Mastering Challenges in Intercultural...

Mastering Challenges in Intercultural Collaboration

Results Practical Research

Survey Objective

Getting a deeper understanding on how intercultural, virtual collaboration is perceived as of today by managers and employers of different industries and cultures and elaborating the areas that are seen as challenges.

The Intercultural Playing Field

Ω

Individual Aspects

-  Location / Time Zone /Language

-  Qualification/Experience/Skills

-  Preferences/Character/Mindset

Team Related Aspects

-  Communication style

-  Spirit of collaboration

-  Dealing with hierarchy

Process Related Aspects

-  Work organization

-  Level of transparency

-  Result orientation

CU

LTU

RA

L B

AC

KG

RO

UN

D (V

ALU

ES

/NO

RM

S/H

ISTO

RY

) CU

LTUR

AL B

AC

KG

RO

UN

D (VA

LUE

S/N

OR

MS

/HIS

TOR

Y)

Intercultural

Collaboration

Individual Aspects

-  Location / Time Zone /Language

-  Qualification/Experience/Skills

-  Preferences/Character/Mindset


-  Communication style

-  Spirit of collaboration

-  Dealing with hierarchy


-  Work organization

-  Level of transparency

-  Result orientation

Virtually

What are the challenges in intercultural collaboration?

Survey Contact & Response

30.000 people have been contacted and invited to join the survey between 25th Sept. - 15th Oct. 2011

Response rate was 1,1% with finally 291 validated completed survey forms

Survey Structure

A. !! Organizational Background / Socio-demographicsB.!! Challenges in Intercultural Collaboration! ! B.1. ! Individual Aspects ! ! B.2.! Team Related Aspects! ! B.3.! Process Related AspectsC.!! Potential Training NeedsD. !! Recommendation (Open Questions)

Survey participants from 37 countries

Country of Origin

Industries

Departments

Headquarter Location

52.7%%%

31.1%%%

15.4%%% 0.8%%%virtual(contacts((e.g.(mail,(phone(etc.,(when(your(team(is(organized(virtually)(

personal(and(virtual(contacts(in(equal(shares.(

personal(contacts((e.g.(when(you(are(working(with(a(co<located(team)(

Other:((please(specify)(

66.0$22.4$

3.8$7.9$

0" 10" 20" 30" 40" 50" 60" 70"

1*10"11*50"

51*100"more"than"100"

percentage$size$of$team$

! Size of teams

! Organisation of Collaboration

Communication

72% communicating with people of foreign culture on daily base

55% communicating mainly virtually (not co-located)

Starting Point

Q: How successful is your team?

52.6%%%

24.7%%%

19.6%%%

3.1%%%

successful%

very%successful%

somewhat%successful%

not%successful%

Q: What are the most influencing factors for successful intercultural collaboration?

Individual Aspects

Very successful vs. Not/somewhat successful

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

intercultural collaboration is a benefit in general

intercultural collaboration is a challenge in general

feel comfortable to work with people from different cultures

cultural differences in a team stimulate creativity

Totally agree

Agree

Not sure

Disagree

Totally disagree

No answer

0%# 20%# 40%# 60%# 80%# 100%#

working culture everyone feels comfortable with

same understanding of leadership and hierarchy

same understanding of teamwork

work constructively towards commonly accepted goals

achieve an equal participation of all team members

we trust each other

no miscommunication due to cultural differences or barriers

Totally#agree#

Agree#

Not#sure#

Disagree#

Totally#disagree#

No#answer#

Other Observations

40.3%

65.2%

38.9%

24.2%20.8%

9.1%

0.0% 1.5%0"

10"

20"

30"

40"

50"

60"

70"

very%successful% not/somewhat%successful%

percen

tages%

virtual"contacts"(e.g."mail,"phone"etc.,"when"your"team"is"organized"virtually)"

personal"and"virtual"contacts"in"equal"shares."

