Leading Global Teams

Global teams that are characterized by national, cultural and linguistic heterogeneity and operate in a globally dispersed virtual environment are becoming an established form of organizing work in multinational organizations. As global team leadership research is rather limited, we review the literature on leading multicultural and virtual teams in a global context, focusing on leadership competencies, styles, strategies and modes. We also examine the emergent concepts of biculturalism, global mindset and cultural intelligence with respect to team leaders. Our aim is to add to our knowledge of leading global teams, highlight recent trends and suggest directions for future research. Three themes for global team leadership emerged: leaders as boundary spanners, bridge makers and blenders; people-oriented leadership; and leveraging diversity. We discuss implications for research and practice

Communication and culture in international business – Moving the field forward

The centrality of communication in international business (IB) is undeniable; yet our understanding of the phenomenon is partially constrained by a cross-cultural comparative focus as opposed to intercultural, process-oriented research designs that capture the dynamic nature of communicative interactions. Our brief review of studies at the intersection of culture and communication in the context of global work interactions reveals the dominant research trends that guided IB scholarship to date in this domain. We propose eight shifts in perspective to advance the field\u27s theorizing and create avenues for further research

Das Potenzial von Werbe- und Informationsvideos in der Vermarktung von Bio-Lebensmitteln

Die, in einer computergestützten Erhebung befragten, Bio-Akteur*innen sahen ein großes Potenzial in der Nutzung von Videos, um die Nachfrage nach Bio-Lebensmitteln zu erhöhen. Insbesondere informative Videos mit Fakten zu Produktionsmethoden und Umweltwirkungen wurden als hilfreich angesehen

An Opportunity for East and West to Share Leadership: A Multicultural Analysis of Shared Leadership Preferences in Global Teams.

This study investigates the relationship between cultural values and shared leadership preferences, using a sample of 357 potential globally dispersed team members. A signi fi cant positive relationship between both horizontal individualism and horizontal collectivism and shared leadership preferences is identi fi ed. We also fi nd signi fi cant dif- ferences in individual-level cultural values between Asian and non-Asian respondents. Shared leadership preferences exhibited fewer differences, suggesting the possibility for sharing leadership in multicultural teams. Our fi ndings add to the literature by detailing the relationship between cultural values and shared leadership preferences, and furthering our understanding of contemporary team leadership preferences among Asians and non- Asians

Special issue of International Journal of Human Resource Management: The benefits of global teams for international organizations: HR implications

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The new millennial global leaders : what a difference a generation makes!

Our observations of successful global leaders in much of the literature to date are drawn from individuals who began their careers before the effects of globalization began to be felt signifi-cantly. However, times are changing, along with an understanding about leading and being led by a new generation of workers. In this chapter, we analyse and reflect on our current knowl-edge of the generation born in the global era that is now emerging into positions of leadership. In the popular media, this cohort, born between 1982 and 2004 (Strauss & Howe, 1991),1is known as Generation Y (Sheahan, 2005), Generation Next (Zemke, Raines, & Filipczak, 2000), Generation Net (Tapscott, 2009), Generation Me (Twenge, 2006), Trophy Kids (Alsop, 2008), Generation Whine (Bennet, 2012), and the Millennial Generation (Hershatter & Epstein, 2010; Howe & Strauss, 2000). In this chapter we will use the label ‘Millennial generation’ and refer to individuals as ‘Millennials

Linking institutional context to the community and career embeddedness of skilled migrants: the role of destination- and origin-country identifications

Migration is one of the most pressing global issues of our time. However, relatively little is known about the factors and mechanisms that govern the post-migration experiences of skilled migrants. We adopt an acculturation- and social identity-based approach to examine how differences between institutional characteristics in the destination and origin country, as well as migrants’ experiences with formal and informal institutions shape their identification with the destination and origin country and contribute to their community and career embeddedness. Our study of 1709 highly skilled migrants from 48 origin countries in 12 destination countries reveals that the institutional environment migrants encounter provides both sources of opportunity (potential for human development and value-congruent societal practices) and sources of disadvantage (experienced ethnocentrism and downgrading). These contrasting dynamics affect migrants’ destination-country identification, their origin-country identification and, ultimately, their embeddedness in the destination country. Our results have important implications for multinational enterprises and policy makers that can contribute to enhancing skilled migrants’ community and career embeddedness. For example, these actors may nurture a work environment and provide supportive policies that buffer against the institutional sources of disadvantage we identified in this study, while helping migrants to leverage the opportunities available in the destination country

Interpersonal leadership across cultures : a historical expose and a research agenda

Culture has a profound impact on interpersonal leadership, which refers to an everyday type of leadership involving leader interaction with subordinates. Typical interpersonal leadership actions include empowering, providing support and development, directing, following-up and giving feedback, as well as communicating and encouraging collaboration in teamwork. In early comparative leadership studies, variation in leadership behavior across countries was assumed to be due to cultural differences. This assumption was later empirically supported by cross-cultural leadership research. As leadership behaviors in multi-country studies did not demonstrate similar associative patterns regarding interpersonal leadership in different countries, the use of mainstream single-country derived leadership meta-categories was invalidated. New reliable, robust and culturally endorsed interpersonal leadership dimensions were developed and measured in large-scale, multi-country studies. These emerged from different perspectives: that of leader-centeredness measuring ideal leadership prototypes, and that of employee-centeredness, where subordinate preferences for interpersonal leadership are essential to granting the leader the "License to Lead." Deliberations on fundamental issues in studying interpersonal leadership across national borders in combination with contemporary trends, such as distance leadership, global virtual teams and intersectionality, led to the formulation of research implications and a research agenda for a better understanding of interpersonal leadership in the future