1. Five myths of cultural diversity
…and what you can do about them
Prof. dr. Smaranda Boroș

2. Group processes in culturally diverse teams
Identity
processes
Cognitive
processes
2| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

3. Myth 1
Culturally diverse teams that work together for a
longer time communicate better
3| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

4. Myth 2
Highly diverse teams experience more conflict than
moderately diverse teams
4| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

5. Myth 3
Culturally diverse teams are more creative than
homogenous teams
5| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

6. Myth 4
Higher levels of constructive conflicts in culturally
diverse teams communicating via ICT improve
outcome of decision making and performance,
compared with collocated homogeneous teams, but
reduce satisfaction in the team
6| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

7. Myth 5
The lack of nonverbal and social cues in email
communications increases miscommunication due to
cultural diversity
7| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

8. Cross‐cultural teams as open systems
looking inside
Team size
Dispersion
Tenure
Task complexity
looking around
Multi‐team systems
8| © Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

9. A new look at the time‐space curvature
(aka The law of relativity for cross‐
cultural teams)
9|

10. For future virtual encounters:
smaranda.boros@vlerick.com

11. Performance of international teams:
Engagement is key but there is more!
Rik Vandamme
Vlerick HR day Director Strategy
June 13th, 2012 Global Technical Services
Janssen Supply Chain
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12. Introducing Johnson & Johnson
• Health Care Multinational
• Headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey – USA
• More than 200 subsidiaries and 100 000 employees worldwide
• Areas of activity with 2011 sales (Billion US $)
 Medical Devices & Diagnostics 25,8
 Pharmaceuticals 24,4
 Consumer (incl Pharma OTC) 14,9
Total 65,1
• J&J Pharmaceuticals (Janssen Companies) has a globally
organized Supply Chain (Janssen SC)
Both Drug Substance (Chemical & Bio) and Drug Product are
manufactured at 21 internal sites and a number of ext. contractors
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13. Global Technical Services supports Janssen SC
GTS Footprint
Netherlands
Ireland Belgium
Switzerland
Beijing, China
Vacaville Raritan
Cincinnati Spain Italy
Horsham
Malvern Xi’an, China
Wilmington
Gurabo
Manati Bangalore, India
PR
120 scientist & engineers spread over 17 Locations
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14. Global Technical Services supports Janssen SC
GTS Operating Mode
GTS is a project organization: portfolio of +/_ 250 projects
with a substantial part global/cross site and in following areas
Technology Strategy  Standardization of Technology
(per mfg platform)  Technological Innovation
 New product introduction
Product centered
 Product Life Cycle Mgt
technical support  Site to site transfer of product mfg
Site centered  Engineering & asset mgt
 CAPEX projects
technical support
 Operational Intelligence
Technical support to  Licensing & Acquisition
business development  Portfolio Expansion Growing Mkts
Technical support to  J&J Med. Devices & Diagnostics
other J&J sectors  J&J Consumer
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15. Performance of international GTS project teams
 For any type of project
Effectiveness = Outcome Quality * Stakeholder Acceptance
“The greatest project outcome hasn’t the slightest value if there is no buy
in by the involved stakeholders"
So, key focus points for us at GTS are
 Train project leads in project mgt methodology incl stakeholder mgt
 Develop the appropriate Subject Matter Experts (Scientists/ Engineers)
 Develop influencing skills for the whole GTS community
 At the level of the project teams
 Appointment of project sponsor accessible for the project lead
 Elaboration of clear project charter by project lead before kick off
 Have the right Subject Matter Experts on board
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16. Performance of international GTS project teams
 Some of the specifics for projects with international teams
 At the level of the project team
 Cultural diversity
 Native english speakers vs non native
 Different level of experience with the project context
 Geographical distance between team member locations
 Often time zone differences between those locations
 At the level of the stakeholders
 Multiple stakeholders
 Cultural diversity
 Sometimes different levels of interest in the project
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17. Performance of international GTS project teams
 How do we manage those specifics for effectiveness
 Use of open project teams: one core team + satellite teams
managed by individual core team members
. . . .
. . . . Satellite teams
. . .
Core Team
.
. . . Project Leader
- each team can be limited to ideal interaction size (max 6 to 8 people)
- strong engagement of core team members
- satellite teams facilitate management of multiple and culturally diverse
stakeholders for acceptance
- in many cases geographical distance and time zone differences can be
limited to core team
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18. Performance of international GTS project teams
 How do we manage those specifics for effectiveness
 However open project teams need strong project management
methodology to be effective
. . . . Final Project Outcomes
. . . .
Final Project Outcomes
ST 3 ST 1
. . .
.
. . .
Final Project Outcomes Final Project Outcomes
CT ST 2
- Formal project charter with clear description of Final Project Outcomes
for Core Team
- Final Project Outcomes for Core team broken down into Final Project
Outcomes for each of the satellite teams under leadership of core team
members
- Close follow up of adherence to plan at execution by project leader
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19. Performance of international GTS project teams
 How do we manage those specifics for effectiveness
 Support team meetings with state of the art information
technology (Global Connect, Live Meeting, ....)
For important international projects: face to face kick off
 Cultural awareness initiation for project managers leading
international project teams
Usual culturally based strengths & opportunities and behavior and how to
build on this for strong team performance
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20. These are some cultural specificities we usually notice in international
GTS project teams (for sure individual cases might deviate from this)
o US employees in general
 have good communication and presentation skills
 prefer to work towards collective decision taking and accountability
 are keen to catch opportunities for personal visibility
o Employees from Northern & Central Europe in general
 are keen on facts & figures in project work (e g scenario thinking – business
analysis - ...)
 have no issue with majority based decision taking and individual accountability
 are structured in execution
 are less effective in communication & presentations (detail oriented)
o Employees from Latin America and Southern Europe in general
 bring creativity to the team
 are strong in managing stakeholders
 are less structured in execution
o Asian employees in general are
 keen to make progress/ improve
 hard workers
 less fluent in English if not native – may need specific attention by project lead
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21. Thank You!