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Leader, employee and team
competences in dispersed work
settings
Prof. Matti Vartiainen, Work Psychology and Leadership, Department of Industrial
Engineering and Management




      Time and Location: Monday, 28 January 2013
      3:00-4:30 PM, CERAS Room 123, Stanford University
Content of my presentation

• Competences
• New ways of working require new types of
  competences?
• Analyzing competence demands
• Analyzing competences on individual and team levels
• Studies 1, 2 and 3
• Conclusions
RQ:
What kinds of competences employees, leaders and teams
       need when working in dispersed settings?




           Competences -
       What am I talking about?
Developing Intangible Assets in
      Organizations to adapt and change
      (= learn)                                                  Physical
                                                                            Emotional
                                                                            intelligence             Work relations
                                                                 and mental                                                                     Purpose
Adam Smith defined four types of fixed capital                   health                                                Imago
                                                                                                                                                 Vision
(which is characterized as that which affords     Competences
                                                  and professional
                                                                                                                               Brand             Goals

a revenue or profit without circulating           skills

or changing masters):                                                 Human      -
                                                                                                  Social capital
                                                                                                                                Networks

1)    useful machines, instruments of the trade;    Values
                                                    and internal
                                                                      capital                                                  Owner relationship

2)    buildings as the means of procuring revenue; motivation                                                                Customer relationships

3)    improvements of land and                                                                                              Supplier relationships

4) human capital.                                       ”Flow ”
                                                                                                                      Partner relationship
                                                                                     Structural

                                            Intellectual                               capital                         Organizational climate
                                            Capital         Competence
                                                            Development                                      Enterprise culture

  Financial and                                             systems
                                                               Work
                                                                                                          Leadership and
                                                                                                          management
  material capital                                             arrangements
                                                                      Occupational
                                                                                                    Compensation and
                                                                                             Knowledge
                                                                                                    reward systems
  intangible or                                                       safety Health services flow
                                                                                                       Information
  intellectual                                                                                         systems




                                                                         Need to identify and
  capital                                                                develop intangible assets
                                                                         in organizations
                                               e.g. Edvinsson, L. & Malone, M.S. (1997); Sveiby, Karl Erik (1997)
Competences on three levels

• Three levels of competences:
   (a) Strategic core competences reflecting resources
     and capabilities of the whole work system to achieve
     and maintain a competitive advantage
   (b) Collective competences reflecting projects’ and
     teams’ joint capabilities to act flexibly according to the
     working context’s requirements, and
   (c) Individual competences reflecting capabilities
     that an individual needs to carry out his/her task.
   – Key competences refer to critical competences
     needed on different levels for good performance.
Hierarchy of competences (Javidan
             1998, 62)
       Core
    competences
                     Increases

   Competences



                    Value Difficulty
     Capabilities




     Resources
Core Competences
• ”The collective learning in the organization, especially how
  to co-ordinate diverse production skills and integrate
  multiple streams of technologies” (Prahalad ja Hamel
  1990).
• A bundle of skills, experience and technologies that
  enables a company to provide a particular benefit to
  customers
• The capabilities that underlie leadership in a range of
  products or services
• A sum of learning across individual skills and
  organizational units
• A gateway to wide variety of potential product markets
Collective competences
              Technical Competence                              Social Competence




Practical Competence               Interpersonal Competence          Sympathetic Competence
Ability to carry out the task      Interaction aimed at performing   Social interaction without
                                   the task                          connection to the task




                                Collective Competence


                                                                      Hansson 2003
Individual competences


•   Two perspectives:

    –   Work-oriented approach: competences are
        regarded as a specific set of attributes of work
        and its demands.
    –   Worker-oriented approach: competences are
        primary seen as constituted by attributes
        possessed by workers, typically represented as
        knowledge, skills, abilities and personal traits
        required for effective work performance.
Traditional worker-oriented
    definitions
• “An underlying characteristic of a person which
  results in effective and/or superior performance in a job
  (Klemp 1980, see Boyatzis 1982, 21).
• “A job competency is an underlying characteristic of a
  person in that it may be a motive, trait, skill, aspect of
  one’s self-image or social role, or a body of
  knowledge he or she uses” (Boyatzis 1982, 21).
• “A competency is an underlying characteristic of an
  individual that is causally related to criterion-referenced
  effective and/or superior performance in a job or
  situation” (Spencer & Spencer 1993, 9).
• “Competence consists of knowledge, skills, attitudes,
  experiences and contacts that enable good performance
  in certain situations” (Sydänmaanlakka 2003, 107).
Are there generic individual key
  competences?
• Definition of key competences:

   – … contribute to highly valued outcomes at the
     individual and societal levels in terms of an overall
     successful life and a well-functioning society
   – … are instrumental for meeting important, complex
     demands and challenges in a wide spectrum of
     contexts
   – … are important for all individual
                           Rychen, S.D. & Salganik, L.H. (eds.) (2003) Key competencies
                           for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Göttingen:
                           Hogrefe & Huber.
New ways of working require
new types of competences?
Chaos of concepts when defining
new ways of working
                   Virtual team
                 Dispersed team
             Distributed organisation
            Multi-locational knowledge
                     workers

             Mobile technology
                Mobility
              Micromobility
              Multi-mobility
              Full mobility
Multi-locational work (‘E-nomads’) in
Europe 2010
• E-nomads are people who do not work all the time at their
  employers’ or their own business premises and habitually use
  computers, the internet or email for professional purposes.
• A quarter of the European workers are e-nomads. The
  incidence of e-nomads varies considerably between countries,
  ranging from just above 5% in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and
  Turkey to more than 40% in the Netherlands, Denmark and
  Sweden, and 45% in Finland.
• On average, e-nomads work longer hours, more often on
  Sundays and more often in the evenings than other workers.
  They also report having to work during their free time more often
  than the average

                 Main place of work by gender and type of work, Eurofound (2012), Fifth European Working Conditions Survey,
                 Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012.
                 Agnès Parent-Thirion, Greet Vermeylen, Gijs van Houten, Maija Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Isabella Biletta, JorgeCabrita, with the
                 assistance of Isabelle Niedhammer. At the time the fifth edition of the survey was carried out, in 2010, about 216 million
                 people were employed in the EU27 main reference area of the survey. A total of 44,000 workers from 34 European
                 countries were interviewed in 2010 on their working and employment conditions.
Multi-locational work in Europe 2010




         Main place of work by gender and type of work, Eurofound (2012), Fifth European Working Conditions Survey,
         Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012.
         Agnès Parent-Thirion, Greet Vermeylen, Gijs van Houten, Maija Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Isabella Biletta, JorgeCabrita, with the
         assistance of Isabelle Niedhammer. At the time the fifth edition of the survey was carried out, in 2010, about 216 million
         people were employed in the EU27 main reference area of the survey. A total of 44,000 workers from 34 European
         countries were interviewed in 2010 on their working and employment conditions.
Prevalence and development in
                        telework in USA 2001-2010
Millions of employees




                                         (The WorldatWork Special Report ‘Telework 2011’, p. 3).
Mobile
             multi-
             locational
             work




01.12.2009
TKK
Types of mobile multi-locational work
On the                                                                                                                   Mobile
move                                                                                                                     Toolkit
                                                                                     Nomads
                                                                                                        Carriers



                                                                                (E.g. sales person)
                                                                       Yo-yos
   Number of work locations




                                         Pendulums                                                    (E.g. a pilot)



                                                                    (E.g. Manager
                                        (E.g. teleworking           or executive)
                                        accountant)
                                        On-site movers




One site                              (E.g. A farmer and a nurse)
office
                                Low                 Frequency of changing locations                         Continuous
HOWEVER! This is not all … as

virtual and mobile group work has
increased
… as virtual collaboration with
           others from multiple places
                                          Portfolio managers
                  SiteB
                                                                                     SiteC
                                               SiteA
                               Project A                                                 Suppliers
                                                         Project B


                     SiteD

                                                        Siten

                                                                               Subcontractors
                       External customers
• Definition of mobile distributed (virtual) workgroup: A group of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose
across space communicating mainly via ICT (adapted from Lipnack & Stamps, 2000), and all or part of them move in their
work
Differences between virtual
 and conventional teams

    Convential teams                         Virtual teams




SPATIAL DISTANCE   COMMUNICATION   SPATIAL DISTANCE     COMMUNICATION

                                                        Technologically
Proximal           Face-to-Face    Distributed          mediated



                                         (Bell & Kozlowski 2002, 22)
Team types




•    Global group’s or team’s members’ cross geographical and cultural boundaries
     globally.
•    Using collaboration technologies does it a global virtual group or team.
•    Physical mobility of at least some members makes it a global mobile virtual
     group or team.
•    Global virtual teams are always to some degree dispersed crossing geographical
     borders, some team members may be physically mobile and work over time zones
     in simultaneous temporary limited projects using collaboration technologies to
     communicate with their team members and leaders.
Different types of dispersed teams

 Fully        Three                   Two Subgroups
 Dispersed    Subgroups




                          (From Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa 2009)
Example of a global team under study
Analyzing competence demands
Genesis
•      Factors determining positive and negative outcomes, and user
       needs and design requirements:
     (a) the complexity of collective joint tasks: are they routine vs.
           creative tasks, how interconnected they are, how ambiguous
           they are?
     (b) the complexity of context or spaces (physical, virtual,
           mental/social) where a team is operating?
     (c) internal, regulative processes of individual or collective
           subjects (e.g. means of communication and collaboration, inter-
           connectedness, dependency, trust, etc)

                     CONTEXTUAL COMPLEXITY

                                                                OUTCOMES
TASK                      INDIVIDUAL AND
                          COLLECTIVE REGULATIVE                 - Performance
COMPLEXITY
                          PROCESSES                             - Well-being
                            20.04.2010
                            Aalto University School of
                            Science of Technology
(a) Task complexity

• Task complexity has critical implications for the
  structure and processes of virtual teams:
   – Complicatedness of task: routine vs. creative
   – Interconnectivity of tasks
   – Ambiguity of tasks

     Low             complexity of task                      High


     Inform         coordinate        collaborate     cooperate



     Small            degree of group communication           Large
(b) Complexity of working contexts
      determines requirements (job demands)
                                      - Number of sites?                      - Type of moving: ’on-site
     - Communication and              - Distance?                             movers’, ’Yo-Yos’,
     collaboration tools?                                                     ’Pendulums’, ’Nomads’,
     Frequency of use?                     Location                           ’Carriers’?
     Purpose of use?                                                          - Number of places
                                                                              visited?
                    Mode of                                                   - Frequently of changing
                    interaction                                               places?
                                                                 Mobility

 - Age, sex,
 education,
 nationality,                                                               - Time used
 language,                                                                  in working at home, moving,
 religion,                                                                  main workplace, secondary and
 individual
                     Diversity
                                                                            tertiary workplace?
 characteristics                                                 Time       - Time used in working
                                                                            together?
                                                                            - Members working at the
                                        Temporariness                       same time?
- Length of working together? Team’s developmental stage? Team              - Members working in different
members’ other projects? Each member’s time use in team?                    time zones?
Analysis of contextual
      complexity
The dimensions and sub-dimensions of contextual complexity provide possibilities for project
managers and team leaders to analyze and describe the type of the organizational
unit they are working with. To determine the type of team, answering to the following
questions may help:

                                                                     NOT           VERY
                                                                     AT ALL        MUCH


- This team’s members are working in different locations?              1   2   3   4   5
- This team’s members move a lot in their work?                        1   2   3   4   5
- This team’s members work asynchronously?                             1   2   3   4   5
- This team’s members work temporarily together?                       1   2   3   4   5
- This team’s members backgrounds are very different?                  1   2   3   4   5
- This team’s members use electronic communication tools
  for communication and collaboration?                                 1 2 3 4 5

If the answer ‘NO’ to all these questions, the team is not virtual and dispersed at all.
(c) Internal, regulative processes
     of individual and collective subjects
                                          Ep

                                          C

                                           r
                                               A2
                 S1     T1           R1             R2           S2
                        A1                     T2
                                               R3


                                               T3
                                          S3



•   Individuals as acting subjects in dispersed work (Ep = external environment of
    individual, S1-S3 = dispersed sites, C = cognitive functions, r = internal world of
    individual, T1-T3 = different tasks, R1-R3 = roles, A1-A2 = attitudes) (Modified
    from Rice 1969)
Analysizing competences on
 individual and team levels
Types of activity environments
and competences
                                                                                  Unit and type
                             Creatve                                              of competence
 Job and task requirements
                             Flexible
                             Routine




                                        Stabile           Disturbed              Turbulent
                                                  Type of activity environment

                                                                       Based on Emery, F. & Trist, E. (1997, orig. 1963)
                                                                       The causal texture of organizational environments.
Demand defines internal
 structure of a competence

    Demand-oriented                                                Internal structure




                                                                                        Related to co-operation
    competence                                                     of a competence

    Example of a need:                                             Knowledge
    Ability co-operate                                             Cognitive skills
                                                                   Practical skills
                                                                   Attitudes
                                                                   Emotions
                                                                   Values and ethics
                                                                   Motivation
Rychen, S.D. & Salganik, L.H. (eds.) (2003) Key competencies
for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Göttingen:
Hogrefe & Huber.
Framework to study compentence
needs and competences
                                       TASKS
                   TIME                                  MOBILITY

                JOB DEMANDS IN DISPERSED WORKING CONTEXT

      CHARACTERISTICS
      (a) Individual
      - Meanings, knowledge
     LOCATION
      - Attitude,                     SKILFUL OPERATIVE
      - Experience, traits            ACTIONS, i.e.,         RESULTS AND
      (b) Collective                  process of doing,      OUTCOMES
      - Shared knowledge              performing, skills     - Quality
      - Ability to work together
      - Ability to interact and
      -communicate
                                                             LOCATION

                 DIVERSITY

                                   MODE OF INTERACTION
Individual competence (Spencer &
   Spencer 1993, 9)
• A competency is an underlying characteristic
  of an individual that is causally related to
  criterion-referenced effective and/or superior
  performance in a job or situation” (Spencer &
  Spencer 1993, 9).”
      ”Purpose”        ”Activity”     ”Result”

   Individual        Behavior       Performance
   characteristics

     Motive           Skill
     Characteritic
     Self-image
     Knowledge
Study 1: Individual and collective
 competences in virtual project
          organizations

          See references 5, 6, 10
Purpose and research questions

• The purpose was to analyze and describe
  competences in a dispersed context in order to
  develop working and leadership practices in
  virtual organizations.
• The research question of the study was:

  – What are the competences needed by project and team
    leaders, and employees in virtual teams and projects?
Data and methods
• The data was collected in eleven companies in the electronics,
  woodworking, road infrastructure, social work, and banking
  industries in 2003-2005
• First, a context analysis was made in each company by collecting
  documents and by interviewing company management.
• Four researchers interviewed (n=102): two executives, 31 team
  leaders, and 65 team members. In addition, three executives
  participated in a face-to-face focus group interview, one executive
  was interviewed in a videoconference and two team members on
  telephone.
• The interviews were conducted in Amsterdam, Dongguang,
  Espoo, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Kuopio, Oulu and Tampere. The
  interview sessions, ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours, were
  recorded and transcribed and then analyzed with Atlas/ti
Semi-structured interviews - themes
 • Describe your work and role in this dispersed workgroup.
 • How does the virtual work differ from co-located work in your opinion?
 • Describe the special challenges and benefits that you and your group
    have encountered when working in
 1) geographically dispersed,
 2) mobile,
 3) across different time zones,
 4) in a temporary / permanent manner,
 5) with diverse group members, and
 6) by mediated interaction?
 • What sort of skills or competences do you need in your work?
 • Which special competences do you need in a virtual setting?
 • How about the other members’ competences (colleagues, team
    leader)?
Location

                                                                       Loneliness, isolation
                                                                                      Inequality of
                                                           Maintaining
                                                                                      team members
                                                           trust
                                                           Missing social
                                                           network                    Unclear                                Mobility
             Mode of
                                    Unanswered                                        career
             interaction
                                    e-mails                Increased                                  Accumulated
                                            Unclear        responsibility             Unclarity of    tasks in office
                                            communication                             goals and roles                Time lag
                     Availablity of                    Missing
                     team                              face-to-face                   Sharing local
                     members Non-rich                  contacts                       knowledge
                                                                Social                                                   Long working days
                               communication                                          Building we-
                                                                conflicts                                       Fuzzy work-life boundary
                                                                                      spirit

Findings 1:
                                       Meagre
                                       feedback                                       (identity)
                                                                                                       Finding adequate workplaces
                                              Information
                                              overflow

perceived                                     Local
                                                                                                  Time used for co-ordination

challenges
                                              culture
                                 Differences in
                                              and habits                                                Late calls
                                 ways of thingking
                         Different educational
                                                                                                              Lack of ad-hoc meetings
                         backgrounds                                             Knowledge
                          Language                                               transfer                             One-way communication
                                                            Differences
                                                            In project
                                                                                 between
                                 Cultural differences                            projects Flexible
                                                            practices                                          Co-ordination of
                                                                                             working
                                                                                                               tasks
                                                            Number of                        times
                Diversity
                                                            simultaneou
                                                                                                                            Time
                                                            s                          Turnover of
                                                            projects                   colleagues and
                                                                                       projects
                                                                          Job tenure
  (Interviews, n= 102)
                                                                Temporariness                                              = a face-to-face
                                                                                                                           organisation
Findings 2: Individual team member
and leader competences (n=102)
Characteristics                               Skilful operative actions
Employee:                                     Employee:
- Independence, self-motivation, self-        - Communication skills (n=59)
management (n=51)                             - Skills to use communication and collaboration
- Cultural sensitivity (n=39)                 tools (n=39)
- Work experience and expertise (n=38)        - Flexibility (n=31)
- Structured work style (n=33)                - Proactive behavior (n=30)
- Trustworthiness, honesty, openness and      - Language skills (n=29)
responsible (n=28)                            - Working processes compliance (n=28)
- Cooperative (n=13)                          - Written expression skills (n=25)
- Readiness to travel (n=13)                  - Control of multi-project complexity (n=22)
- Patience (n=7)                              - Ability to see the bigger picture (n=17)
                                              - Control of information flow (n=17)
Team Leader:                                  Team Leader:
- Assertiveness and determination (n=29)      - Result-oriented management style (n=40)
- Propensity to trust (n=22)                  - Leadership actions (n=40)
- Earlier experience of virtual work (n=16)   - Information sharing and comprehensive
- People skills (n=16)                        communication (n=37)
- Trustworthiness, honesty, openness (n=9)    - Coordination and organizing skills (n=14)
                                              - Time management (n=9)
                                              - Macro-management (n=7)
Findings 3: Collective team and
organization competences (n=102)
Characteristics                               Skilful operative actions
Team:                                         Team:
- Defined roles and responsibilities (n=48)   - Open and frequent communication (n=61)
- Trust (n=39)                                - Adequate face-to-face meetings (n=41)
- Goal clarity (n=36)                         - Knowing the other team members (n=36)
- Communication practices (n=35)              - Time difference enabling shift work (n=4)
- Common operations models (n=31)
- Commitment and we-spirit (n=30)
- Common language and understanding (n=14)
- Local expertise (n=6)
- Cultural richness due to diversity (n=5)
Organization:                                 Organization:
- Common IT-systems, communication and        - Management support (n=26)
collaboration tools (n=58)                    - Local ICT-support and maintenance (n=9)
- Common processes and guidelines (n=56)
- Open culture (n=28)
- Adequate resources and time (n=26)
- Methods to utilize local knowledge (n=17)
Study 2: European survey -
competence challenges in global
        collaboration
           See reference 13
Research question and survey design
•   Research question: What are the main challenges of the company when
    operating outside Europe?
•   Sample size
     – n=1015 (~200 per country), data was collected in between 18th April and 5th
       June, 2008
     – 70-160 per country (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands,
       Portugal, Sweden and U.K.)
•   Interview duration
     – 15-20 minutes on average (excluding initiation)
•   Interview methodology: Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing
•   Unit of observation
     – Only companies of a certain size (5+ employees) because of uneven
        coverage of micro enterprises in list sources
     – Only companies that engage in global activities
•   Unit of response
     – Owners / CEOs / Heads of R&D / Heads of international operations
Findings: Competence challenges in
 global collaboration
        (% “very often”, “often” or “sometimes”, Base: all SMEs with global activities

     Problems caused by language
               or cultural barriers
      Difficulty to meet face-to-face
                     when necessary
Problems due to regulatory barriers
                    in host countries
         Difficulty of building trust
    between collaboration partners
            Problems in organising
            work across time zones
           Increasing stress among
                         employees
          Lack of interoperability of
          processes & ICT systems
    Difficulty of making employees
          adapt their working times                                                  Total sample
    Problems regarding protection                                                    Knowledge- intensive
           of Intellectual property                                                  business services
  Problems regarding data security                                                   High- tech manufacturing
                                                                                     Medium-high-tech
   Problems regarding data                                                           manufacturing
   privacy
                                    0        10            20           30           40          50
Study 3: Leader and employee
competences in global settings

         See reference 8




                   ARCHITECTS OY
Purpose and research questions
• The purpose was to analyze and describe competences
  in a dispersed context in order to develop working and
  leadership practices in global virtual teams.
• The research questions of the study was:
   – Which special competences and characteristics of you
     and your team members are required to work in a
     global setting?
   – Which leadership competences and characteristics
     does a leader need in a global setting??
Data and methods
•    Collection of data
    (a) Secondary analysis of data from literature
    (b) Semi-structured interview (n=103), i.e., target
        unit interview from 12 global companies
         -    Team and project members, team leaders, executives
         -    Face-to-face and videoconference interviews
         -    Data was collected 2008-2011
•    Analysis of data
    –     Interview answers were transcribed and analysed
          qualitatively by using a text-analysis program
          Atlas.ti
    See: Future competences http://www.futurex.utu.fi/julkaisut_Future_Competences.pdf
Target unit interview - themes

• Which special competences and characteristics of
  you and your team members are required to
  work in a global setting?
• Which leadership competences and
  characteristics does a leader need in a global
  setting?
• How would you improve leadership in the global
  CWE?
Findings: Key competences of employees
and leaders in global environments
                                                                                                      = skills
                                                              Have
                                                            presence
           Focus on                                          (n=12)                                   = characteristics
          big picture
           /strategy         Management
            (n=12)             (n=14)           People
                                                                           Use
                                                 skills
                                                                        different
                                                (n=11)
                                                                       approaches
Leader                                    +                              (n=8)

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Employee
                                                       Understanding                Flexible (n=11)
& Leader                                                 (cultural)
                 Communication skills (n=45)            differences
                                                           (n=42)
                                                                                Open minded (n=14)




           Outgoing/                 Proactive (n=7)
       systematic (n=6)
Findings: Communication in detail
(n=45)
• Language skills
• Verbal and written communication skills
   – Clarity
• Outgoing (outward acting) and systematic(n=6)
   – Opinions differed -> cannot be together?
• Proactive (n=7). Listens and asks specific questions
• Efficient use of technologies
   – Video -> Voice-> email
• Increasing communication
Findings: Understanding (cultural)
differences (n=42)
• Cultural differences (n=42)
   – Understands: local customs, what motivates people and how affairs are
     taken care in different places
• Open-minded (n=14)
• Flexible (n=11)
   – Ability to act and think globally
   – A ‘must’ in dispersed working
   – Workday is not 9-17
Findings: Leader-specific competences
•   Competence needs do not ‘an sich’ differ from ‘local leadership’, but distribution
    creates different challenges
•   Management mind-set (n=14)
     – Follow progress
•   Focus on big picture and strategy (n=12)
     – Understanding markets
     – Communicating broader picture to team members
     – Setting a common direction and creating common processes
•   Having presence (n=12)
     – Visiting other locations/offices
     – Being active in virtual spaces
•   People skills (n=11)
     – Learning to motivate, communicate and deal with different people
•   Ability to use different approaches (n=8)
     – Changing behaviour according to situations
Conclusions:
it is all about cultural understanding
           and communication
Employee, leader and team
competences needed dispersed work
settings
     (a) Employee
          - Characteristics: independence, self-management, cultural
             sensitivity, open-mindedness
          - Operative actions: communication skills, skills to use
             communication and collaboration tools
     (b) Team leader
          - Characteristics: assertiveness and determination, open-
             mindedness, management mind-set
          - Operative actions: communication, understanding cultural
             differences, result-oriented management style, leadership
             actions
 -    Findings fit quite well with earlier studies (secondary data), see
      references.
–   Collective competences needed by teams,
    projects and organizations in dispersed settings?
    (a) Team
       -   Characteristics: defined roles and responsibilities, trust
       -   Operative actions: open and frequent communication,
           adequate face-to-face meetings
    (b) Organization
       -   Characteristics: common IT-systems, communication and
           collaboration tools, common processes and guidelines
       -   Operative actions: management support, local ICT-
           support and maintenance, overcoming language or cultural
           barriers, organizing face-to-face meetings when necessary
Summary of team member and leader
competences – top frequencies
STUDIES Characteristics                                 Skilful operative actions
           Employee
Study 1    - Independence, self-motivation, self-       - Communication skills (n=59)
(n=102)    management (n=51)                            - Skills to use communication and collaboration
           - Cultural sensitivity (n=39)                tools (n=39)
Study 3    - Open minded (n=14)                         - Communication (n=45)
(n=103)    - Flexible (n=11)                            - Understanding (cultural) differences (n=42)
- joint

           Team leader
Study 1    - Assertiveness and determination (n=29)     - Result-oriented management style (n=40)
(n=102)    - Propensity to trust employees (n=22)       - Leadership actions (n=40)
Study 3    - Open minded (n=14)                         - Communication (n=45)
(n=103)    - Flexible (n=11)                            - Understanding (cultural) differences (n=42)
joint
Study 3    - Management mind-set (n=14)                 - Follow progress (n=14)
(n=103)    - Focus on big picture and strategy (n=12)   - Understanding markets, communicating
Leader-    - Having presence (n=12)                     broader picture to team members, setting a
specific                                                common direction and creating common
                                                        processes (n=12)
                                                        - Visiting other locations/offices, being active
                                                        in virtual spaces (n=12)
Summary of collective competences –
top frequencies
STUDIES   Characteristics                        Skilful operative actions
          Team
Study 1   - Defined roles and responsibilities   - Open and frequent communication
          (n=48)                                 (n=61)
(n=102)   - Trust (n=39)                         - Adequate face-to-face meetings (n=41)

          Organization
Study 1   - Common IT-systems, communication     - Management support (n=26)
          and collaboration tools (n=58)         - Local ICT-support and maintenance
(n=102)   - Common processes and guidelines      (n=9)
          (n=56)

Study 2   -                                      - Overcoming language or cultural
                                                 barriers
(n=                                              - Meeting face-to-face when necessary
around
488)
Critique on rationalistic approaches
Phenomenography (Sandberg 2000, 11):
  – The rationalistic ”operationalizations” of attributes into quantitative
    measures often result in abstract and overly narrow and simplified
    descriptions that may not adequately represent the complexity of
    competence in work performance.
  – The predefined competence categories may confirm a researcher’s
    own model of competence, rather than capture workers’
    competence.
  – However: in this study, competence categories did not exist
    beforehand, but emerged from interview data!
Future challenges
• Competence descriptions are ’inherited’ reminding
  concepts of f-t-f competences: ’bounded rationality’ or
  ’delayed mindset’?
• Context matters: as the cultural understanding issues
  emerged, both interview data (n=102, n=103) could be
  analysed ftom the viewpoint of culturally different
  interviewees!
• It would be important to identify positive features in
  dispersed work settings (enablers), in addition to
  disablers!
• Practical implications on organizational, team and
  individual levels should be developed
Literature
1. Andriessen,  E. & Vartiainen, M. (Eds) (2006) Mobile virtual work – A new paradigm? Heidelberg: Springer.
2. Bosch-Sijtsema, P.M., Ruohomäki, V. & Vartiainen, M. (2010) Knowledge work productivity in distributed teams. Journal of
Knowledge Management 13, 6, 533-546.
3. Bosch-Sijtema, P., Fruchter, R., Vartiainen, M. & Ruohomäki, V. (2011) Challenging new ways of working for remote managers
in global collaborative work environments. In: Kelliher, C. & Richardson, J. (Eds.) New ways of organizing work. Developments,
Perspectives, and experiences, pp. 160-175. New York: Routledge.
4. Kasvi, J.J.J., Vartiainen, M. & Hailikari, M. (2003) Managing knowledge and knowledge competences in projects and project
organisations. International Journal of Project Management 21, 8, 571-582.
5. Kokko, N., Vartiainen, M. & Hakonen, M. (2003) Collective competencies in virtual organizations. In: Luczak, H. & Zink, K.J.
(Eds.) Human factors in organizational design and management – VII. Re-designing work and macroergonomics – future
perspectives and challenges, pp. 403-408. Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Human Factors in
Organizational Design and Management held in Aachen, Germany, October 1-2, 2003.
6. Kokko, N., Vartiainen, M. & Lönnblad, J. (2007) Individual and collective competences in virtual project organizations. The
Electronic Journal for Virtual Organizations and Networks 8, March 2007, 28-52.
7. Korpelainen, E., Kira, M. & Vartiainen, M. (2010) Self-determined adoption of an ICT system in a work organization. Journal of
Organizational and End User Computing 22, 4, 51-69.
8. Lönnblad, J. & Vartiainen, M. (2012) Future competences – Competences for new ways of working. Publication series B:12.
University of Turku, Brahea Centre for Training and Development. 43 p. ISSN 1798-8195 (internet), ISBN 978-951-29-5063-8
(pdf)
9. Ruuska, I. & Vartiainen, M. (2003) Critical project competences – a case study. The Journal of Workplace Learning 15, 7, 307-
312.
10. Verburg, R., Bosch-Sijtsema, P.M. & Vartiainen, M. (2013) Getting it done: Critical success factors for project managers in
virtual work settings. International Journal of Project Management 31, 1, 68-79.
11. Vartiainen, M., Kokko, N. & Hakonen, M. (2003) Competences in virtual organizations. In: Proceedings of the 3rd
International Conference on Researching Work and Learning, 25-27 July 2003, Book I, pp. 209-219. Tampere, Finland.
12. Vartiainen, M. (2008) Facilitating mobile and virtual work. In: Wangel, C. (Ed.) 21st Century Management, A Reference
Handbook, Vol. II, pp. 348-360. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13. Vartiainen, M., Hakonen, M., Koivisto, S., Mannonen, P., Nieminen, M.P., Ruohomäki V. & Vartola, A. (2007) Distributed and
mobile work – places, people and technology. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.

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Leader, employee and team competences in dispersed work settings 280113

  • 1. Leader, employee and team competences in dispersed work settings Prof. Matti Vartiainen, Work Psychology and Leadership, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Time and Location: Monday, 28 January 2013 3:00-4:30 PM, CERAS Room 123, Stanford University
  • 2. Content of my presentation • Competences • New ways of working require new types of competences? • Analyzing competence demands • Analyzing competences on individual and team levels • Studies 1, 2 and 3 • Conclusions
  • 3. RQ: What kinds of competences employees, leaders and teams need when working in dispersed settings? Competences - What am I talking about?
  • 4. Developing Intangible Assets in Organizations to adapt and change (= learn) Physical Emotional intelligence Work relations and mental Purpose Adam Smith defined four types of fixed capital health Imago Vision (which is characterized as that which affords Competences and professional Brand Goals a revenue or profit without circulating skills or changing masters): Human - Social capital Networks 1) useful machines, instruments of the trade; Values and internal capital Owner relationship 2) buildings as the means of procuring revenue; motivation Customer relationships 3) improvements of land and Supplier relationships 4) human capital. ”Flow ” Partner relationship Structural Intellectual capital Organizational climate Capital Competence Development Enterprise culture Financial and systems Work Leadership and management material capital arrangements Occupational Compensation and Knowledge reward systems intangible or safety Health services flow Information intellectual systems Need to identify and capital develop intangible assets in organizations e.g. Edvinsson, L. & Malone, M.S. (1997); Sveiby, Karl Erik (1997)
  • 5. Competences on three levels • Three levels of competences: (a) Strategic core competences reflecting resources and capabilities of the whole work system to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage (b) Collective competences reflecting projects’ and teams’ joint capabilities to act flexibly according to the working context’s requirements, and (c) Individual competences reflecting capabilities that an individual needs to carry out his/her task. – Key competences refer to critical competences needed on different levels for good performance.
  • 6. Hierarchy of competences (Javidan 1998, 62) Core competences Increases Competences Value Difficulty Capabilities Resources
  • 7. Core Competences • ”The collective learning in the organization, especially how to co-ordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies” (Prahalad ja Hamel 1990). • A bundle of skills, experience and technologies that enables a company to provide a particular benefit to customers • The capabilities that underlie leadership in a range of products or services • A sum of learning across individual skills and organizational units • A gateway to wide variety of potential product markets
  • 8. Collective competences Technical Competence Social Competence Practical Competence Interpersonal Competence Sympathetic Competence Ability to carry out the task Interaction aimed at performing Social interaction without the task connection to the task Collective Competence Hansson 2003
  • 9. Individual competences • Two perspectives: – Work-oriented approach: competences are regarded as a specific set of attributes of work and its demands. – Worker-oriented approach: competences are primary seen as constituted by attributes possessed by workers, typically represented as knowledge, skills, abilities and personal traits required for effective work performance.
  • 10. Traditional worker-oriented definitions • “An underlying characteristic of a person which results in effective and/or superior performance in a job (Klemp 1980, see Boyatzis 1982, 21). • “A job competency is an underlying characteristic of a person in that it may be a motive, trait, skill, aspect of one’s self-image or social role, or a body of knowledge he or she uses” (Boyatzis 1982, 21). • “A competency is an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion-referenced effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation” (Spencer & Spencer 1993, 9). • “Competence consists of knowledge, skills, attitudes, experiences and contacts that enable good performance in certain situations” (Sydänmaanlakka 2003, 107).
  • 11. Are there generic individual key competences? • Definition of key competences: – … contribute to highly valued outcomes at the individual and societal levels in terms of an overall successful life and a well-functioning society – … are instrumental for meeting important, complex demands and challenges in a wide spectrum of contexts – … are important for all individual Rychen, S.D. & Salganik, L.H. (eds.) (2003) Key competencies for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Göttingen: Hogrefe & Huber.
  • 12. New ways of working require new types of competences?
  • 13. Chaos of concepts when defining new ways of working Virtual team Dispersed team Distributed organisation Multi-locational knowledge workers Mobile technology Mobility Micromobility Multi-mobility Full mobility
  • 14. Multi-locational work (‘E-nomads’) in Europe 2010 • E-nomads are people who do not work all the time at their employers’ or their own business premises and habitually use computers, the internet or email for professional purposes. • A quarter of the European workers are e-nomads. The incidence of e-nomads varies considerably between countries, ranging from just above 5% in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey to more than 40% in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, and 45% in Finland. • On average, e-nomads work longer hours, more often on Sundays and more often in the evenings than other workers. They also report having to work during their free time more often than the average Main place of work by gender and type of work, Eurofound (2012), Fifth European Working Conditions Survey, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012. Agnès Parent-Thirion, Greet Vermeylen, Gijs van Houten, Maija Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Isabella Biletta, JorgeCabrita, with the assistance of Isabelle Niedhammer. At the time the fifth edition of the survey was carried out, in 2010, about 216 million people were employed in the EU27 main reference area of the survey. A total of 44,000 workers from 34 European countries were interviewed in 2010 on their working and employment conditions.
  • 15. Multi-locational work in Europe 2010 Main place of work by gender and type of work, Eurofound (2012), Fifth European Working Conditions Survey, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012. Agnès Parent-Thirion, Greet Vermeylen, Gijs van Houten, Maija Lyly-Yrjänäinen, Isabella Biletta, JorgeCabrita, with the assistance of Isabelle Niedhammer. At the time the fifth edition of the survey was carried out, in 2010, about 216 million people were employed in the EU27 main reference area of the survey. A total of 44,000 workers from 34 European countries were interviewed in 2010 on their working and employment conditions.
  • 16. Prevalence and development in telework in USA 2001-2010 Millions of employees (The WorldatWork Special Report ‘Telework 2011’, p. 3).
  • 17. Mobile multi- locational work 01.12.2009 TKK
  • 18. Types of mobile multi-locational work On the Mobile move Toolkit Nomads Carriers (E.g. sales person) Yo-yos Number of work locations Pendulums (E.g. a pilot) (E.g. Manager (E.g. teleworking or executive) accountant) On-site movers One site (E.g. A farmer and a nurse) office Low Frequency of changing locations Continuous
  • 19. HOWEVER! This is not all … as virtual and mobile group work has increased
  • 20. … as virtual collaboration with others from multiple places Portfolio managers SiteB SiteC SiteA Project A Suppliers Project B SiteD Siten Subcontractors External customers • Definition of mobile distributed (virtual) workgroup: A group of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose across space communicating mainly via ICT (adapted from Lipnack & Stamps, 2000), and all or part of them move in their work
  • 21. Differences between virtual and conventional teams Convential teams Virtual teams SPATIAL DISTANCE COMMUNICATION SPATIAL DISTANCE COMMUNICATION Technologically Proximal Face-to-Face Distributed mediated (Bell & Kozlowski 2002, 22)
  • 22. Team types • Global group’s or team’s members’ cross geographical and cultural boundaries globally. • Using collaboration technologies does it a global virtual group or team. • Physical mobility of at least some members makes it a global mobile virtual group or team. • Global virtual teams are always to some degree dispersed crossing geographical borders, some team members may be physically mobile and work over time zones in simultaneous temporary limited projects using collaboration technologies to communicate with their team members and leaders.
  • 23. