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Aarhus University
Business and Social Sciences
WORKING IN A MULTICULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAM: A KEY TO SUCCESS OR A
FAILURE
Julija Kadocnikova
MSc International Business
Supervisor: Anders Klitmøller
May, 2012
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ABSTRACT
Purpose:
The purpose of this research is to describe and explore the interconnection between the cultural
and linguistic diversity and communication pattern in a given company. Additionally, it aims to
find an answer to whether virtual team organization is an effective in a contemporary
organizational structure.
Design/methodology:
The study is conducted on a qualitative basis using semi-structured interviews with 9
representatives of a single MNC in 4 countries – Finland, Denmark, Germany and Spain.
Interviews were conducted both face-to-face and over the phone. This paper employs the
explanatory research with elements of exploratory research and investigates the objectives of the
research according to the scientific paradigm of social constructivism.
Findings:
The results indicate that there is definitely a connection between the cultural and linguistic
diversity and communication pattern in the company. The results also point to the growing
importance of the language barrier, which has not yet been acknowledged appropriately. In the
future, language will become an equally significant dimension of the GVT effectiveness as
culture.
Practical implications:
Findings provide the guidance for the company‟s management to get an understanding of how,
with the variance use of culture and language, it is possible to turn the virtual team work into a
success and fulfill its potential.
Key words: multinational corporation, information communication technologies, global virtual
teams, language use, cultural diversity, intercultural communication, choice of media.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................6
1.1. Research background ........................................................................................................6
1.2. Research question .............................................................................................................8
1.3. Delimitations ....................................................................................................................9
1.4. Outline and structure .........................................................................................................9
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 11
2.1. Conceptualization ........................................................................................................... 11
2.2. Dimensions of a virtual team........................................................................................... 12
2.3. Advantages of a virtual team organization ....................................................................... 15
2.4. Disadvantages of a virtual team organization .................................................................. 16
2.5. Managing technology in virtual teams ............................................................................. 17
2.6.Communication across language and culture .................................................................... 21
2.6.1. Cultural barrier ......................................................................................................... 21
2.6.2. Linguistic barrier ...................................................................................................... 25
2.7. Relationship between the choice of media and language/culture ...................................... 27
2.7.1. Face to face communication ..................................................................................... 28
2.7.2. E-mail mediated communication .............................................................................. 29
2.8. Challenges in a GVT ....................................................................................................... 31
2.8.1.Human Challenges encountered in Virtual team work................................................ 31
2.8.2.Technology based challenges: how to guide the appropriate choice of media ............. 34
3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 35
3.1. Methods of reasoning ...................................................................................................... 35
3.2. Nature of knowledge ....................................................................................................... 36
3.3. Data collection techniques .............................................................................................. 36
3.4. Research purpose ............................................................................................................ 37
3.5. Data collection ................................................................................................................ 38
3.6. Interview methodology ................................................................................................... 39
3.7. Participant selection ........................................................................................................ 41
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3.8. Ethical issues in research ................................................................................................ 41
3.9. Source criticism .............................................................................................................. 42
4. EMPIRICAL PART .............................................................................................................. 44
4.1. The company: background information ........................................................................... 44
4.2. Organizational Structure ................................................................................................. 45
4.3. Current position of the company on GVT........................................................................ 47
4.4. General observations ....................................................................................................... 48
4.5. Language issues in a virtual team organization ................................................................ 49
4.5.1. Language proficiency ............................................................................................... 49
4.5.2. Language as a barrier in a communication ................................................................ 51
4.6. Cultural dimensions in a GVT ......................................................................................... 54
4.6.1. Personal culture ........................................................................................................ 54
4.6.2. National culture ........................................................................................................ 55
4.6.3. Corporate culture – global vs. local mindset ............................................................. 57
4.7. Managing technology...................................................................................................... 60
4.7.1. Communication pattern: overview ............................................................................ 60
4.7.2. Face to face interaction ............................................................................................. 61
4.7.3. Phone interaction ...................................................................................................... 62
4.7.4.Email interaction ....................................................................................................... 64
4.8. Challenges ...................................................................................................................... 67
5. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................... 69
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 73
APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 78
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Key issues in implementing GVT……………………………………………………13
Figure 2: Media Richness Theory graphic reflections………………………………………….19
Figure 3: Representation of Three Cultures model……………………………………………..24
Figure 4: The content of a written message: verbal vs. non verbal……………………………..29
Figure 5: A model of intercultural mediated communication…………………………………..30
Figure 6: Aponar‟s structural organization……………………………………………………..46
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
MNC: Multinational Corporation
ICT: Information Communication Technologies
GVT: Global Virtual Teams
VP: Vice President
MRT: Media Richness Theory
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Research background
Over the years, many companies have expanded worldwide and now proudly carry the title,
Multinational Corporation (MNC). But many companies have only recently begun to pay
sufficient attention to the importance of intercultural competence – the ability of their employees
to successfully communicate with others from different cultures. Speed, rather than content of
communication, was addressed as being crucial to effective communication. But with ever
increasing trends of globalization and greater competition (as a consequence of more companies
entering and acquiring in more widely spread markets) attitudes are changing. Many managers
are realizing the growing importance of cross-cultural communication skills in successfully
implementing ideas and expanding businesses.
But what is effective cross-cultural communication? Foremost, it is the understanding and
acceptance of how different cultures reflect upon behavior, ethics, attitudes and values. This
means finding the right balance between accepting and learning from other cultures and
acknowledging one‟s own cultural background. Cultural awareness is therefore crucial in
increasing the ability of an employee to take part in effective cross-cultural communication.
Effective cross-cultural communication takes on greater importance considering the majority of
employees in multinational corporations work in virtual teams. A report by the Gartner Group
revealed that more than 60 per cent of employees work in global virtual teams (GVT).
Establishing effective cross cultural communication has taken urgency especially as 50 per cent
of virtual teams fail in implementing and achieving their strategic objectives due to their inability
to cope with and manage diversified workplace conditions (Biggs, 2000, in Zakaria,
Amelinckx&Wilemon, 2004). With most companies going global in order to benefit from scope
and scale, effective cross cultural communication is crucial in meeting customers‟ expectations
of better service, higher quality of products, and the company being available in a 24/7 manner.
In line with such goals, multinational companies have embraced a virtual team organization, with
information communication technologies (ICT) allowing greater flexibility and online interaction
between customers and stakeholders. However, due to deliberate and collateral heterogeneity,
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which is a prerequisite of global virtual teams, diversity and distance can be seen as both an
advantage and disadvantage. Global virtual teams allow companies to recruit expertise that might
not be available locally, an advantage that can also be seen as a barrier for an overall global team
performance. The body of literature on virtual global teams has concluded that working in a
virtual team contains all the usual challenges of teamwork with the added complexity of
geographical and temporal separation between team members. The challenges include trust,
leadership, communication, team building and coordination, team performance, and knowledge
management. Considering the growing number of virtual teams used as an organizational
structure element, the latest globalization trends across the world, and increasing geographical
dispersion, managing a global virtual team is critical for a multinational company.
How does multiculturalism affect virtual teams? Multiculturalism usually presents the most
difficult challenges for virtual teams, including potential to hinder effective integration within
teams. But they also offer the greatest opportunities for value through the creation of synergies
by managing differences. Team members from different cultures come to a group setting with
very different predefined notions about how the group should work. Some researchers have
added cultural differences among the key challenges facing a virtual team. Evaristo, for example,
suggested that trust is related to cultural differences among team members. Zakaria,
Amelinckx&Wilemon analyzed how Hall‟s contextual theory and Hofstede‟s four cultural
dimensions affect teamwork. However, these theories are subject to generalization and do not
show how exactly the variance in cultures and the use of language affect the ICT
communication.
The notion that cultural differences can be a significant barrier to doing business is now
commonly accepted. However, this acceptance might have blinded researchers to a more basic
country characteristic with the same impact: language. Very little research has investigated the
impact of language diversity on management (Harzing&Feely2007). We have yet to discover
what the interconnection between the use of language and the ICT is. This lack of systematic
research is unfortunate as early research efforts in the field clearly show that language is a very
important issue in MNC management. Overall, the contributions of these pioneers in this field
can in no way claim to represent a cohesive or comprehensive body of research. As a result we
still know relatively little about the impact of language on international management and even
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less about the specific impact of language on HQ-subsidiary relationships (Harzing&Feely,
2007)
The aim of this study is, therefore, to empirically explore the choice and the differences in the
usage of ICT in a GVT and the mediatory effect of those barriers (culture and language) on the
communication in GVT. Therefore, the paper will start with a literature review giving a
foundation to further research and establishing the common grounds. The literature review will
focus on establishing the link between ICT communication and cultural/language diversity by
firstly exploring the terms separately as such and an impact of those on the team performance.
1.2. Research question
Formulating the research question, in many cases, is one of the most difficult steps. The natural
process would be to firstly pinpoint an area of interest in a broad subject, then narrow the interest
down to a specific topic, observe that topic from different points of view, and finally define the
nature of the project and identify the problem (Booth, 1995).
The first step, in case of this particular research, was identifying a company, which would invite
further research. Due to the organizational change, the company was switching the way it
worked from a simple line organization to a more structured matrix organization with a project
based working group. Therefore, the area of most interest which emerged was how to cope with
and how to organize communication in a GVT within the company.
After narrowing down the problem, I have come to the following research question:
HOW DOES THE VARIANCE IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE AFFECT ICT
COMMUNICATION AND PERFORMANCE IN A MULTICULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAM?
Why is this research question important and to whom? I strongly believe that the global and
diverse workforce is the future of organizational development. A multicultural virtual team is
crucial for companies thinking globally and seeking the great potential that arises with cultural
synergy to create a sustainable and innovative company. It is therefore of great interest to the
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company to learn of the interconnection between cultural diversity and technology variance in
order to better utilize the potential of GVT.
1.3. Delimitations
With the scope of this research being so wide-encompassing, I feel it is necessary to establish
some limitations.
First of all, the present research is considering only the internal communication possibilities.
How culture and language affect communication with the external world, including the
stakeholders and clients is not the scope of this research.
This research paper examined the communication in four GVT, each in a different country, in
only one company. While these specific countries, where chosen as a particular representatives
of the phenomena, the findings are limited within a single MNC. Therefore, the findings of
particular research may not be transferrable to other MNCs. It may not be representative of other
MNCs, especially in other industries, countries, and cultural compositions.
This research paper is focusing on challenges that arise from workplace in a virtual multinational
team due to team members‟ geographic dispersion and cultural heterogeneity. Organizational
change has been explored in the paper only as a side effect and is not the object of the research
itself.
In the research, I will be comparing only two main forms of communication, telephone and
email, with face-to-face communication. This is because it is important to acknowledge when a
certain medium is appropriate. Face-to-face is the opposite of complete virtual state (email) or
medium state (telephone). The aim of the author was not to compare all the different types of
technologies but to compare and outline the main advantages and disadvantages of telephone and
email as the most widely used.
1.4. Outline and structure
The present thesis consists of five parts.
Part One aims to give a general introduction to the thesis such as background information,
reasons for choosing the research question and limitations of the study.
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Part Two focuses on providing the theoretical framework for understanding the interconnection
between media choices and team heterogeneity. For this, the understanding of basic concepts
will be established – virtual teams, culture and its dimensions, language, theories that support
media choice. Later on, I will proceed with analyzing which dimensions of culture and language
may have a potential effect on the communication team. Finally, the paper will discuss how
culture and language combined together affect the choice of the communication technology.
Part Three describes the methodology behind the research. It explains the scientific and
theoretical research methods used in the study to ensure the quality of the final results. It
discusses the choice of the particular research method, reliability and limitations of the data
material.
Part Four strives to give an insight into the work and challenges of the company on the way
towards working virtually. First, the overall introduction to the company is given. After that, I
will establish the cultural and language factors, which are the main scope of the research, with
practical examples within the company. Afterwards, I will relate those factors with the choice of
media and their impact on the overall communication in a GVT.
Finally, Part Five draws the conclusions from this research. It focuses on practical implications
for the development of company work processes as well as theoretical implications for future
research.
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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Conceptualization
Multicultural virtual teams
There are many terms like „global teams‟, „multicultural teams‟, „virtual teams‟, „virtual
intercultural teams‟ and „transnational teams‟ that are usually used to express the same
phenomena. I will hereby use the substitutable terms of global virtual team, global team and
virtual team in expressing the idea used by Zakaria, Amelinckx&Wilemon – „a global virtual
team‟ since it covers all the aspects of the object of this research: its multiculturalism and its
distributed nature.
Three main characteristics for virtual teams:
1) The team is interdependent in task management, have shared responsibility for the team‟s
mission and results across organizational boundaries.
2) Geographical dispersion of the team members.
3) Use of technology-mediated communication rather than face-to-face communication.
Here, team members are not only divided by location and technology, but also have a different
national and cultural background. Zakaria, Amelinckx&Wilemon (2004), underlines that,
“global virtual teams are not only separated by time and space, but differ in national, cultural
and linguistic attributes, and use information and communication technologies as their primary
means of communication and work structure.”(p.17).
Culture
The core of a culture presents shared assumptions, beliefs and values that the people of a
geographical area develop over generations. Those assumptions, beliefs and values serve to
establish and reinforce the norms that people (society) adopt when judging what is appropriate
behavior in a particular situation. In this way, culture shapes people‟s actions and opinions.
(Sinha &Kumar, 2004). It varies from individual to individual within a society, but it shares
important characteristics with all the members of a society. Culture is acquired knowledge that
people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. That is why people coming from
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different cultural backgrounds have different world perceptions and mindsets. It is essential to
see in which way we differ and how our cultural perceptions are actually different.
Language
Language is closely intertwined with culture. Without an understanding of culture and the
context, language as a verbal expression of meaning might get lost regardless of language
proficiency level. An individual‟s ability to understand and perceive the information is linked to
use of language. This refers not only to language proficiency as such but also to the style of the
communication and perception of the social information. With English as the language of
international business, it might be challenging for non-native English speakers to fully operate
with their colleagues, for whom English is also a second language. With work organized cross
regionally, there is no wonder that there are differences in the language skills between different
units within the company. Such differences can have a negative impact on the overall feeling
within a working team – trust, communication between the team members, and the national
boundaries.
2.2. Dimensions of a virtual team
Various authors suggest that the two greatest barriers to effective team communication are
technology and cultural differences (Dube&Pare, 2001; Zakaria, Amelinckx and Wilemon,
2004). This is understandable because of the main attributes of virtual teams – reliance on
information communication technologies which is the „virtuality‟ element, global dispersion,
which is the „multiculturality‟ element and cultural diversity, which is a heterogeneity element.
The main issues related to the execution of virtual teams are reflected in Figure 1.
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Figure 1: Key issues in implementing GVT (Adapted from: Zakaria, Amelinckx, & Wilemon,
2004)
Heterogeneity represents the diversity of people in the team. It can stem from various sources,
for example, it can be demographic like nationality, cultural background, age or gender.
Heterogeneity can also be functional expertise, which appears within organizational boundaries
like the history of interaction between the headquarters and subsidiary, the importance of the
subsidiary within the MNC, and a different organizational culture in the subsidiary locations.
(Maloney&Zellmer-Bruhn, 2006).
The current body of literature does not identify the multiple dimensions of heterogeneity.
However, the distinction has to be made in order to see how to benefit most of the heterogeneous
team (Maloney&Zellmer-Bruhn, 2006). Existing research mainly focuses on the negatives of
heterogeneity, with little attention on how to change it to positive global team dynamics
(Maloney&Zellmer-Bruhn, 2006).
Maloney&Zellmer-Bruhn introduced the concept of deliberate and collateral heterogeneity.
Deliberate heterogeneity is the result of the staffing decision about what knowledge is necessary
to fulfill the team‟s tasks. Collateral heterogeneity is not specifically task-related but it occurs
when heterogeneity is created by other, rather than staffing decision on the necessity of
knowledge.
It is important to identify both types of heterogeneity because it leads to the successful
management of the heterogeneity within the team – avoiding the problems caused by collateral
People:
- Culture
- Language
- IT skills
IT:
- Appropriate use of ICT
- IT skills
Global Virtual Teams
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heterogeneity but still benefiting from deliberate heterogeneity (Maloney&Zellmer-Bruhn,
2006).
Geographical dispersion
Much like heterogeneity, geographic dispersion can be collateral or deliberate. Like
heterogeneity, both aspects have to be managed in order to see the disadvantages and convert
them into strengths.
Both heterogeneity and distance can be seen as advantage and disadvantage because it allows a
company to get the expertise that might not be available locally. But it can also be seen as a
barrier for an overall global team performance. Here is where the company, team leader or HR
department can benefit and find the key to the successful functioning of a virtual multinational
team.
The solution is the implementation and introduction of the global mindset that stands to extract
value from the heterogeneity and can therefore increase team effectiveness and performance.
Virtuality
Multinational virtual teams have a great sense of success and efficiency and can bring added
value to the teamwork. However, as the body of research shows, that the global teams not always
create the expected value (DiStefano&Maznevski, 2000). Language and cultural barriers,
different cultural dimensions (including corporate and occupational culture) time zone
difference, difference in technology use and perception can all cause great challenges to the
successful functioning of those teams. Therefore, two main challenges stem from the literature
review – how to successfully manage technology use and language and cultural barriers. This is
the subject of discussion in the chapters below.
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2.3. Advantages of a virtual team organization
Among the potential advantages of the virtual team are:
overcoming the limitations of time, location and organizational affiliation by reducing
relocation, time and travel costs as teams bridge the gap in the location as compared to
traditional teams.
availability to be always on market, have an operative response and cover all the different
time zones, the so-called “Follow the Sun approach” that leads to greater organizational
flexibility.
boosting the creativity, synergy and cohesiveness among the team members in order to
create added value (Lurey & Raisinghani, 2001; Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
The virtual global team brings cultural diversity to the workplace. There will never be
two same answers because people coming from different backgrounds (cultural,
educational, and social) will present different solutions to problems. As diversity in itself
means the variety of a given term, the group diversity will mean diversity in opinions,
ideas and thoughts (Gupta, 2008).
using the group cultural synergy in creating new innovative solutions (Lurey &
Raisinghani, 2001; Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004). As discussed previously,
cultural differences affect the problem solving skills of a group and bring more and
multiple solutions. (Gupta, 2008).
providing competitive advantage in globalized market conditions using cultural diversity
(Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004; Maloney & Zellmer-Bruhn, 2006; Ruigrok &
Wagner, 2001; Gibson&Cohen, 2003). A virtual team brings more solutions, different
perspectives and ideas to a workplace, as well as different languages and cultural scope,
not only in a sense of new problem solving but also as a great tool to create local
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responsiveness. Who would better know their particular market needs than a
representative of a particular culture?
2.4. Disadvantages of a virtual team organization
Even though the virtual team setting can benefit the company with the advantages mentioned
above, they can also bring major challenges. Choice of communication technology has certain
limitations that can lead to a decrease in overall team performance. Dube and Pare suggest that
global virtual teams present many more challenges then localized virtual teams.
First of all, all of the media of communication cannot provide the same level of richness as face-
to-face contact. The delays in transmission and lack of social and nonverbal cues disable a
team‟s ability to identify and dissolve misunderstandings (Gibson&Cohen, 2003). Computer
mediated communication makes it more difficult to understand and avoid misunderstandings due
to the lack of primary indicators – such as voice, intonation and other nonverbal cues, which
show the moment of misunderstanding (Gibson&Cohen, 2003). Conflicts can have detrimental
effects on results, team performance and effectiveness, and overall satisfaction of the work
process (Rhoads, 2010). Virtual teams become even more vulnerable in the moment of such
conflict. Due to the lack of social cues the level of conflicts and arguments among the team
members is augmented and becomes more difficult to dispel. This may ultimately lead to project
delays if it is not solved in a timely manner (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004; Rhodes,
2010).
Face-to-face meetings provide the information, the social context and social cues. This
information, so-called social information, creates trust and shared understanding – enabling
virtual team effectiveness (Gibson&Cohen, 2003). The team‟s effectiveness will suffer from
choosing other less rich media for communication. People feel more comfortable in expressing
their opinion, stimulating the opinion and knowledge exchange. Therefore, it is less likely and
indeed less inspiring or creative to have an idea exchange via e-mail (impossible to put the whole
idea in writing) or phone (cannot see the reaction towards the idea) (Gibson&Cohen, 2003).
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Secondly, there is less knowledge sharing. Not all the information is transferable since there is a
lot of information, especially in innovative companies, which rely heavily on this virtual work to
develop new products. (Rhoads, 2010). This type of information is knowledge-based messages
or so-called tacit knowledge and it involves more than just linguistic symbols (Rhoads, 2010).
Tacit knowledge, due to its nature, cannot be transmitted via written message. It requires
intuition, subjective insight and is often accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty (Rhoads,
2010). This situation creates a paradox in a way – as the single purpose of the virtual team is
actually to create an added, additional value – the knowledge sharing is being, temporarily,
blocked. People are able to share less complex, less tacit knowledge and information, therefore
creating room for misunderstandings, implied meaning and wrong mishap (Gibson&Cohen,
2003). The decision-making process therefore becomes more time consuming (Zakaria,
Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004). Chudoba, Lu&Wynn agree with this assessment and underline
the loss of information and knowledge as one of the main disadvantages of a virtual team.
2.5. Managing technology in virtual teams
Globalization and technological development has allowed even smaller companies to be present
at an international globalized marketplace. Some of the earliest media theories were, however,
developed long before the development and widespread use of computers and technology.
Therefore, these theories are dealing mostly with communication systems rather than the newest
developments in ICT (Lievrouw, 2001).
Technology brings a lot of advantages to the work of any company: it is easy to master,
accessible, low cost and available in around the clock manner. It connects people in distant
places, spans over time gaps and locations, helps effective communication between branches and
home office and saves time. At the same time, it can be an unreliable variable that directly
influences team communication and the outcomes of team work (Duarte&Snyder, 1999).
Technology itself is just a tool that can enable effective communication, an infrastructure for
virtual collaboration (Cohen&Gibson, 2003). Therefore, it is essential to use the appropriate
technology given the wide spectrum of the ICTs in order to change the unreliable variable into
the key to success.
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Research on global teams provides several theories of the interconnection of computer mediated
communication and team dynamics, including media richness theory, task technology fit, social
influence theory, and; social presence theory.
One of the most comprehensive studies devoted to exploring how and why different media affect
communication and is able to help in reducing ambiguity is the media richness theory proposed
by Daft&Lengel, which is based on the contingency theory and information processing theory.
Media Richness Theory is based in organizational theory as it shows that the design of any
organization reflects ways to handle information (Galbraith, 1977; Weick, 1979, in
Daft&Lengel, 1983). This is the important milestone as it proves the connection between the
information and the organizational design. Hence, the changes in processing information, the
development of new means and sources of information, new mediums, all lead to the continuous
and simultaneous changes in organizational design. At the same time, the success of the
organization as such lies exactly in the possibility of the company to manage those changes and
to process the information with appropriate media in order to reduce ambiguity and uncertainty
(Daft&Lengel, 1983).
In their study, Daft&Lengel propose the concept of media richness – the ability of certain media
to improve communication and reduce uncertainty and ambiguity and promote understanding.
Media richness is subject to four factors:
- media‟s availability for instant feedback;
- the capacity of a media to transport multiple cues such as body, language, voice, and tone
- language variety;
- personal source (Daft&Lengel, 1983).
Therefore, different media can work better for different purposes within the organization. The
greater physical presence makes it possible for an immediate and instant feedback and transmits
the non-verbal cues.
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Information
richness
Medium Feedback Channel Source Language
High Face-to-Face Immediate Visual, Audio Personal Body, Natural
Telephone Fast Audio Personal Natural
Written, Personal Slow Limited Visual Personal Natural
Written, Formal Very Slow Limited Visual Impersonal Natural
Low Numeric, Formal Very Slow Limited Visual Impersonal Numeric
Figure 2: Media Richness Theory graphic reflections (Source: Daft&Lengel, 1983)
Concluding from Figure 2, face-to-face is the richest source of communication due to its
immediate feedback, which reduces ambiguity. It enables a person to transmit multiple cues such
as voice, body language, facial expression and has a personal nature and uses natural language
which is the highest in variety (Daft&Wiginton, 1979, in Daft&Lengel, 1983).
Phone as a communication media stands next in the media richness hierarchy. It has a somewhat
less richness nature due to slower feedback and limited opportunities to transmit non verbal cues.
The individuals have to heavily rely on audio created cues and language, which adds an
additional pressure on both voice tone and language proficiency hence the body language and
facial expressions are lacking, creating room for misunderstandings.
Written communication is even less rich and effective due to the slow nature of feedback,
absence of audio and limited visual cues. Personally addressed medium stands higher, but the
impersonal mediums such as flyers and bulletins create even less cues and more room for
miscommunication.
The lowest in the media richness hierarchy are the formal numeric documents (Daft&Lengel,
1983). Even though numbers are used for reporting about quantifying aspects of the
organizational activity, they do not have the capability of information processing as the
language. (Daft&Lengel, 1983).
Daft&Lengel also suggest that appropriate media should be used to solve organizational
problems. Authors call it a positive relationship between information richness and the
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complexity of organizational phenomena (Daft&Lengel, 1983). Where there are highly complex
organizational issues such as company strategy, objectives, goals, or intangible knowledge to be
shared the richest media should be used. Meanwhile, when there are more easily countable and
understood organizational aspects are involved such as employee attendance or the inventory
documentation, documented and simple, the use of richer media may cause the misinterpretation
and unnecessary distractions and hence the use of less rich media is preferable. Choice of media
not only depends on the complexity of tasks, but also working under higher uncertainty calls for
the use of richer media in communication. Holland, Stead and Leibrock suggest that, individuals
working under high uncertainty would use richer media to transfer information as opposed to
those dealing with relative certainty (Holland, Stead& Leibrock, 1976, in Daft&Lengel, 1983).
Task-technology fit theory has been developed as a guideline theory that explains how different
task complexity affects the choice of media for maximized team performance. In their study,
Hollingshead, Mcgrath&O‟Connor based their research on Daft&Lengel‟s Media Richness
theory. The authors themselves agreed that the theory is arguable and only provides the scope on
the biggest effects of the computer-mediated versus face-to-face interaction (Hollingshead,
Mcgrath&O‟Connor, 1993). Whereas their model showed that face-to-face groups perform better
on the intellectual and negotiation tasks, there was no clear difference between face-to-face and
computer-mediated communication on generating and decision-making tasks (Hollingshead,
Mcgrath&O‟Connor, 1993). Therefore, it might seem evident that there is a clear connection
between the task complexity and the choice of technology – as if the more complex task, the
richer media will be used, aiming for the phone or in the best case scenario – the face-to-face
interaction, there is no clear facts that prove it.
Social presence theory disagrees with Media Richness theory and proposes that media richness
should be assumed as an objective dimension, that is to say that every type of communication
provides the same amount of richness predetermined by inherited attributes of the technology,
regardless of who is using it (Lievrouw, 2001).
Social influence theory argues that media richness theory is more normative and descriptive than
empirical. The theory argues that it is important to measure the individual perceptions of the
richness of various types of media rather than just rely on objective assessment (Lievrouw,
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2001). There are many things that can shape those individual perceptions towards the choice of
media – so-called, social influence and interaction. Social interaction helps in developing shared
meaning in the workplace, which is important in shared patterns of media selection. That is to
say, the other group members can shape our perception of the different types of technology. In a
workplace, even though the situation would call for richer media, the influence of colleagues
would affect the individual‟s final decision about the use of media (Lievrouw, 2001).
2.6.Communication across language and culture
I have previously reviewed separately what the current body of literature has to say in the field of
the choice of media. In order to move on and answer the research question, it is now necessary to
proceed with the next element of the research question – the variance in culture and language and
its affect on team work. I will first look at the cultural dimensions that may affect team
communication followed by a retrospective on the linguistic barrier and its influence.
2.6.1. Cultural barrier
To understand the challenges within cultural diversity, it is first necessary to analyze the
influence of national culture on global virtual teams. I will provide this analysis, using
Hofstede‟s Model of Cultural Dimensions, Edward Hall‟s contextual theory and Gardenswartz,
Rowe, Digh, Benett theory of three cultural layers.
2.6.1.1.Hofstede Model of Cultural Dimensions
In my opinion, the Hofstede Model of Cultural Dimensions is a comprehensive model in
analyzing cultural dimensions and their impact on the workplace. From 1967 to 1973, while
working at IBM as a psychologist, Hofstede collected and analyzed data from over 100,000
individuals from 40 countries. Based on those results, Hofstede developed a model that identifies
four primary dimensions to differentiate cultures: power distance, individualism, masculinity,
and uncertainty avoidance.
22
Power distance shows the attitude of people towards inequality. This affects companies
significantly – the attitude towards the boss, the relationships of the superior vs. subordinate,
being proactive at work vs. following the lead, the importance of status and wealth
(Hofstede&Hofstede, 2004).
The next dimension Hofstede developed for better understanding cultural perceptions is
individualism. In the individualist society the interests of the individual prevails over the interest
of the group, and vice-versa (Hofstede&Hofstede, 2004). It is not a reference to the power of the
state or government but it reflects the power of the group as opposite to power of an individual.
In global virtual teams it means that people from collectivism societies appreciate working
within a team setting, and can develop a thorough feeling of disappointment and exclusion when
being geographically separated. This may lead to a further feeling of isolation and without
regular group input this affects productivity (Zakaria, Amelinckx&Wilemon, 2004). Employees
from those countries perceive their individualist co-workers as reserved and not as genuine team
players. Contrarily, for the representatives from individualist cultures, those colleagues seem to
be too “needy” or co-dependent (Zakaria, Amelinckx&Wilemon, 2004).
Masculinity is a dimension that represents the degree societies reinforce, or do not reinforce, the
traditional masculine work role model of male achievement, control, and power
(Hofstede&Hofstede, 2004). A high masculinity score indicates that a country experiences a
higher degree of gender differentiation. In such cultures, males tend to dominate a significant
portion of the society and power structure. In a low masculinity society there is a lower level of
differentiation and inequity between genders (Hofstede&Hofstede, 2004). In these cultures,
females are treated equally to males in all aspects of the society.
Uncertainty Avoidance is concerned with the level of acceptance for uncertainty and ambiguity
within a society (Hofstede&Hofstede, 2004). A country with a high uncertainty avoidance score
will have a low tolerance towards uncertainty and ambiguity. As a result, it is usually a very rule-
orientated society and follows well defined and established laws, regulations and controls. A low
uncertainty avoidance score points to a society that is less concerned about ambiguity and
uncertainty and has more tolerance towards variety and experimentation. Such a society is less
rule-orientated, readily accepts change and is willing to take risks (Hofstede&Hofstede, 2004).
Members from the cultures with high uncertainty avoidance can feel uncomfortable working in a
23
new, unfamiliar, technologically demanding environment. Establishing a clear set of rules and
guidelines may help the employees to overcome this challenge, whereas at the same time it may
be perceived by the representatives of low uncertainty avoidance cultures as a struggle against
innovation and creativity in a team (Zakaria, Amelinckx&Wilemon, 2004).
2.6.1.2.Hall‟s Contextual Theory
Anthropologist Edward T. Hall introduced his contextual theory, where in order to understand
communication preferences from a perspective of different cultures it is necessary to understand
the context in which the communication occurs. The main assumption was that even though it is
difficult to generalize cultures, however, there are tendencies that all members of a given culture
would present, thus dividing the culture or rather the communication within culture in two
degrees.
High-context cultures rely on the context, either the actual physical environment of
communication or an internalized social context, either the actual physical environment of
communication or an internalized social context or both, to convey either all or a majority of a
message‟s meaning. The messages can be elliptical, indirect and allusive. High-context cultures,
in which the context of the message is well understood by both sender and receiver, use the
context to communicate the message. People value a subtle and indirect communication style
(Zakaria, Amelinckx&Wilemon, 2004).
On the other hand, in cultures in which context is not assumed to be understood, messages are
explicit, direct and completely encoded in words. This are described as Low-context cultures, in
which the meaning is entrusted almost entirely to words. In this case, words are taken at „face
value‟ and the context is ignored. In low-context cultures communication contains less social or
non-verbal cues thus providing more direct and less ambiguous communication (Zakaria,
Amelinckx&Wilemon, 2004).
Members of low-context cultures put their thoughts into words. They tend to think that if
thoughts are not in words, the thoughts will not be understood correctly or completely. When
messages are in explicit words, the other side can act on them. But high-context cultures have
24
fewer tendencies to trust words to communicate. They rely on the context to help clarify and
complete the message.
2.6.1.3.The Three Cultures Model
Ultimately, to add the finally dimension to this research paper, not only national culture has
importance in the effective team communication. To expand this subject, in their study,
Gardenswartz, Rowe, Digh, Benett introduce the idea of different types of cultural influence.
They developed the model of Three Cultures. In this model, they assumed that only in a
combination of the three dimensions (see Figure 3) was it possible to reach effective team work
since when people are working together in a team they are expressing to each other all three
dimensions.
Figure 3: Representation of Three Cultures model (Author‟s creation, adapted from: Verghese,
2008)
As can be seen from the graphical representation, the three dimensions proposed by
Gardenswartz, Rowe, Digh, Benett are personal, national and corporate culture (Verghese,
2008). Personal culture forms an individual‟s perceptions, opinions and judgments. Personal
culture, while affected by national culture, has a powerful impact on team work. Personal culture
is what forms a person; it is formed throughout the years by upbringing, education, social
background, and life experiences. It is much more difficult to assess one‟s personal culture and
provide an adequate response, training, solution to improve it. Therefore, it is very important
when choosing the members of a GVT to evaluate the personality of the candidates in order to
ensure you have the right person for the job. National culture corresponds to Hofstede‟s
Corporate culture
National culture
Personal culture
25
dimensions, and there are ways to bridge the gap between country specific differences, especially
given the worldwide experiences of the new generation of employees. Corporate culture is
company specific. The Three Cultures model represents that ideally, understanding your own
self, global mindset and the right fit in the company, brings trust and effective communication in
the team (Verghese, 2008).
2.6.2. Linguistic barrier
The impact of the linguistic barrier cannot be measured in sizeable values. Instead the true cost
of the language barrier lies in terms of how it affects communication in a GVT. With growing
communication intensity, increasing linguistic diversity and increased scale of operations, the
language barrier emerges (Harzing & Feely, 2007). Language barrier is an independent element
that significantly affects the everyday effective communication in a team, because in fact, it is a
core element of communication itself. The language barrier in whole triggers a lot of negative
aspects – it may accentuate group division, grows uncertainty and suspicion, undermines trust
and leads to polarization of ideas, perceptions and perspectives, as well as difficulties in
spreading company information and achieving a corporate culture (Harzing & Feely, 2002).
However, with the overwhelming nature of communication, it is hard to imagine where in a team
performance this may bring some positive insights (Harzing & Feely, 2002; Chen, Geluykens
&Ju, 2006).
As noted by Harzing & Feely (2007) the meaning of language is undermined. Very little research
has been done to investigate the impact of language diversity on the MNC management. It is
easy to state that language is a problem in MNCs but researchers may not be able to go to the
root of this issue without answering the question: what is it in language that contains an inherent
problem (Harzing & Feely, 2007).
It is necessary to have the knowledge of culture and socio-cultural analysis because language that
we use differs from culture to culture. Understanding the culture and context requires the
knowledge of the language whereas language is an indicator of the society and the culture where
it is being spoken (Chen, Geluykens &Ju, 2006). So we can say that the language and cultural
diversity are closely related and it is therefore difficult to separate them.
26
The theoretical framework Harzing & Feely (2007) use in their attempt to present the language
barrier is social identity theory. When applying the social identity theory to the organization, it
implies that effective communication in MNC is not just a function of interpersonal contact.
People involved in the communication process do so partly as members of the organizational
group they belong to. So they derive part of their individual identity from the group they are part
of. For example, for English speakers language is simply a means of communication because
they are a part of the group anyway. However, in a European context, language is an essential
element of national identity (Harzing & Feely, 2007). Language is among the major factors to
categorize people as language is an acquired characteristic that provides a more powerful
indication of person‟s identity (Harzing & Feely, 2007).
When managing a multicultural team where many languages and cultures are present, team
leaders have to consider various factors. Even when the corporate language is English, for
example, and all team members seem to have a high level of proficiency, behavioral pattern may
vary.
Drivers of misunderstanding
Firstly, the meaning of the words does not lie in their own specific context but in the meaning
(Chen, Geluykens &Ju, 2006). What GVT should take into consideration is that different
languages have different understandings and derive meaning of the words used in different
contexts. The team leader must make sure and clarify that all team members understand the task
in exactly the same way, which is in line with E.Hall‟s contextual theory.
Secondly, communication is only as detailed as the speaker considers it to be enough (Chen,
Geluykens &Ju, 2006). Therefore, misunderstandings arise when the speaker thinks he has said
enough but the listener in fact lacks some vital information in order to interpret the message.
Speakers may use the ambiguous message to communicate some other meaning - what is said,
not always corresponds (Chen, Geluykens &Ju, 2006) A key assumption, rephrasing Chen,
Geluykens & Ju that implied meaning is often the most problematic in the global team context.
Speakers may in fact communicate more than they mean to, including some additional value and
meaning to the message which creates a cause for misunderstanding if the others are not aware of
this practice or language specifics. This principle is used mostly to avoid direct responses and
27
communicate unpleasant information. For example, Japanese people are avoiding direct response
and go instead for “maybe‟‟. For them, a “maybe” means a “no” and they are sure they are
communicating it to the other party, albeit in a pleasant manner. The understanding of the
implied meaning requires highly developed communication skills from both parties – not only in
terms of language skills and accuracy but also the general overview of the socio-cultural norms
and behavior in a given context and setting (Chen, Geluykens &Ju, 2006). Based on the culture,
the speaker and the listener are coming from – high or low context – depends on what meaning
they will get out of the communicated message. High context culture representatives will
understand more of the implied meaning and will also communicate more of the meaning in their
message unsaid than people from low-context cultures.
Thirdly, even if the managers have a medium or high level language proficiency, there is still the
high risk of losing rhetorical skills, including the use of humor, symbolism, sensitivity,
negotiation and persuasion skills. The lack of such skills often leads to misunderstandings
(Harzing & Feely, 2007).
Misunderstandings that arise due to language barriers may well escalate by the need to avoid a
loss of face (Harzing & Feely, 2007). The concept that originally started in China and Japan is
now widespread. It states that no one, especially senior management, want to be considered
stupid, slow or unprofessional (Harzing & Feely, 2007). Therefore, managers will often not
participate in the discussion and remain silent even though they have no idea what the discussion
is being about (Harzing & Feely, 2007).
2.7. Relationship between the choice of media and language/culture
There are two different factors to be considered in analyzing the benefits and limitations of
computer mediated communication in a GVT – those created by the technology itself and those
that arise by the use of technology in a dispersed heterogeneous team. Therefore, among the
benefits of the computer mediated communication is the possibility of working in and covering
different time zones, responding to the demands of clients in a 24/7 manner, as one of the
principal limitations of the use of e-mail is the reduction of social and nonverbal cues in the
communication process.
