Overview
Work teams are essential to organizational effectiveness. C-Suite teams run corporations. Project teams create new products and services; cross-functional teams develop everything from new pharmaceuticals to the delivery of services in consulting firms. Marketing and sales teams deliver products and services to customers. High-performance work teams can result in superior performance, which translates into a significant competitive advantage. A high performance team is group of individuals with specialized expertise and complementary skills, who collaborate, innovate and consistently produce outstanding results aligned with organizational goals. Such teams relentlessly pursues performance excellence through leadership that emphasized shared goals, collaboration, open communication, and a strong sense of mutual accountability. The work teams of today are comprised of individuals with diverse backgrounds, which may challenge managers to balance collective efforts with individuality. Managers must leverage the skills of diverse team members to achieve organizational goals. Teams are common, but effective teamwork remains a challenge. Understanding the impact of culture on team performance is now essential for effective global leadership. In this module, dimension culture that impact teamwork will be discussed, with an emphasis on what predicts success in multicultural teams. Participants will learn their level of Cultural Intelligence through assessments. Key ideas will be emphasized through a team exercise, and case study.
In this module, we will focus on the essentials of global leadership in multicultural teams. Specifically, we will:
- Discuss the dimensions of national culture that matter for team performance.
- Provide an assessment of Cultural Intelligence.
- Engage in a teamwork activity to reinforce the importance of global leadership in teams.
- Discuss a case study that illustrates the effective handling of a multicultural team challenge.
Exercises: Cultural Intelligence Assessment, Teamwork exercise, Case Study.
Faculty
Terri A. Scandura is currently a Professor of Management in the Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami. Her fields of interest include leadership, mentorship, and applied research methods. She has been a visiting scholar in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, China and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Scandura has authored or co-authored over two hundred presentations, articles and book chapters. Her research has been published in the Academy of Management Journal, the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of Vocational Behavior, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Industrial Relations, Research in Organizational Behaviorand Research in Personnel and Human Resource Managementand others. Her book, Essentials of Organizational Behavior: An evidence-based approach, 2ndedition is published by SAGE Publications. Dr. Scandura is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and the Southern Management Association. She is a member of the invitation-only Society of Organizational Behavior (SOB) and the Academy of Management. She is a past-Associate editor for Group & Organization Management, the Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Managementand Organizational Research Methods. She currently serves on Editorial Boards for major journals.
