Biculturalism, Team Performance, and Cultural-faultline Bridges

Team diversity, conflict, and trust: Evidence from the health sector

The current study aims to determine the impact of diversity and intra-team trust on conflict within the health sector of Pakistan. This study also measures the moderating role of trust in the relationship between diversity and conflict among team members. Data was collected using personally administered questionnaires from 61 teams, including 377 respondents working in 4 public sector hospitals in Pakistan, which were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The results revealed that diversity (as a composite) positively influences task conflict, while its two components-surface-level diversity and deep-level diversity-are associated positively with task conflict. Moreover, the results also lead to an exciting finding that trust among team members could reduce the positive influence of diversity on team members' conflict. The implications for theory and practitioners are presented along with the avenues for future research directions.

Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A retrospective of research on multicultural work groups and an agenda for future research

Our 2010 Journal of International Business Studies article, "Unraveling the Effects of Cultural Diversity in Teams: A Meta-analysis of Research on Multicultural Work Groups," attempted to take stock of existing research on cultural diversity in teams, to reconcile conflicting perspectives and past results, and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms and boundary conditions under which diversity affects team outcomes. To guide our analysis, we developed a theoretical framework outlining how cultural diversity leads to both process gains and losses in teams, and specifying the contextual conditions under which diversity contributes to effective team outcomes. We tested our hypotheses in a meta-analysis of research on cultural diversity in teams, encompassing 108 primary studies with a combined sample size of 10,632 work groups. The results suggested that cultural diversity does not have a direct impact on team performance but rather that the effect is indirect, mediated by process variables such as creativity, cohesion, and conflict; and is moderated by contextual influences such as team tenure, the complexity of the task, and whether the team is co-located or geographically dispersed. Unexpected findings raised important questions about the dynamics of diverse teams and underscored the need for further examination. In this Retrospective, we reflect on progress made in research on culturally diverse teams over the last decade, highlight remaining gaps and open questions, and propose an agenda for future research.

How does knowledge heterogeneity affect transactive memory system in innovation? Evidence from a field study

Purpose

The dispute over the benefit of diversity on the transactive memory system (TMS) has attracted the attention with the development of global collaboration. This paper aims to discover how knowledge heterogeneity (KH), categorized as explicit and tacit KH, affects TMS and to test the mediation effect of innovation climate (IC).

Design/methodology/approach

Data from a 6-month field study of 207 research and development (R&D) members and 7 expertize observers were analyzed by partial least squares structure equation model. Robustness check and Barron and Kenny mediation test were used to evaluate the model and confirm the mediation effect.

Findings

Tacit KH of R&D team negatively influences the development of TMS. Furthermore, IC partially mediates tacit KHs’ negative influence on the development of TMS.

Research limitations/implications

These results distinguish the different influence of explicit and tacit KH on TMS and explore the mediating role of IC that has been confirmed affecting the development of TMS.

Practical implications

These results could motivate practitioners to address more attention to tacit KH, IC and the development of TMS in the R&D team members composition.

Originality/value

This study contributes not only to elucidate the different influence of explicit and tacit KH on TMS but also to the appropriate members composition of R&D team by considering the relationships among KH, IC, TMS and innovation performance.

Mentality Differences in the Field of Medicine: Challenges in Cross-Cultural Collaborations in Austrian and German Hospitals between Native Physicians and Immigrated Colleagues from Poland and Hungary

Within the last decades, studies about characteristics of national culture have mostly been focused on the business sector. In other industries, like the field of medicine, research about mentality differences is still in its infancy. Due to increased international job mobility of physicians around the globe, especially within the European Union, it is considered necessary to draw more attention at this topic. For this purpose, some studies are presented initially that have already addressed the issue of cultural differences in the field of medicine. By extracting their most crucial findings, an overview regarding the state-of-the- art is provided. Based on these findings, a design for qualitative research is modelled that is aimed at closing these knowledge gaps. As a first step in this context, it is explained which perspective is considered to be the most promising in terms of generating in-depth insights. Moreover, a possible approach towards constructing mentalities beyond a national level is introduced. This part goes hand in hand with suggesting two mentalities whose comparison is regarded to make sense. These mentalities are going to be an Austro-Germanic Mentality (physicians from Austria and Germany) and a Magyar- Slavic Mentality (physicians from Hungary and Poland). Subsequently, the author is going to recommend some dimensions of established cultural models that should be taken into account when designing an interview outline. Beyond that, some preliminary findings of an ongoing study with Eastern European doctors who are working in Austrian and German hospitals are presented. So far, it has become obvious that there is a remarkable different approach towards hierarchy and leadership, personal relationships with colleagues as well as task-fulfillment and personal responsibility. In the last part of this paper, the author emphasizes the positive effects that are expected to occur when awareness in terms of mentality differences is raised and how they could be achieved.

The Influence of Top Management Team on Chinese Firms’ FDI Ambidexterity

Strategic ambidexterity has been under researched in the context of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI). An ambidextrous FDI, balancing between exploratory and exploitive activities, is strategically desirable but managerially challenging. We examine the role of top management team (TMT) functional diversity in influencing Chinese firms’ degree of FDI ambidexterity, and its boundary conditions in relation to the informal and formal institutional environments within which the TMT operates. Based on a panel of Chinese outward-investing manufacturing firms, our empirical analyses show that a marginal positive effect of TMT functional diversity on a firm's FDI ambidexterity is strengthened by the social faultline presence in the firm's TMT, but is weakened by the development of formal institutions in the firm's external environment.

Transforming cross-cultural conflict into collaboration

Purpose

Scholarly research provides few insights into how integrating the western values of individualism and low power distance with the eastern values of collectivism and high power distance may influence cross-cultural conflict management. Following the framework of the theory of cooperation and competition, the purpose of this paper is to directly examine the impacts of organization-level collectivism and individualism, as well as high and low power distance, to determine the interactive effects of these four factors on cross-cultural conflict management.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a 2×2 experiment study. Data were collected from a US laboratory experiment with 80 participants.

Findings

American managers working in a company embracing western low power distance and eastern collectivism values were able to manage conflict cooperatively with their Chinese workers. Moreover, American managers working in a company valuing collectivism developed more trust with Chinese workers, and those in a company culture with high power distance were more interested in their workers’ viewpoints and more able to reach integrated solutions.

Originality/value

This study is an interdisciplinary research applying the social psychology field’s theory of cooperation and competition to the research on employee-manager, cross-cultural conflict management (which are industrial relations and organizational behavior topics, respectively), with an eye to the role of cultural adaptation. Furthermore, this study included an experiment to directly investigate the interactions between American managers and Chinese workers discussing work distribution conflict in four different organizational cultures.

The bright side of social categorization

Purpose

Using social categorization perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of global identity, perceived proximity, and team interdependence on relational conflict in multicultural distributed teams.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were 317 MBA students in 83 multicultural distributed project teams. Structural equation modeling and bootstrap methods were used to test the study model.

Findings

The results demonstrate that the indirect effect of global identity on relational conflict, through the pathway of perceived proximity, is moderated by team interdependence. More specifically, global identity leads to higher perceived proximity and lower relational conflict levels under low, rather than high, interdependence levels.

Research limitations/implications

The particular study context (multicultural distributed MBA student project teams) may limit the extent of the generalization of the findings.

Practical implications

The findings presented here can help practitioners in global organizations to defuse relational conflicts in multicultural distributed teams by embracing a global cultural approach and relying on shared global identity in team building, personnel selection, and development. Additionally, managers should be conscientious when they use the practice of facilitating interdependence between team members and assess the need for other interventions.

Originality/value

This study advances multicultural distributed team research by highlighting the role of global identity in reducing relational conflict, identifying the mediation mechanism of perceived proximity, and the boundary conditions of team interdependence levels under which this attenuation effect prevails.