28
Cultural diversity, while bringing in a lot of positive elements to the workplace, also brings
complexities and can affect a team‟s performance. If there are communication disruptions or
distortions, the overall team performance decreases and results are not achieved. Communication
process fails by one of the two factors: it is either computer mediated communication or
intercultural diversity that creates barriers. Therefore, it is important to analyze the current
literature on cultural diversity, intercultural communication and e-mail as a means of computer
mediation. The choice of the appropriate ICT if used correctly can be an effective tool to help
mitigate those effects caused by team heterogeneity and mitigate intercultural misunderstanding.
Existing research mainly considers multiculturalism in global virtual teams and the choice of
media as separate issues. There is a lack of research towards the area that connects and defines
the choice of media according to our national or linguistic background. But there has been some
research in this area that provides some theoretical support for this connection to base
conclusions on.
2.7.1. Face to face communication
A study on face-to-face communication suggests that only 11 per cent of content was transmitted
verbally, with the remaining 88 per cent all transmitted in the form of eye contact, body
movements and facial expressions (Mehrabian, 1971, in Verghese, 2008). Mehrabian‟s study
showed the importance of human communication. The surprising results of the study conducted
in the 1960s suggested that 11 per cent is communicated in a form of words, while 32 per cent of
meaning is included in the tone of voice, emphasis and volume of speech. More than half of
message is however transmitted in the form of body language.
29
Figure 4: The content of a written message: verbal vs. non verbal (author‟s creation)
Basically, face to face communication is the best way of dealing with work in GVT.
This is of course not possible taking into consideration the very nature of a GVT setting. I will
therefore continue to see what the other alternatives for effective communication are.
2.7.2. E-mail mediated communication
Some authors (Shachaf; Lee; Kurtzberg, Belkin&Naquin) provide an overview of the
relationship between cultural diversity and use of e-mail as well as how e-mail as a mean of
communication itself reduces the cultural gap. Nowadays e-mail is the most popular ICT, the
current body of literature analyzes this relationship in depth leaving it apart from the phone and
other means of communication.
Shachaf offers a model which shows the interconnection within GVT and team performance, as
well as GVT communication as both intercultural and computer mediated. Analyzing the graph,
cultural diversity affects communication which in turn affects team effectiveness. The use of e-
mail in virtual work is due to lack of non-verbal and social cues, which counters the negative
effect of cultural diversity and miscommunication in team effectiveness. How and the reasons
why this is happening is described below.
Words, 11%
Voice, 32%Body
language, 57%
30
Figure 5: A model of intercultural mediated communication (Source: Shachaf, 2005)
Even though, according to Daft&Lengel, email is a rather lean, medium rich source of media
with slow feedback and response time that would therefore be not recommended, Shachaf in his
research shows how email can become a strategic tool in order to mitigate the cultural diversity
and language differences leading to overall team performance development (Shachaf, 2005).
When discussing the advantages or limitations of email mediated communication it is important
to acknowledge that there are benefits and limitations:
- Due to the technology itself, e-mail is a formal, slow media with low response time
compared to phone.
- Use of email in the intercultural communication (Shachaf, 2005).
The appropriate use of email can bring several improvements to the virtual group work:
- language accuracy;
- mitigates the effects that come from team heterogeneity that leads to different use of
verbal signs;
- eliminates nonverbal differences – everything is being said on paper, no implied meaning
(Shachaf, 2005).
Cultural diversity
CommunicationTeam
effectiveness
E - mail
31
A company can improve language accuracy in a GVT in two ways when using e-mail mediated
communication:
Firstly, in a way that e-mail improves the language accuracy itself, meaning with the wide range
of correcting and spelling tools, it is easier to create a grammatically correct message.
Furthermore, the team member can read the message before sending it and think of a way to
better express his opinion and thoughts because he has time to think it over, as compared to any
face-to-face mediation where the response is immediate. Additionally, email mediated
communication eliminates the impact of any accents due to non-native language proficiency of
the team members (Shachaf, 2005).
Secondly, email communication eliminates the negative impact of cultural diversity – vocal and
non verbal communication cues are altered. Since email is a short precise form to communicate
the message, it helps close the gap between high and low context cultures in a way that email
provides a somewhat mediate version of both – the style of the email shall be direct, formal and
polite. The email also eliminates the differences caused by different body language and other non
verbal cues because it is not being transmitted (Shachaf, 2005).
Lee claims that there are different patterns in the use of email in the Western world as compared
to Asia. The main difference is due to the Confucius tradition and emphasis towards the respect
for elders, hierarchy, and seniority, which is hindered with the use of the email (Lee, 2002).
2.8. Challenges in a GVT
Dube and Pare suggested two types of key issues in implementing Global Virtual teams: ones
stemming from human factor, people, and the other emerging from the technology (Dube & Pare
in: Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
2.8.1.Human Challenges encountered in Virtual team work
It is important to understand that the perception of team work varies across cultures and
countries and the way team members see team work will differ from the national and
organizational background of the members (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004). Logically,
in the same team, members will not share the same perceptions on team work but they will differ
32
in their views of team structure, goals, objectives and processes (Zakaria, Amelinckx &
Wilemon, 2004). Therefore, it would be wrong to assume that the team work concept is the same
for all team members who have experienced team work before. Team leaders must face the
differences and learn how to mitigate them.
How to manage a conflict in a global virtual team
As stated before by various authors, one of the main disadvantages of virtual communication is
lack of the verbal cues that leads to more probable conflict development. But the challenge itself
is also the conflict together with the cultural differences as a conflict in its core is viewed
differently from different cultural backgrounds (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
Low and high context cultures communicating together may contribute to conflict emergency in
situations where in representatives of the low context cultures clearly separate people from the
issues or problems, while in a high context cultures, people tend to see it all as the collective
creating the more personal attitudes at the time of conflict, which is more difficult to solve (Hall,
1990; Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004). The result, which would affect team work, would
appear as the more personal attitudes of the high context cultures which would unify the problem
itself and the other team members, leading to the confrontation and the feeling of personal insult
as opposite to low-context cultures that would perceive the disagreement as an integral part of a
knowledge sharing process and will positively. (Hall, 1990; Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon,
2004). Another point in a conflict development is the different response time from the cultures
with low as compared to high context cultures. While low-context cultures respond to the
conflict quickly, directly and formally, high-context cultures will see that as the other party
pushing and asking for greater responsibility from the person, who will develop an even negative
attitude (Hall, 1990). Contrarily, the high context cultures would answer politely, without giving
a direct response or solution to the problem and therefore escalating the issue even more and
leading to inefficient team work and delays (Hall, 1990; Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
It is necessary therefore, to elaborate on the guidelines or set of rules for conflict resolution in the
global virtual team, because if unresolved it may diminish intra- team trust, balance, and
negatively affect team cohesion (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
How to manage the cross – cultural differences
33
It is important not only to acknowledge those differences, but also be able to manage them,
which may impose a challenge. The absence of the verbal cues leads to difficulties when facing
representatives of high context cultures, where the importance is placed on social, nonverbal
gestures such as voice, eye contact, and body language. In those cultures people value more the
context and the meaning behind the words, rather than the direct straight forward message.
Therefore, it can raise difficulties in task completion, problem solving and decision making. At
the same time the lack of the verbal cues diminish trust and group cohesion (Zakaria, Amelinckx
& Wilemon, 2004).
Contrarily, for cultures with low context the value lies behind the direct, open and straight
forward messages. For these cultures, the use of ICT is not only encountered normally, it fits
within the framework of those cultures, with lack of social cues, it actually facilitates a better
communication mitigating the confusing dissonant cultural signals the low context culture
members would not be able to read (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
As can be seen, the cases are all different, and it is from utmost importance to know how to
manage the cultural differences properly, by allowing both sides to feel comfortable and benefit
from the collective group work.
How to develop intercultural competence
Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon state that “the preparation of global team members,
individually and collectively, to effectively communicate cross-culturally is a prerequisite to
successful collaboration and is as important as the team‟s technological competency and skill.”
Intercultural competence is not only understanding the cross cultural differences, but being able
to mediate them. Team members should be able to face and solve the conflict, sustain team
balance and create an effective knowledge sharing culture within the team. The company should
also confront the problem of how to implement a global mindset in a company. Virtual team
work is an innovative new approach in the organization that implies organizational change most
of the time. So, if the team members, even though is restructured, their minds still possess the
local mindset and do not accept the “new rules of game”. This can impose major difficulties to
34
team work. The team members are not able to see the global scope of the company, which is
essentially in developing the globalized worldwide solutions (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon,
2004). A global mindset therefore facilitates the advantages of the virtual team – it is a
foundation for developing an efficient knowledge-sharing community with embedded open mind
appropriate culturally aware attitudes (Zakaria, Amelinckx & Wilemon, 2004).
2.8.2.Technology based challenges: how to guide the appropriate choice of media
Gibson&Cohen suggest that different type of media affect the team work to a certain extent. For
example, phone is a better media for reaching a shared understanding because of the presence of
more social cues, immediate feedback and both counterparties on the phone. E-mail in many
cases only creates the illusion of shared understanding because the information exchange has
been done, so people assume the information has been received the same way as the sender sent
it. Despite e-mail providing the possibility for extensive information exchange because of the
lack of social cues, the sender cannot validate whether or not the information has been
interpreted correctly (Gibson&Cohen, 2003).
In cases when face-to-face interaction is not an option, team members should know how to use
the media in order to bridge the cultural gap.
35
3. METHODOLOGY
I will now describe a series of factors and approaches that need to be considered, that will help to
guide us through and dictate the research process.
It is necessary to develop and work out the right methodology before getting into the research
rather than just “explore what is out there‟‟ approach without a single designed model acquiring
the methods and approaches which suit best for the purposes acclaimed and the aims set, as well
as the research question and the research topic. Researcher should be aware of the, for example,
data collection techniques and methods and whether they are appropriate for the theme chosen
(Bryman&Bell, 2007).
3.1. Methods of reasoning
First question to consider is: what is the link between the research and the theory and what is the
importance of theory in the research process? In other words, there are two ways of looking at
this – theory induces the data collection and analysis, and further conclusions are drawn – theory
is the base of research that has drawn the research interest and the answers to be looking for. The
alternative way is the use of the theory after the data collection and analysis. The former is called
deductive approach and the latter – inductive approach.
Deductive approach is the most common relation between the theory and the research
(Bryman&Bell, 2007). Deductive approach is linear, where one stage is following another as can
be seen in the picture. The researcher based on the existing theoretical knowledge deduces a
hypothesis to be either confirmed or rejected by undergoing the empirical part.
However, the research is not an easily controlled subject, and my view of the theory may lead me
to chose after the data collection and analysis. Several practitioners suggest using the more
inductive approach in the later stages of the research.
Using inductive approach, the research in fact induces the theory. In other words, the theory is
the outcome of a research (Bryman&Bell, 2007). And here, same as mentioned before, this can
not be a clearly and only induction process, therefore, the elements of the deduction are present.
There is no one best method; both strategies imply the elements of the other.
36
I will therefore, use a more inductive approach in the research process due to the facts, that first
the area of interest has been identified and further explored, and then the empirical part of the
research was undergone which gives n insight of implications for future research in establishing
the theoretical framework for this phenomena.
3.2. Nature of knowledge
Social ontology helps to define the nature of the knowledge. It deals with the question of whether
the social entities are objective and have a real reflection in the external life or it is the subject to
the researcher‟s own perception, knowledge and experiences (Bryman&Bell, 2007). One of the
main ontological positions is objectivism – the social phenomena are not in our reach and in no
way are affected y the social actors behavior, it is independent and separate from them. In the
thesis, however, the author is, of course, expressing his own opinion, and her interpretation of the
materials read and processed. Therefore, there is a need to adopt an alternative ontological
position, that would defend the subjectivity of the present work – constructivism. This means that
researcher, due to many reasons such as culture, character, education, own experiences and
knowledge will always present a specific version of a social reality rather then the definitive one
(Bryman&Bell, 2007). Knowledge is perceived as indeterminate (Bryman&Bell, 2007). The
constructive approach is suggested to be used for exploring the social phenomena (especially,
art, innovation, creativity), because this is the area of study which is difficult to measure or
define the borders straight.
Constructive approach is determining the use of hermeneutic method in the research process –
the point of view where the creation of knowledge can be seen as a continuous process – I will
create the knowledge based on her perceptions, which will be affected, among others, by the
answers and interactions with other members of the research process – this helps to build up a
bigger picture by collecting the little pieces of information and knowledge.
3.3. Data collection techniques
To select the relevant information it is important to look at previous research relating to similar
issues in determining what additional information has to be collected (Craig&Douglas, 2005).
The selection of the appropriate research techniques may lead to a series of questions. I had to
decide upon the most convenient tool according to the research question, the information needed
37
the dimension of the problem, and the accessibility to information. The two data collection
techniques are qualitative and quantitative techniques (Craig&Douglas, 2005). As suggested by
various authors, the complex usage of both techniques gives the most complex answer to the
research question and provides the fuller data (Craig&Douglas, 2005).
Due to the limitations and the topic of the given thesis, qualitative research will be used as the
principal methodology. It has been chosen because the qualitative research is able to provide the
details the quantitative research cannot, which is of a great importance when the topics as culture
and languages are being discussed. Qualitative research can provide the understanding of social
processes underlying the various management issues, as well as shows the problems in a real-life
context which helps in creating real solutions for the workplace. I will examine and try to offer
the real managerial implications and guidelines for working virtually, starting with the fact that
the main social phenomena explored is the social interaction – putting it simple – how do people
work in a team and how this work is affected by technology and the different cultural
background.
While choosing an appropriate research strategy, the different frameworks for the data collection
and analysis are present. It is also very important to assess the quality of the business research
itself. While validity, reliability and replication are mainly used to assess the process of
quantitative research, it is much more difficult to control and verify the qualitative research.
3.4. Research purpose
Yin suggests three different types of research: exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. Those
categories are not mutually exclusive but can complement each other throughout the research.
Exploratory research is a way of conducting research – exploring the new phenomena for a
better understanding. It may also test the feasibility of a more extensive study or define the best
methods to be used in an undergoing study. Exploratory research is broad and does not provide
an exact answer to a particular research direction. The objective of exploratory research is to
identify key issues and key variables.
Descriptive research provides a description of a given research issue. The objective of this kind
of research is to define the characteristics of a given phenomena. In descriptive research the key
38
variables themselves are known, but it is aiming at developing key relationships. Descriptive
comparison is very useful in comparing and providing useful insight into the hypothesis
formulation. In order to provide these characteristics the following questions might be asked: to
whom, what, when, where and how. Research calls for accuracy and minimum error due to the
detailed information needed (Zikmund, 2000).
In Explanatory research, both key variables and key relationships are known. It is the aim of the
research to give the explanation or link those relationships.
I will use the explanatory research method based on the fact that the key variables and
relationships are defined but it is necessary to describe and link these relationships – such as
culture, language and the use of computer mediated technology. According to Yin, the
explanatory study is trying to answer the question “how?” Nevertheless, to paint a broad picture,
I will also add the other research methods as exploratory in order to define or first explain the
key variables such as culture, language and technology separately before linking it with team
effectiveness and the choice of media.
3.5. Data collection
Both primary and secondary data was used. The secondary data with its easy access and low cost
is the most popular source of the information. Its easy access is possible by the increased use of
electronic sources. The secondary data included existing literature on the global virtual teams,
workplace diversity, media richness theory and related topics, everything that could be related or
helped to further understand which difficulties and challenges the multinational virtual teams are
facing and how can the existing body of literature explain it. Secondary data helps to reach an
overview of the area and get an in-depth understanding of potential challenges.
When the secondary data cannot give the full overview or help answer the research question, the
primary data comes in – the information particularly and specifically interesting for the chosen
topic and the research question addressed (Ghauri&Grønhaug). There are several means of data
collection – experiments, surveys, observations and interviews (Ghauri&Grønhaug).
The primary data in a form of semi-structured phone interviews was collected over a period of a
month at three different locations – Germany, Sweden and Spain. The respective locations were
39
selected by the management, who identified them as the best sample of opposing work and
national cultures in terms of the project aimed at exploring the virtuality in a multicultural team.
By interviewing employees from several locations, it was possible to see more aspects and
differences between the locations.
An interview, as a technique of data collection, provides an opportunity to express the
respondents‟ reality rather than my perceptions and views, and is therefore more efficient than
observation, for example. Semi-structured interviews were chosen because it allowed an in-depth
view into the subject in a structured way. Semi-structured interview gives a researcher more
freedom to explore interesting points or issues that were probably missed out rather than a
structured interview with somewhat predetermined answers and no possibility to go into a more
interesting relevant topic. The semi-structured nature of the interview still calls for an interview
guide that helps to make the interviews consistent, valid, replicable and comparable, enough to
draw conclusion, compare and make a sample.
3.6. Interview methodology
Recorded telephone interviews using a semi-structured interview approach will be conducted.
Several themes will be included in the interview covering the different aspects and relationship
between culture, language and ICT.
The order of the questions is not critical and may be changed to follow through on directions
indicated by the responses of the interviewees to previous questions. The guideline is that all the
topics interested to the research are answered in the course of the interview.
The time for each interview is estimated at 40-45 minutes and the interviewer will be in a
dedicated room to prevent any background distractions. The initiations are sent out to the
interviewees to ensure that the time slot is booked and there is no distraction for the
interviewees.
In the beginning of the interview, participants will be informed about the purpose of the
interview, the structure, confidentiality, consent and recording methods.
In the end of the interview, participants will be debriefed about how the interview content will be
utilized and confidentiality retained regarding the identity of the individuals. They will then be
thanked for their participation and time.
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1) It is necessary to establish and locate the position of the interviewee in the company.
Therefore the question about the respondents place in the organizational structure is asked. It is
important to understand where in the structure the interview is located in order to be able to see
the context of their answers.
2) After this a question is asked about the challenges in the everyday work environment. What
are the challenges you are facing in your daily work? What are the challenges in your position?
What are the challenges in virtual communication with other team members? Is it country or
language specific or does it have a general tendency?
3) As the challenges emerged, it is possible to guide the interviewee in the area of the use of
different technologies and the overall pattern of communication. The following questions can be
asked:
How often do you meet face-to-face and how often communication by phone? Is there difference
between using the email and phone?
When and how do you decide when it is better to use phone?
4) It is now possible to move on and discuss what kind of information can be discussed via
particular media, task complexity matters etc.
What kind of things/knowledge can you discuss via phone…?
5) If it emerges, then asking questions to see if this phenomena is country specific or overall
trend.
Countries where using more mail or phone?
6) Moving on to the perception of the people as being part of a global organization with the
global mindset vs. the previous system with local organization. How do employees perceive
themselves? Do they feel like they are part of the global scope or do they think they should
accomplish local targets? Do they see integration on the European level? Is the organization still
based on the local units principle? Is working virtually perceived as a part of a local routine?
When people work cross functionally, do you see the problem in allocating and managing time
on cross functional vs. local responsibilities?
7) Culture and its affect on the communication- does your choice of media depend on the country
you have to communicate with? Have you noticed the differences in communication with
Germany/Denmark/Spain/Finland? Do you feel people in Sweden and Germany share your idea?
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8) Is language an issue? Is the combination of culture and language making working virtually
even more challenging? Which countries do you feel have this problem?
9) Final discussion, asking the personal feelings of people within their cross functional and cross
regional responsibilities. What is the most challenging part? What are the managerial/leadership
suggestions for improvement of communication within the team?
3.7. Participant selection
In order to understand the challenges in virtual communication and collaboration that the
managers and employees in Aponar face a series of interviews have been conducted with the
Supply Chain, Business Group Plumbing, Business Group Indoor Climate including managers
and key personnel. The interviews will be conducted face to face in the following locations –
Denmark, Finland, Germany and Spain – as a result having 9 interviews of one hour length. The
interviews will be focusing on challenges in the virtual collaboration process. Particular
countries have been chosen due to their relative differences from each other in order to get a
fuller picture of the process in the company. I have chosen to enclose as appendices for this
paper three most interesting interviews, all conducted face to face with participants from three
different countries – Denmark, Finland and Spain.
3.8. Ethical issues in research
The topic of ethics in the business research brings up a discussion on the values throughout the
research process. There may be various concerns such as:
- How should the researcher treat the interviewees;
- Which activities the researcher should or should not engage in while interacting with
interviewees (Bryman&Bell, 2007).
Ethical concerns may arise particularly in several areas such as harm to the involved party;
informed consent; invasion of privacy, and deception (Bryman&Bell, 2007) Several
organizations and institutions of managerial research have worked out a code of conduct and
professional principles to apply during the research process.
42
In framework of present paper, I have been thoroughly thinking about the ethical issues. First of
all, the name of the company in the study is being replaced by another, random name in order to
keep the privacy and do not allow the others give an insight and use to their own advantages the
practices and examples of what is going on in a company. Moreover, as stated in the beginning
of each interview conducted, the interviews are anonymous, only the position of the respondents
is revealed for being important as a context to the ideas interviewees share.
3.9. Source criticism
There are various issues that are subject to being criticized and I have fully acknowledged them
and taken them into consideration during the research process.
The interviews were conducted in English, which is not a mother tongue for all the participants
of the interviews. Therefore, the issues of misunderstandings due to the lack of language skills
arise. Interviewees can also be shy because of their language skills, or the language barrier may
arise. Less information may be obtained compared to the possibility of conducting interviews in
the mother tongue.
Interviews were conducted virtually, e.g. by phone, excluding the ideal option of face-to-face
interviews, which was impossible due to the tight schedules of the involved personnel. People
may feel uncomfortable by talking on the phone, without seeing a person. The issue of trust may
also arise, with people wanting to finish the interview faster and without going answering the
questions posed to them in-depth. It is also more difficult to transmit the mood, voice tone etc via
the phone, so it is possible that the full spectrum of emotions was not shown.
During the transcription process, there is always a risk of misunderstanding meaning or words.
All the interviews were recorded, in some cases the quality of the recordings was bad due to the
technological issues or background noises, multiplied by the different accents and it is sometimes
only possible to guess the meaning or the words missing, which were replaced by the closest and
appropriate words I thought was missing in the particular gap.
Ironically, the same issues that may have arisen during the transcription process, are subject of
the thesis and the problem in the company – the choice of appropriate technology in a
communication virtually, which problems or effects it causes and how, particularly, language
43
skills of an individual affects his overall performance in a team, respectively, a bright
professional with innovative ideas might not be able to transfer and explain those ideas to his
fellow colleagues over a phone call because he will not feel confident due to his lack of language
skills multiplied by not being able to see his colleagues face-to-face.
Data collection was done as a part of a larger research project, therefore, the sample was chosen.
This means that some other possible details were omitted by choosing not to include all the
interviews. The amount of empirical data was extensive with interviews covering a large
spectrum of questions regarding the wider research project.
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4. EMPIRICAL PART
4.1. The company: background information
The history of Aponar dates back to 1918 when the carpentry workshop in Lahti was founded. In
the early 1920s the company opened its first store and factory. In 1965, the company entered the
plastic pipe industry besides producing furniture and household appliances. The
internationalization policy in the company began in the 1980s with several acquisitions and
expansions in the Nordic countries. The company mainly focused on pipe systems for municipal
engineering and building products, growing rapidly during the 1980s and, as a result of several
acquisitions, extended operations throughout Western Europe. Aponar entered a new field of
industry, hot water pipe systems, by purchasing two of the largest companies in the field, in
Sweden and Germany, and then expanding to North America. After the acquisition of Aldyl gas
pipe operations in the early 1990s, Aponar's business activities had reached South America. In
the 1990s, Aponar reshaped its activities and focused on plastic pipe operations which became
the core business of the Group activities. It was also the beginning of a new era of development
as the company ran restructuring and divestment of the company's other business units, focusing
solely on the core business – plastic pipe production, at the same time investments were made to
strengthen the position of one of its subsidiaries – Aponar. In 2000 company's name was
changed to the Aponar Corporation.
Facing new challenges, in the first decade of the new century, the company dedicated its efforts
to strengthening its market position in the core businesses and pursuing a market leader position
by introducing the “one unified Aponar.” As of 2008, Aponar divested its infrastructure business
in the UK and Ireland, nowadays, the infrastructure offices can only be found in Scandinavia.
The company is moving towards further centralizing its activities. The year 2008 was marked as
a year of change in the company's organizational structure: from the region based organization
(with no cross-cultural management and marketing) to a pan-European organizational structure
facing challenges to develop and implement an efficient hard working, cross-cultural and cross-
functional team. The groups‟ HR manager defends this constant need for change in the company:
45
“There will never be a situation of 0 level frustration. There is certain amount of what you need.
You need this constant change and they respect that. That‟s what keeps us competitive. We sort
of revisit the organization –see how can we improve, how can we modify, how can we do better,
how can we get better.‟‟
(HR manager, Denmark)
Since 2003, Aponar‟s corporate strategy has rested on three main pillars: growth, operational
excellence and the corporate brand. In 2010, the effects of the global economic recession forced
changes in most markets. During the recession, Aponar significantly improved its operational
efficiency by reorganizing and streamlining its supply chain. From that point on, Aponar‟s main
strategic objectives have set up to recover demand and seize opportunities for future growth.
As of 2012, Aponar has around 3,200 employees in some 30 countries worldwide who are
working closely with other actors in the industry – in order to provide the best plumbing
solutions and indoor climate systems. Presently, Aponar has operations in over 30 countries with
10 manufacturing facilities in four European countries.
4.2. Organizational Structure
Aponar is a very complex organization. In order to better understand the challenges and
difficulties of implementing global virtual teams into the company context it is necessary to build
an understanding of what the company represents as a whole and what is its organizational
structure.
46
Figure 6: Aponar‟s structural organization (Source: company‟s website)
The company has some main functions that are necessary for the overall development – there are
brought to the group level such as Finance&Administration, Supply Chain Management,
Development&Technology, Legal Services, HR.
Besides that, the organizational structure has three main pillars:
1) Infrastructure solutions and pipe systems in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Finland) and Russia and the Baltic countries. Infrastructure solutions include water and sewer
pipes and wastewater treatment systems for non-urban area. These particular infrastructure
solutions are being used in order to transport and safely store water and sewage. Aponar‟s
offered solutions offer to reduce the installation and operation costs of the product.
2) Building solutions (indoor climate and plumbing) for the North American market with
production sites placed locally. Indoor climate solutions include heating, cooling and ventilation
solutions that control the indoor temperature and air quality, reducing the costs and energy
consumption. Aponar‟s plumbing solutions are hygienic, corrosion resistant and have a long life
Group functions: HR, Communications, Technology, IT, Risk Management, Finance and Administration, Supply Chain Management, Legal Services, IR
BUILDING SOLUTIONS - EUROPE
Sales and Marketing
Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, International Sales
North, South and West Europe
Offering and Business Groups
Indoor climate
Plumbing
Product and systems development
Sypply chain
BUILDING SOLUTIONS - NORTH AMERICA
United States of America
Canada
INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Finland
Russia
Baltic countries
47
cycle and have other competitive advantage comparing to other plumbing solutions providers –
easy installation, leak-proof connections and high tolerance of fluctuations in water quality.
3) Building Solutions for Europe – that includes business group organization for indoor climate
and plumbing and sales organization on the European level that is divided in four regions -
North, South, West, and Central and Eastern Europe.
The scope of the current research is the Organization of Building Solutions for Europe.
4.3. Current position of the company on GVT
First of all, Aponar recognizes and identifies the need and the use of virtual teams. HR is
responsible for communicating the guidelines or a code of conduct to the employees that are
involved and undergo work in these groups. HR has currently elaborated on two different
guidelines for working virtually – one for the managers and the other one for the employees. The
guidelines are a very specific set of recommendations that are aimed at helping people to bridge
the gap of working virtually.
Main points of the guidelines for managers cover:
Clear and agreed target setup;
The pattern of communication;
Meeting frequency;
Necessary support;
Use of technology.
The presentation aims at setting a clear communication context – clear, agreed targets that are
accepted by everyone, weekly communication, calls to listen to whether there is nothing to say or
the employee is out of ideas, meeting the employees every second month in a face-to-face to
meeting, experience sharing and feedbacks, keeping the time limits, use of all the technology that
is at the hand, especially phone if difficulties arise.
Guidelines for the employees:
Clear targets – tasks should be written and agreed, if not employees should communicate
48
this to the manager to make sure the targets have been understood and no implied
meaning is involved to avoid misunderstandings;
Communication pattern – communicate weekly, let the manager know if there are any
problems, issues or if you simply do not understand the tasks, respect the time frames and
deadlines, fast response and feedback;
Meeting frequency – no fixed meeting frequency with the virtual team members, but the
rule of the meeting is to talk with their manager face-to-face at least every second month;
Support and training/coaching – be prepared for every online/offline meeting, be
proactive and seek for support when needed, let the manager know when the problem
arises or there is a need for additional training, sharing of experiences;
Use of technology tools – focused and detailed messages to avoid implied meaning,
encouraging phone communication when nothing to say or out of ideas, use of multiple
communication tools such as emails, share point, Coach, calendar, intranet, net meetings,
and phone.
This is the current policy of a company working towards a GVT. It is important to acknowledge
the measures that have been taken in order to be able to see where there is room for
improvement.
4.4. General observations
As I mentioned before in both research limitations and the source criticism, I have encountered
several interesting observations that I will share below.
As the present study itself explores the variance in ICT and knowledge the same could be applied
towards the final results, contents of the interviews. That means that the phone interviews were
shorter in length, the answers were more general, shorter and many times consisting of a simple
yes or no, which respondents were asked to elaborate on. As opposite to a face to face interview,
where there would be a full pace discussion with both parties involved and elaborate, long and
saturated answers that would provide a full insight into the company‟s work.
49
The second interesting observation from the answers is linked to the position the interviewee is
currently holding within Aponar. The higher the position of the respondent (for example, the
VP), the more general the answers, more diplomatic and managerial orientated, covering the
structure of company as such, talking about interaction between different units, different levels
of organization etc. When the job position was mid-level, the answers were more practical
orientated for example, the communication pattern, the choice of media depending on the
country of communication etc. This can also be seen as an example of the different cultures
present in the company. The top management of this Finnish company is mostly Finnish with a
relatively medium uncertainty avoidance index (59 as opposite to Germany‟s 65 or Spain‟s 86).
Therefore, and adding experience, top management is used to working in a challenging, new,
innovative environment or testing out new organizational structures.
Thirdly, it was evident from the interviews that all the respondents acknowledged the presence
and importance of virtual team organization. All of the respondents said they developed some
kind of pattern or communication schedule regarding their own teams.
4.5. Language issues in a virtual team organization
Linguistic challenges in Aponor may arise from two different sources. One is challenges
connected to the language proficiency of the interviewees. Meaning the level of the language is
not sufficient to be able to provide a high level discussion. The second challenge is the reflection
of the cultural dimension in the use of language where people even with a high level of language
skills are not able to establish successful communication by coming from different cultures.
4.5.1. Language proficiency
The corporate language in the company is English. Initially for a couple of years it was Swedish,
but with further expansion, the company switched completely to English. In some regions it is
still common practice to communicate in a local language, for example, Spanish in Iberia and
Swedish in Nordic countries. Even so, English is evenly distributed across the company.
Moreover, as VP Warehouse&Logistics from Finland shared:
50
“Originally, it was Swedish for a couple of years. Then it was changed to English. I don‟t see
any big problems. Because that means that you must speak English. When you have a meeting, it
is English. Then of course, when I go, for example, in Sweden or Spain or Germany, the point is
that I expect that they speak so much English that we can discuss. Then I, of course, don‟t expect
if we go to warehouse, they speak. That‟s quite ok. If you want to be in a global company, you
must have a common language. Otherwise it is globally impossible.”
It does not come as a surprise for a global workplace, where one of the main attributes apart from
the professional skills, is indeed English skills. Still, Aponar is not standing still, but encouraging
the employees to pay attention to this important skill. One of the company managers see their
aim as being to: “empower all the people who have this kind of role to improve the English
(writing, listening) skills” (VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
Generally, there is no problem with countries where the level of English is traditionally high or
for historical reasons such as Sweden or Finland. Some of the interviewees mention the Iberian
region, but claim that they are actually surprised by the amount of work done and the significant
improvement in level of English in this area:“I think that has improved a lot. For example, in
Spain they have been very eager to learn English. That‟s good.”
Aponar is also encouraging people, with the help of trainings, language classes and the
multicultural setting itself as a way of practicing in everyday life. An HR manager from
Denmark says: “There is a lot of English training being offered in Aponar, much has been
done.”
In general, all the participants reported that there is no direct stereotypical problems with the
language proficiency involved as one might think. People acknowledge there is differences in the
language skills, hence the Spanish accent or the ability of people to speak fast simply because it
is the characteristic of their language, but it is nothing the people cannot deal with:
“I have been quite impressed with effort they make in Iberia. They have a strong accent and it
might be hard to even understand what are they saying some time but they are working with that,
51
they are going to school during office hours and having trainings and it is not so bad. It is not so
bad. But of course, the more the better.”(HR manager, Denmark)
People try to understand each other despite the accent, hence all of them actually speak
„‟European English‟‟ – an interesting term defined by one of the participants. Therefore it is
easier to understand each other – people for none of whom English is their mother tongue:
“For many people it easier to talk English with European people. There is also this term that is
used “European English”. There are those 3 kinds of English – British, American and European
English. Then for European people it is easier to talk with Europeans, for some Spanish people
it is easier to talk with Germans rather than British. ” (VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
On the interpersonal level is not a problem. As VP BG Plumbing from Spain states:
“At the end of the day we know each other and their level of English‟‟
4.5.2. Language as a barrier in a communication
Language in co-located units
The respondents agreed that while using English as a corporate language they still use the local
language when talking to their counterparts in regions such as Spanish in Iberia or Swedish in
Nordic countries or even use of German when the communication is held between the
counterparts in Sweden and Germany, for example.
Language in dispersed units
The problem with use of common language arises when people have to go outside their comfort
zone and talk to or address someone they do not know or they lack trust or experience of
working with. In this case, the cultural dimensions and contextual theory appear even stronger..
Then appears the issues that Chen, Geluykens &Ju (2006) pinpointed – the meaning of words
does not lie within the words themselves but within their interconnection to other words; as well
52
as Hall‟s contextual theory in a form of ambiguous messages that may interpreted differently by
representatives of different low or high-context cultures.
Use of language
Important aspect in using English as a common language widespread is self consciousness about
one‟s language skills. It is the phenomenon that needs further investigation – what makes people
so language conscious. Various respondents shared experiences where they, even with good
language skills, faced problems with communication, were shy or not feeling comfortable as to
express their ideas which they would freely do in their native language:
“Maybe it is a fact that in many cases with my German guy there, that he sounds 10 times more
intelligent in German than he does in English. When you don‟t excel in language, then you come
across as unintelligent. And maybe that‟s where the fear factor is lying behind.”(Business
Development Manager, Denmark)
The uncertainty can be explained if understanding the Cultural Dimensions of Hofstede. It is
evident that the employee from Germany represents the high uncertainty avoidance leading to
low tolerance of ambiguity and excelling for a strict, rule-orientated work organization.
Therefore, if there is any chance of misunderstanding, the German employee would try to
minimize it – in this case speaking German and avoiding English – which for him particularly
works as an uncertainty avoidance. Also Hofstede suggests that high uncertainty avoidance can
lead to people being uncomfortable in working in a new, innovative environment which might be
the case here – not only communicated within the local unit, but going on a next higher European
level with the new organizational structure.
Many of the interviewees agreed that in some cases, when there are discussions or online
conferences, people who feel unsure about their language skills, prefer to stay quiet, even though
they might have some very valuable input. It is even more difficult to manage the discussions
that involve more sensible topics.
For example:“When you talk about the technical details then the different levels of English is not
so important, because it is more concrete data, real facts and then it is easier.”
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However, same interviewee agrees: “If you are talking about the loyalty problems or perception
of customers, then it is more difficult to explain your feelings, your thoughts and it is also more
difficult generally to discuss about it.”(VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
The use of common language is also affected by the professional language of people. Even
though people are proficient in a language (in this case English), they will trust the decision
making process to another person who is more familiar with the for example technical details as
opposite to the marketing personnel:
“The other problem is the different background people. Basically speaking, the marketing guy
will say in the end of the day “Technical guys, I will trust you on these issues, because it is a
technical issue.” But there are always a small area ”grey area” where are discussions, for
example, claims. Technical guy will come up with technical solution, very technical, detailed
instructions, but the marketing/sales guys can say “this is technically perfect, but it is not
commercially valid.” The installer will never follow this instruction, you have to go on the field
and understand what they are asking for etc. “(VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
Main points:
In general language proficiency is not an issue itself, meaning people can understand
each other relatively well, because being an international company, every employee is
mastering the language at a certain competency. People who know each other, or work
together, they already know the level of language of the others, and they do not feel
intimidated to talk, they acknowledge the accent of each other. This is what is happening
in the interpersonal level between two employees.
Aponar is investing a significant effort in language trainings, especially for the areas that
are „‟known‟‟ for their lack of English proficiency.
Language when combined with the Hofstede‟s uncertainy avoidance dimension may have
an impact on the use of language. Cultures with higher uncertainty avoidance may tend to
avoid to use English even when their skills are good to avoid the misunderstandings.
Language affects knowledge sharing. In the innovative companies, as Aponar is, the main
54
part of the knowledge is tacit, meaning it is hardly transmittable via a simple written
message due to the fact that tacit knowledge includes much more than language symbols.
People feel intimated to use the language to share the ideas, especially via email or phone
due to the lack of non verbal cues.
4.6. Cultural dimensions in a GVT
Even though the body of the literature has previously investigated the culture and its affects on
the communication, the findings of the interview were quite surprising. First of all, it was clearly
to see Gardenswartz, Rowe, Digh, Benett‟s Three Cultures model present, surprisingly the
national culture not being the main affecting factor. What was a discovery is that, actually in this
particular company, what matters the most and where there are the most serious problems is the
corporate culture, or so to speak, the lack of it whereas the national culture does not seem to be
such a big issue:
“I don‟t see that either, I see it more as a Global vs. local change more than a national
perception. That‟s my perception anyway.” (HR manager, Denmark)
4.6.1. Personal culture
In the end of the day it is important to acknowledge to a big extent individuals own experiences
and background – social, occupational, educational etc. As stated in the literature review it forms
a big part of the successful result of all three cultures working together. The successful
implementation of the virtual mindset stems from people historic position in the organization and
previous work experience. VP of Indoor Climate Business Group from Finland confirms:
“I would think that dominant factor is where in the organization have you traditionally been. The
second most important factor is the background working culture, overall working culture and all
the universal cultures in the country where you happen to been located where you have grown
up; and third is age.”
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4.6.2. National culture
First of all, almost all of the respondents, with some small exceptions or remarks, confirmed that
the cultural problem is actually not there. People are culturally aware on the general level:
“I actually don‟t see it as a big issue. From what I got it…it is not that he is a German or she is
a Swede it is not our biggest concern by far.” (HR manager, Denmark)
Over the years people have learnt to cope with the intercultural communication as such. Almost
all of the employees have had training on intercultural communication or heard about Hofstede at
least one in their work life:
“This with adapting to cultures is becoming less and less important. I remember when I was
studying and we were going through these classes about dealing with all the cultures and I spent
once a month in China on a project remember to give a business card with 2 hands and in Italy
they don‟t drink cappuccino after… All the things that you need culturally to adapt, I don‟t find it
are not so important, because all of us are working in the international environment and first of
all we know people are very different and, we don‟t take it for granted. I don‟t think there we
need to do a special adaptation. Of course you need to be polite and talk to people in a nice way,
but it is universal, with this language issue – it is very important to read people face to face to
build a bond between them.” (Business Development Manager, Denmark)
At the same time, it was evident from the interviews, that the culture aspect should not be denied.
