Introduction
According to Tarricone & Luca (2002), in the modern world, the business environment has massively transformed; this has significant implications on the strategic approaches and techniques applied by business in the external environment. The concept of globalization has revolutionized industries throughout the world. It has introduced dimensions such as cutthroat competition for the market share, the surge in need for innovation and creativity, as well as the need for internationalization. Many businesses can no longer rely on the local markets to be competitive. Consequently, many of the major corporations have expanded globally in search for new markets as well as outsourcing destinations in a bid to reduce their costs of production and expand their profit margins. Tarricone & Luca (2002) argue that this expansion means that such enterprises have to work across borders, in a different legal jurisdiction, cultural norms, and corporate structures. These structural and socioeconomic differences present many advantages to the business; however, they also pose significant challenges in the hierarchy and the supply chain network of such a company. For example, this means that such a firm will be increasingly working with diverse and multicultural workforces.
In many business models, the workforce is the foundation for the success of a company in the market. The connection between the workers and the managers is essential in developing the morale and motivation required for the employees to make the firm competitive in the market. Therefore, the diversity and multicultural nature of the workforce for an internationalized company poses distinct difficulties. According to Neeley (2015), different cultures, backgrounds, and experiences mean that such workers have a different perspective on life. Additionally, they might have a different view on work ethics, morality, and other crucial human resources management issues. In some cases, the firm’s approaches in HRM and other employee-based management policies might be incompatible with the cultural, religious, or conventional wisdom shared by these employees. In such cases, this might hurt the productivity of the workforce and the company’s performance, as a whole, will be affected. The concept of teamwork is often at the heart of the organizational success of many businesses in the market. Studies indicate that developing the teamwork spirit in a global corporate network is challenging. This is because these people do not share similar experiences, backgrounds, and even cultures. Therefore, it is challenging to relate and find common grounds that can be the foundation of the camaraderie necessary in teamwork dynamic (Neeley, 2015). Without teamwork, many enterprises have struggled to implement a consistent global model that can deliver success; in many cases, such companies end up with a disjointed and adaptive model with major differences from one country to another.
The structure of the report will be as explained below:
Background – This section will focus on the background of the core concept of the report such as the “global team” and the crucial features of a successful and unsuccessful teamwork at a global level.
Issues – This section will evaluate the pertinent issue arising from this subject matter. In this case, this section will focus on the creation of an international team, and the approaches that can be adopted to ensure that such a team is “high performance”.
Case Analysis – This section will evaluate the featured company in this report, Huawei. It will focus on the company’s use of teamwork locally as well as at an international level. It will analyze the firm’s culture and its role in its remarkable success in the Chinese consumer market as well as internationally.
Conclusion – This section will provide a summary of the significant aspects in the report. It will then evaluate the overall lessons from the report regarding the subject matter of “international team building”.
Background Analysis
According to Tarricone & Luca (2002), the concept of teamwork has increasingly become prevalent and relevant in many businesses and organizational structures. The advent of globalization and the surge of the utility of technology in the workplace mean that teamwork can be crucial in expanding corporate strategy and scope in the market. In enterprises, the development of teams can be done vertically, which involves many different levels of management. At the same time, they can be established horizontally, with a compilation of many functional disciplines to form a coherent and functional team with precisely targeted objectives. The need to maintain an operational synergy among employees and foster an effective organization of resources had led many businesses to encourage across industries and organizational teamwork mentalities or strategic approaches (Neeley, 2015). In this context, it is crucial to ask the question; what is the role of teams within an organization?
Kirkman & Mistry (2015) argue that the fundamental role of a team in a firm is to help combine resources, skills, bandwidth, and competencies to enable the achievement of organizational objectives. The concept of teamwork works under the assumption of a synergy-driven function team approach that can lead to optimal achievements regarding the set organizational aims. In this case, the assumption indicates that the productivity of the team is greater than the sum of each individual’s contribution without the team dynamic in place. As a result, many organizational teams are focused on targeted objectives that can contribute to the success of the overall firm. The targeted nature of the constitution of teams means that their progress is measurable by the enterprise. It also allows the company to assign the best-qualified individuals to specific teams to increase the chances of succeeding in meeting their targeted aims (Neeley, 2015). According to Canney (1994), cross-functional teams offer companies the opportunity to align shared objectives. They include a broad skill set and capabilities among the chosen team members; this is designed to allow the company to achieve some of the most complex aims. This s especially the case when firms need different disciplines in the production of a single product or solving a crosscutting challenge in the market. The development of a team involves crucial steps such as mission analysis, setting specific or strategic goals, a transition process and the refinement of the team dynamic to ensure efficiency and subsequent success.
