Global Teams

Best practices for promoting collaboration and cooperation within global teams

Carley Briggs, Kirby Johnson, Changsig Eddie Moon

Nick Outhenthapanya, Celiannie M. Rivera & Julie Tollifson
November 20th 2015

Table of Contents
Executive Summary..
Report Body...
Introduction.4
Open Management System.4
Hybrid Management System...
Matrix Structure..

Diversity Management System....

Recommendation...
Conclusion..
References..
Appendices..

Executive Summary
This report on global teams encompasses different strategies that other companies have
adopted in order to strengthen their global teamwork. It examines global strategies thoroughly,
based on articles that have acknowledged each companys techniques.
In the report body, Samsungs open management system is analyzed. The open
management system discourages discrimination and encourages continuous improvement within
the company. Samsung has also adopted a hybrid structure by mixing their first adopted Japanese
management skills with American based techniques. In the appendices, there are charts/graphs
that highlight these techniques.
The next company emphasizes a global matrix structure, which assists in having such a
global presence. Coca-Cola is a leading company in its industry. The company has expanded
internationally and thoroughly analyzed every regions demographics in order to have a strong
influence among consumers. By having a regional structure, Coca-Cola is able to manage from
the home front, while also allocating global leaders to take on each region. By doing so,
collaboration is maximized to its full potential and Coca-Cola is able to stand its ground in the
world market.
Organizational studies have shown that collaboration is essential when working on a
global team-based scale. There is a model that highlights 4 initial steps that organizations can
follow to enhance collaboration and teamwork: (1) Negotiate a shared goal (2) Create joint
attention between team members (3) Bring team members attention to the shared goal at the
beginning stages of the project, and (4) Evaluate the project as a team.
The final company that we investigated utilizes a management system that pays attention
to diversity among its global business. LG Electronics focuses on just one set of HR guidance
across their multiple subsidiaries and divisions located around the world. LG encourages a
horizontal network among its diverse background of employees and in result, ultimately helps
the company work as a flexible, consistent team.

After identifying important aspects of each global company we found a theme that they
had in common. Close communication and openness are essential when working in a global team
environment. Implementing a hybrid structure is also ideal so that effectiveness can be ensured.
Overall, the different strategies of various companies pave the way for other global
organizations to work effectively. By thoroughly conducting research about the external
environment and figuring out what works and what doesnt, any company that aspires to be a
global organization will see that global teamwork is a necessity. Strong global teamwork will
ensure that the company is cooperating at its fullest potential and this paper analyzes in detail
different strategies and tactics that successful global companies use to enhance the richness of
their global teams.
The globalization of the workplace has become a fact of life for a substantial
segment of U.S. companies, bringing a dramatic expansion to workforce management
and a whole host of new organizational challenges. Difficulties among globally
distributed groups of people who work virtually to implement a shared task run into
numerous problems. This paper investigates common issues which plague worldwide
groups and discusses concepts that can be used to develop more effective, distributed
teamwork among global teams.
One of the strategies found in recent research is that an open management
system has been implemented. In an article about Samsung, they have adopted this
strategy. Samsung previously used Japanese style management until 1980, then
adopted an American style management that included an individual based skill set
technique(Jung). They have implemented this by increasing their pool of employees.
This way they dont discriminate against any type of potential employee. When they
incorporated this strategy, their goal was to create equal opportunity and put skills first
and create core talent employees. Based on this people-first approach Samsung has
implemented expatriates into their global branches.

Another style that Samsung has adopted in the recent years is a hybrid
structure,because Samsung just recently adopted the American style management into
their existing Japanese style management(Jung). Thus creating a hybrid style,
integrating the Japanese style with the American style. In doing this, they have to focus
on continuous improvement and applied research and development but also innovation,
marketing and design according to the article. They also focus on the interweaving of
the internal workforce with outsiders attracted through market based compensation. The
hybrid structure also includes a coexistence of seniority based and merit based
promotion and compensation(Jung). Some standardized, some individualized
incentives. Samsung has dominated the global market by using both open management
and hybrid structure in their global teams.
Another leading company in global collaboration and communication is CocaCola. The company has implemented a matrix structure that has resulted in great global
success. Coca-Cola is highly competitive and is continuously looking for ways to keep
its competitive edge against emerging markets. This means maintaining advanced
levels of collaboration among global business units. This globally active, international
company makes 80 percent of its sales outside the United States. Coca-Cola has
gained an accurate understanding in undertaking new markets such as Egypt and
Pakistan. This is extraordinary for Coca-Cola, due to the political rigidity creating a
business territory avoided by most companies. That is until Coca-Colas strategy has
proven successful among it. In an interview with the president of the Coca-Cola
Companys Eurasia and Africa Group, Ahmet C. Bozer discusses what makes their
structure successful, as well as their strategies used to combat the challenges of global