It is the stereotypical characteristics that people learnt to deal with such as giving the business
card with two hands, or other stereotypical actions that would be expected from representative of
a particular country. On the cultural dimensions level, the impact of culture appeared to be huge
on what and how we do.
The important conclusion supports Hall‟s contextual theory and Chen, Geluykens &Ju (2006)
elaboration from that. All respondents made clear that in no way during working virtually we
should forget as such that all the people are different, not taking for granted that people think
and understand the same way as we do. It is very important to express yourself, to make it clear
56
for every single participant, especially in a virtual context in order to avoid misunderstandings
and implied meaning of the message. Various interviewees mentioned that it is extremely
important not to assume that people understand or see the things same way as you do:
“Maybe what to me is green for him can be yellow and then the communication is destroyed
completely. Completely.” (Iberia Quality, Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal)
Or as the manager from Spain states:
If I have an idea to sell the product in a way, maybe it is not a good way to sell it in Germany or
Sweden, I think sometimes we don‟t realize but we are talking about very different things.”
(Spain)
Various participants suggested that the important aspect of the national culture itself is not in the
interpersonal relationship, but should be paid attention in a sense that the employees should
always think about the country, the market they are developing the product for and take decisions
according to the culture of the client‟s country:
“But most importantly, we must focus on the client and his culture and not only take decision
thinking with our philosophy. So, for instance, this claim, if it is in Portugal, so every decision it
should face the requirements of the Portuguese clients. Why? Because the clients in Portugal are
different from clients in Spain, from the clients in France, from the clients in Sweden, you know?
Why? Because we are all different, culture is different. So the same claim, the expectations of
solutions of the claim in Portugal are different for the same claim in another country. We must
understand what client are we talking about, we must be open-minded, reach a compromise.”
(Iberia Quality, Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal)
His colleague from Denmark adds:
“Sometimes it is difficult things to communicate inside the group, our team – because I meet
people from Finland, people from Germany, people from all over Europe. So sometimes the
culture is different, different ways of working, sometimes it is difficult to work with people. They
don‟t think the same as you and they are used to different. If you are from Sweden, you are used
to Sweden market. If I work in Spain, I am used to the Spanish market. Sometimes we don‟t
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realize that the markets are totally different in each country […]It is smth to do with having the
right message across and making sure that this way we don‟t fall in any of those traps.”
Main points:
Over the years people have learnt how to deal with the different cultures on the surface –
the study book cases, but it is in depth, actually the common sense how to deal in one or
another situation. The most important is to be polite, intelligent and sensitive – then you
will be right in any culture.
Various participants confirmed that it is important though to realize ones national
identity, cultural background when talking about the decisions made, the solutions
provided or applications develop for one or another market which was not the focus of
the present research.
The most important thing to learn is simply to understand that every and each employee
is different from another, and do not take for granted the communication itself. It should
be the responsibility of both parties. Both parties should make sure the message
transmitted (no matter if that is via phone or mail) is precise, clear and understood the
way it should be. As participants repeatedly stated do not assume that the person sitting in
Finland will think exactly the same way as someone in Spain, for example.
However, as said above, the stereotypical differences are diminishing. Not even the
groundbreaking Spaniard stereotype takes place. In various examples and questions,
respondents stated that it is not like that anymore – for example, Spanish people used to
hierarchy, Spanish people being late or lazy. It is slowly becoming a myth.
4.6.3. Corporate culture – global vs. local mindset
The more interesting discovery lies behind the other dimension of culture – the corporate culture
so to speak or perhaps lack of it. There is the room for the improvement and perhaps the root of
the problems of misunderstandings and lack of virtual mindset from what may seem in the
interviews. The history of the company dates long time back. With the organizational changes
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and switch from the local units to a unified, global and centralized organization, at some point,
the employees get lost in the middle of those changes. They are used to their previous local
structure, “local kingdoms” as one of the managers referred to:
„‟Yeah, I would say one two of Eastern European countries and our International Business is
also quite standing alone, including the hell of countries. It is a bit more difficult.[...] : It is
more, lets say, a bit of a local kingdom.[...] : It is still local thinking, not thinking a bit more
global…‟‟ (VP Integrated Business Management, Germany)
Employees do not understand the change of going global because seemingly the work process
stays the same for them at first:
“Many came from the inside; it is my perception – local function, national entity. And now they
woke up to a new reality a couple of years ago. It was a process that was underway but that was
sort of a big step that was taken 3 years ago. We are still struggling.” (HR manager, Denmark)
There is the „‟identity crisis‟‟ in those local organizations and overall across the company as
various participants refer to as how they should see themselves – part of a local unit, regional or
European level:
“What are we now? Are we Danish, are we Scandinavian, are we European, what are we really?
[…] Can you feel connected to the community that is so large where you are just a very very tiny
piece?” (HR manager, Denmark)
Or the identification of the activity of company as such:
“It is also the perception – what are we? Are we an innovative company or are we first of all like
a company that buys products from other products and then sells to other companies.” (HR
manager, Denmark)
Employees do not know or see the vision of the company in a global aspect; they only see
themselves as a part of the local organization. They do not encompass the global scale of the
organization. This kind of local thinking stands in a way of successful implementation of virtual
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work organization as such because people do not understand why their manager is not spending
all of his time dealing with local needs. It makes it more complex because the local employees
do not understand, for example, why their boss can not answer them straight away:
“I think for the local people it is difficult to know that you are not working only for them, that
you are working for the whole Europe.” (Applications Manager, Spain)
Her colleague from Denmark agrees:
“For some especially those in sales units, they are not used to work in international
environment. 80-90 % of their time they are interacting with locals. It is only for us in the
business group that we are scattered all over the place that it is kind of natural for us.”
Respondents have also marked the direction of development in the future, requesting that the
organization will expand onto European level even more in the future for more global span:
“But most likely organization 5 years from now will be even more global, even more cross
functional. […]We need some maturity in an organization. A lot of effort being done, but if we
could get some good ideas about how to move it step forward. I also see, that‟s a gap between
local/global, local European whatever it is, it will be ongoing for some time, but we need to
bridge that gap somehow.” (HR manager, Denmark)
Main points:
Aponar is a global company on it is way from being completely local fragmented
organization to a global modern and standardized MNC with a global mindset but local
expertise.
Still, for many employees the new implemented matrix organization is not exactly clear.
Employees are confused and do not know who is responsible for what and who should
they report to.
The employees who are working on both local and international level fully realize their
responsibilities and the slope towards a global organization. The employees from the
“local kingdoms” work for the local unit, they do not see this global embeddideness.
One of the main challenges of the managers within the company is to bridge this gap and
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raise the global awareness. Make employees realize they do not work for the local targets,
but they work for the reaching the local targets which is the part of a bigger picture. This
is what must be implemented, the key piece of information missing.
4.7. Managing technology
4.7.1. Communication pattern: overview
As for how to manage the technology and the means of communication in such a multilayered
multinational context, each of the respondents had his own little principles or guidelines on how
to act or perform in one or another situation. Respondents summed up that it is very difficult to
state the right proportions in this communication that they are mostly following their gut feeling,
their inner voice on the path towards the right communication. Many say balance is the key:
“My personal feeling is that right way is a good balance, depending a lot on the issue you are
talking about.” (VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
Respondents agreed that no media of communication should be excluded, as opposite; people
have to learn to deal with the different media for the best effect:
“For me all communications are important, even when they don‟t look like that. […] because the
communication should be maintained and improved. […] If it is, how can I say, several issues,
maybe I prefer to first to speak by phone, and then by email in order to clarify. So I try to speak
with the person and then send summary of the conversation what we have discussed what we
have decided, lets say. So I try to mix both situations in order to ensure that as much as possible
at each other.” (Iberia Quality, Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal)
Various participants approved MRT and task fit technologies stating that the choice of the media
depends on the task complexity and urgency. The more urgent or complex the matter, the more
the probability that the employee will pick up the phone to call. At the same time, if the
discussion is about the standard issues, technical specification or data analysis, they would most
likely choose the mail over the phone.
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“If we talk about, let‟s say some phase in the company, you share some specifications,
data…Some people prefer the use of mail because they can read it 5 or 6 times, they are sure
they have understood properly. Also depends on the nationality, there are nationalities that
prefer to have the things written down and reread it to make sure they didn‟t forget the details.
While other nationalities would say do it quicker and with less details. I think that, for example,
Nordic people like to use mail with more people because they look more for a consensus.
Normally, they don‟t have the clear position before the meeting, they are into discussion,
listening everyone, in the end they are able to make consensus.” (VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
Most of the managers agreed, that whereas it is the matter of balance, or finding the right mix,
they clearly realize that not all things can be done via phone or mail. There should be a
separation, clear division what shall be discussed over the phone and what – over the mail:
“You should clearly separate what can be done via phone and what no. You can not always
make 10 or 20 people travelling.” (VP Integrated Business Management, Germany)
The most important is to make everyone feel important, useful and involved:
“I try for them to take part/participate in everything; for instance everything. Truly feeling that
they can participate and that they are very important to company. Every time it is necessary to
take some decisions, that their opinion is important, that I take it into the consideration a lot. I
understand communication like much more important because it is not only talking.” (Iberia
Quality, Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal)
4.7.2. Face to face interaction
Gibson&Cohen (2003) stated that, face to face meetings provide the information, the social
context and social cues. This information, so called social information, creates the trust and
shared understanding – enabling factors towards virtual team effectiveness. Whereas, during the
call or email the lack of those social cues develops the opposite effect, lack of trust, self
perception issues, especially for the people from high context cultures, and it is then all
multiplied by the sometimes satisfactory or medium language proficiency. In the cases of open
discussions, people tend to close themselves and do not give the input that could be valuable
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because effective knowledge sharing is available in comforting environment (Gibson&Cohen,
2003). All of the respondents stated it as being very important in the working life. First of all,
because there are some issues that can not be discussed with other modern communication media
due to the loss in the process of knowledge sharing or innovation:
“To drive a change, you can‟t do something without face to face.” (Product Line Manager,
Germany)
Face to face interaction was of course the primary option for all the respondents. Face to face
communication helps destroy the barriers, helps on the way to creativity, to discuss the serious
complex matters. The only limit on the way to face to face interaction is of course, travelling
costs and time resources. Participants confirmed that the best communication media is a face to
face meeting. They confirmed the MRT that face to face interaction enables to fully transmit not
only verbal message, but also multiple cues such as voice, body language, facial expression
which is important in developing further mutual trust and understanding within a team. The
regularity of face to face encounters depended with a medium average of 6 times per year.
Managers agreed that they see those meetings as necessary to develop rapport. Those travels do
not serve only for the purposes of the problem solving and decision making, more then that it is a
bonding meetings, establishment of personal relationship and networking to develop greater
sense of trust and community.
“I think that every issue, not all of course, but mostly I talk about them face-to-face and by
phone. I think it is difficult to think one issue I talked only by phone or email. Because when we
have an issue handling, it takes some time to solve. If it is possible to say for each issue it is quite
sure we talk face-to-face.” (Iberia Quality, Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal)
4.7.3. Phone interaction
Phone is the primer substitute of what may be called a face to face communication. According to
Daft&Legel phone is the second richest media after a face to face meeting. It is personal,
provides with a fast response and transmits partially the non verbal cues – such as the voice,
mood or intonations of the speaker. Phone was repeatedly mentioned as the most favourable
channel for effective intercultural communication among dispersed members:
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“By phone I talk, I can not say every day, but 80-90% of the day I talk every day with all of them
by phone by mail, mostly by phone. I try to make people to forget the distance! And I insist with
them, pick up the phone and speak. First of all, speak speak speak!” (Iberia Quality,
Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal)
At the same time, the phone interaction imposes some limitations towards its use – among them
language proficiency and trust issues. Even though it would help much more to pick up a phone
instead of writing an email, because this way the things can be done in a more timely manner ,
get an immediate response or feedback and understand whether the counterparty on the other
side of the phone understands the meaning. At the same time, there is no direct evidence leading
to the phone as a mitigating factor in the intercultural communication. Phone communication as
such does not have the qualities of the email, for example – where the mail is the evidence of the
work done, to make sure things are done correctly, and especially the mitigating effect that helps
improving the language accuracy as such for example. As many participants suggested phone is
a more personal way of communication. Especially, if the person is not confident about his
language proficiency, there is no way he would pick up a phone instead of preparing a message
with some in advance. Unless the person on the other side of the phone is his colleague, he has
met face to face before or they speak the same language – as for example, in Spain and Portugal
where the employees talk every day on the phone intensively, this is also due to country
specificity of using both verbal and non verbal cues much more then for example, the Finnish
people.
“In Spain or Italy, we use more the phone. We are more about talk the things. We take decisions
quicker cause we do it over the phone but then sometimes it is less stronger because we have this
weakness of who takes the decision. But it is very general.” (Iberia Quality, Environment, LPR
Manager, Portugal)
Regarding the task complexity phone has been chosen as a mean of communication to use when
the task is complex or urgent, involves a lot of discussion, or a creativity element.
The negative side of the phone mediated communication which by the other respondent was
perceived as the positive is the fact that the information is „‟floating‟‟. The manager shares her
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insight that the phone helps to avoid the implied meaning, and helps to understand whether the
employee has understood the task and the whole discussion. In this way, the misinterpretation
can be avoided at the early stages of the discussion.
“They also need to try and ask them directly on the phone. Then you get an understanding
especially when you discuss issues, complicated issues. I try to really ask directly if I don‟t hear
anything for the last 10 min from somebody - try to involve the people into the discussion. Then I
have the feeling if it is understood or no.” (VP Integrated Business Management, Germany)
On the contrary, another manager says that his communication on the phone often leads to
exactly opposite situation – to misinterpretation, misunderstanding:
“It is also what I often see what I do wrong, that I have an idea and then I say it a bit too fast,
then 2 min later, someone is saying so and so and I say this is also what I meant but that
message didn‟t come across. So on the phone I can end up in a situation where I haven‟t given
my idea enough thoughts before I communicate it and then it is misunderstood whereas if I am
force myself to write it down message becomes clear and there is less chance to
misunderstanding.” (Business Development Manager, Denmark)
4.7.4.Email interaction
It was evident from the interviews that the managers perceive e-mail as an important and
strategic tool within the organization.
“[…]it is a very powerful tool, we have to understand and have to know how to use it properly.
It is fantastic. It is the best way to send information and we are sharing files and data.” (VP BG
Plumbing, Spain)
Many respondents advocated for the use of email for 3 reasons:
First of all, unconsciously, the respondents agree with Shachalf and his perception of bridging
the cultural diversity with the help of email. The email gives time to think, prepare the message,
check it with auto correction tools and then send it.
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“It is clear to do it by email, because you have more time to think what you want to say.” (VP
BG Plumbing, Spain)
E-mails helps to mitigate the contextual issues that arise for people from different cultures. The
interviews show the support to Chen, Geluykens &Ju (2006) in their reflection upon a language –
the perception of the implied meaning as one of the most challenging parts of the
communication. Therefore, when communicated, manager should make clear that the employee
on the other end of the media understand exactly what the task is, which is in line with E.Hall‟s
contextual theory. The differences may arise if people from different context cultures meet, each
representing his own meaning. Therefore, to mediate the implied meaning it is important to
acknowledge which task should be done via appropriate media. VP Integrated Business
Management from Germany shares:
“Quite often if you feel they are not so keen to English, they always said yes they understood if
you are on the phone. It is quite often good if you ask them - can you please send me the
summary of what we have just discussed to really be sure they have understood. For many
people it is much easier is to write in English rather than discuss.”
The email not only helps to mitigate the misunderstanding due to the lack of context, or the
information known by all the participants, it also helps to mitigate the effect of language
accuracy, bridge the gap between different levels of language proficiency:
“On the phone I can end up in a situation where I haven‟t given my idea enough thoughts before
I communicate it and then it is misunderstood whereas if I am force myself to write it down
message becomes clear and there is less chance to misunderstanding.” (Business Development
Manager, Denmark)
Third factor in the favour of the choice of email is the complexity of task. The easier or formal
or more straight forward the task, the more use of email. E-mail has been chosen when the tasks
are clear, formal and pretty straight forward - as the best media of communication – as to its
ability to transmit the direct, precise and technical information:
“If we talk about technical things sometimes it is very easy, it is just technical data.”
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As the complexity gradually increases, the employees use the combination of both phone and
email or switch directly to organize a meeting.
“Sometimes when you have to discuss something you can‟t do it by mail, at the end it is 100
mails and it is only a conversation between 2 people. It is difficult. 5 of these people are
involved, you answer, the other one guy is not reading your mail and answering same thing. You
are talking same, but totally different things. I think it is better to take the phone and say what do
you think about it? Or just organize a meeting.” (VP BG Plumbing, Spain)
Among the negative sides of the email, employees state the email becoming a political tool that
is mainly connected due to use or abuse of the Cc function.
“I think we have this culture of „‟ccing‟‟ everybody on the email.” (HR manager, Denmark)
Employees tend to include more and more people in the Cc, usually higher in the hierarchy in
order to get their problem solved faster or in an attempt to show they have been informed and
done what is necessary from their part. At the same time, the top management tends to suffer
from that due to the fact that the employees not always separate when they should include
someone in the cc and when not. There are no strict guidelines on the use of the Cc function and
there is a tendency to abuse it.
“Another thing regarding using mails is that emails can tend to quickly become political,
especially when there are a lot of Ccs on it, it turns to cover my ass communication. What more
and more people quite often do, that, if I am having, I have an email every week with a
colleague with a couple of Ccs, and turns into cover my ass, I was the bad guy here and then he
calls me and says “lets just take it on the phone before more emails are arriving”. (Business
Development Manager, Denmark)
After further questioning though, it did not appear to have any country specific features as
suggested. This may be especially present in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance as is Spain
and Germany as one of the participants confirmed that it is more common in Spain due to the
fact that they are used to work in hierarchy. However, the Spanish manager denied it, whereas
the Danish manager agreed that the Cc function has been used in Scandinavia as well. Therefore,
it is not country specific but rather person-specific.
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The other aspect connected to the Cc function, or as a result of it – is the information overflow.
The managers that receive a lot of information to their mailbox, wanted or no, therefore,
sometimes losing the grip of the important information in the middle.
4.8. Challenges
The main challenge participants mentioned a lot among the interviews is communication in a
team - how to find a right balance, when to use phone, e-mail or face-to-face meeting? There is
no single formula that would help solve this issue. As can be seen from the interviews, the
managers try to find their way, based on the experience and the inner feeling. But is it always
appropriate? There was an opinion ambiguity as one of the interviewees stated he would use the
email in the less complex matters, whereas the other stated that he would use email for the more
complex issues. One answer is not good for all, it is necessary to see who is on the other side of
the media, to make the decision, taking in account various factors that affect choice of media:
language skills, cultural aspect, task complexity and the context of the given issue.
Therefore, the choice of communication would be influenced by the language proficiency of the
employees. If workers feel confident about themselves, they would probably not hesitate to pick
up a phone and call. However, if they are afraid and would like to avoid a misunderstanding and
make sure they are understood correctly, they will write an e-mail, where all the ideas are
summarized and verified that it is exactly what should be said.
