Business Research on Managing Global Teams: Challenges Explored

This report explores the challenges of managing global teams in a globalized business environment. It highlights issues arising from cultural diversity, differing viewpoints, and communication barriers. The literature review encompasses the Hofstede cultural dimensions theory, emphasizing the impact of cultural differences on team dynamics. Key challenges include delays in decision-making due to time zone differences and language barriers affecting project clarity. The report also addresses the importance of adapting work philosophies across different countries and the need for managers to navigate time zones and respect cultural holidays. Technical capacity and proficiency within offshore teams are also discussed as potential challenges. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of addressing these challenges to improve team efficiency and overall business performance, noting a gap in the research regarding specific risk elimination strategies. Desklib offers similar resources for students.

Running head: Managing Global Team 1
Business Research
"Challenges Managing Global Teams"

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Project Objective.............................................................................................................................4
Project Scope...................................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
It has been analyzed that the business isnot limited up to the single boundary. Businesses are
expanded rapidly due to the latest technology in which businesses are going global which are
developing a plenty of challenges for the managers to handle the teams at a worldwide level.
Managers of the organizations have to face number of challenges for handling the global teams
in an organizatio. The project will be focused on the management of the global teams and what
issues or obstacles are faced at the time of managing the multicultural teams. The literature
review will be conducted to analyze the various factors related to the global management
challenges.

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Project Objective
The objective of this report is to explore the various challenges which are faced by the company
at the time of managing the global teams and to recognize the causes behind it. Along with that
the aim of this project is to find out the strategy and methods by which these challenges can be
met.
Project Scope
The project scope is wide as it covers various challenges of global team management which
would be helpful to create better understanding about the obstacles while expanding the business
at global level. It helps businesses to know about challenging factors while expanding their
business globally and it is required for them to resolve the issues as soon as possible. This project
will be helpful to create the insights by entailing various kinds of challenges which are faced by
a number of organizations at the global level. It would be helpful for those organizations that
have expanded their businesses at global level in which they can manage typical situations and to
improve strategic benefits for attaining the growth in the competitive business environment.

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Literature review
Gibbs and Boyraz (2014), stated that there is a big opportunity for the business to expand its
operations at a larger scale with the help of the global teams. It has been analyzed that the level
of risks is higher for the global team in comparison of local teams because of their different time
zones, cultures, and opinions towards managing the business which can hamper the casual
business operations. The global teams are operating anumber of physical locations that interact
with various technological mediums such as video calls, faxes,and internet.
It has been analyzed that the role of the globalization is huge in amplifying the efficiency of the
business and also reduces the unrequited cost of the companies. It increases the innovation as
well as the performance of the companies that facilitate in developing the industry at the
worldwide range. It is necessary for the manager at the global level to present for all the teams
and give a number of commitments at the same time which can bring huge stress and burden for
the management of the organization. According to Huang, (2016), global teams creates a
number of challenges within the company as team members of thecompany need to handle the
operation and activities from remote areas and various physical locations which can develop lack
of attention and awareness in each other. The more disseminated teams are, more
individualaffection with the ordinarypurpose of the plan is initiated. It has been analysed that
they are able to make their own contribution at the local level but it can be said that they are
failed to have a better understanding about the mutual benefit of the team.
It has been stated by Thamhain, (2013), that the expansion of the business at an international
level bringthe latest reality into the corporate world. The government and societies have to face

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the challenges of managing global teams. There is a theory of Hofstede cultural dimensions that
help in defining the way of cultural difference and its impact over the business (Hofstede, 2011).
It is the theory that entails six dimensions such as Power Distance index, Individualism versus
collectivism, masculinity versus femininity and uncertainty avoidance. The dimensions of this
theory help in making differences between the national cultures. It has been analyzed that every
country has various level of indexes that bring huge differences in their way of processing. It
relies on the quality as well as the wellbeing of the country that how they manage various
situations and take a number of decisions. The research has been started by Hofstede in 1960
which contributed to more than 30 years. More than 50 countries were being studied by Hofstede
to know more about different cultures and their impact on an individual’s perception. All above
mentioned values of culture specifies the role of different culture affect the working patterns of
the teams.
The role of the manager in the organization has to play varied roles and it is required for the
manager of the organization to keep the focus on the Human Resource Planning for the purpose
of managing the different teams at various locations. It is necessary for the organization to retain
the talent of the organization, along with that, the company needs to take care of their desires and
provide perks so that they can connect with the company for a long period (Huang, 2016).
However the global team is able to attain the number of benefits across the globe which can be
helpful in resolving the issues and conflicts at the global level. There area number of challenges
regarding managing the team at the global level but the biggest challenges is making delay in the
way of decision making because of the distances between them. It has been found that it is not
possible to arrange everyone at the same time in order to take quick decisions due to the
difference of time zones (Jones and Graham, 2015).

