Teams and Groups: Global Advantages and Project Challenges Report

This report delves into the advantages of utilizing global teams in project management, emphasizing the enhanced skill sets and improved insights that arise from diverse cultural backgrounds. It examines how these advantages are amplified in complex projects, particularly in decision-making processes. The report then addresses the challenges project managers face when overseeing international teams, including building trust and overcoming language barriers. Furthermore, it suggests strategies to mitigate these challenges, such as employing visual communication and organizing team-building activities. The report references several sources to support its findings, providing a comprehensive overview of the topic for students and professionals alike.

Organizational Behavior and People Management

Teams and Groups
Advantages to groups/teams comprised of members from around the globe
It is examined that there are various advantages when members around the world are a part of
group or a team.
 Enhance skills of team members
If there is varied and diverse background of members then it would be easy to boost the skill
set of other team members. By having the wide range of skills the other team members can
boost their knowledge and can learn new skills which will be beneficial for their growth
(Business Matters, 2020).
 Improve insights and minimizes racism
It is evaluated that in a team the members spend more time with the individuals from
different cultural backgrounds. The outcome of this is that workers learn new cultural insights
and also it minimizes the negative emotions related to sexism and racism. It also creates
positive climate in the workplace if there are different background of individuals (Mockaitis,
Zander & De Cieri, 2018).
How would these advantages be different in complex projects?
In complex projects, apart from enhancing skills of team members the decision making
process will also improve. The individuals who are from similar backgrounds can have same
thoughts and perspective which can restrict the growth but different opinions coming from
the people of different background can assist the project managers to consider a new routine
which will help in complex projects (Thinking Portfolio, 2020).
What challenges a PM will face in managing a project group over international
boundaries?
 Challenge related to building trust:
The challenge linked with trust arises when there are members from different backgrounds or
nationalities. The absence of trust among the team members is a major issue that can curtail
the overall goal of the project. To create a cohesive and also unity in a team is one of the
challenge for a project manager as the members don’t have trust among them.
 Language barrier:
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Teams and Groups
The project manager can face the challenge at the time of communicating with the team
members of different background or nationalities. Also, it is noticed that people from
different background have their own time and body language at the time of conveying a
message. For example: The Japanese always use the sign of nodding as it signifies politeness
so it can also create misunderstanding among the project manager and a team members. Also,
different people have different language which can be one of the major issues. There are
many employees who don’t understand German, so it would be difficult for the project
manager to convey the information (Tenzer & Schuster, 2017).
How can you prepare for, or minimise these challenges?
To overcome these challenges, as a project manager the focus should be given on visual
communication at the time of conducting team meetings or should use the language which is
common for all such as English. The other challenge related to “Trust among the employees”
can be built by organizing team activities. It is important to organize team activities as it can
boost the overall engagement level of the employees and can generate trust among team.
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Teams and Groups
References
Business Matters. (2020). Go Global – The benefits of an international team.Retrieved from:
https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/opinion/go-global-the-benefits-of-an-international-team/
Mockaitis, A. I., Zander, L., & De Cieri, H. (2018). The benefits of global teams for
international organizations: HR implications. The international journal of human resource
management, 29(14),2137-2158.
Tenzer, H., & Schuster, T. (2017). Language barriers in different forms of international
assignments. In Expatriate Management (pp. 63-100). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Thinking Portfolio. (2020). Benefits of Different Cultures in Project Management.Retrieved
from: https://thinkingportfolio.com/benefits-of-different-cultures-in-project-management/
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