Kirkman & Mistyr argue that the need for global teams has been occasioned by the spread of the globalization phenomenon into the business sector. In the modern market, an organization cannot establish sustained success without expanding its business internationally. This is partly because of the saturation of the local markets, and because of the massive opportunities presented by some of the unexplored markets in the emerging markets such as China, India, Mexico, and Brazil. However, developing functional teams across borders and cultures poses a massive hurdle. This is especially a challenge in instances where the firm uses the adaptation method of market entry. In this case, the business adapts to the social and corporate culture of the local markets (Salas et al., 2013). Through techniques like joint ventures, the entering organization can use the local firm’s supply chain and brand equity to introduce its services and goods into the market.
Some of the traits of successful teamwork include the efficient use of ideas and open communication among the members of the team. Additionally, the decision-making structure has to be based on trust and consultation among the members. The participation from all members should be high; this means that every individual in the team should be playing their role effectively to boost the chances of the team’s overall success (Neeley, 2015). Moreover, the team should have a unified dedication to achieving the targeted goal(s). On the other hand, unsuccessful teams are characterized by rudeness, apathy, inconsideration, irresponsibility and domination by a few individuals in the team.
Issues
Creating and Managing an International Team
According to Cummings & Worley (2014), as businesses continue to expand and grow their global workforce, the management and working with people from across the world has become a new norm in the corporate sector. Internationalization and team diversity pose unique challenges such as cultural differences, communication differences, and time zones. However, such an international and multicultural teamwork dynamic offers many benefits to the company. According to Tarricone & Luca (2002), engaging employees from different backgrounds, cultural and religious experiences, exposes the workforce to different perspectives and ideas. Such diversity of ideas and innovation within an organization is crucial to allow it to compete favorably in the ultra-competitive external environment globally. Team leaders have a massive responsibility of ensuring individual and team success. They are expected to deliver success working with such diverse teams of members working in different countries or geographical locations. Therefore, the process of constituting or creating the international team is crucial because it sets the tone for the performance and rules of engagement among the team members.
Firstly, it is essential to for the company to choose the “right members” and leader for specific teams. In this case, aspects such as specialization, qualification, experience, synergy, and the working dynamic among the chosen members should be geared towards meeting the set objectives. As a result, a successful team should constitute of members that have the right qualification, wherewithal, and attitude to deliver the desired results. One of the crucial aspects affecting multinational teams is the cultural management. An effective team needs to manage the significant differences in culture and background to ensure they do not interfere with the core role of the team (Davidson, 1994). Culturally different teams have an inherent dynamic that needs cultural management to establish a framework that will get the best out of each individual and thus, the success of the team. The management of culture does not mean acknowledging the existence of these differences; rather, it is comprised of steps taken to promote a positive team spirit and equality without considering the backgrounds or origins of the individuals in the team. The management of culture poses many challenges because of the different mindsets, ethics, and interpretation of morality and hard work (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). The cultural issues should be addressed at the outset when the team is formed to ensure that the rules of engagement and the team dynamic are functioning properly to optimize the chances of success.
There is a need to outline the diversity within the team from the beginning. In many cases, the best approach in addressing a problem is by identifying it first and addressing it promptly. In this case, addressing such diversity and issues such as time zones, and distance will establish a mindset within the entire team to ensure they are prepared to face these problems. Such planning is also effectively done when all the members are involved in the planning and implementation of the policies of choice (Low, 2007). Their input will provide an insight that is helpful in designing the team rules to ensure that there is no discrimination and that all the members have the right environment to discharge their duties.
Additionally, there is a need to assess the costs involved in establishing and running teams across long geographical distances. The cost can be evaluated regarding finances, human resources, and time as well. Such an analysis will reflect the benefits of disadvantages of running such a team through evaluating the impact on the performance of the company in the market. It is especially crucial to analyze success rate of these teams in achieving the specific goals assigned to them when they are formed.
Many businesses aim to build high-performance international teams to oversee crucial aspects of the internationalized businesses. Global businesses face uncertainty regarding government regulation policies, international trade stability, currency value, tariffs, and cultural differences. Therefore, the international team needs to have a good grasp of the background information as well as the current policies and trends in the market. This information should be relayed to the team members in real time to enable timely decision making regarding any changes in the markets, policies, or consumer behavior. In this regard, there is a need for the firm to introduce a culture of interactivity and an open transmission of skills and knowledge (Tarricone & Luca, 2002). With the surge in technology, such a dynamic can be easily set up to establish an effective and complimentary team. Additionally, it is crucial to promote the development of transparency, relationship building and trust among the team members to foster a good and smooth working relationship. Moreover, high-performance international teams require frequent and regular communication, confidence among team members, and an effective awareness and understanding of the available resources and the targeted objectives. The diversity of the team means that there is a need to experiment with different ways of doing business; this is aimed to allow the team to figure out the optimal approach to adopt to ensure it is productive.
Working within the Team
In many cases, a team comprises of individuals with diverse backgrounds professionally and socially. This might also include different levels of education and training and areas of specialization. Training and for is important because the fundamental aim of forming an international team is to maximize the synergy among the team members that will lead to increased output compared to the sum of the individual performance of each member. Therefore, the dynamics within a team should ensure that each member has a unique role to play to contribute towards the aims of the team (Davidson, 1994). Such division of labor ensures that there is no replication of duties. It also means that all members will feel valued by the team since they are tangibly contributing. It is crucial to ensure that all members have exact and targeted roles to play during the formation of the team. Each role or mandate should correspond with the requisite training and education levels; this can be used to examine the competence of each individual chosen in dealing with the expected responsibilities and difficulties of working in a multicultural and international setting.
The primary resource when working in an international team setting is he use of technology to communicate, send and receive important documents, and the analysis of customer feedback and the response of the markets. Although the level of development and resources for each involved country present challenges of connectivity and time zones, technology has added a massive dimension in conducting international businesses. It has helped reduce the world into the proverbial “global village.” Teleconferencing, Skype, calls, emails, social media, and other telecommunication platforms enable these team members to keep in touch and communicate in real time continuously.
According to Haslam et al. (2014), in an international setting, it is challenging to establish a structure and perception of power because of the distance. In many instances, it is easy for the team members to lack the connection needed to drive up their productivity. The abstract nature of the communication of the aims and targets of the team might have an adverse influence on the performance, morale, and motivation of the workers. As a result, there is a need to establish a structure and the rules of engagement, communication channels, and decision-making approaches within the firm in the outset to ensure that each member understands their role and responsibility (Hawes, 2012). Clarity is essential in an international team setting because of the differences in culture and the perception of leadership or management. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a consultative culture and a baseline of conduct, ethics, and morality when working for the business. This will establish a framework in which all employees are viewed equally and thus, issues like discrimination will be eliminated.
International teams have to reflect the organizational culture in their operation. A disconnect between the teams and the organization might lead to a lack of coordination to achieve the targeted goals. As a result, a constant re-evaluation of the team and appraisal of its progress will ensure to keep the team members motivated as they pursue the targeted goals. Functional and effective teams find the right balance between the cultural and background differences and the need to work concertedly to achieve united objectives (Jardim, 2000). They tap into the diversity of thought and background to come up with new and innovative approaches to addressing the businesses face on a day-to-day basis.
Leading International Teams
According to Lu et al. (2014), the focus of the team is always influenced or directed by the specific objectives set for a particular team. In fact, the membership of such a team is affected by the targeted aims. This is because firms choose the individuals that are best placed to contribute to the teams’ quest to achieve these objectives. Therefore, setting targets for the team is a crucial decision when leading a team. It is important to the membership of a time to be united by common challenge of helping the team to achieve specific goals for the company. It is also crucial to develop a functional hierarchy within the team. Although it is essential to develop an interactive and jovial teamwork environment, the team needs an explicit recognition of authority to allow processes such as decision-making when there is no consensus. Consensus should be encouraged within the group; additionally, openness, mutual respect, and responsibility should be promoted within the team. Longoni, Golini & Cagliano (2014) argue that developing a leadership within the team will ensure that clarifications or potential conflicts are resolved promptly to avoid the team becoming ineffective because of infighting. Consequently, the team leader should encourage meaningful participation from all the members of the team. It is crucial to ensure all members feel valued and part of the team; this will allow the team to maintain the motivation and morale of the members of the team.
