Teamwork What is Teamwork ? “Sharing knowledge, the work, the thoughts, the feelings, the excitement, the happiness, the pressure, the pleasure, the emotions, the doubts & the success with each other” Team Composition “A team is a group of people with complementary skills & personalities who feel committed to a shared objective & who need each other in order to achieve results” Effective Teams • Ideal size: 5-8; max: 12 • Mutual Respect & Understanding • Acceptance & Acknowledgement of cultural differences • Strong Foundation of Trust • Ability to solve problems & internal conflicts effectively • Open Communication • Inspiring Leaders Belbin’s Team Roles – Horizontal Relationships • The personality each team member contributes to the team • Questionnaire to determine which team role each fulfills • Should be equally divided within a team • Team members should be aware of & accept everyone’s team roles Belbin’s 9 Team Roles Belbin’s 9 Team Roles Robert Quinn’s 8 Leadership Roles Culture • “Collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one category of people from another” • “Ways of living - adapted to circumstances” Manifestations of culture at different levels of depth Cultural Manifestations • Symbols: - Words, gestures, objects carrying a particular meaning (dress, flags, status symbols) - Easily developed, changed, copied • Heroes: - People serving as models of behavior (dead or alive, real or imaginary) - Snoopy (US), Asterix (France), Ollie B Bommel (Netherlands) Cultural Manifestations • Rituals: - Essential collective activities - Religious ceremonies, ways of greeting & paying respect • Values: - Core of Culture - Broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others: dirty vs clean, dangerous vs safe, natural vs unnatural, forbidden vs permitted The Learning of Values & Practices Cultural Diversity • Cannot have one aspect of culture that you like without having other aspects that you may not like so much • No culture is objectively better or worse than the other Cultural Diversity • In the mid 1970's, the Dutch academic, Geert Hofstede, conducted an extensive survey at IBM to investigate the influence of national culture • By filtering out IBM's dominant corporate culture from his data on IBM's national subsidiaries, Hofstede was able to statistically distinguish cultural differences between countries • All cultures meet five basic problems of social life Hofstede’s classification of a counrty's cultural attitudes in five dimensions Five dimensions • Identity: relationship between individual & the group Five dimensions 2. Hierarchy: Degree of inequality between people as assumed to be the natural state of affairs Five dimensions 3. Gender: Role equality between genders Five dimensions 4. Truth: Coping with the unpredictable & ambiguous Five dimensions 5. Virtue: Choice between future & present Advantages of the Hofstede Model • Provides a definition & tool for measuring culture • Cultural differences matter: Managers in international organisations operate according to their country's values, rather than to the organisation's culture • Employees from related national cultures work in similar fashions, thereby reducing the chance of conflicts • Hofstede's model provides managers of cross-cultural relations a tool to help understand differences in value sets and behaviour. • The model negates that one set of principles is universally applicable by confirming that there are multiple ways of structuring organisations and institutions Organizational Culture • “Collective mental programming of the company’s stakeholders” • Shared values represent the core of corporate culture • Founders & Leaders’ values become members’ practices • Distinguishes members of one organization from another Cultures in MNCs • Operations are coordinated & controlled through worldwide practices inspired by their national origin • These are learned by the employees • HRD preselects people to be hired: of a certain nationality, gender, age or education • In their subsequent socialization in the organization, they learn the practices: symbols, heroes & rituals Explicit Culture – visible from outside; Implicit Culture – values behind the organization Strong Vs Weak Cultures Strong • More effective • Homogeneous Weak • Less effective • Heterogeneous Organizational Culture • Organizing always requires answering 2 questions: - Who has the power to decide what ? (Power Distance) - What rules or procedures are to be followed to attain desired results ? (Uncertainty avoidance) Power Distance Vs Uncertainty Avoidance Implicit Models of Organizations • Relationship between a country’s position within the PDI-UAI matrix & models of organizations implicit in the minds of people from that country • Affects the way problems are tackled; other things being equal: - French organizations do concentrate authority more; (don’t favor matrix structures like US/Sweden); personal authority of superiors prevails over the rules - German ones do need more structure; formal rules - British ones do believe more in resolving problems ad hoc - Indian ones do concentrate more authority in a “father figure”; personal relationships determine structuring of activities Implicit Models vary also within countries • Banks will function more like pyramids • Post – offices like machines • Advertising agencies like markets • Orchestras & Autocratically led companies like families Cultural Impact on Planning & Control • Higher PDI - Political rather than strategic thinking - Lower trust in subordinates • Higher UAI - More detail in planning & more short term feedback - Planning left to specialists Cultural Impact on Accounting • In more masculine societies (USA/Germany), accounting systems stress the achievement of purely financial targets more than in more feminine societies (Sweden/Netherlands) • Shorter term oriented societies (USA) stress more on short term results Cultural Impact on Accounting • Accounting systems are uncertainty reducing rituals, fulfilling a cultural need for certainty, simplicity & truth: - Strongly uncertainty avoiding societies have more precise rules derived from consistent general economic principles on how to handle different cases - Less strongly uncertainty avoiding societies leave more to the discretion of the organization or the accountant (pragmatic, ad hoc) Cultural Impact on Accounting • In large power distance countries, accounting systems are seen as the power holder’s tool to present the desired image; figures could be twisted to this end • Power distance affects the degree to which people at lower levels will be asked to participate in setting accounting standards Cultural Impact on Accounting • In individualist cultures, accounting information will be considered more indispensable • Collective societies