Lena Zander, Christina L. Butler, Audra I. Mockaitis, Kendall Herbert, Jakob Lauring, Kristiina Mäkelä, Minna Paunova, Timurs Umans and Peter Zettinig
We propose team-based organizing as an alternative to more traditional forms of hierarchy-based organizing in global firms.
Abstract
Purpose
We propose team-based organizing as an alternative to more traditional forms of hierarchy-based organizing in global firms.
Methodology/approach
Advancements in the study of global teams, leadership, process, and outcomes were organized into four themes: (1) openness toward linguistic and value diversity as enhancing team creativity and performance, (2) knowledge sharing in team-based organizations, (3) the significance of social capital for global team leader role success, and (4) shared leadership, satisfaction, and performance links in global virtual teams.
Findings
We identify questions at three levels for bringing research on team-based organizing in global organizations forward. At the within-team individual level, we discuss the criticality of process and leadership in teams. At the between-teams group level, we draw attention to that global teams also need to focus on relationships and interactions with other teams within the same global firm, for example, when sharing knowledge. With respect to the across-teams organizational level, we highlight how bringing people together in global teams from different organizational units and cultures creates the potential for experiential individual and team-based learning, while making the firm more flexible and adaptable.
Theoretical implications
The potential of the relatively underexplored idea of global team-based firms as an alternative to hierarchy open up questions for empirical research, and further theorizing about the global firm.
Practical implications
Practitioners can learn about organizational, team, and individual challenges and benefits of global team-based organizing.
Originality/value
A century-old dominant organizational form is challenged when moving away from hierarchy- and hybrid-based forms of organizing toward team-based global organizing of work.
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Lena Zander, Olivia Kang, Audra I. Mockaitis and Peter Zettinig
Rian Drogendijk and Lena Zander
What we know is that the concept of cultural distance is frequently used, hotly debated and for many intuitively appealing. Suffering from a series of illusionary properties, it…
Abstract
What we know is that the concept of cultural distance is frequently used, hotly debated and for many intuitively appealing. Suffering from a series of illusionary properties, it is argued to have outlived its usefulness. What we need to know is how to conceptualize the complexity of culture as a multi-dimensional, multi-level concept, taking context into account to measure quality rather than quantity (or distance). It is our ambition to do justice to the idea that cultural diversity not only leads to friction or problem creation, but also to enrichment and to generation of solutions. We discuss cultural conceptualizations and suggest cultural profiling and cultural positioning as alternative ways of comparing and contrasting critical cultural differences.
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
A huge and complex responsibility faces those individuals who become leaders of global organizations. Not surprising then that there are concerns about a lack of talent coming through the ranks to manage companies which are becoming increasingly global in nature.
Practical implications
The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.
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Kate Daellenbach, Lena Zander and Peter Thirkell
– The purpose of this paper is to better understand the sensemaking strategies of managers involved in making decisions concerning arts sponsorship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the sensemaking strategies of managers involved in making decisions concerning arts sponsorship.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative, multiple case method is employed, using multiple informants in ten arts sponsorship decisions. Within and between case analyses were conducted and examined iteratively, along with literature to generate themes to guide future research.
Findings
This study finds art sponsorships may be seen as ambiguous, cueing sensemaking; the sensemaking strategies of senior managers involve response to pro-social cues while middle managers draw on commercial benefit cues; sensebreaking and sensegiving are part of the process; and the actors and their interpretations draw from cues in the organisational frames of reference which act as filters, giving meaning to the situations.
Research limitations/implications
This study presents a novel perspective on these decisions, focusing on the micro-level actions and interpretations of actors. It extends current understanding of sponsorship decision making, contributing to a perspective of managers responding to cues, interacting and making sense of their decisions.
Practical implications
For arts managers, this perspective provides understanding of how managers (potential sponsors) respond to multiple cues, interpret and rationalise arts sponsorships. For corporate managers, insights reveal differences in sensemaking between hierarchical levels, and the role of interaction, and organisational frames of reference.
Originality/value
This study is unique in its approach to understanding these decisions in terms of sensemaking, through the use of multiple informants and multiple case studies.
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Mark E. Mendenhall and B. Sebastian Reiche
This paper explores an under-researched area in the field of global mobility, namely, the leadership behavior of expatriates. We bring attention to this largely overlooked area of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores an under-researched area in the field of global mobility, namely, the leadership behavior of expatriates. We bring attention to this largely overlooked area of research in global mobility and offer recommendations for future research in relation to this topic.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, we first map the degree to which expatriates as leaders have been studied in the field by conducting a search of the global mobility literature from 1965 to 2023. Next, we explore the potential efficacy of applying existing leadership theories to the study of expatriates as leaders, reflecting on the potential gains such an undertaking holds for both global mobility and leadership research.
Findings
Based on our reflections, we conclude that the global mobility domain provides a new, rich context in which traditional leadership theories could be studied, resulting in a richer understanding of boundary conditions associated with traditional leadership theories. We also consider the potential value-added contributions to the global mobility field if its scholars were to draw from existing theory from one of the sub-fields of leadership: global leadership. To do so, we chart the evolution of the global leadership field and discuss one of its models that holds particular value, in our estimation, for future global mobility research.
Originality/value
To date, the lack of focus on expatriates as leaders has not been discussed or widely considered in the literature. This paper is a first attempt to bring to light this gap in the literature and to consider the rich possibilities future research exploring this topic holds for the field and for the practice of expatriate training and development.