The Strengths and Weaknesses of Diversity in Global Teams Research Paper

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Diversity in Global Teams - Research Paper Example According to Magnus (2011), â€Å"Global teams are teams where members are globally dispersed, from different cultures, speak different languages and rarely meet face-to-face† (Magnus, 2011, p.35) Even though global teams bring many opportunities to an organization, it may develop lot of challenges also. Some researchers suggest that global teams increase creativity and innovation whereas many other are of the view that it may bring conflicts and poor performances. Global teams help organizations to utilize diverse skill sets in a fruitful manner; at the same time it can increase the conflicts within the team because of the cultural differences among the team members. Magnus (2011) pointed out that parameters such as â€Å"cultural diversity, geographical dispersion, means of communication (whether communication is face-to-face or virtual) and degree of language familiarity† etc can determine the success or failures of global teams (Magnus, 2011, p.36). This paper analy ses the strengths and weaknesses of global teams in business world. Strengths of global teams â€Å"Sociologists have found in their research and their work with organizations that when global teams are managed effectively, they can take advantage of the diverse perspectives offered by their members to create unique performance advantages for the company† (Maznevski & DiStefano, 2000, p.185). ... Microsoft, Apple, Google etc like many of the American companies are currently working in China. Same way plenty of Chinese companies are also functioning in America now. All these companies have global teams to manage their operations successfully at different parts of the world. Diverse knowledge, skillsets and capabilities will help these companies to adapt with the changing conditions. Badrinarayanan et al. (2011), mentioned that â€Å"sales organizations are increasingly adopting global sales teams to perform distributed work, meet customer needs, and achieve sales objectives† (Badrinarayanan et al., 2011, p.311). Since majority of the prominent organizations are currently operating cross culturally or internationally, their customer bases are extremely different. It is difficult for an American sales person to know the exact needs of an Indian or Chinese customer. On the other hand it is easy for an Indian or Chinese to know the requirements of local customers. Thus, Mic rosoft or Apple like American companies should appoint locals in their sales teams in these countries so that customers in these countries will get everything they expected from these American companies. In short, global sales teams can help an organization to customize their business strategies or sales strategies in overseas countries. For example, it is difficult for Benz or other automobile manufacturers to sell cars priced more than $ 100000 in Indian market. On the other hand, it is easy for them to sell cars priced less than $50000 in Indian market. It is easy for a local sales person to know such details and send such feedbacks to his company management. The management of global new product