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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2013 version)

  Transitions Asia: Managing Across Cultures

  Roy Y.J. Chua and Dawn H. Lau

  The director of an interim executive search firm, Chee Lung Tham, faced a clash of culture and management styles when his mainland Chinese client threatened to fire the American interim manager that Tham had assigned. The client, Wong Lung, ran a family-owned garment manufacturing business along with his younger brother, as well as his two overseas-educated children. While Wong needed the American manager's technology expertise, his own brother and his team of middle managers were showing resistance to the new changes. Meanwhile, the American manager found himself caught in the web of family and company politics, and completing his assignment without the cooperation of the middle management was impossible. How should Tham approach the conflict and bring all sides into a productive working relationship?

  Keywords: China; family business; Cross-cultural Management; Management Style; Conflict Management; Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; China;

  Citation:

  Chua, Roy Y.J., and Dawn H. Lau. "Transitions Asia: Managing Across Cultures." Harvard Business School Case 413-099, May 2013. (Revised from original April 2013 version.)

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• Article | Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes | July 2012

  Collaborating Across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition and Affect-Based Trust in Creative Collaboration

  Roy Y.J. Chua, Michael W. Morris and Shira Mor

  We propose that managers' awareness of their own and others' cultural assumptions (cultural metacognition) enables them to develop affect-based trust in their relationships with people from different cultures, enabling creative collaboration. Study 1, a multi-rater assessment of managerial performance, found that managers higher in metacognitive cultural intelligence (CQ) were rated as more effective in intercultural creative collaboration by managers from other cultures. Study 2, a social network survey, found that managers lower in metacognitive CQ engaged in less sharing of new ideas in their intercultural ties but not intracultural ties. Study 3 required participants to work collaboratively with a non-acquaintance from another culture and found that higher metacognitive CQ engendered greater idea sharing and creative performance, so long as they were allowed a personal conversation prior to the task. The effects of metacognitive CQ in enhancing creative collaboration were mediated by affect-based trust in Studies 2 and 3.

  Keywords: Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Relationships; Trust; Social and Collaborative Networks; Creativity;

  Citation:

  Chua, Roy Y.J., Michael W. Morris, and Shira Mor. "Collaborating Across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition and Affect-Based Trust in Creative Collaboration." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 118, no. 2 (July 2012): 116–131.

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• Journal Article | Journal of Organizational Behavior | April 2012

  Finding the Right Mix: How the Composition of Self-managing Multicultural Teams' Cultural Value Orientation Influences Performance Over Time

  Chi-Ying Cheng, Roy Y.J. Chua, Michael W. Morris and Leonard Lee

  This research investigates a new type of team that is becoming prevalent in global work settings, namely, self-managing multicultural teams. We argue that challenges that arise from cultural diversity in teams are exacerbated when teams are leaderless, undermining performance. A longitudinal study of multicultural MBA study teams found that in the early stage of team formation, teams with a low average level of, but moderate degree of variance in, uncertainty avoidance performed best. Four months post formation, however, teams with a high average level of relationship orientation performed better than teams with a low average level of relationship orientation. Furthermore, a moderate degree of variance in relationship orientation among team members produced better team performance than a low or high degree of variance. These findings suggest that different cultural value orientations exert different patterns of effects on the performance of self-managing multicultural teams, depending on the stage of team formation. Implications for the composition of self-managing multicultural teams and its influence on team processes and performance are discussed.

  Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Risk and Uncertainty; Culture; Value;

  Citation:

  Cheng, Chi-Ying, Roy Y.J. Chua, Michael W. Morris, and Leonard Lee. "Finding the Right Mix: How the Composition of Self-managing Multicultural Teams' Cultural Value Orientation Influences Performance Over Time." Journal of Organizational Behavior 33 (April 2012): 389–411.

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