On the basis of global cultures, would people from the United States, Japan, or Chile be more comfortable with a group or team-based approach to work? Solution “There’s a typical default way that we all act in our respective cultures. It is the way that we give feedback, greet people, praise or don’t praise, so all sorts of things would be different across cultures. Multicultural teams offer a number of advantages to international firms, including deep knowledge of different product markets, culturally sensitive customer service, and 24-hour work rotations. But those advantages may be outweighed by problems stemming from cultural differences, which can seriously impair the effectiveness of a team or even bring it to a stalemate. Creating successful work groups is hard enough wherein the global work force is geographically dispersed. When team members come from different countries and functional backgrounds and are working in different locations, communication can rapidly deteriorate, misunderstanding can ensue, and cooperation can degenerate into distrust. This multicultural challenge can be dealt with in four ways – What strategy to follow will depend upon the particular circumstance the manager is into. In general, though, managers who intervene early and set norms; teams and managers who try to engage everyone on the team; and teams that can see challenges as stemming from culture, not personality, succeed in solving culture-based problems with good humor and creativity. They are the likeliest to harvest the benefits inherent in multicultural teams. Sometimes, the level of social distance plays a major role in the success of global teams. The level of social distance means the degree of emotional connection among team members. When people on a team all work in the same place, the level of social distance is usually low. Even if they come from different backgrounds, people can interact formally and informally, align, and build trust. They arrive at a common understanding of what certain behaviors mean, and they feel close and congenial, which fosters good teamwork. Coworkers who are geographically separated, however, can’t easily connect and align, so they experience high levels of social distance and struggle to develop effective interactions. Mitigating social distance therefore becomes the primary management challenge for the global team leader. The fundamental requirement to get such teams on right track is to generate awareness and sensitivity in the team to other cultures and people. The key is to boost their cultural “awareness”- in other words to teach them the skills that transcend mere etiquette. These days the companies are running cultural sensitivity training programs that focus primarily on ensuring internal harmony within the international workforce. The team leader should always encourage open dialogue so that the people from diverse culture can feel comfortable working within the team. Since we are talking about geographica.

1. On the basis of global cultures, would people from the United States, Japan, or Chile be more
comfortable with a group or team-based approach to work?
Solution
“There’s a typical default way that we all act in our respective cultures. It is the way that we give
feedback, greet people, praise or don’t praise, so all sorts of things would be different across
cultures.
Multicultural teams offer a number of advantages to international firms, including deep
knowledge of different product markets, culturally sensitive customer service, and 24-hour work
rotations. But those advantages may be outweighed by problems stemming from cultural
differences, which can seriously impair the effectiveness of a team or even bring it to a
stalemate.
Creating successful work groups is hard enough wherein the global work force is geographically
dispersed. When team members come from different countries and functional backgrounds and
are working in different locations, communication can rapidly deteriorate, misunderstanding can
ensue, and cooperation can degenerate into distrust.
This multicultural challenge can be dealt with in four ways –
What strategy to follow will depend upon the particular circumstance the manager is into. In
general, though, managers who intervene early and set norms; teams and managers who try to
engage everyone on the team; and teams that can see challenges as stemming from culture, not
personality, succeed in solving culture-based problems with good humor and creativity. They are
the likeliest to harvest the benefits inherent in multicultural teams.
Sometimes, the level of social distance plays a major role in the success of global teams. The
level of social distance means the degree of emotional connection among team members. When
people on a team all work in the same place, the level of social distance is usually low. Even if
they come from different backgrounds, people can interact formally and informally, align, and
build trust. They arrive at a common understanding of what certain behaviors mean, and they
feel close and congenial, which fosters good teamwork. Coworkers who are geographically
separated, however, can’t easily connect and align, so they experience high levels of social
distance and struggle to develop effective interactions. Mitigating social distance therefore
becomes the primary management challenge for the global team leader.
The fundamental requirement to get such teams on right track is to generate awareness and
sensitivity in the team to other cultures and people. The key is to boost their cultural
“awareness”- in other words to teach them the skills that transcend mere etiquette. These days

2. the companies are running cultural sensitivity training programs that focus primarily on ensuring
internal harmony within the international workforce.
The team leader should always encourage open dialogue so that the people from diverse culture
can feel comfortable working within the team.
Since we are talking about geographically dispersed teams which could be rightly called as
Virtual teams so the virtual communication techniques come into play. To mitigate social
distance, video conferencing and skype video calls are two powerful tools – teams from distinct
locations can come to know each other and develop relationships much more quickly than could
be accomplished through more impersonal methods.
Nevertheless, the role of team leader in such teams is amply important in the success of globally
diverse teams. The team leader has significant influence over the team’s cultural norms. Team
members located far from the leader require frequent contact with him or her. A brief phone call
or email can make all the difference in conveying that their contributions matter. Global teams
work most smoothly when members “get” where their colleagues are coming from. However,
deciphering someone’s identity and finding ways to relate is far from simple – again team
leader’s role come into play during regular team calls – making everyone understand what the
counterpart is trying to speak. Again, the well-documented minutes of each call also become an
important aspect to make the global teams work.
Last but not the least, the people with diverse cultures can work cohesively with each other when
they feel that they are being treated ‘fairly’. There should be utmost transparency while selecting
people for specific tasks and people should know that they are chosen for specific tasks and in
lead role for their capabilities alone.