Alternatively, some of the interviewees mentioned, that particular nationalities would rather
prefer an e-mail media of communication due to the fact that they seek for a consensus in a
group, so they would make more people informed about the issue, let the other team members
create a decision, listen to every participant of a discussion carefully and make a decision
directly in a meeting after being able to listen to everyone.
Of course, there is also a cultural aspect that affects the choice of media, interconnected with the
language though. For example, Spanish employees are using more non-verbal signs in their
communication, so they would advocate for a face-to-face or telephone communication which
has a higher degree of non-verbal communication. However, when they would contact their
counterparties in another country, they would use an e-mail to avoid misunderstanding.
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The fact is that it is however, not the perfect English skills that are the perfect remedy in this
situation, one of the employees states a funny observation which however, is very true in the ever
expanding global community:
“I also have to do with graduate programmes - young people, nearly graduates coming in the
company. There I think it is very true, they have lived in 3 or 4 different countries, they speak 5
different languages, they studied in 3 countries. If you ask them where they come from, they will
not say Germany or Spain, they will say Europe which is interesting.” (HR manager, Denmark)
In the light of the last statement the author is suggesting the main scope, the main challenge at
this point would be to make the people go more global, not only on the „‟paper‟‟ or reports, but
in their mindsets. To turn the attention of the HR towards the creation of a future manager of
Aponar:
“The Aponar manager of the future, he needs to have a very good understanding of these
processes, he needs to be aware where are the pitfalls and where are the possible advantages.
That we need to install at some point in everybody‟s heads. They do see themselves not as
German or supply chain people but as part of a global. They have that global mindset. But that
doesn‟t come overnight.” (HR manager, Denmark)
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5. CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this study was to analyze issues which emerge from the cultural and language
diversity of members in a GVT throughout their communication process. In order to understand
the challenges in virtual communication and collaboration that the managers and employees in
Aponar face a series of interviews were conducted with the Supply Chain, Business Group
Plumbing, Business Group Indoor Climate including managers and key personnel.
Language and cultural diversity are closely related, making it difficult to separate them. This is
because to understand the culture and context requires the knowledge of the language whereas
language is an indicator of the society and the culture where it is being spoken
Before embarking on my research, I had outlined that linguistic challenges in Aponar may arise
from two different sources. One is challenges connected to the language proficiency of the
interviewees. Meaning the level of the language is not sufficient to be able to provide a high
level discussion. The second challenge is the reflection of the cultural dimension in the use of
language where people even with a high level of language skills are not able to establish
successful communication by coming from different cultures.
My research found that, in general, language proficiency was not an issue itself, meaning people
understood each other relatively well, because being an international company, every employee
was mastering the language at a certain competency. People who know each other, or work
together, they already know the level of language of the others, and they do not feel intimidated
to talk and they acknowledge the accent of each other.
But in some cases, my research found that people felt intimated to use language to share their
ideas, especially via email or phone due to the lack of non verbal cues. Another reason for people
being unsure about their use of language is in relation with Hofstede‟s uncertainly avoidance
dimension, which says that cultures with higher uncertainty avoidance may tend to avoid using
English even when their skills are good just to avoid the misunderstandings. Furthermore, even if
people have medium or high level language proficiency, there is still the high risk of losing
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rhetorical skills, including the use of humor, symbolism, sensitivity, negotiation and persuasion
skills. The lack of such skills often leads to misunderstandings and can be an obstacle to the
effectiveness of the virtual team.
Employees at Aponar revealed that the loss of face phenomena was a recurring problem in the
company. For example, managers would not attend discussions and participate, even in face-to-
face, because they would feel intimidated and self-conscious about their language skills. While
the concept began in the Far East, it now looks to be a problem featuring in companies in
Europe.
Culture, the second factor in this research, is labeled by the literature on the topic as the main
factor in determining people‟s choice of information communication technologies. Despite this,
the findings of my research came to some interesting conclusions. Aponar illustrated that
national culture is not the main affecting factor. I discovered that at the company, the underlying
issue was corporate culture, or the lack of one.
All of the respondents stated face to face as the most important media. First of all, because there
are some issues that can not be discussed with other modern communication media due to the
loss in the process of knowledge sharing or innovation.
Face to face interaction was the first choice for all the respondents. Face to face communication
helps destroy the barriers, helps on the way to creativity, to discuss the serious complex matters.
Among the only limitations can be named travelling costs and time resources. Face to face
meetings not only are the way of problem solving and decision making, it is a way of bonding,
establishing of personal relationship and networking to develop greater sense of trust and
community.
There was no direct (either theoretical or empirical) leading to phone as a mitigating factor in the
intercultural communication. Phone mediated communication is a more personal way of
communication that provide a fast feedback and response. However, people feel they would be
limited in their choice of the phone if they are not confident about their language proficiency.
This is to say, unless the person on the other side is his colleague, or they have a previous work
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relationship. Also choice of phone proved to be stronger in cultures where people have a
tendency to talk a lot and use both verbal and non verbal cues much more than, for example, the
Finnish people.
E-mail as a type of media helps bridging the cultural diversity in a GVT. The email gives time to
think, prepare the message, check it with auto correction tools and then send it. The email not
only helps to mitigate the misunderstanding due to the lack of context, or the information known
by all the participants, it also helps to mitigate the effect of language accuracy, bridge the gap
between different levels of language proficiency. Respondents also mentioned that one should be
careful with the use of email as the cure for all times. The conclusion to be made is that the
easier or formal or more straight forward the task, the more use of email. E-mail has been chosen
when the tasks are clear, formal and pretty straight forward due to its ability to transmit the
direct, precise and technical information. However, one should not transmit the feedback,
especially negative, with the help of email, because it only helps in escalating the conflict and
negative feelings.
In general, the empirical part proved the theoretical framework, that however GVT is a very
challenging type of work organization, the benefits are outweighing the disadvantages. With the
right balance between the various types of media, that are present, cultural consciousness and
language training, leads to the successful implementation of GVT. With the new generation of
managers, who are aware of the virtual collaboration, have experience in different positions and
different locations country wise, as well as language skills and global mindset, the effectiveness
of the virtual team work organization will only increase.
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Websites
Company‟s corporate website:
www.aponar.com
Geert Hofstede‟s cultural dimensions‟ study:
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/
The cover page picture was accessed from:
http://www.ceibs.edu/link/latest/51104_8.shtml
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Interview transcript with HR Manager, Denmark
Q: […]
A: and if that is even possible?
Q: […]
A: […] to me the interesting part is more about the state of as it is because I get a little bit mixed
signals you might think things are going pretty bad or we are working towards something good.
Pessimistic people saying is so tough.
Q: […]The foundation is pretty good. That is my gut feeling.
A: I might as well be honest with you. There are the differences within the organization – the
business group organization, as I hear it seen as relatively distant and relatively out of sync with
the rest of the organization. That‟s what I hear. Probably you can confirm at what you hear also?
Q: Yes, that is my feeling as well and then I also feel that there might be and I don‟t know, if that
is a perception of supply chain themselves or other from supply chain that supply chain is a bit
more forward in relation to getting this virtual matrix organization to work. That is a self
deception of the supply chain that other parts of organization might be lacking a bit behind when
it comes to that. There is a mismatch in getting the things vertically or horizontally through the
organization so to speak.
A: But now, I mean, this was the first generation change towards European organization, now we
are having the second generation because now, for instance, the business group is being
reorganized one more time. And parts of the supply chain organization recently have been
changed. In any organization there will be constant changes. Now there is, now we are entering
second phase here of changes in a virtual organization. Some will say that‟s more complexity,
some will say we are making things simpler. Depending on you…
Q: But at least every time you add a change, you add confusion, it might get simpler over time
and so on so forth. And there is confusion in the sense that… people basically are not sure why
some people sit at the meeting, why are they there and why are people that should be interested
in what‟s going on are not there. So…
A: And that comes out of supply chain organization or…?
Q: That comes out of supply chain organization. That there is…and honestly sometimes it is also
just frustration at things from people being or feeling a bit out of the loop so to speak about
what‟s going on and it is quite natural when there is a lot of change. So I have to look more at
how much I actually … and how much is frustration and so on and so forth.
A: There will never be a situation of 0 level frustration. There is certain amount of what you
need. You need this constant change and they respect that. That‟s what keeps us competitive. We
79
sort of revisit the organization –see how can we improve, how can we modify, how can we do
better, how can we get better in terms of needs of… We need whether supply chain or sales
organization. Let me think. Are you also in sales or not at all?
Q: […]
A: […]
Q: […] Do we actually understand each other? It is a classic kind of problem but this friction that
can be between the production guys so to speak and sales people. And pulling sometimes in
different directions and there will always be this kind of friction. The thing is that how much
friction should there be.
A: If it is a constructive friction or not, if it is not it will destroy more then it will do.
Q: And maybe also friction in the sense that you have local sales people talking to the outlets of
your places. And do they consider in the daily work that it is a global organization they work
for?
A: Most likely no.
Q: Yeah. So there is a friction as well. And there is kind of the thing I have been coming back
to,[…] being a patchwork of an organization, being embedded in different kind of local
circumstances. Then starting to think globally, if I do this, it affects this guy over there. This can
be constant frustration. I don‟t know if for people on the floor, but also challenge many of the
managers see. I guess it is not new to you?
A: No,no it is not new. Good question is how can we alleviate some of that pain and can we even
risk something that needs to be lived through somehow?
Q: Yeah, I think there are 2 legs. There is the managerial leg, which is the thing that they told
me, either you keep this mindset or you get out. That was basically what they said.
A: it is what they are saying in the managerial level?
Q: Yeah, it is a little bit of what they are saying. And it is understandable in a sense that we have
now decided on organizational change, and this is how it looks. There is a room for coming
feedback etc etc but the baseline is this so either you jump in or you jump out. That is one part.
And then there is another part – to, that is culture-wise not national culture-wise but also Aponar
culture-wise I think. How can we, I know you have that saying „‟One unified Aponar‟‟. But
when I interview people it doesn‟t seem like one unified Aponar. It seems like there is a lot of
local embeddedness, and a lot of local pride so to speak, and that is good because it gives some
local kind of responsiveness so to speak etc etc.
A: […] Looking at it - What are we now? Are we Danish, are we Scandinavian, are we
European, what are we really? Where do you feel your sort of... Anyway. It is kind of the same
story I guess. Can you feel connected to the community that is so large where you are just a very
very tiny piece? Or… And that is a mental journey that we are…Good thing we are not going
back. I mean you should never say never, I mean management facilitates how much…But most
likely organization 5 years from now will be even more global, even more cross functional.
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Q: And I think you will never get one unified Aponar. I think it is just important to reflect all of
it, makes me want a bit more integration and try to work towards that and play on different kind
of things HR-wise.
A: Yeah. And I should of course also ask myself as sort of a representative of the group – how
can we facilitate that process? And then it is of course a matter of what ships do we launch. I
mean what is that we should do and what is that we know we don‟t have resources and bla bla
bla. And of course if the whole organization was in a state of disintegration, it would be a
serious problem. But from what I hear from you, that is not the case as such. It is just a matter
of…
Q: Honestly it seems like you are on the right track. The question is just how fast do you get
there? And what are the consequences of not getting there fast enough so to speak? […]
A: […]
Q: Of course there is the whole national aspect as well. Several aspects - one is the language
aspect, it seems like again, and it is not because honestly, blame for being too critical, when I
speak to people but honestly there seems to be done some efforts to help with the language wise
at least in Iberia and so on and so forth. It seems like people are getting more satisfied with the
ability of speaking a common language, so in that regard I was also surprised that it actually
seems to work quite good. Bet there are some things about...Some people due to lack of verbal
skills are writing a lot of mails and are not there, it sounds micro, but are not there to pick up the
phone when there is important stuff going on. They would rather do it through mail. And what
happens with mail is that it gets sent around to everybody but nobody picks it up so to speak and
do something about it.
A: It is a good observation.
Q: So all this kind of microstuff is the thing I would like to get more into and build some larger
foundation on that so we can develop some kind of policies or linking with policies. How should
we deal with it.
A: Of course, we should also identify the necessary prerequisites. I mean, that is true, there have
been, I have been quite impressed with effort they make in Iberia. They have a strong accent and
it might be hard to even understand what are they saying some time but they are working with
that, they are going to school during office hours and having trainings and it is not so bad. It is
not so bad. But of course, the more the better.
Q: I have also seen with Germany, that here is the self perception also that these kind of
tendency to avoid uncertainty a little bit. So the Spanish have tendency when they feel uncertain,
then they kind of overdo the mails, they just write superlong mails for example and so on and so
forth…Where I think we could as well go through - should we not develop a template but you
know…Think about what kind of information can we share through the mail and how do we
structure our mail basically. […] Because you know, when people send around mails and people
reply mails and suddenly have long mails, knowledge does not get shared because people
basically tell me that if they are „‟cced‟‟ then they don‟t read it.
A: I think we have this culture of „‟ccing‟‟ everybody on the email.
81
Q: Yeah, that‟s another problem. The problem is that there is one part that wants to share extra
knowledge but there is of course also part that use the cc strategically. We use it to cc somebody
so the other one sees that that person has been cced in order to get the reply that we want faster.
That also means that some managers get information overdose sometimes, simply too many
mails in the mailbox.
A: I mean in the ideal world, of course, 2 employees, they should get in contact, share the
information, they shouldn‟t cc the manager […]
Q: Some managers that have developed policy, if it goes back and forth more than 3 times, and I
see it cause you cc me, you should pick up the phone to stop this kind of back and forth. And
other people developed the guidelines concerning „‟you don‟t give a negative feedback over the
mail you only do it by phone etc etc. „‟
A: So those are there?
Q: Those are there. There are people who develop their kind of small policies about how you
should do it.
A: Country specific? Or how is it? Manager specific?
Q: More to be manager specific. It seems more that now we say it is more than this than you pick
up…Say to them you have to solve this. Or you have to call each other. Or you don‟t give
negative feedback etc etc
And then of course there is also nation kind of wide, a bit, now u asked what kind of culture is
Aponar. There has been some…Some people have tendency to see that there was a lot of
consensus making from the top management down seems to be focus on creating consensus,
with they describe as more finish way of managing or leading. I am not sure whether that is the
truth or it is just the perception of some people who want more hard core managerial stuff.
A: There is no doubt that there is also a managerial discussion ongoing between the central
European countries and Scandinavian countries. Of course we shouldn‟t sort of fall into the
pitiful of being too stereotypical around this, you can have a consensus manager in Germany.
But still, there are sort of characteristics of management culture. That needs to be balanced
somehow. To me there is no Nordic managerial style kind of background. And then we have a
1000 employees in Germany. […]It needs to be balanced.
Q: […]You have all these managers who want to show themselves off and that they want to
show they are good at what they do and they want to stand out. He kind of developed the
guideline where he wants consensus. He would do anything that they told him to do if managers
under him, could reach the consensus among them. So it is also a way to be very Finnish I guess.
But also a way of creating collaboration among you know, a lot of independent actors.
Q: This is kind of a very fractioned feedback. Pretty fractioned. […]
Q: So basically there is a lot of material I have. Maybe we don‟t want to my idea was at least to
have something concrete to work with managerial guidelines you already had done and try to
develop them, maybe alter them and then show why I have chosen to alter them from the
82
empirical data combined with the research of what we already know. Because then we have
something concrete to work on. And then there is kind of state of the art as well. I guess you
need some kind of feedback on that.
A: Yeah, it would be helpful. And also some of these lower level observations that you have
done, this could be interesting to see. This is my perception, I came as an outsider. This was the
stoke and this was what I think I got out of it. But basically the idea is we need to consider what
actions to take to increase the maturity of the organization working virtually that to me is the
main perspective. Everybody knows it is not like that. We just need a reason for future and we
need to consider what are the steps that we could take, 10 years down the line or maybe even
just 5, we will take the step further, we will go into Asia, we will go into other areas also, we will
have even more complexity after that.
Q: My idea as well. I wanted to pick out some people that also come with suggestions and so on
and so forth. Maybe it could be a good buy-in that some of the things we push forward actually
come from the organization itself and not from me standing from the outside. We can validate it,
it is actually your own employees who suggested it.
A: That would always be interesting what are they idea. And also when you do, we also need to
consider how the feedback should be. Should be at least Supply Chain meeting, and I think also
the Business Group level, might be even business group managers.
Q: […]
A: We should see it the company as a whole.
Q: […]There are all kind of subcultures going on, especially in supply chain, I have seen some
kind of. They feel that the rest of the organization is behind concerning the virtual
implementation and the way of thinking etc and it might be true. But we have to be careful not
to…
A: But I am pretty sure the Danish managers will give you another picture on the problem –they
will be telling you a long story of the lack of the maturity from other units of organization. That
will be their impression.
Q: I don‟t think it is unhealthy to say that there are the differences between. […]
A: Sometimes the frustration level is very high. I think, from what I hear. You might say
something with a smile on your face but it is a little more serious than that.
Q: I also see it. […]I think it is important it is good organization gets confirmation, yes we are on
the right track, but if there is no room for development then…
A: It is also the perception – what are we? Are we an innovative company or are we first of all
like a company that buys products from other products and then sells to other companies.
Q: Like the middleman.
A: Like a middleman kind of person. Or are we innovative state of the art technology driven
company? It will be seen differently. But interesting interesting. […]
83
Q: […]
A: […]We as an HR should think abut this conceptually. The Aponar manager of the future, he
needs to have a very good understanding of these processes, he needs to be aware where are the
pitfalls and where are the possible advantages. That we need to install at some point in
everbody‟s heads. They do see themselves not as German or supply chain people but as part of a
global. They have that global mindset. But that doesn‟t come overnight.
Q: Another thing I didn‟t mention is also very clear to see that it has something to do with
experience, have you been working in matrix organization before, have u been working in a
global MNC before? It seems easier for you to get that kind of mindset where contrary people
have been working in a more local companies and suddenly…
A: History of Aponar is…Many came from the inside; it is my perception – local function,
national entity. And now they woke up to a new reality a couple of years ago. It was a process
that was underway but that was sort of a big step that was taken 3 years ago. We are still
struggling.
Q: In that process you also took some local power so to speak and put it….?
A: It was dead necessary. You can not do both.
Q: I totally agree. My point is that there are also consequences are…That there of course are
some people who formally had power…
A: Skeptics will of course say it has taken us away from local market, from local responses,
responses we get locally, and it becomes some kind of superEuropean structure that is totally out
of line, real life…
Q: What is your take on it?
A: Given the challenges we have, it would be a serious sub optimization if we stayed local. […]
But I am fully aware that there has been are losers and winners in that battle and it has been...
Aponar culture– you do it and then you make it work afterwards.
Q: That‟s another thing that people have been talking about. There is a tendency to start the
process and then you plan afterwards. You keep on pushing forward etc etc. The lack of
planning, the lack of concentration and the lack of ability to stop a process once you have started
it. Because you find out that maybe it is not worth it, it is difficult to stop the process because
suddenly you have goals and this and that. And you just keep on running with the ball even
though it might be sub optimation.
A: And they are probably right. And then there is that consideration you can‟t roll it back, of
course, you should learn something from experience that you get. But there is also to me an
important signal - we are going to go through this, it can be painful but there is something in the
end here. Because we can not roll it back. Otherwise we will get stuck in the middle; then we are
half way European and half way local. And we don‟t even know when is what. But for sure I
acknowledge that…
84
Q: And it sometimes happens when you try to do this kind of global thing, it is a very structured
way of doing things, and of course u loose something in that way and I don‟t know whether it is
good or bad or should be different. I can point all this points out but what you guys see it as a
positive or negative?
A: It could be very interesting for all of us in the managerial level - when
designing/implementing change processes: is there something that we do wrong every time? And
you can see it from the people. And there is that tendency.[…] The other extreme of that – a lot
of planning on the way. There is no easy answer.