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According toHeravi and Ilbeigi, (2012), another challenge is the lack of clarity due to the
differences in the native languages of various teams which is the situation at various
geographical locations. The project of the organization can get affected if the business operates
their business at the global level because of different culture and background of the team
(Thamhain, 2013). It has been analyzed that the communication is the major part of the growth
of the teams and their projects.
It has been analyzed that the development of the technology has the ability to bring latest
opportunities for the businesses to interact across the globe which create it easier for the
businesses to run and to attain the growth. It is necessary for the organization to be wise at the
time of choosing the mode of communication between the global teams (Binder, 2016). It has
been analyzed that the lack of communication method can lead the organization in bad position
which can hamper the productivity of the teams (Roper, 2015).
According to Huang (2016), the survey was conducted in different countries in order to analyze
the challenges and issues faced by the teams in various countries. It has been analyzed through
this study that an assumption was made on the customer who works in an automobile company
from USA but he was technical designer of the company of Germany while production is done in
China. According to the findings of this study, it has been concluded that the local worl practices
of every country hassignificant role in the implementation of the project. To complete the
project, company need to adapt different philosophy of work so that the project could be
completed within time frame (Gemünden, 2015). It has been found that it is tough task to handle
the situation despite of having different mindset of people towards managing the task. For
instance, Chinese distinguished an entire project in parts and move forward. For instance, the
leaders of Chinese Company follow the autocratic leadership style while manager of German

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understands the need of the employees and implement strategy s per their best understanding.
They work according to settled schedule and strictly observe the progress of the work
(Thamhain, 2013)
Figure 1: Global project management
Source: (Kerzner, 2013).
According to Geppert, Matten,and Williams, (2016), it is required for the global companies to
allow employees of the company to speak up in front of higher authorities regarding the decision
making process. The diversity should be respected by everyone so that equality could be
maintained in sustainable way. It has been found that the managers of the global team should
have the feature of navigating by time zones. Planner tools can be used to manage this meeting
and time variances. The manager of the organization should be aware regarding local as well as
national holidays of the nation in which teams are handled.

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On the other hand Nicholas and Steyn, (2017), elaborated that technical capacity is considered as
the challenge for managing the teams globally that entails knowledge, competencies,and skills.
Levitt and Scott, (2017), argued that the offshore teams are not able in having proficiency which
may influence theefficiency and the productivity of the business as well as employees. There are
some illustrations of the global project management that would be able to create the better
understandingof the concept of the research. There is a case of America where one company was
invented in 2008 that gives the core expertise and infrastructures for electronic payment
solutions and because of the cultural differences, the project management of the company is not
efficient in handling the task and it was going on due to lack of communication between parties.
It has been evaluated that due to language barriers one can use the wrong application in the
project that may lead the business into a tough situation (Rodrigues and Sbragia, 2013). Along
with that, it has been found that the geographical boundaries are referred to as the major
challenges because there area number of meetings are conducted constant basis in order to get
the updated conditions by the project team. This kind of activities is helpful in making sure that
each activity of the organization is on the set strategies or not.
It has been evaluated that the businesses of the world going to be complex in next years that is
why it is needed to the company to bring changes in the methods as well as strategies used by the
company in order to improve tendency towards globalization. Lind and Culler, (2013),
elaborated in the favor of the global teams have significant advantages as well as they are able to
adopt amendments in the external environment. Along with that, it offers various perceptions to
resolve the tough situation in the company. It has been found in the terms of the gap that this
research has entailed all challenges with respect to handle the team at the global level but the
researcher could focus on the strategies of team handling to eliminate the risks. Limited research

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article on topic can be the limitation for the research which could be improved by in sighting
other articles or books on global project management.

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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the role of the global teams is considered as
the challenge for the companies. It has been found under this research that the companies have to
face a number of challenges with respect to handle the global teams due to cultural diversity, a
different point of view towards one concept and lack of communication.
The majorconfront is to slight down the gap between the time zones and various countries that
havea different culture. It is required for the manager of the organization to have efficient
knowledge regarding amendments in the social as well as political changes of different teams
which facilitate in eliminating the issues between teams. This kind of attitude and knowledge of
the manager would be facilitated in meeting the deadlines of the allocated tasks which can
develop the overall rating of the teams. It has been analyzed through this study that the culturally
aware management along with the cross-culture communication can be able to lead the
management of the organizations in a better situation.

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References
Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
Gemünden, H.G. 2015. Success Factors of Global New Product Development Programs, the
Definition of Project Success, Knowledge Sharing, and Special Issues of Project Management
Journal®. Project Management Journal, 46(1), pp.2-11.
Geppert, M., Matten, D. and Williams, K. eds.2016. Challenges for European management in a
global context: Experiences from Britain and Germany. Springer.
Heravi, G., and Ilbeigi, M. 2012. Development of a comprehensive model for construction
project success evaluation by contractors. International Conference on Business Management pp.
526-542.
Hofstede, G., 2011. Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings
in psychology and culture, 2(1), p.8.
Huang, J, 2016. The challenge of multicultural management in global projects. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 226, pp.75-81.
Jones, N.B. and Graham, C.M., 2015. Virtual teams in business and distance education:
Reflections from an MBA class. Journal of Business & Economic Policy, 2(1), pp.49-59.
Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

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Levitt, R.E. and Scott, W.R., 2017. Institutional Challenges and Solutions for Global
Megaprojects.In The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management (pp. 96-117).Oxford
University Press Oxford.
Lind, M.R. and Culler, E., 2013. Information technology project performance: The impact of
critical success factors. In Perspectives and Techniques for Improving Information Technology
Project Management (pp. 39-50).IGI Global.
Nicholas, J.M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology.Taylor & Francis.
Rodrigues, I and Sbragia, R, 2013.The cultural challenges of managing global project teams: a
study of brazilian multinationals. Journal of technology management & innovation, 8, pp.4-4.
Roper, J, 2015.How to manage a global team [Online].Available from
http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/how-to-manage-a-global-team [Accessed 30 Aug
2018].
Thamhain, H, 2013. Managing risks in complex projects. Project management journal, 44(2),
pp.20-35.

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