possess many other & more subtle clues to find out about the well being of organizations & performance of people • Accounting profession in collective societies carries lower status – a ritual without practical impact on decisions Cultural Impact on Accounting • US students majoring in accounting attribute higher value to being clean & responsible & lower value to being imaginative • In a Dutch sample, accountants stress on the “form” of information • Accountants determine the value of organization’s assets – are people considered assets too ? Cultural Impact on Corporate Governance • Dominant ownership (one person, family or company owning 20-50%) correlates positively with PDI • In high PDI France, banking, large companies & foreign trade were historically strongly directed & controlled by the state / family owned • In low PDI nordic countries, 10% of largest companies were owned by cooperatives • Cooperatives appeal to the need for cooperation in a feminine society Cultural Impact on Business Goals • Conflicting goals between leaders from different countries & between expatriate leaders & their local personnel are predictable Cultural Impact on Motivational Theories & Practices • Motivation: Assumed force operating inside an individual inducing him to choose one action over another Frederick Herzberg’s motivation vs hygiene theory (USA, 1959) Impact of Culture on Frederick Herzberg’s motivation vs hygiene theory • Valid only in Low PDI - weak UAI companies: No dependence on more powerful superiors nor a need for rules necessary to make people act • Low PDI - strong UAI companies: Rules & Company Policy can be real motivators Impact of Culture on Frederick Herzberg’s motivation vs hygiene theory • High PDI - strong UAI companies: - Supervision not a hygiene factor - Dependence on more powerful people is a basic need (French leaderless group discussion) - Motivator is the boss – formally appointed superior • High PDI - weak UAI companies: - Motivator is the master – power based on tradition & charisma more than on formal position Correlation between Compensation Practices & Cultural Indices • Employers in small PDI countries more often gave workplace child care for managers & staff & stock options to non managers too • Employers in Individualistic countries more often paid for individual performance & gave stock options to managers • Employers in masculine countries more often paid commission to non managerial employees • Employers in feminine countries more often gave flexible benefits & workplace child care & maternity leave to clerical & manual workers • Employers in High UAI countries more often related pay to seniority & skill & less often to performance Leadership & Culture • Beliefs about leadership reflect the dominant culture of the country • The leader is a cultural hero & a model for behavior Correlation between Leadership & Cultural Indices • Individualistic / Masculine Countries: - Leadership is an independent characteristic that a person can acquire without reference to its context - Romanticized descriptions of masculine leaders are popular - Australia, Britain, USA Correlation between Leadership & Cultural Indices Feminine Countries: - Modest Leaders - Consensus High PDI Countries: - French CEOs are described as taking autocratic initiatives Low PDI / High UAI Countries: - German CEOs are described as stressing on training & responsibilities of their managers & workers Correlation between Leadership & Cultural Indices Japan - High LTO / High PDI / High UAI : - Practicing Patience - Letting the organization run itself - Aiming at long term market share Swedes – Low UAI, Low MAS: - Taking Entrepreneurial risk - Caring for their people’s quality of working life - Ability to cooperate • Leadership behaviors must take into account collective expectations of subordinates to be functional • Adapt foreign leadership ideas to fit values of subordinates • High PDI & UAI: Difficult to establish grievance channels Empowerment “ Any kind of formal & informal means of sharing decision making power & influence between leaders & subordinates” Cultural impact on Empowerment Low PDI: Comes naturally - Low PDI & Low UAI: Spontaneous & informal participation - Low PDI & High UAI: Formal, legally determined systems for participation High PDI: Paradox; - Needs to be pushed by a powerful leader - Limit participation in certain spheres & impose tight control in others - High PDI & Low UAI: By a father type / enlightened entrepreneur - High PDI & High UAI: By political leadership using legislative tools Culture & Performance Appraisals Collectivist cultures: • Social harmony more important than performance • Personal criticism given indirectly or through a trusted intermediary Masculine / Low UAI / not too high PDI cultures: • MBO to spread result orientation & objectivity (USA) • Germany: High UAI MBO converted into “Management by joint goal setting” Nationality constrains rationality • No universal solutions • Looking across the border effective for getting new ideas for management, organization or politics • Their export calls for prudence & judgment Managing with Organizational Culture Practical uses of culture analysis • Paying attention to organizational culture assists in internal integration & external adjustments • Determines to what degree is the firm a “learning organization” – is a cultural change needed ? • Identifying sub cultures within organization Potential sub divisions of org culture Initiating Cultural Change • Harder to change collective values; need persistent & continuous change • Collective practices depend on & can be modified by altering organizational characteristics such as structure & systems • Structural changes: closing / opening departments, merging or splitting activities; eliminate management layers, centralize or decentralize work • Process changes: implementing new procedures, eliminating or establishing controls • Personnel changes; new hiring & promotion policies • An integrating & inspiring type of leadership is needed Initiating Cultural Change • Create new rules & policies that reinforce desired ways of operating • Develop goals & measurements for the desired changes in the processes • Eliminate old customs & norms; eg replacing written memos to convey information with face to face weekly meetings • Deliver relevant training “just in time” – employees can apply it immediately • Establish award & recognition ceremonies & linkages to pay & promotion for employees / teams that implement changes successfully • Physical environment: relocate employees who need to work together to make change successful • Use “virtual offices” – encouraging employees to work outside office with customers • Use effective telecommunications to connect people who need to interact from a distance