Offshoring attitudes and their consequences for relationships in transnational teams. Reflections from a field study of German information technology developers

With reference to the literature on offshoring and on transnational teams (TNTs), we present a qualitative study of 30 German IT developers’ attitudes towards the transfer of tasks to an Indian subsidiary. Respondents reported contrasting attitudes concerning offshoring consequences for the organization, TNT performance, as well as German employees’ workload, tasks, jobs, and intercultural learning. These offshoring attitudes affected some Germans’ relational behaviors towards their Indian colleagues, in terms of forming subgroups, pinpointing mistakes, communicating, transferring knowledge, and avoiding task transfer. The findings are interpreted from a configurational perspective, leading to recommendations for managers and suggestions for future research

Interpersonal relationships in transnational, virtual teams - towards a configurational perspective

This article uses a literature review to develop a configurational analysis of interpersonal relationships in transnational teams (TNTs). The configurational approach posits that organisational reality cannot be explained by uni-directional, causal relationships between isolated variables, but only in terms of variable configurations, i.e. „multidimensional constellations of conceptually distinct characteristics that commonly occur together‟ (Meyer et al. 1993, p. 1175). The effect of single variables is seen to depend on their interaction with the multitude of other variables in a configuration. TNTs are defined as groups composed of members of different nationalities, who work on a common task. Previous research on TNTs has observed that strong interpersonal relationships are especially important for the functioning of these teams, but are at the same time particularly hard to achieve. Moreover, many studies have singled out particular processes that will here be termed „aspects‟ of relationships. This article firstly integrates the transnational and virtual team literature to provide an overview of examined relationship aspects. The article identifies cognitive relationship aspects, which encompass team identity, subgroup formation, shared understanding, and trust. Communication, knowledge creation, and conflicts are described as behavioural aspects, and interpersonal affect is identified as an affective relationship aspect. These relationship aspects are regarded as elements of complex relationship configurations. The paper therefore describes the influence of each of these aspects on other relationship aspects, thereby demonstrating complex interconnections between relationship aspects. This provides a first step towards a configurational analysis. The paper further reviews how several characteristics of the team structure, organisational context, and socio-political environment may facilitate or inhibit several relationship aspects. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of cultural diversity and virtuality as the two factors that are characteristic of TNTs, and which have also been discussed most frequently in the literature. Through a synthesis of previous research, the article then provides an overview of suggested mutual influences between relationship aspects. This leads to a suggestion of two examples of relationship configurations and their driving factors. These configurations are characterised by the orchestrating themes of „commitment and tight coupling‟ and „commitment and loose coupling‟, respectively. The paper concludes by recommending methods for future empirical research on relationship configurations in TNTs. It argues that a broad range of relationship aspects needs to be included in such research, to examine relationships across a number of different team structures and organisational contexts, and in different socio-political environments. In-depth, qualitative case research is the most suitable for exploring this complex social phenomenon