personal"contacts"(e.g."when"you"are"working"with"a"coDlocated"team)"

Other:"(please"specify)"

Communication

Training Recommendations

Best Practice Recommendations

Best Practice Recommendation

‘development of strong interpersonal communication skills and fostering an atmosphere of collaboration’

‘specific intercultural training depending on the in the team represented cultures’

‘for virtual collaboration: team building in face-to-face meetings at beginning to get to know each other and to reduce anonymous communication’

‘regular face-to face meetings’


‘employee exchange programs to get to know other cultures and to experience other working environments’

‘virtual collaboration: weekly/regular video conferences to replace face-to-face contact and additionally social networks with team members profiles and personal information to get to know each other beside work and instant messaging’

‘use every training possibility you get and see every situation as a training for further enhancement’

‘when coming together first, explain how and why people/team members talk about problems to foster mutual understanding’


‘free up your mind from any preconceived ideas and don’t be too quick to judge a person based on appearance’

‘projects with shared responsibilities’

‘tailor-made trainings with coach to increase awareness about intercultural hurdles’

’standardized processes and reports, fix communication tools online information share and communication platform’

Key Findings

1. Intercultural Collaboration remains a Challenge

Overall, participants in the survey confirmed that intercultural, virtual collaboration presents unique challenges such as language difficulties, time-and-distance challenges, the absence of face-to-face contact, and above all, the barriers posed by cultural differences and personal communication styles. These challenges are counterproductive unless managed effectively.

II. Culture beats Competence

The survey shows that the way how intercultural collaboration is perceived is more determined by the specifically established collaboration culture within individual teams than by generic knowledge about intercultural diversities or sophisticated techniques to collaborate virtually.

III. No Effect of Dominating National Culture

The absence/presence of one dominating national culture in the organization or team has no significant influence on the level of perceived success. This could mean – contrary to other scientific research - that cultural synergies are playing no or a minor role for the overall team performance.

1V. Higher Purpose to be Clarified

Although the majority of the participants see a personal benefit in working together with people from different cultures, there is a high uncertainty with regard to the efficiency and the output of their intercultural, virtual teams compared with co-located teams. The ‘why’ for working together as virtual/intercultural teams needs obviously more explanation in many organizations.

Conclusions

Possible Conclusions from this Survey

(1) Intercultural collaboration is perceived as both benefit and challenge

(2) Participants are convinced about their openness, their awareness of own cultural background and their interest in intercultural collaboration.

(3) The presence of one dominating national culture in the team has no significant influence on the level of perceived success (no cultural synergies necessary).


(4) The working culture including the level of trust and equal participation in the team is of strong influence for the perceived level of team success

(5) Creating a common understanding for core terms like leadership, hierarchy, team work helps to increase the perceived level of success.

(6) Transparency in goals, processes, work allocation and performance evaluation is benefitting the collaboration in intercultural teams.


(7) Face-to-face meetings at the beginning and the opportunity to meet from time to in person support the perceived level of success in intercultural teams

(8) Finding good practices and routines for virtual intercultural collaboration increase the chance of succeeding as intercultural team

(9) There is a high uncertainty with regard to the efficiency and the output level of intercultural virtual teams.

Recommendations

Intercultural virtual collaboration is facing basically the same challenges like co-located collaboration: creating a working culture everyone feels comfortable with, alignment of goals, set up of transparent processes, communication and working constructively towards a shared agreed goal etc..

However, nowadays leaders need to be able to establish this working culture together with their teams across time-zones, language and culture barriers and therefore need a higher intercultural sensitivity and understanding to deal with these challenges properly.

Leaders therefore ideally have a deep understanding for...

-> intercultural differences in their teams-> the need and value of establishing a functioning team culture-> the need and value for a well balanced communication (v/f2f)-> the opportunities the information technology offers to connect people despite working together virtually

and are able to proactively put their knowledge into practice.

