Managing Multicultural Teams
One of the key aspects of offshoring is the need to manage teams across cultural and geographic boundaries. In a recent article “Managing Multicultural Teams” in Harvard Business Review, the authors [Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary C. Kern] delve into intricacies and challenges of managing multicultural teams.
They begin with a topical case study on Offshoring IT by highlighting “When a major international software developer needed to produce a new product quickly, the project manager assembled a team of employees from India and the United States”
However, as I read through rest of the case that talked about how “from the start the team members could not agree on a delivery date for the product. The Americans thought the work could be done in two to three weeks; the Indians predicted it would take two to three months. As time went on, the Indian team members proved reluctant to report setbacks in the production process, which the American team members would find out about only when work was due to be passed to them.” In their analysis, the authors agree that “Such conflicts, of course, may affect any team” but conclude that “in this case they arose from cultural differences”
This being a researched case study, the authors obviously know much more about the specifics. However, from my observations in the field, it sounds like a worst-case scenario… as the authors cede “The manager became so bogged down by quotidian issues that the project careened hopelessly off even the most pessimistic schedule–and the team never learned to work together effectively.”
Though I have seen my fare share of offshoring challenges and issues, cases like the one illustrated are exactly what Offshoring Project Managers work hard to mitigate. Experienced offshoring managers work hard to take steps to mitigate the risk of such cross-cultural challenges leveraging the best practices in the industry and their organizations (Here I am not talking just about Infosys’ practices)
In addition to the four strategies highlighted by the authors – Adaptation, Structural intervention, Managerial intervention and Exit – I addressed the challenges and approaches as pertinent to IT Projects in the chapter titled “Managing Global Workforce” in my book. The three key dimensions I examined include:
- Cultural Aspects
- Technical Aspects and
- Human Aspects
For that chapter of the book, I also reached out to experts in the industry, including Deena Levine who graciously provided a section on “Common Sense for Offshore-On Site Team Relationships… …but not always practiced!”
While there is no cookie-cutter approach to address the challenges of working with teams across cultures, managers can definitely leverage some of the best practices, tools and techniques available.