According to Haslam et al. (2014), in developing a high-performance team, one should avoid the cultural generalizations or stereotypes in the society. It is not fair to suggest to a worker that they should adapt to or comply with different cultural provisions. Their behaviors are heavily influenced by their upbringing, personality, and previous experience. As a result, a team that imposes different experiences and personalities on them might face massive challenges and frustrations. As a result, the team leader should establish a team in which the various cultural behaviors and personalities work together and complement each other to increase the chances of success. The team leader of an international team needs to be knowledgeable about the distinct cultures and behaviors of his or her team members (Haslam et al., 2014). Additionally, the leaders need to adjust their leadership style or approach to maximize the potential of the international teams. They also need to find innovative ways to make the workers on a team valued and part of the decision-making process. Moreover, they need to feel that their input matters and that it can make a difference. A good relationship between the team leader and the members is crucial to the success of the team; therefore, the manager needs to find approaches to establishing a good rapport or relationship with the team members. Additionally, creating a good communication network within the team can help build the morale and motivation of the involved workers.
International teas inevitable face conflicts from time-to-time. Therefore, they should be comfortable to address such differences of opinion or conflicts. A conflict within a team should be viewed as a hurdle that needs to be overcome and not a disruption. As a result, the philosophical approach to dealing with conflicts is to ensure that the team is focused on the task and not on the harmony of the team (Drew & Coulson-Thomas, 2014). The former method provides that in cases of a conflict, it can be resolved without affecting the productivity of each of the individual members.
Case Analysis: Huawei Technologies Co. Limited
According to De Cremer & Tao (2015), the Huawei Company is a Chinese-based multinational corporation that specializes in the production and sale of telecommunications equipment, networking, and other services in this industry. The firm’s headquarters are located in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Beginning 2012, the corporation has become the world’s biggest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. Therefore, it has overtaken Ericsson, which held this position in the world for many years. This is an indication of the organization’s massive expansion and growth in the global market. Additionally, it is an indication of the expanding Chinese specialization and power in the technology and innovation sector globally.
Huawei’s presence in the international market means that it faces massive competition locally and internationally. For example, the major telecommunications companies in the world have outsourced their production to China, or they are targeting the Chinese consumer market. As a result, the firm faces a massive competition for the market share from the likes of Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Google. In the telecommunications sector, innovation and creativity are the fundamental driving factors of success. Huawei has a stellar research and development (R&D) center that ensures that it combines the latest technology and the bets imagination in the world to produce competitive products in the market (Low, 2007). However, the likes of Apple Inc., Samsung, Google, Sony, and Microsoft have equally formidable R&Ds as well as an investment in the most talented staff in the world. Consequently, the level of competition for the market share, innovation, and intellectual property is massive.
Choosing the Right Members
The surge of Huawei to become the largest manufacturer of telecommunications in the world indicates that the firm has the infrastructure, human resources, and technology to compete favorably in the market. Part of this ability has been enabled by the company’s ability to establish an effective transnational teamwork that deals with wide-ranging aspects such as technology, innovation, and creativity as well as marketing and developing the firm’s brand equity in the targeted markets (Huawei, 2016a). This is especially the case in the major markets such as the European Union as well as North America. Huawei’s resourcefulness has been largely enabled by the support of the Chinese government. The manufacturing environment in China gives the firm a massive competitive advantage in the market because of the markedly low costs of production. This allows Huawei to establish a pricing policy that strongly competitive in the market and at the same time maintain a healthy profit margin. With the cost of production increasingly surging in the Western markets, more and more corporations are seeking cheaper production destinations such as China, India, and Mexico.
Additionally, Huawei has a strong policy and financial support from the Chinese government. The growth of the education system in China means that the firm has a steady flow of qualified and skilled individuals into their workplace. The international trade policies and strategies employed by the Chinese government have contributed to the direct growth and expansion of Huawei. For example, the export system that has been developed by China favors Chinese-based firms when exporting their products into the international market. The weak Chinese currency has also played a crucial role in encouraging exports and discouraging imports. This has a double-faceted effect; firstly, it ensures that the Huawei products are cheap in the international markets and thus, attractive to many consumers. Secondly, it provides that Chinese-based firms such as Huawei win the competition for the Chinese consumer market easily (Huawei, 2016a). This provides the framework in which Huawei has thrived and expanded over recent years. It has tapped into the innovation and creativity of an increasingly educated workforce in China to advance its technological stranglehold in the telecommunications sector worldwide. Additionally, the firm has massive support from the government through the provision of engineers and technical assistance in its production process.
