Global Teams That Work

Tsedal  Neeley

Article | Harvard Business Review | October 2015

Global Teams That Work

Abstract

Many companies today rely on employees around the world, leveraging their diversity and local expertise to gain a competitive edge. However, geographically dispersed teams face a big challenge: physical separation and cultural differences can create social distance, or a lack of emotional connection, that leads to misunderstandings and mistrust. To help global team leaders manage effectively, the author shares her SPLIT framework for mitigating social distance. It has five components: Structure—If a team is made up of groups with different views about their relative power, the leader should connect frequently with those who are farthest away and emphasize unity. Process—Meeting processes should allow for informal interactions that build empathy. Language—Everyone, regardless of language fluency, should be empowered to speak up. Identity—Team members must be active cultural learners and teachers to understand one another's identity and avoid misinterpreting behaviors. Technology—When choosing between videoconferencing, e-mail, and other modes of communication, leaders should ask themselves if real-time conversation is desirable, if their message needs reinforcement, and if they are opting for the technology they want others to use.

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Groups and Teams; Performance; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;

Format: Print

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Citation:

Neeley, Tsedal. "Global Teams That Work." Harvard Business Review 93, no. 10 (October 2015): 74–81.

Article | Organization Science | November–December 2019

Head, Heart or Hands: How Do Employees Respond to a Radical Global Language Change Over Time?

Sebastian Reiche and Tsedal Neeley

To understand how recipients respond to radical change over time across cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions, we conducted a longitudinal study of a mandated language change at a Chilean subsidiary of a large U.S. multinational organization. The engineering-focused subsidiary aiming to facilitate cross-border interactions embedded language acquisition experts to transition all employees from Spanish to English full time. We gathered survey data and objective fluency scores from the language change recipients at five points over a period of two years. Using variable and person-centered exploratory analyses, our results suggest that recipients’ negative affective responses to the language change precede their cognitive responses or self-efficacy, predicting their current language learning. Further, we find that recipients’ cognitive and affective responses over time differentially influence two future behavioral outcomes: intention to leave the organization and willingness to adopt the change. While cognitive rather than affective responses over time drive recipients’ intentions to leave, affective responses influence recipients’ willingness to adopt English. Finally, we show that change recipients followed three trajectories of cognitive responses and two trajectories of affective responses over time. We discuss theoretical and practical implications to the literature on organizational change, emotions, and language in global organizations.

Keywords: language; Communication; Change; Employees; Attitudes; Emotions; Globalized Firms and Management;

Citation:

Reiche, Sebastian, and Tsedal Neeley. "Head, Heart or Hands: How Do Employees Respond to a Radical Global Language Change Over Time?" Organization Science 30, no. 6 (November–December 2019): 1252–1269. View Details

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Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build a check scanner feature inside their management software? AppFolio’s founders had instructed to never build a check scanner; providing technologies to help businesses move into the digital era was a primary company goal. A scanner for paper checks would contradict the hard-won culture of software innovation and project self-selection that AppFolio and Hawkins’ teams lived by. Hawkins also worried that creating a new team to work on the check scanning project would cause workload and morale issues. But the sales team believed that this technology could close deals with larger, more complex property management companies, some with managers who wanted the check scanner feature. Several large-scale deals were on the line. Hawkins quickly assembled an agile market validation team and considered two options: hold fast to the company’s values and refuse to build the check scanner feature or capitulate and build a basic check scanner with minimum functionality. Engineers would likely consider this a “loser” project, yet sales might get a boost that could open a new revenue stream. Hawkins had to make his decision quickly.

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