Team-building strategies that build the dynamic capabilities of globally distributed teams within South African multinationals

Abstract

Globally distributed teams (GDTs) enable organisations to recruit the best talents, embrace diversity, enhance knowledge generation, and gain maximum effectiveness and innovation for competitive advantage. While these teams permit organisations to operate and compete in the new world of work, their potential, the quality of interactions and lived experiences have not been fully explored. Characterised by absolute reliance on technology-mediated communication, time zone differences, geographic dispersion and membership heterogeneity, globally distributed teams face multifarious challenges that require effective team-building strategies. Although team-building is a buzzword in business environments there is exiguous literature focusing on strategies that are used to drive it, more so in globally distributed teams. Guided by the dynamic capabilities theory and designed as an exploratory, qualitative research, this study investigates team-building strategies that build the dynamic capabilities of globally distributed teams. Conducted through 16 semi-structured interviews of financial sector managers in South African multinationals, the research identified five key team-building strategies namely conducting regular virtual team meetings, ensuring collaboration opportunities, setting clear communication guidelines, enhancing trust-building, and virtually celebrating achievements and milestones. The research also identified that team-building in globally distributed teams is an ongoing, manager-driven process (not a once-off event) realised in all team interactions and communications. The implementation of these strategies yields dynamic capabilities outlined as sensing capabilities (communication and trust-building), seizing capabilities (collaboration and team cohesion), and reconfiguring capabilities (innovation and knowledge sharing). This study also revealed that the implementation of strategies can be hampered by team members’ willingness to participate, the cost of GDT building and time zone differences. This research provides recommendations, and suggestions that will benefit existing GDTs, and those aiming to become so