Multinational Teams in European and American Companies.

• Superior document: Forschungsergebnisse der Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien.
• Author: Hajro, Aida.
• Place / Publishing House: Frankfurt am Main : : Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften,, 2008.; ©2008.
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Forschungsergebnisse der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (234 pages)

Incorporating team context into research and practice concerning team effectiveness in multinational organizations still remains an ongoing challenge. This book aims at drawing the attention of researchers and practitioners towards the importance of various ‘layers’ of context on multinational teams and developing an empirically derived framework for multinational team functioning in business organisations. It shows how companies make use of these teams and how these teams contribute to competitive advantage. The study has been conducted in an Austrian, a German, and an American company. It reveals that if managed appropriately, these teams reduce the complexity of operations by facilitating the creation and transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge and by transferring appropriate dimensions of headquarter corporate culture between geographically dispersed business units.

Table of Contents

Cover -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Relevance of research -- 1.2 Structure of this dissertation -- 2. Literature review on multinational teams -- 2.1 Contextual aspects: society as a set of contextual aspects -- 2.2 Contextual aspects: global industry context and its impact on teams -- 2.3 Contextual aspects: organisation as a set of contextual factors -- 2.3.1 Organisation as a set of contextual factors: organisational strategy -- 2.3.2 Organisation as a set of contextual factors: organisational structure -- 2.3.3 Organisation as a set of contextual factors: organisational culture -- 2.3.4 Organisation as a set of contextual factors: social integration of culturally diverse employees -- 2.3.5 Team task and its impact on multinational project teams -- 2.4 Multidimensional-diversity within a team -- 2.4.1 Cultural dimensions and cultural standards of MNT members -- 2.4.2 Personality traits of MNT members and their impact on team performance -- 2.5 Team leadership dimension -- 2.6 Mediating variables -- 2.6.1 Team norms -- 2.6.2 Technology used by team members, MNT size and composition -- 2.7 Future research implications and research aim -- 3. A purposeful approach to the interview and data analysis method in studying MNTs in European and American companies -- 3.1 Rationale for choosing a qualitative research design -- 3.2 Grounded theory in organizational research -- 3.3 Sampling -- 3.4 Method of data collection and data analysis -- 3.4.1 Problem-centred interviews -- 3.4.2 Observations and other sources of data collection -- 3.4.3 Qualitative content analysis -- 3.4.4 Approach to the constant comparative method in the analysis of problem-centred interviews -- 4. Empirical findings from VA TECH -- 4.1 Company description: VA TECH -- 4.2 Major empirical findings from VA TECH -- 4.3 High-tech industry -- 4.4 Organisational context: VA TECH.

4.4.1 Organisational culture of VA TECH -- 4.4.2 Organisational structure of VA TECH -- 4.4.3 Organizational strategy of VA TECH -- 4.5 Team task and task interdependence -- 4.6 Multinational team composition and functioning at VA TECH -- 4.6.1 Team size and composition at VA TECH -- 4.6.2 Different cultural standards of team members and their impact on MNT performance -- 4.6.3 Learning processes within the team and the effect of time on cultural standards of MNT members -- 4.6.4 Degree of cultural diversity within MNTs and subgroup formation -- 4.7 Team norms and values -- 4.8 Individual team members at VA TECH -- 4.8.1 Team leaders -- 4.8.2 Team members -- 4.9 Summary of empirical findings from VA TECH -- 5. Empirical findings from Henkel Central Eastern Europe (CEE) -- 5.1 Company description: Henkel -- 5.2 Major empirical findings from Henkel CEE -- 5.3 Organizational context: Henkel CEE -- 5.3.1 Organisational culture of Henkel CEE and its impact on MNTs -- 5.3.2 Organisational strategy of Henkel CEE -- 5.4 Multinational team composition and functioning at Henkel CEE -- 5.4.1 Teams size, structure and composition at Henkel CEE -- 5.4.2 Diversity within MNTs at Henkel CEE and cultural characteristics of team members from CEE -- 5.4.3 Learning processes within the team and the moderating effect of time on cultural standards of MNT members -- 5.4.4 Transfer of knowledge between organisational units through MNTs -- 5.4.5 Transfer of the appropriate dimensions of the home organization's culture between organizational units through MNTs -- 5.5 Individual team members at Henkel CEE -- 5.5.1 Team leaders -- 5.5.2 Team members -- 5.6 Summary of empirical findings from Henkel CEE -- 6. Empirical findings from K&amp -- M International -- 6.1 Company description: K&amp -- M International -- 6.2 Major findings from K&amp -- M International.

6.3 Toy industry -- 6.4 Organisational context: K&amp -- M International -- 6.4.1 Organisational culture of K&amp -- M International -- 6.4.2 Organisational strategy of K&amp -- M International -- 6.5 Different team tasks and their impact on MNTs at K&amp -- M International -- 6.6 Multinational team composition and functioning at K&amp -- M International -- 6.6.1 Team composition at K&amp -- M International and occurrence of bilateral conflicts -- 6.6.2 Team identification and subgroup formation -- 6.6.3 Knowledge exploitation and exploration through MNTs -- 6.7 Individual team members at K&amp -- M International -- 6.7.1 Team leaders -- 6.7.2 Team members -- 6.8 Summary of empirical findings from K&amp -- M International -- 7. Summary and the conceptual framework for MNTs in business organisations -- 8. General conclusions -- 8.1 Discussion: limitations and future research implications -- 8.1.1 Limitations of this dissertation -- 8.1.2 Implications for future research -- 8.2 Managerial implications.