Q: There is no easy answer. You are indirectly going in the process of doing this. But I see some
kind of Organizational change pillar and some of the troubles with that / Culture virtual vs.
language pillar / and then I see this Global vs. local pillar. […]
A: We want to improve all the time, like we do in supply chain, like they do in offering. They are
looking for those small building blocks to build your understanding and you can maybe say we
learnt a little bit here from experience. I will not make that mistake again. We at some point had
in HR network discussed a rescue 911 team that could do an organization change, or at least
some kind of pre-understanding what‟s going on…We in hr are also sometimes lacking behind,
due to lack of resources, due to many things…Things are being done and then we face the
consequences. Maybe we can do it a bit cleverer this time.
Q: The way I see it HR is also in a process of being global. Because you are sitting here with half
of your time allocated in HR, being the global HR, and then you have all the local guys knowing
about the salary etc etc. But the consensus of creating traditional HR stuff like culture,
communication etc etc How does that work?
A: We don‟t have enough resources to let off every topic on the group HR level. This year has
been sort of dedicated to training something, that was put on hold for a couple of years, needed
to be revitalize, needed to be put to everybody‟s awareness that we are now investing again
people, time, money, efforts in that. We doing a lot talent management, talent identification. We
are doing process of sort of management planning, successful planning - 200 people being
evaluated on the group/management level who was the top performers who was in the middle. So
given the resources we have, we can not do everything. But then you have local resources and
we are working together. But we don‟t have as such very structured, very global HR policy. We
go up and down.
Q: Why is that? Is it because HR doesn‟t have sufficient funding? And is thereby seen as…
A: it is the matter of both I guess. At one point, my Finnish boss, her predecessor was […] My
boss she took a step down, there is a bit of signal there. The awareness of the importance of HR
matters is there. […] It is definitely in the awareness. We need to consider elevating some of the
topics because they are not alive.
Q: As you said before you can not get back or stuck in the middle, but you can not either leave
some of the company, you have to elevate I guess the HR in that sense…?
A: It makes sense to me. It is part of who is to blame here. I think the culture of the company is a
little bit to blame, it has been fellow local company with local representation in the HR, at some
85
point something was elevated and some initiatives down, now it has sort of slipped a little bit,
that‟s just how it is. Together with my Finnish boss we are struggling ever day to elevate as
much as we can, keep initiatives like this cross functionally. For the whole organization to learn
smth from.
We work with, we have HR strategy work on the way, to lay down the tracks. […] Do you agree
or should we skip it and do something else instead?
Q: Yeah, but the feeling is that, they see it as a problem?
A: Yeah, they see it as a problem. It is part of the realization that something needs to be done.
Many things going on, with the resources that we have one and a half resources you can only do
so much.
Q: It seems like they are doing more comparing to what the are resources. Nearly that If you
want to address the issues we work here, needs some kind of.
A: You have good insights from people. He is the real people leader, the outlook perspective of
what has to be done. He takes 2 days to sit down and frame it out. He is based with group for 2
days to he brings that attention […]
We had an external company working with us, but it is ungrateful task, I had one month of
experience of that, I had 5-6 months of planning, he took over, because the guy left…I was on
his behalf a bit concerned.
Q: What was your…. you came to us? Can you tell me a little bit about…Why? Why did you
come to us so to speak? What are the challenges you saw?
A: We need some maturity in an organization. A lot of effort being done, but if we could get
some good ideas about how to move it step forward. I also see, that‟s a gap between local/global,
local European whatever it is, it will be ongoing for some time, but we need to bridge that gap
somehow. If you could come also with experience from other companies, to give us some
feedback, benchmarking. It could be interesting. It was limited in time, but the only investment
we are doing is our time, our resource. I was hoping to get some kind of analysis of the asset
situation. It was also a bit uncertain to me – are we doing well…are we doing like shit? How far
have we come here? In HR we listen to a lot of frustrations. I may have my own opinion but it
would be good for somebody from outside to listen to some of the narratives or stories. It was an
interesting opportunity but it was a little bit coincidental.
Q: I think it is the best. Right now, we are still not completely clear where are we going.[…]
A: There was an opportunity. But also the benchmarking part is interesting. Do we have that?
Can you do that?
Q: In some sense we do have. It depends. We have other experience, with other companies that
are not doing quite so well, and I have of course implemented different kind of things in order to
do that, but I think Benchmarking coming more from the literature, rather than companies. But
also there is the point of...I will have to think about it. And I will do that. I have companies that
have benchmarking, but I also want that each company is in a specific context, has a specific
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story, has valid impact on how the organization actually works. Of course we can do some kind
of comparison. But I also think it is important to remember that Aponar is also Aponar and
benchmarking…I see the benchmarking that needs to come from the outside and than I see
benchmarking that comes from the inside in a sense…People come with suggestions. Can we
find the consensus from inside across different problem areas? Where people can find some
solutions.
A: Give me a little piece of the inside if you can. What are people saying, what are they
suggesting?
Q: Basically as a lot of suggestions comes to the Managerial guidelines concerning of how we
should integrate the virtual organization, it has to do with how should we run the meetings, how
often should we meet, who should we involve in the meeting, we shouldn‟t involve in the
meeting when should we actually say the meeting should be cancelled etc. Because all of these
things seem to be causing the frustrations. Basically, people are sitting in the meeting and
sometimes the virtual meeting is cancelled quarter past it has already started. People do not get
sufficient outline to what meeting is about, so basically they have no time to prepare,
underprepared; no clear rules, about who is actually writing down the things, that get decided in
the virtual meetings (so meeting minutes basically or templates). There is no clear structure
about who we should involve, who shouldn‟t we involve in the meetings. Knowing maybe
sometimes who is actually important in this processes that meaning […]
A: That I am a little bit curious to understand. They have a feeling there are people in the
meeting who actually are not relevant?
Q: Some of them have a feeling that is not really relevant. To be more clear I have to go through
it again. People as they see being relevant are kept out of the loop of not being in a meeting.
A: Is it the characteristic of any meeting or virtual meeting?
Q: it is basically virtual meeting that there seems to be lack of responsibility, I think it has to do
with global mindset. People have difficulties from locating who gets affected about the decision.
A: We have a lot of that with business groups organization when that was introduced. I heard a
thousand times from people „‟We are not in the business group - we do not understand how this
organization is working, who sits where and what are they doing. We do not understand what is
the role of those people and where the hell are they. They constantly travel all over the Europe,
wherever. We don‟t see them. They are sort of strange birds. They fly in the meeting, participate
and go again.‟‟
Q: And that is also…big concern. But that is also the way of life. You only have so much of a
time as a manager. Also working with what kind of changes do we need to be there face to face
and what kind of changes do we actually want to implement virtually.
A: Some of these things are very simple. I am sure that the surprise the management will see,
will be very disappointed to hear that there is no discipline around taking meeting minutes
because it is very structured at the highest level.
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Q: it might be very structured at the highest level. They might be very disappointed about it but
if there is no culture on the…
A: […]I take part in the supply chain group meetings. It is very structured towards who takes the
minutes and they go online 2 hours after the meeting is done. If that‟s not really the name of the
game in other areas….
Q: You know, that‟s the problem with the qualitative. Sometimes I can‟t generalize too well the
organization. But my observation it is something that needs to be confirmed whether it takes
place. My feeling is that there is a lot knowledge getting lost. There is a lot of yap yap yap, if the
minutes are not taken, it is not clear who is responsible for what. If nobody is writing down, then
people, at least, German, Spanish people feel that meeting doesn‟t exist. It exists if it is written
down. So it is one part, I have been looking at. I know it is microlevel kind of stuff but it is pretty
important. And then there is a bit of a discussion Do we actually have a shared point/site where
we can drag a knowledge from? It seems it is a bit fragmented that u have to pull resources from
different kind of places and there is no shared….
A: Are you talking about manpower or some kind of shared sight of information?
Q: It is simply a shared sight of information where things are […] There is noo integration
between knowledge being shared between those points into one point. And don‟t you agree?
A: That‟s the integrated business management, so again the efforts are there. It is always a
discussion of more or less. But it should be accessible sitting at that level. That‟s doesn‟t matter
if she doesn‟t feel it. She would see as fragmented. VP of the integrated business management,
she will most likely say is pretty much available, you just need to access it.
Q: That‟s basically what I see, it seems mostly that there is the feeling out there is that the things
are not there, but they are there, maybe it needs to be communicated out, because then you got a
feeling how they actually see the organization and position they are in.
A: You just need to integrate different drawings in your head.
Q: Yeah, I am still confused about Aponar. Organizational virtual change side this is basically
what I have been working on. We also need to talk about cultural linguistic aspects.
A: We have this presentation on the training in Finland under the headline of crosscultural
communication. It was very funny, very entertaining, Englishman based in Sweden. But it was
also just basically going through Hofstede.
Q: It is important some real life experience, instead of people just reading Hofstede.
A: I was actually a bit surprised pretty much. We were going through stereotypical German,
stereotypical Englishman and stereotypical Spaniard and than he said „‟oh, you can basically not
understand another person‟s culture much‟‟.
Q: Where I see it way more as a process, I see it way more doing it with individuals, with
experience, position in the company etc. of course national culture has an affect.
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A: I actually don‟t see it as a big issue. From what I got it…it is not that he is a German or she is
a Swede it is not our biggest concern by far.
Q: it is more that they actually sit there.
A: I can‟t accept this behavior.
Q: I don‟t see that either, I see it more as a Global vs. local change more than a national
perception. That‟s my perception anyway.
A: In this presentation it was…It is not our biggest concern I would say. That from the national
perspective we don‟t understand each other.
Q: I think that sometimes there is language stuff going on. I see it more as people being shaked
because they are forced to change.
A: Maybe you should emphasize that a little bit also, that we don‟t overdo it.
Q: I want to deemphasize the national aspect, cultural aspect, I want to emphasize the more
organizational change, global linguistic aspect; I think that is the most important thing. It is
positive in the sense that people don‟t stand so much on their nationality, it also means there is
some kind of integrated unified Aponar.
A: I also have to do with graduate programmes - young people, nearly graduates coming in the
company. There I think it is very true, they have lived in 3 or 4 different countries, they speak 5
different languages, they studied in 3 countries. If you ask them where they come from, they
will not say Germany or Spain, they will say Europe which is interesting. So if you are the
middleman, age wise I am little bit older then you, but in 15-20 years, there have been a little bit
of a change.
Q: […]I am also a little bit in the middle. I still see myself pretty much as a Danish guy.
A: It is interesting. It is a mental process.
Q: Now you trying to integrate European-wise, your purpose is European wise. You use that
perception of the European identity.
A: We should also learn something about we can use….We are not like Vestas, we are not there
yet, but we will come. If we could not do some of the obvious mistakes from our European
integration process. We don‟t loose valuable time and a lot of resources in doing all the dumb
mistakes.
Q: […]
A: […] And the culture is also so that I would expect people to be fairly willing to say their
opinion. It is positive characteristics of the culture also. Then of course I can also hear it is a bit
negative. We need to constantly work a little bit with that - stop arguing, start doing something
instead. We, of course, our employees, can not loose their frustration but we expect our
employees to think proactively. Question is that if they are looking for something that matters, to
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provide them with. If they feel they are stuck somewhere because management hasn‟t done that
or somebody has not done it…
Q: Or management is not present…?
A: Yeah…And there is another big thing – how can you do that? I mean how can you be in a
virtual team and then still be present in the mind of your virtual…?
Q: How do you actually manage being virtually? Being a virtual team? Often enough, they don‟t.
When there is something important going on, they feel they have to go here. So this balance of
what can be done virtually and when they need to go is good to be clear about.
A: You need to have relatively often contact with, I mean, even if there is nothing to say pick up
a phone and ask questions. How can you make yourself present even if you are not present? […]
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Appendix 2: Interview transcript with VP Warehouse&Logistics, Finland
Q: How do you see the process company is in right now concerning structural change and so on
and so forth?
A: If you look history, Aponar has pretty much been growing by our decisions. And of course,
earlier it was the strategy that you have what you called, multi channels. There was a lot of
different price. And it was actually pretty successful; it was time when business was growing.
Then I think that 2004, the change for the whole company. Then the goal was one unified
Aponar. And then it started to go on. I worked mostly before until 2008 with Aponar Nordic for
infrastructure, I was responsible for that business 7 years and before that I was working with
Aponar in Finland. That is the primary part of Aponar – being reasonable harmonized, being
reasonably unified from the beginning. In the Nordic area. So I think that now the challenges
were mostly that you must generate European offering, meaning European products and than of
course organization to support that and generate growth. That‟s a big change. Historically it was
more, that if you were independent in certain country, you get core products and some financial
reporting guidelines, but not pretty much else. And then we started to generate business. Now the
goal is of course you have more harmonized, constant everywhere…
Q: How far do you feel you are that road?
A: I would say depends. Regarding the offering, we are, I would say, that 70-75% are already
there. Clear step forward, in that respect we are going closer and closer to the goal. Regarding
harmonized way to work, mostly we are reasonable far in the Eastern countries. They have been
working very heavily in order to harmonize that part and also Nordic. For example, the most
scattered part is what we call South West – UK, Italy, France, Iberia. They belong to the same
group but they have been independent units.
Q: Why is it scattered there?
A: I think the reason it was also linked to this Oracle implementation. Because then you get of
course harmonized processes. And then also the size of those units are bigger than, for example,
in the East. There are between 20-35 million Euros. Iberia is already belonging totally to this
European culture.
Q: How do you see the harmonization between the offering and the operational part of the
company - sourcing, or the supply chain?
A: That‟s already I think large extent is done. Today we have the situation that, for example, we
have some logistics responsible. The only units that do not belong directly are the UK, Italy,
France. Also Russia, but Russia is a bit difficult anyway because there is longer distance.
However, we can influence a lot already all the analysis, data is available so we can influence to
the structure, inventory analysis. So we are not far regarding this logistic part.
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Q: And when we speak about one unified Aponar, how do you feel company has been working
with that concept? Implementing it, not only in the organizational structure, but also in the
mindset of people?
A: At that time, there was a lot of miscommunication, lot of information, and also
communication part that lacked it needs. You have tools, processes and people. Then of course,
tools you will get harmonized, and then processes are also the call. The most difficult is of
course people. Because people I think to large extent understand the goal, in practice that means
in some cases if you follow that road, then you lose something. If you are independent today.
Than you must accept it otherwise of course you are … Then of course question about how the
individuals see acceptance or not. That‟s the case. And then it is of course, very historically, very
difficult to then … because it is very much question that who is then making decisions. That of
course must be handled very carefully …
Q: What I so far have noted, is this friction between the local thing that has to be taken care of
and trying to create some kind of global mindset thinking globally within Aponar while it seems
it has been challenging to create that kind of global mindset where you start thinking if I do this,
it reflects this kind over there…
A: It is not easy because total history is different. If you think, of course, I have a totally different
position able to look, to development long time, also being able to benchmark against other
companies. There is a lot of companies that have originally been one, only one. Then when they
grew, they kept the structure. There might be they have a head office and mixed part of staff in
one location. It is of course in that respect easier to expand. But of course in a longer run, to risk
in that concept, is of course that you don‟t get a new input and if you face problems, then you
have limited amount of time to sort the way out. In Aponar the head office, for example, has
always been very small. It has always been not in one location, so people are wherever they are.
Q: And it is been the company strategy from a headquarters…?
A: Yeah, yeah… 20 years ago it was that statement was the cost of head office must be below 1
% of the turnover.
Q: Yeah, way of controlling that the head office would not expand. But of course, a lot
challenges, and actually controlling of getting some input from the things that are scattered over.
So I guess it also means you have staff function dislocated as different kind of units.
Coordinating the knowledge between those units I guess is challenging as well…?
A: Yeah, it is a challenge. However…I don‟t keep it so complicated as it sounds. If you think, for
example, in my organization, managers, I am leading. I have three, logistic managers, and then I
have one who is responsible for what we call European supply team; then there is one person
who is what we call, business process owner to secure all our actions are harmonized against
Oracle. And then without belonging directly to our organization then is one controller who is in
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our team, but of course he is also part of controlling team. All those are in different places. I am
the only one actually in Finland and the only one here. Then we have one person in Sweden, one
in Iberia, three persons in Germany, but in two locations. Now this new controller, who will start
now in the beginning of June, he will also be located in Germany. Actually, it was his own
opinion was that he wanted to be abroad.
Q: Speaking of your own experiences with managing this team, sitting in different locations.
What are the main challenges you are facing and actually being able to manage them so to
speak? Do you feel out of the loop or do you feel you are able to get the information flowing…?
A: Let‟s say so, first of all there is very important is visibility - you can see what happens. When
I started three years ago, there was no visibility; you had no possibility to see the warehouse
inventory structure, whatever. The reason was that this Oracle implementation was at that time
missing the reporting tool what we call now business intelligence. Now I can see the daily
performance and inventory structure, in whatever location inside Oracle. In that respect, tools
can always be better, but I think that to not make problem. The second thing is, of course, how to
get these people work towards a common goal. Then of course you must first create a comfort.
That is the first step. Then there is then how to secure that they work towards that. I am not…
Let‟s say, I have been working actually in a virtual organization. My opinion is to point is that
you must get them understand that we never get any development without a common opinion.
Then at least I make a very simple decision – I say “I am ready to accept any of your proposals,
if you agree as a team‟ That of course means, that now they know it, they must discuss it with
each other, that‟s of course the whole point. Because it is always that we all want personally that
we have the good idea, we want that idea implemented. In that kind of approach, you never go in
virtual team anywhere. That‟s clear. So people understand that “If I want my idea supported,
then we must together and we must discuss and develop together.” That‟s the whole point. Then
of course, my team is managers. So they are responsible that they get results. Then I have already
small benefit that they see if they don‟t work, they never reach result, and then they have a
problem. In all those, if we want to achieve the goal, it is one way to reach like the other ways.
The biggest problem what I have seen in Aponar, it is very often you have a meeting, the goal is
there to harmonize whatever - wrong persons are sitting. That‟s been the biggest challenge.
Usually you send a specialist. With guy that keeps this structure that we have here, and they are
normally not able to make decision. But the decision maker is not involved.
Q: When you have a certain problem, you will send specialist because specialist has a knowledge
about how a problem is solved, but the problem in that is that no manager is present and no
actual decision can be made.
A: They are not guided to make decision. When they come back, you start to challenge again.
That‟s I see, then there are success stories, there are right business collected and then they make
the thing…
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Q: But there is the thing, where they have a lot of meeting, but … discussing and go home….
A: Meetings are of course needed, for example, when we are using more of these telecalls. If the
people know each other reasonable while, they are very effective. Because normally when we are
meeting physically, you feel them, because you are eight hours there. If you only one hour, and
then you continue next week one hour, and then continue same eight hours same eight weeks in a
row …
Q: But there are two things. One thing I am pretty interested in - how are you actually able to
create consensus among your managers? Because open up, managers from cultures that are a bit
more hierarchical, they would have a tendency to a bit more – this is my proposal, screw the rest.
Some things you are able to apparently create some kind of consensus. And how does it work?
A: For me it is part of managing people. Then there are individual discussions to clarify to
everybody what is the order Aponar is going on right now. First thing that this European
approach is here. Everybody can think „‟Ok, if it is good for me or not”. But then if you don‟t
accept there is no way you can go on. That is not so dramatic as it sounds. Because normally
people accept it „‟Ok, I will lose something‟‟. We have discussed with some people and opened
that they see “I lose this power; I simultaneously get more power to influence the European
process”. I see that many managers are actually interested about that. It offers you to be more on
the European level. Very often is that the biggest challenge is very high level specialists.
Because they are…One in Finland, pretty close to be a guru and if you put three gurus together
that‟s not necessary the best way to do it. But that I think you need this individual discussion to
support the process and go to discussions. I try to…of course you get a feeling what kind of
people are. Some of them need more discussion and support and also guidance, others are
more…
Q: Do you see, now I guess you have people from Germany and Sweden… Do you see any
cultural differences?
A: Yes, yes…I would say for me, of course, you can discuss about small distinctions, but Nordic
countries they are on league one. There are much bigger differences between the individuals then
cultures. Of course if you compare countries, Denmark is more relaxed. When I go to Denmark, I
feel more relaxed. But that‟s not necessary very much to do with business life. Germany has
historically very strict structured way to do business. It is a very good way to do business. It has
lead to situation. There is also this one of my persons; he said that he wants clear responsibilities
and goals. I said I understand it, but in that role it can be never clear. So what you want to be
more clear? That I think is a bit small conflict, because historically Germany was very very
structured. If you want to get more out of people you cant do like that. You must change that.
Then of course it is changing, it takes certain time but, basically, there is after that not big
difference. Germany has that kind of history. Then Spain is, I have been working with Spain and
Portugal also earlier. I would say the culture is very though as such in a business life. For me is
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different, my persons there are female, so they balance. I would say there is no big problem.
Earlier I remember it was very tough. Meaning that in the manager position you would never
want to loose.
Q: Because you could also argue that this you try, to make some kind of consensus, is based on
your Nordic approach to leadership, Nordic way of understanding whereas other people in your
position would be more…?
A: Yeah, because in Nordic I would say the basic thinking is that, not saying, people think boss
is wrong. That is not negative. It just means also boss can be wrong. There is no guarantee that
boss is right. Then you say your opinion. That‟s the way it works. Of course, that‟s I think is also
helping in that respect that it is easier to discuss. The risk is that you need certain discipline
otherwise everybody do what they want and you don‟t get any results. In this virtual organization
is clear you must lead more… Because that‟s the only measure.
Q: Another, if you measure these key performance indicators and these things. Some countries
could be difficult to create a goal for everybody to move towards because those can be
conflicting goals. Then I would think that could be difficult to convince people that these are the
goals when you set on a distance and not when you are together.
A: It is one important thing that we have also discussed - how you handle these goals. When we
say that for example, we are not reaching it, for example, what is your basic thinking for the
goal. There is also huge differences of the US – for me for US - you must always reach the goal.
For me that is not necessary, it is more that you have to plan. Then you get judged if plan is
executed or no. Then you can judge if you have followed your plan, execution. And then the
outcome is there. It is like in sports, you have done everything in a good way but you don‟t reach
the world record or whatsoever. It would be easier, if you reduced the goal. In sports you cant,
but in business life you can. You reduce the goal. I think that the point is that people also
understand they are followed what they do. Goals are there in order to measure. But if you
explain that we have done this and we failed because of that. Then it is ok. For me it is not like
you must reach the goal. It means of course you must follow all the time what people are doing
and how they explain what they are doing. That is really important. If everything is black and
white, and then if you have for example, from three different persons from three different
organizations and always the goals are in certain conflict. They must also know what is the order
from the company perspective. You must maybe sacrifice your own goal a bit. And then to be
honest, of course, not everybody is able to do that. But that‟s who it is.
Q: But is the company able to say communicating through that this is the order. Do people down
there know what the order is?
A: To some extent. Because now we say that… In order that we can support the growth of
company we must secure that the customer gets the goods on time… And then we have goals of
supply, that‟s in one goal. That is not so important. And then of course, costs, you keep the costs.
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For me being in the business very long time, you can do it by left hand.. Very often that you
make…. Normally, the variation is minor. Of course, you can never get 100% clear what is right.
That you must been discussed. For me is, for example, lets say you have two possibilities, you
can minimize your costs, but same time you reduce dramatically your flexibility. Then the
question is – is company‟s goal to grow or improve profitability, for example? If the growth is
the case, then you should never optimize the costs. Keep the cost, but not minimize it, it will
reduce your flexibility. And if there are more possibilities in market, you lose those. I think
nobody can make exact.
Q: No, and maybe they shouldn‟t. This kind of conflict needs a discussion that helping the
company naturally revaluating what the goals or priorities should be.
A: We should also in different levels and groups discuss about these kind of topics. Nowadays,
this what we call HR, human relations, seen as a system to make salary, system to make bonuses.
But I think it is more this kind of things, because that‟s generating company‟s culture. For me
that‟s one of the most important things – human resources.
Q: Do you think it has been neglected in Aponar, has this been too much management in the HR,
in the class to trying to create some kind of common, unified Aponar?
A: My opinion is that partly yes. Because the reason is that group‟s HR is very much focused to
secure that we have certain global base for salaries, training, and education. But there is no
people there to secure this, lets say, group approach, for me is that. This group is not very
homogeneous. And now hopefully it is getting more. Because then it is, practical example, is
that, for example, when I have persons inside Germany, there are certain person in local HR
organization taking care of certain things. But if he wants to develop that, it should be then done
via the supervisor HR that he coordinates it. That I think, not 100% in place.
Q: So getting the global HR integrated with local HR?
A: We all know that salary systems are very local, to adapt it you need this local knowledge.
That‟s not big topic. It is more to get this thinking, this global thinking to this whole HR network
through.
Q: I would argue that it also affects the way people are working together that there are some
common senses; common cultural understanding what is Aponar about. Also it could reduce kind
of thing where people sit very locally, and take power locally and don‟t want distribute it
globally.
A: It is also this that HR topics, bad experience from the past. One person in local organization,
it is very difficult to discuss, for example, about salaries, because you don‟t have expert outside
the country. Then you need strong support from this HR function. When people are on one place
then for them regarding this terms, it is more important that they feel lets say fairly freely inside
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that group. They are not interested in what happens in Austria or whatsoever. They are more
interested if they are in one side with other colleagues. That‟s clear.
Q: And working in a virtual team like this, how do you see the language? Do you see Aponar as
being challenged as having a common language or you don‟t see it as a challenge?
A: Originally, it was Swedish couple of years. Then it was changed to English. I don‟t see any
big problems. Because that means that you must speak English. When you have a meeting, it is
English. Then of course, when I go, for example, in Sweden or Spain or Germany, the point is
that I expect that they speak so much English that we can discuss. Then I, of course, don‟t expect
if we go to warehouse, they speak. That‟s quite ok. If you want to be in a global company, you
must have a common language. Otherwise it is globally impossible. And more it is willing - I
want to speak English.
Q: Has that been a challenge, are people actually shy?
A: They feel they are not able to speak so well enough ok. We in Finland, especially, in history
learning a lot of languages, but never spoke. That‟s nothing new. I think that has improved a lot.
For example, in Spain they have been very eager to learn English. That‟s good. Because of
course, for company is good if we have people who can whatever language because you might
be enable to expand your business. But without a common language is very difficult.
Historically, it has always been discussed always. For example, this computer language I
remember, has been discussed. Everybody who is not really IT specialist, the language doesn‟t
matter because there are just symbols. If you use them in Finnish. So it is English or whatsoever.
But that‟s I think improved a lot.
Q: And at the end, you have spoken some of the challenges you saw in Aponar concerning the
virtual team collaboration. You said that sometimes maybe there are too many experts or too
many managers. Is there other challenges you see in trying to create a virtual setup?
A:I think that one thing is of course that everybody is facing is that when you try then to change
in the beginning, 5% of the resources are local and 5 are European, and if the goal is that 80%
are Europeans and 20% are local. Then of you must of course communicate it. I think that, for
example, let‟s say it when we started, I nominated 3 European planners, then in totally we have
26 planners. Now we are moving that all these 26 are belonging to the European planning
organization. Now we see people are interested. 35% of my time that I can do European things.
That‟s a big step forward. In the beginning we didn‟t know how things are organized. Very often
global manager had to secure the best resources for global organizations. Now if they, if you
don‟t figure out how these resources have a possibility to move to European level, they are in a
truck. … That I think it sounds like a magic trick, but you just switch the thinking. But is actually
more. People start to see “Hey, I am part of European things!‟. It is like historically you had , for
example, countries that were districts. Then you can call they are small countries. Our customers,
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wholesalers, twenty years ago they had small countries, inside countries. Now they harmonized
countries, now they are harmonizing more of the Europe approach.
Q: You saying to me that you have successfully made that shift or …?
A: We are doing it. We are going the right direction. But of course, there is still way to go…
Q: There must be resistance… There must be resistance from the managers…?
A: Of course.
Q: So how do you work with those managers?
A: I think it is statement - but you must do it in a positive way. For me it means whatever you do,
you have no way out. This is the position we never changed. Now we can discuss what we can
do in this condition. If we don‟t make this statement, people think maybe there is way. It needs
discussion. That‟s correct. That stays forever. Because sometimes people are not done some
progress and then they loose confidence that this is working or not. … It is not a very big topic. It
is more that you have a position where you have more not necessary authority, but more
visibility to the business, … it takes certain time to adapt. If you still see, that ok that‟s how it is,
I still have a lot to do, there are still possibilities that I can develop my way forward. If you, of
course, feel that my future is gone in Aponar is gone, then it is difficult to continue.
Q: When you doing that process you don‟t just write people a mail? You would have to go out.
In this respect, what you can do virtually, and what kind of organizational change processes you
can do face to face?
A: There is different ways. It is also that…When you have these local organizations - how much
you involve yourself in a local organization. It is like you said - you must be there, and they must
see you. For some key persons you can have deeper discussions. Of course, there is always a risk
that you should not involve too much. That the local management moves and all the things start
to move. So there is a balance always.
Q:Local to global mindset and how you actually create that kind of process and some of the
resistance you see from local managers. Challenging!
A: Because I have been working with that I think, in 1995 I started. We have done several efforts
and sometimes succeeded, sometimes not and then of course you must think how to do it. I have
worked very long time actually, more then 20 years in sales and marketing. For me it is very
much sales&marketing. You must sell this kind of thinking. Then it is like we all know,
communication is a lot, you must put a lot of effort to pick the words. Message is the most
important, but wrong words can ruin everything. That should be avoided if possible.
Q: Wrong words in a sense that you say too much or …?
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A: Too much, as in you say that in the way what is not supporting the message. Then it is easy
that if I want to make for you clear, that there are no other options. I can do it in several different
ways. My job is to transfer the message to you that this is the only way. Not that I say to you, but
that you do. It is not easy.
Q: No… And I guess there is also a difference between…because when I write or read a mail, it
can sound harder than when you communicate it verbally. The ability to actually say things in
different ways it may be easier verbally or…?
A: When you mentioned emails, I have a rule - never sending negative feedback by e- mail. The
reason is simple – it can be misunderstood. Then of course, I have seen so many conflicts
generated by emails. People get emotionally affected and then they make an email. It is sent and
you have no guts to call afterwards to say that was a mistake and then a conflict continues. Of
course, if you have done a practical mistake, and I just ask. I don‟t see it as a negative, I just see
it as please correct the mistake. E-mail is not very good for the feedback. If you send the same
message to others. If you cc other people…That is really dangerous.
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Appendix 3: Interview transcript with Iberia Quality, Environment, LPR Manager, Portugal
Background: guarantees that Iberia Aponar accomplishes all the procedures defined by European
institutions, standards. Coordination - 2 in Portugal, 2 – Spain, maintain all the team together
however they are located separately in order to reach goals because they are not for Portugal or
Spain but for Iberia. We work as team and try to maintain the spirit.
Q: And you say you work like a team, what is it that you do in order to get the team feeling or
team collaboration?
A: I try for them to take part/participate in everything; for instance everything. Truly feeling that
they can participate and that they are very important to company. Every time it is necessary to
take some decisions, that their opinion is important, that I take it into the consideration a lot. I
understand communication like much more important because it is not only talking. When 2
people see each other, they don‟t even have to speak, maybe a look etc it says enough. I try to
(like I said 2 of them are in Portugal, two are in Spain) maintain/to keep them in that spirit, that
we can improve everyday our job, our communication, our team, our strength.
Q: And, how do you see you talked about communication being not only speaking together, but
also being a look and so on…How often do you meet them face-to-face and when do you decide
to meet them face-to-face and when do you think it is ok to just communicate through mail and
telephone?
A: First of all, min. every month I talk face-to-face to all of them. It is important the eye
communication. Minimum once per month I talk face-to-face with all of them. By phone I talk, I
can not say every day, but 80-90% of the day I talk every day with all of them by phone by mail,
mostly by phone. I try to make people to forget the distance! And I insist with them, pick up the
phone and speak. First of all, speak speak speak! That‟s the very important between them! […]
Q: And when you say speak, is it better, is it to say, do you see it, when do you decide when
something should be said over the phone and what kind of things do you write mail about. Is
there a difference between the two? Do you understand?
A: Difficult to say.
Q: Yeah, yeah I know. Maybe there is no difference, I don‟t know.
A: It is a very good question. For me all communications are important, even when they don‟t
look like that. For me all are important because the communication should be maintained and
improved. What I try to do is … when, for instance, it is necessary to eh…how can I say,
compilation of several issues or is necessary talking about one specific issue and appears this
issue is to be more dangerous/serious/emotional I try to meet face-to-face. I think that every
issue, not all of course, but mostly I talk about them face-to-face and by phone. I think it is
difficult to think one issue I talked only by phone or email. Because when we have an issue
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handling, it takes some time to solve. If it is possible to say for each issue it is quite sure we talk
face-to-face.
For instance, last week Wednesday I think, afternoon I talk with all of them. Because it is normal
work and it was necessary to speak and I pick up the phone and speak 2 times, 3 times, 10 times.
To forget the distance every time.
Q: So it is a bit more unstructured, you just pick up a phone whenever you see there is a
problem?
A: Imagine, if I want to speak with all of them, what I do? I take my seat, I go to his office and I
speak to them there. […]
Q: It is something mentally thinking that the distance is not there. And just acting like you are
located together?
A: Yes. That‟s it. That‟s what I try to do every time.
Q: You talked a little bit. You said it is important that it is not only good for Spain and not only
good for Portugal, but it has to be good for Iberia and you said being a manager of Iberia. How
do you see that integration with Iberia into Aponar Europe. How do you see that between the
local and European level? Is that difficult to get that integrated, to get an understanding in Spain
and Portugal about the larger goals of the company?
A: I think it is easy. Because like I said communication is…Europe is very little. One of the most
important things is the culture of the countries. The key is the culture of the country, culture of
the people are very important in this kind of organization. Why? Because same trick. I have this
example - exactly the same problem. You should put a Portuguese person, the Swedish or
Finnish or German or French from another country. Each one has different answers. Each has
different points of view. Same colour, same power, explain but… Portuguese person is different
than Swedish person, why colour is the same. Culture in my opinion is change. Communication
between these organizations, it is very important that each one of us think that on the other side
there is a colleague for example, from Germany and he can understand it different way, be
careful with that. Maybe what to me is green for him can be yellow and then the communication
is destroyed completely. Completely. This is the first, what the small organizations must be
careful, is this one. The cultures and […]
Q: I think I get your point. I guess, is it true that other quality managers are sitting with there are
responsibility, that are kind of your colleagues. And in working with them, one in Germany, I
guess, and one in Sweden, and when you work with those people and you say culture influences
communication, do you see some challenges there, have you experienced some challenges in
collaboration with them because they are from other cultures?
A: Eh, sorry, but can you rephrase, I am not sure…
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Q: When you communicate virtually with the people in Germany and then Sweden…Have u
noticed, you talked about culture having an effect on communication. Have u noticed challenges
in communicating with Sweden and Germany?
A: Yes.
Q: Yes? And how does that show, do you have some examples or?
A: Like I told you, for instance, one complete claim – the claim is the same, all the same
conditions, but analyzed differently and with different solutions. Why? Because I am Portuguese
and because he is German. We should be careful – first of all, we must to reach agreement
between both of us. But most importantly, we must focus on the client and his culture and not
only take decision thinking with our philosophy. So, for instance, this claim, if it is in Portugal,
so every decision it should face the requirements of the Portuguese clients. Why? Because the
clients in Portugal are different from clients in Spain, from the clients in France, from the clients
in Sweden, you know? Why? Because we are all different, culture is different. So the same
claim, the expectations of solutions of the claim in Portugal are different for the same claim in
another country. We must understand what client are we talking about, we must be open-minded,
reach a compromise.
Q: Do you feel that people sitting in Germany and Sweden share your view? Do you feel that
they understand this challenge same way as you, meaning are they open for the fact that culture
matters?
A: I think some – yes, some – a little less, but I think in general – yes! I think, in general all the
people understand it. The most important thing is not to forget it. The most important is to keep
remember, not only speaking about it. The conversation, like we having now. Different thing is
in the daily practice…Another issue, another challenge.
Q: It is easy enough to sit like we do now and speak and reflect upon it but actually doing it
every day actions in organization can be challenging?
A: We must understand that everything in our life can be improved.
Q: Who is it you are referring to? Who is your boss?
A: My boss is […]
Q: Ah, ok. How do you feel the communication is with him? You spoke a little bit, or you said
that on your team u act like there is no distance you also just pick up the phone. Is it the same
with him do you do it with him?
A: Not so easy. I try, I do that. But it is not so easy.
Q: Is it because he is your boss or …?
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A: No, all are important. All of us are bosses. I try to speak with him. He must do a bit more
about being closer. Sometimes I think I am a lucky guy, but I miss that maybe he could make
me talk to him more. It is not only his job, competence. Communication must be responsible
from each parts. But I don‟t know, you understand me?
Q: Yes. So what I hear u saying is that on your team u act like there is no distance, but with him
u feel that there is distance?
A: How can I say, yes, but not that much. Because, in his own team, he probably feels the same
way I feel in my team. […]But it is not black or white. I have to keep it in mind. I am not
complaining.
Q: When you say that you would like to hear more – is that, do u want more face-to-face
meetings or communication on phone?
A: With my boss?
Q: Yes.
A: I think it is important that my team sees my boss too, for instance.
Q: It is not only the manager near to the manager, but also the employees under.
A: Yes. Why? Because we are all the same team. It is like football team. If the team, the players,
the coach… if half of a team doesn‟t see the coach…how they can play? You understand? But
once again, I understand [my boss], perfectly, because why? Because he has a lot of people, he
can‟t be like god, but at the same time you have to explain and open your mind.
Q: Yeah. I think we are getting there. Just one more question. Do you see, between, because in
your team – Portugal and Spain, are you speaking Spanish together or Portuguese or English
or… ?
A: We talk in Spanish.
Q: You talk in Spanish… And when you speak with Ralf and other people sitting in Sweden, I
guess you speak English together? Has language been an issue for getting the communication
flowing in this setting?
A: Yes, for sure. Language is very important.
Q: Can you give some examples of some of the challenging aspects that influences how you
work together on that team due to language?
A: For instance, our office in France tries to speak English. It is not my mother language. So, if
this conversation between you and me, is not in English and is in Portuguese maybe I can explain
better what I feel, maybe I…I…I don‟t know it is different. You understand me? How can I
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explain it better? Like I said, because we might understand each other. That our Swedish
colleagues, they prefer to speak Swedish, we must speak English why? Because it is our way of
communication. My colleague is Sweden, mother tongue Swedish. Open mind and we speaking
English.
Q: Would you rather…now that you mentioned the language issues and we all have different
levels of speaking English do you prefer then to write mails instead of speak over the phone,
because then you can see what it is, before you send it then you can control this is what you want
to say or do you just pick up a phone and don‟t care too much about it?
A: Depends. If it is, how can I say, several issues, maybe I prefer to first to speak by phone, and
then by email in order to clarify. So I try to speak with the person and then send summary of the
conversation what we have discussed what we have decided, lets say. So I try to mix both
situations in order to ensure that as much as possible at each other.