Working within the Teams
Huawei’s focus on innovation and constant changes in the external environment stand to sit in good stead to compete in the dynamic global markets. The firm has hired the best talents in China and internationally. This means individuals that are well educated and experienced in their respective fields. This means that the enterprise can sustain its innovative and creative streak and continue producing competitive products (Huawei, 2016b). Additionally, the firm has established a massive training program for its employees to ensure they are up to date with the trends and changes in the technological world. The constant shifting of technology and the surge of innovation from Huawei’s competitors in the market means that the company has to keep up with this pace or it will lose out. Such training programs ensure that the workforce is well informed and is at par or ahead of the standards in the market. This is crucial for establishing a competitive edge in the market.
According to De Cremer & Tao (2015), Huawei puts a massive emphasis on caring for its employees. It ensures that their remuneration is competitive in the market. The company provides a good and enabling working environment equipped with what these workers need to discharge their duties. This approach is consistent with the realization that human resources form the most crucial foundation of the firm’s success. They are the source of innovative and creative technological and managerial inventions that put the company at the pinnacle of the telecommunications sector in the world.
The core competency of Huawei is “technology”; this means that it provides applications, software, networks, terminals, devices, and fixed networks. Overall, the firm offers technology and connection. The global nature of the company means that its diverse teams work across continents to provide a coherent and functioning comprehensive strategy that has helped elevate the business to one of the top corporations on the planet (Hawes, 2012). It is not a coincidence then that Huawei uses the same technology to connect its teams across borders.
Leading within the International Team
The Huawei team has adopted a customer-based approach or “customer-first” attitude. This means that the company is compliant with the needs and preferences of its targeted market. Therefore, it has adopted a blue-ocean model of innovation and invention of new markets instead of the red-ocean approach of competing in already saturated markets or sectors (Huawei, 2016a). Many of the company’s projects are based on the needs and preferences of the targeted consumers in the market. This has translated to a culture within the company that has largely contributed to its success. Its culture is comprised of an emphasis on teamwork, innovation, creativity, diversity, and customer-oriented approaches; it has been instrumental in Huawei’s success in recent years.
Decision-Making Process
In a country where many of the large corporations are wholly- or partially-owned by the Chinese government, Huawei stands as a distinct firm in which the Chinese authorities do not have direct influence in the decision-making process. This places the enterprise in a strategically advantageous position where it can make decisions regarding the company’s business model and targeted market rather than political expedience (Huawei, 2016b). The company has adopted the “gradual decision-making” process, which is more democratic and involves all the key team members. Therefore, the process is strictly internal, and external investors are not given the power to affecting decision-making at will. The protective or almost “protectionist” environment created by the Chinese government means that the firm does not face bottom-line pressure to make decisions (Neeley, 2015). However, the uncertainty of the global market exerts considerable pressure as the company establishes its foothold in the international consumer markets.
Conclusion
The concept of teamwork has become the buzzword for many major and small businesses across the world. This is because it forms the foundation of the success of such companies in the markets. It is consistent with the observation that the workforce creates the primary cog in the success of a business or corporation. As a result, there is a need to create an environment that optimizes the productivity of the workers while at the same time maintaining or heightening their morale and motivation. A team provides the company with a chance to use the synergy to surpass the productivity of the sum of individual input. Huawei has employed this concept to maximize its innovation, culture, customer-driven policies, and its internationalization as well. It uses its local teams as well as the other spread across the world for aspects such as the international business model, marketing, and promotions as well as establishing consumer feedback crucial to its production process. Consequently, the following recommendations would be important to international teams:
- Establish an effective communications network or channel to ensure all the team members contribute and are informed of the progress the team is making. Leaving team members uninformed will sabotage the team synergy, which is the primary attraction to a teamwork concept.
- International teams should tap into the diversity as a resource rather than a challenge that needs to be overcome. The variety of ideas opens the teams to new ways of thinking and approaches to solving problems. It encourages creativity and innovation, which are central pillars of modern-day success in the market.
- In as much as diversity is an asset, the company should establish a cultural framework that will ensure all members of the team are treated equally and that discrimination is eliminated. Organizational culture is the blueprint of its success, without it, companies lack direction and a corporate underpinning crucial to their success.
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