Interpersonal relationships in transnational, virtual teams

This article uses a literature review to develop a configurational analysis of interpersonal relationships in transnational teams (TNTs). The configurational approach posits that organisational reality cannot be explained by uni-directional, causal relationships between isolated variables, but only in terms of variable configurations, i.e. ‘multidimensional constellations of conceptually distinct characteristics that commonly occur together’ (Meyer et al. 1993, p. 1175). The effect of single variables is seen to depend on their interaction with the multitude of other variables in a configuration. TNTs are defined as groups composed of members of different nationalities, who work on a common task. Previous research on TNTs has observed that strong interpersonal relationships are especially important for the functioning of these teams, but are at the same time particularly hard to achieve. Moreover, many studies have singled out particular processes that will here be termed ‘aspects’ of relationships. This article firstly integrates the transnational and virtual team literature to provide an overview of examined relationship aspects. The article identifies cognitive relationship aspects, which encompass team identity, subgroup formation, shared understanding, and trust. Communication, knowledge creation, and conflicts are described as behavioural aspects, and interpersonal affect is identified as an affective relationship aspect. These relationship aspects are regarded as elements of complex relationship configurations. The paper therefore describes the influence of each of these aspects on other relationship aspects, thereby demonstrating complex interconnections between relationship aspects. This provides a first step towards a configurational analysis. The paper further reviews how several characteristics of the team structure, organisational context, and socio-political environment may facilitate or inhibit several relationship aspects. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of cultural diversity and virtuality as the two factors that are characteristic of TNTs, and which have also been discussed most frequently in the literature. Through a synthesis of previous research, the article then provides an overview of suggested mutual influences between relationship aspects. This leads to a suggestion of two examples of relationship configurations and their driving factors. These configurations are characterised by the orchestrating themes of ‘commitment and tight coupling’ and ‘commitment and loose coupling’, respectively. The paper concludes by recommending methods for future empirical research on relationship configurations in TNTs. It argues that a broad range of relationship aspects needs to be included in such research, to examine relationships across a number of different team structures and organisational contexts, and in different socio-political environments. In-depth, qualitative case research is the most suitable for exploring this complex social phenomenon

Interpersonal relationships in transnational, virtual teams – towards a configurational perspective

Previous research has observed that strong interpersonal relationships are especially important for the functioning of transnational, virtual teams (TNTs), but are at the same time particularly hard to achieve in these teams. This article reviews and integrates the transnational and virtual team literature to provide an overview of examined cognitive, behavioural and affective relationship aspects. By demonstrating the interrelations between these relationship aspects, the article deviates from the prevalent, linear input–process–output models of team functioning and makes a first step towards a configurational perspective on relationships in TNTs. It further reviews how several characteristics of the team structure, organizational context and socio-political environment may facilitate or inhibit relationship aspects. Through a synthesis of previous research, the article develops two examples of likely relationship configurations and their driving factors. The review concludes by recommending methods for future empirical research on relationship configurations in TNTs

Offshoring attitudes and relational behaviours in German-Indian offshoring collaborations. Reflections from a field study

Offshoring arrangements have become a common setting for intercultural collaborations. There is ample evidence that the success of these offshoring arrangements is influenced on the relational behaviours between offshore and onshore colleagues. However, it has not been questioned whether and how the attitudes that onshore colleagues hold towards offshoring affect their relational behaviours towards offshore colleagues. This paper draws together the literatures on offshoring and transnational teams, to argue for the importance of offshoring attitudes. It presents a qualitative case study examining the offshoring attitudes of German IT developers working with Indian colleagues in an Indian subsidiary of the firm. The inquiry revealed that respondent's offshoring attitudes were associated with their relational behaviours towards Indian offshore colleagues, namely whether Germans treated their Indian colleagues as fellow team members or as mere suppliers, how much effort they spent in communicating and transferring knowledge, and whether they supported or avoided the transfer of tasks to India. Importantly, these relational behaviours also had a reverse effect on the German's offshoring attitudes, creating vicious and virtuous circles of offshoring attitudes and relational behaviours. Certain departmental context factors were identified to explain the differences in offshoring attitudes and resulting vicious and virtuous circles. The findings demonstrate that researchers and practitioners have to pay more attention to offshoring attitudes in order to better understand relational behaviours between onshore and offshore members, and thereby achieve more successful offshoring collaborations

Managing virtual talent

Today’s multinational enterprises (MNEs) tend to rely on high performers who are dispersed across the globe, creating the need to manage ‘virtual talent’. Virtual talent here refers to high-potential or high-performing employees in strategic roles who are part of a virtual collaboration, namely a collaboration that spans geographic boundaries and relies to a significant extent on electronic communication media. This chapter will highlight the specific challenges and levers of managing talent involved in global virtual collaborations in general, with a special attention to distances, boundaries, and perceived proximity. It will further elaborate on particular, important issues of managing global virtual talent within MNEs. Lessons will here be drawn from case study evidence on onshore-offshore collaborations. Finally, the chapter will provide a brief outline of the emerging practices of managing ‘virtual contractors’

