Managing a Multinational Team: Lessons from Project Globe

Abstract

Managing a large multinational team such as the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) project (ongoing since the early 1990s) presents numerous leadership, communication and organization challenges. This chapter discusses the challenges that occurred in the GLOBE project owing to: (a) the long-term nature of the project, (b) the evolving (growing) size of the GLOBE team, (c) the large membership size of the GLOBE team, (d) the virtual nature of the team's communications, and (e) the cultural differences of the GLOBE participants. Survey responses from 50 researchers regarding their experiences in GLOBE help document our experiences. Because these challenges will be encountered by other multinational teams, we provide recommendations for forming and maintaining successful multinational teams.

Citation

Hanges, P.J., Lyon, J.S. and Dorfman, P.W. (2005), "Managing a Multinational Team: Lessons from Project Globe", Shapiro, D.L., Von Glinow, M.A. and Cheng, J.L.C. (Ed.) Managing Multinational Teams: Global Perspectives (Advances in International Management, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 337-360. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-7929(05)18013-5