Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

4-2012

Abstract

This research investigates a new type of team that is becoming prevalent in global work settings, namely self-managing multicultural teams. We argue that challenges that arise from cultural diversity in teams are exacerbated when teams are leaderless, undermining performance. A longitudinal study of multicultural master of business administration study teams found that in the early stage of team formation, teams with a low average level of, but moderate degree of variance in, uncertainty avoidance performed best. Four months post formation, however, teams with a high average level of relationship orientation performed better than teams with a low average level of relationship orientation. Furthermore, a moderate degree of variance in relationship orientation among team members produced better team performance than a low or high degree of variance. These findings suggest that different cultural value orientations exert different patterns of effects on the performance of self-managing multicultural teams, depending on the stage of team formation. We discuss implications for the composition of self-managing multicultural teams and its influence on team processes and performance.

Keywords

self-managing team, multicultural team, cultural value, uncertainty avoidance, relationship orientation, team performance

Discipline

Business | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Volume

33

Issue

3

First Page

389

Last Page

411

ISSN

0894-3796

Identifier

10.1002/job.1777

Publisher

Wiley

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1777

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