Talent management practices and the mechanisms behind the retention of employees: evidence from a case study in a multinational organisation in India

Multinational Organisations (MNO) represents one kind of workplace setting within the new Indian market. Information Technology (IT) professionals are the key resources to this type of organisations. Retaining talented employees within an organisation has become difficult in an Indian market scenario due to plethora of similar job opportunities available with the competitors in the IT market. An in-depth, interpretative case study of a MNO located in Chennai, India, was used in order to understand how the talent management practices help in the retention of the employees. Four kinds of mechanisms were identified behind the retention practices for employees through an interpretive analysis of the empirical data — organisational identification, organisational commitment, empowerment and employee engagement. The mechanisms and retention practices of the talent management within this organisation were seen to relate to how MNO retain their employees who are competitive IT professionals. Another case study of a MNO located in Bengaluru, India is still in progress. This paper has both theoretical and practical implications

A systems perspective on offshoring strategy and motivational drivers amongst onshore and offshore employees

Extant research tends to view firm level offshoring strategies and micro level motivational drivers as self-contained units of analysis. By contrast, this paper draws on an inductive study of two global service firms to demonstrate how the implementation and success of an advanced task offshoring strategy depends on certain systemic interdependencies between (a) the strategy, (b) onshore employees’ motivation to transfer advanced tasks and (c) offshore employees’ motivation to spend effort on their tasks and stay with the firm. We analyse how these three elements interact and produce feedback loops to create an ‘offshoring system’. Extrapolating from our findings, we propose how the offshoring system is likely to develop within the external constraints set by the attainable expertise of offshore employees and by client demands

Task allocation strategies and motivational processes in advanced services offshoring

Global service firms are increasingly moving advanced tasks to popular offshoring destinations such as India. Despite the significant influence of micro-level motivational mechanisms on the implementation and success of such offshoring strategies, empirical research in this area is still in its early stages. In this paper, taking a grounded theory approach, we present qualitative data from a German electronics firm working with IT developers in a Bangalore subsidiary, and the UK division of a large global professional services firm which has offshored its tax reporting work to a captive unit in Bangalore. From a cross-case analysis of these two settings, we develop a grounded model of the complex interdependencies between offshoring strategies and offshore-onshore motivational processes. We identify three interlocking and self-reinforcing circles between (a) task allocation strategies, (b) motivational processes onshore, and (c) motivational processes offshore. These circles function to either inhibit or support the offshoring strategies. We highlight several theoretical and practical contributions with regard to micro-macro level interdependencies in offshoring strategies of global firms

Knowledge transfer in IT offshoring relationships: the roles of social capital, efficacy and outcome expectations

Information technology (IT) development in global organisations relies heavily on the transfer of tacit and complex knowledge from onshore units to offshore subsidiaries. A central concern of such organisations is the development of social capital, which is known to facilitate the smooth transfer of knowledge. However, only a few studies in IS research have explicitly examined the role of social capital for knowledge transfer in an IT offshoring context. In this paper, we argue that such knowledge transfer mechanisms can be understood better by considering social capital in concert with knowledge senders' efficacy and outcome expectations, two of the potentially keymotivational drivers of knowledge transfer.We develop our arguments through a qualitative case study of a large German multinational company. German IT developers in this firm provided in-depth accounts of their experience with offshore colleagues in an Indian captive subsidiary unit. Drawing on our analysis, we develop a model that depicts the influence of social capital, efficacy and outcome expectations on onshore IT developers' ability and willingness to transfer knowledge to offshore colleagues. Through the model, we also explain how social capital, efficacy and outcome expectations are interrelated and generate three interlocked, self-reinforcing circles of knowledge transfer success in IToffshoring relationships