Working in International Teams: a Report on Team Building & Management

WORKING IN INTERNATIONAL TEAMS: A REPORT ON TEAM BUILDING & MANAGEMENT

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The Indo-European word ‘duek’ is the origin of the word ‘team’ which means to pull together. In general, a team can be described as a group of individuals with a common purpose and collective responsibility. After the Sixteenth century, the word ‘team’ took a new meaning, which Browaeys & Price (2008, p.286) defined as a group of individuals thinking together. This current concept involves individuals working from both inside and outside their organizational environment to fulfill their purpose and goals (Senge et al, 1995). In addition, Brooks (2003, p.84) suggested that a team is a combination of individuals who are committed to achieving common goals with mutual accountability. This process requires commitment and supplement effort from each individual in that team to be able to attain these goals.

Understanding teams is substantial when it involves international teams. Browaeys & Price (2008, p.290) asserted that an international team consists of a number of people from different countries and cultures who act collectively, with the consideration of time, context, technology and matching skills adequate enough, to achieve specific and common goals in a working environment. Furthermore, Robbins, Judge & Campbell (2010) implied that collective performance and positive synergy should be the cornerstone of an effective international team. This aim of this report is to analyse the management of international teams and recommend ways to make them more effective. Ahmad Kabir (1231076)

1.2 Groups and Teams

In a working environment, there is dissimilarity between groups and teams. Humphries (1998) states that in groups, people do work together but their objectives are not well defined and goals may be unclear, trust is questionable and sometimes leadership is not so apparent. He also mentioned that clear objectives, common goals, shared trust can be apparent in a...