the leader of Daimler
because if there will not be proper coordination among the business activities then the work will
not be completed on time. Thus, it is necessary for the manager of Daimler to have effective
coordinating skill as this will ensure that all the activities of the business are coordinated with
one another and this will increase the effectiveness of each business activity (Cathro, 2018).
Confidence- This is another skill which needs to inherited by the manager of Daimler in
effectively managing the global virtual team coming from diverse cultures. This is majorly
because of the reason that high level of confidence in manager will boost the motivation level of
employees and team members and this will motivate the employees to work in more proper
manner.
CONCLUSION
In the end it is summarised that the managing the business at the international level is
very necessary because of the reason that the competition is very high at the international level.
Thus, to manage the business in successful manner it is very necessary for business to manage
the operations and working of the business in successful manner. Also, when business is done at
international level then people belonging to different cultures come and this increases the
liabilities and responsibility of the manager to maintain the team of company.
The present report discussed about the importance of managing the global virtual team
and this is necessary for the sustaining of the competition at the international level. Also, some
challenges faced by manager was discussed like bridging the gap between personal and team
goals of business, conflicts among the team members and many other different types of
challenges. In the end some skills were discussed which could help manager in maintaining team
effectively and that were like communication, coordination, time management and many other
skills.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bekaert, G. and Hodrick, R., 2017. International financial management. Cambridge University
Press.
Cathro, V., 2018. An odyssey of virtual global team activity in the experiential learning
environment of the Global Enterprise Experience (GEE). Computers in Human
Behavior, p.105760.
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Linehan, M., 2019. Senior Female International Managers. Routledge.
Machlis, G.E. and Tichnell, D.L., 2019. The state of the world's parks: An international
assessment for resource management, policy, and research. Routledge.
Madura, J., 2020. International financial management. Cengage Learning.
Sin, L.G. and Poluan, S.J., 2018, December. Analyzing the Application of The Global Virtual
Team (GVT) Model in Developing International Business Skills in Indonesia Higher
Education. In Journal of International Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1, No. 2).
Smircich, L., 2017. Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. In The Anthropology of
Organisations (pp. 255-274). Routledge.
Storey, J., 2018. Cultural theory and popular culture: An introduction. Routledge.
Uphoff, N., 2019. Improving international irrigation management with farmer participation:
Getting the process right. Routledge.