Page 114 - Global Project Management Handbook

DEVELOPING MULTINATIONAL PROJECT TEAMS 5-3

Teamwork: A New Managerial Frontier

Teamwork is not a new idea. The basic concepts go back to biblical times, and managers have
recognized the critical importance of effective teamwork for a long time. More formal concepts
evolved with the human relations movement that followed the classic Hawthorne studies by
Roethlingsberger and Dickinson. 49 Visionaries such as McGregor (Theory Y, 1960), Likert
(participating group management, system 4, 1961), Dyer, (cohesion in the workplace 1977),
and more recently Tichy and Urlich (1984), Walton (1985), Dumaine (1991), and Oderwald
(1996) have further broadened the understanding of the teamwork process. However, with
declining bureaucratic hierarchies and more complex and geographically dispersed projects,
the increased complexity of teamwork required more conceptual refinement and higher levels
of management sophistication.
Redefining the Process. In today’s more complex multinational and technologically
sophisticated environment, the group has reemerged with a broader definition.

Teambuilding can be defined as the process of taking a collection of individuals with dif-
ferent needs, backgrounds, and expertise and transforming them into an integrated, effec-
tive work unit.
In this transformation process, the goals and energies of individual contributors merge and focus
on specific objectives and desired results that ultimately reflect project performance which is
graphically shown in Fig. 5.1 below.
This may sound straightforward, but today’s project complexities introduce many subtle
variables. Not too long ago, project leaders could ensure successful integration for most of their
projects by focusing on properly defining the work, timing, and resources and by following
established procedures for project tracking and control. Today, these factors are still crucial.
However, they have become threshold competencies, critically important but unlikely to guaranty
by themselves project success. Today’s complex business world requires project teams who are
fast and flexible and can dynamically and creatively work toward established objectives in a
changing environment. 9,28,61 This requires effective networking and cooperation among people
from different organizations, support groups, subcontractors, vendors, government agencies, and
customer communities. It also requires the ability to deal with uncertainties and risks caused by
technological, economic, political, social, and regulatory factors. In addition, project leaders
have to organize and manage their teams across organizational lines and international borders.
Dealing with resource sharing, multiple reporting relationships, and broadly based alliances is as
common in today’s business environment as e-mail, flextime, and home offices.
In addition, managers in these environments must have the human and interpersonal skills,

known collectively as emotional intelligence, 7,12,24,42 to meet the complex demands.
Team building is an ongoing process that requires strong leadership skills and an under-
standing of the organization, its interfaces, authority, power structures, and motivational factors.
This process is particularly crucial in environments where complex multidisciplinary or transna-
tional activities require the skillful integration of many functional specialties and support groups
with diverse organizational cultures, values, and intricacies.

requirements, leadership, and ultimately overall project performance. While these tech-
nology challenges exist in general, they are further amplified in geographically dispersed
project environments because of the less unified nature of the team and its communica-
tion, decision, and control channels. 54,62,77
On the positive side, advances in collaborative and enabling technology, such as
groupware and general telecommunications, have made geographically dispersed work
groups more feasible and effective, arguing that today people can work together as virtual
teams from anywhere in the world. Whether an organization has 100,000 employees or