Working successfully inter-culturally and virtually is asking in much higher extend then working with co-located teams for:

-> a team specific intercultural collaboration approach-> transparency in processes, roles etc.-> discipline in keeping agreements-> creativity to bring teams together

=> asking for an intercultural mature type of leader, reflecting himself, questioning own norms and values and stereotype behaviors.

To Do...

Support leaders in establishing group-specific team cultures, reflecting diversity of the team, virtuality and considering the needs of specific group.s

Create trust, space for constructive conflict and a common understanding for core terms like leadership, hierarchy, team work, accountability and commitment.

Achieve transparency in goals, processes, work allocation and performance evaluation.

Potential Starting Point

E.g. the IAK Intercultural Collaboration Check

Integration: ! - Vision / Goal / Strategy! - Organizational Structure / Processes! - Norms / Values

Link to Company Processes! - Target Setting Process! - Budget Process! - Appraisal Process

Communication! - Team/group internally! - Company stakeholders! - External stakeholders

Qualification: ! - Skills! - Tools! - Mindset

Monitoring! - Pulse Check! - Survey! - Feedback

Sense of Coherence! - Comprehensible! - Manageable! - Meaningful

IAK as partner

! founded in 1970, one of the first in the market to offer creative and innovative problem-solving strategies

! today focusing on the business areas leadership, collaboration/cooperation, creativity and change with 30 partners in 6 countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, USA)

! trainers of different professional backgrounds: economics, engineering, marketing, sales, science, psychology, philosophy and media.

! currently holding teaching positions at i.e. Esalen Institute – California, Ruhr University Bochum, Technical University Munich, Stanford University

! 2011 joint research project with West Coast University and international partners: Mastering Challenges in Intercultural Collaboration

! our training and consulting philosophy is based on humanistic psychology, constructivism, a systemic and holistic health approach

Key facts IAK

Clients

TETA is not training. It is a guided exploration of one's inner-self with benefits that carry over not just to the business world but to one's personal life as well. An invaluable experience for managers and executives . . . and for anyone else wanting to be more prepared to confront life's daily challenges. Our top-down process, which began with the Executive Management team and is now continuing with all managers at the 2nd and 3rd levels, has been widely embraced and appreciated, and is providing great support for the realization of our ultimate objective of becoming a transformational leadership company. BMW Financial Services, Italy

John Christman, President

What makes the collaboration with IAK truly special is the combination of intelligent creative solutions and meticulously detailed execution. By preparing the sessions together we have managed to truly hit the target that I had in mind beforehand. Above all, the (IAK) trainers are able to inspire our teams and employees to take on board new ways of seeing things. WATERNET, The Netherlands Peter Jansen, Program Manager

Techniques in teaching leadership, innovation and change of IAK trainers are superb. They are personable and remarkably knowledgeable about how to create and sustain productive and collaborative working environments in our competitive business world. IAK facilitators are experts at understand the complexities of corporate culture and the personalities which drive, and at times, hamper the ultimate success of a business or academic enterprise. Spending a training session with an IAK team is well worth the effort and energy. The result personally and professionally will be productive, long-lasting and memorable. I recommend the investment. STANFORD UNIVERSITY, United States of America Joel Franklin, Professor of Law, Monterey College of Law

Testimonials

IAK PartnersIAK Partners

“Knowledge and understanding are only stepping stones…

action is what it is all about!”

“Knowledge and understanding are only stepping stones…

action is what it is all about!”

IAK - Institut für Angewandte Kreativität

Kölner Weg 44

50858 Köln

Tel.: 0221/800207-0

Ulrich Schwalb

Mobil: (+49) 0171-362 1475

[email protected]

Matthias Dehne Mobil: (+31) 61 84 94 363

[email protected]

IAK Nederland Institute for Applied Creativity Admiralengracht 111F 1057ET Amsterdam T. (+31) 61 84 94 363 F. (+31) 20 203 11 85 [email protected] www.iak.com of http://nl.iak.com

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