communication and collaboration. While Atlanta, Georgia maintains global responsibility

for sales, finance, and marketing, they put the power in the hands of strong regional
managers such as Bozer. The executives manage the effectiveness of the company by
relying on the effectiveness of relationships with their local bottlers. This means having
a geographic structure. Bozer claims their organization is primarily based on a
geographic structure. They have five operational groups; North America, Europe,
Pacific, Eurasia and Africa, presidents of these regions report to headquarters in
Atlanta.
Additionally, the juice business requires a different organizational structure than
the sparkling beverage business. In the juice business, there are significantly more
opportunities to innovate more quickly. This provides the company the opportunity to
acquire a matrix structure by using Atlantas functional structure in combination with a
geographic structure. One of the functional groups oversees juices worldwide, they are
able to do this through the geographic organizations.
Grievances between the field and headquarters are some additional challenges
that international companies face more heavily than domestic companies. Coca-Cola
has been working tirelessly for years on trying to alleviate the weight of this issue. They
encourage collaborative processes because it leads to better decision-making. The
company has learned to value maturity. This means that instead of focusing their energy
on power among territories, they have acquired the culture to focus on what is best for
the company, putting personal preferences aside. They seek out leaders who are able
to function and collaborate globally as a team.

Managing 90 markets with substantial cultural and political variations is no simple

task. Bozer maintains six different business units including South Africa, Kenya, Turkey,
Russia, India, and Dubai. In Istanbul, he manages one functional team with finance,
marketing and strategy capabilities. The functional team collaborates to come up with
strategic tactics for each market. Those ideas are passed onto the business units. The
business units are expected to ratify and add value to meet the needs of their individual
markets. Making the products or plans relevant to the consumer. Its important to
maintain a clear vision throughout all the regions by communicating and staying
connected with headquarters through functional teams. Coca-Cola has integrated a
global matrix structure that encourages a mixture between geographic and functional
strategies to create a successful international company.
Along with Coca-Cola, LG Electronics Incorporated is extremely successful
global organization with more than 100 subsidiaries and R&D centers in place around
the world. LG has an effective collaboration process within the organization. They
control and manage overseas employees under the same HR system to create culture
that inspires strong teamwork among employees with diverse minds and personal
values. This is diversity management, which makes every effort to create a working
environment from diverse backgrounds. Also a Global Labor Policy is one way to
effectively motivate and maintain employee satisfaction around the world. It aims to
ensure that all employees are communicating well as a team, regardless of nationality,
gender, race and education level. Which gives them a position that best suits their
individual competence and capacity. LG electronics also holds regular HR meetings with
global subsidiaries in order to implement the standardized HR system across their

global environment. According to LGs sustainability report, the Corporate HR makes all
its resources available to HR managers from the region representative or subsidiary that
requires a consultation to build close working relationships between headquarters and
subsidiaries for the initiative (LG, 2013). LGs current global HR system provides both
flexibility and consistency within the system. Acknowledging group diversity within each
region has proven success of LGs diversity management strategy.
Recent results in organization studies have shown that distributed work teams
are assigned some of the most important tasks in innovative knowledge intensive
organizations (Maznevski and Chuboda, 2000). To collaborate for the shared task, team
members must tend to a dual-problem space in a virtual working environment. This
means that a team has to manage a content space (consisting of the problem to be
solved) and a relational space (consisting of the social interaction challenges and
opportunities), which are interdependent (Barron, 2003). How team members manage
these are directly related to the result of their collaborative work. With a lack of common
orientation and reference points, teams may find themselves encountering numerous
problems such as social loafing, an imbalance in negotiation processes, or a lack of
awareness of team members working processes.
To manage these contextual spaces, it is essential that the team members strive
toward the awareness of collaboration. Rather than simply acknowledging that
collaboration is necessary and being aware of it, the concept of awareness of
collaboration should be shared explicitly. Teams should monitor and evaluate their own
process, also tracking and evaluating others processes of those they collaborate with.

Think to yourself: How are my partners thinking? Do I agree with their reasoning?
Where do they base their opinions?
A working model has been created for supporting and sharing perspectives and
increasing the awareness of collaboration among distributed team members. The
theoretically grounded principles and studies of networked collaboration provided
guidelines for the model (Leinonen, P., Jrvel, S., & Hkkinen, P. 2005). The model
(see Figure) includes four phases: 1. Negotiation of the aim of the project, 2. Working
on the shared task, 3. Summarizing the project, and 4. Evaluation of the project.
1.

Negotiation of the Aim of the Project

a. For successful teamwork, team members need to negotiate a shared

goal and understand the conditions for collaboration. Not only do they have to
develop shared goals, but also become mutually aware of them. Shared goals
form the basis for joint work, and negotiation of shared goals is part of the
interactive process grounding (Brennan, 1998).
2.

Working on the Shared Task

a. The task should be seen as a way to support knowledge construction

as the shared creation and property of the group. Distributed teamwork is often
seen as workers being interdependent of one another. A crucial point in
successful collaboration is joint attention. A lack of joint attention could disrupt the
benefits of collaboration such as shared perspectives and joint monitoring.
3.

Summarizing the Project

a. Often times virtual teams deal with low participation rates and

superficial knowledge. (Jrvel and Hkkinen, 2002; Bruckman, 2004). In order

to avoid a division of labor within teams, this phase focuses on encouraging team
members to emphasize the joint summarizing of the early phases of the project.
When participants realize they have a concrete joint product to finish, the
assumption is that they better reach a genuine commitment to their joint goal
(Higgins, 2000).
4.

Evaluation of the Project

a. Ideas, discussions, group reflection can all be examined and evaluated

in a public forum for joint innovation. The awareness of the process and of
collaboration is enhanced in this manner because the knowledge becomes
explicit for the members of the team. This phase of the model is collective and
the reflection aims to become aware of their collaborative activity.

An anonymous global paper industry used this working model as a method of

examining their own global virtual team practices (Leinonen, P., Jrvel, S., & Hkkinen,
P. 2005). During the three months of the virtual work period that was analyzed, the data
revealed three awareness aspects of collaboration: awareness of the possibility for
collaboration, awareness of the aims of collaboration, and awareness of the process of
collaboration. All three aspects were found and reported in at least 50% of all team
members feedback, a vast increase from the initial study of the same organization
(Leinonen, P., Jrvel, S., & Hkkinen, P. 2005).
Unfortunately, the implementation of a working model to improve horizontal
efficiency is not enough. In addition to workflow, or coordination of activities, social
aspects, such as participating individuals needs and personal competences should also
be considered. The results presented give guidelines for discussing what the awareness

of collaboration means in context, but ultimately fails to give you a be-all end-all for
solving problems with global virtual teams.
After researching about global teamwork, we believe Micron can be successful in
global communication and collaboration in a plethora of ways. First, we suggest
adopting a hybrid organizational structure similar to that of Coca-Colas but still
accommodates the needs of Micron. By implementing the four phased model, Micron
can successfully improve its level of global communication through transparency and
openness among regions throughout the world. We provided very successful
companies in our examples to portray how these tactics have improved the level of
employee communication and collaboration. By implementing teams overseen by
trusted leaders, Micron will see significant improvements in not only the communication
but as well in employee satisfaction, productivity, and efficiency.
In conclusion, global organizations encounter numerous challenges that create
significant problems among global teams. By utilizing techniques/strategies
incorporated by companies such as Samsung, Coca-Cola, and LG, we see that
combining important aspects of these different companies can drastically improve
communication and collaboration among the global workforce.

References

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Appendices
-LG

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-Samsung

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