Why cultural intelligence matters on global project teams

Leaders of Global Virtual Teams:Implications for the Identification and Training of Successful E-leaders

“…In terms of productivity, the survey found that 68% of respondents considered cultural challenges as their team's number one impediment (RW3 CultureWizard, 2016). These findings are backed by other research and leader cultural intelligence has been identified as crucial for team performance in the extant literature on GVT leadership (Anantatmula & Thomas, 2010;Dennis et al, 2013;Henderson, Stackman & Lindekilde, 2018;Moon, 2013;Presbitero & Toledano, 2018).…”

“…CQ can affect multiple facets of virtual work, including team member satisfaction, role clarity, trust, communication, and performance (Henderson, Stackman & Lindekilde, 2018;Moon, 2013;Presbitero, 2016). It is imperative that the leaders of GVTs be high in CQ because they will shape the team's diversity environment perceptions (Rosenauer, Homan, Horstmeier & Voelpel, 2016).…”

“…In GVTs the team members will likely have increased diversity than F2F teams, which means the members will have different backgrounds, first languages, different social and work norms, and come with their own unique experiences (Hosseini et al, 2013). In order for eleaders to be successful with a diverse team, they need to be able or be able to develop the four factors of CQ (Henderson et al, 2018;Rockstuhl, Seiler, Ang, Dyne & Annen, 2011). In Hjaro and Puldelko's survey on 70 GVT members, they found evidence that supports the need of eleaders to have the knowledge of the values and beliefs and be able to adapt their behavior to the framework their employees' culture.…”

“…Showing authentic interest in individual team member cultural background can improve morale and understanding (Zander, Mockaitis & Butler, 2012). A few things e-leaders can do to display their vested interest into individual culture norms are knowing different holiday traditions and celebrations and making small gestures that are personal to the person's region (Henderson et al, 2018). Presbiteros (2016) study on CQ in virtual work that focal point was multicultural interactions support Moon's (2012) findings that the four factors of CQ were all significantly positively correlated to task performance.…”

“…CQ also has implications for training programs for the development of e-leaders. People that wish to lead a GVT should receive professional training to e-leaders that pays special attention to CQ-motivation could empower leaders to be aware of and supportive towards their team members cultural diversity (Henderson et al, 2018). Studies suggest that for managing culturally diverse teams the leaders are critical for their management and organizations should provide CQ training programs to enhance the leader's capabilities (Rosenauer et al, 2016).…”