Krishna et al. (2004) Managing Cross-Cultural Issues in Global Software Outsourcing. Communications of the ACM. 47(4), 62-66
Problems faced when outsourcing IT software inlucde having to deal with distinct ways of working & cultural adaption.
How can these cross-cultural difficulties of global software outsourcing relationships be addressed?
1. Strategic choice of projects
- Projects e.g. Software that is embedded in the operating system or middleware does not require cultural understanding
- Learning
2. Managing the relationship
- Common systems & common processes can be used to do this
- Very difficult to harmonize major differences in norms and values, this is evident from the examples given, both of which I found to be very interesting;
The first example was of difficulties between Indian and British programmers. The British were very upfront about crticism in face to face meetings but the Indians would not voice criticism face-to-face and instead send it in an email afterwards, hence frustrating the british!
Also there was an example of Germans and Japanese working together, they both had different views on "after-hours" working but achieved a negotiated culture whereby the Japanese began to work a little less and the Germans a little more in order to meet a balanced in-between,.
3. Staffing issues
- Bridgehead teams (exchanging staff on a long term basis between cross cultural partners)
- Mixed cultural teams in the client country
Hiring people who can effectively bridge cultures; money, company reputation, personality fit all play important roles in this. Some of these components are more important in one country than the other.
4. Training
Its a two way process!
- Pre-posting cultural training
- Programs on language and cultural practices
- Systematic on-the-job cross-cultural training (can be hard to transfer this intrinsic & experiential knowledge)
I really liked this article, especially as we are all taking part in PDT's for our ICT Project Management class. There were some helpful tips that could definitely be applied.
The six practices of Effective Virtual Team Leaders
1. Establish and maintain trust through use of communication technology - establish norms & revisit them repeatedly through virtual-get-togethers (reinvigorate)
2. Ensure diversity in the team is understood, appreciated, and leveraged - expertise directory, expertise matrix on team's virtual workspace, pairs from very different cultural backgrounds working together - greatest source of learning. Synchronous & Asynchronous collaboration rhythm
3. Manage virtual work cycle and meetings - brainstorming through all-team audio conferences, to turn meeting into choreographed events and ensure optimum productivity & creativity this event lifecycle can be used:
- Pre-meeting practices - use threads to post and review each others documents, post only about disagreements, and have a clear agenda
- Start of meeting practice - share personal stories or hobbies
- During meeting practice - using check-in to keep members engaged e.g. votting polls, IM
- End of meeting practice - action lists for future assignments, minutes-on-the-go practice
- Between meeting practice - IM, threads, announcements, automatic notifications
5. Enhance external visibility of the team and its members - Balance score cards, steering committees, "reporting out" to sponsoring managers, "certificate of contribution" clarifies how the individuals contribution to the team would help the managers own division. Recognition and rewards become easier when visibility is enhanced
6. Ensure individuals benefit from participating in virtual teams - virtual reward ceremonies, starting meetings with recognition of specific successes, praising a manager for having a great employee. Team members generally gravitate to those commitments that give them the greatest benefits in terms of intellectual growth, visibility, and fun - leaders appeal to this by having mini-lectures from experts, virtual meetings with executives, internet scavenger hunts, virtual celebrations.
Because of the risk involved, the payoffs from virtual teams need to be substantial. The phrase "Think Global, Act Local" reflects the creative capacity of virtual teams.
The term "Forewarned and Forearmed" is particularly true when it comes to virtual leadership and management.