The Drivers of Engagement in Multicultural Teams

Multicultural and diversified teams in management and production offer great potential in international collaboration. However, maintaining team cohesiveness and gaining commitment to collaborate effectively is important for a successful outcome. Towards this goal, organizational support and the ability of team members to address the challenges that arise from their differing nationalities and professional backgrounds are found to be detrimental. When team members bring different cultural and professional experiences into the operation it take more effort to establish good working relations, as unfamiliarity may influence how the team operates. The success depends greatly on the country, department, and—not least—in what company teamwork is carried out. This study aims to enhance knowledge about how managers choose to commit to teamwork and how they engage their competences in team collaboration. It is based on one year of interviews and observation in four multinational corporations. The study was established in cooperation with specific American, Chinese, Danish and Japanese companies in the high technology industry. It is found that organizational culture, utilization of team capacity and a view to successful task completion underscore the sense of member’s commitment and engagement in high performing teams.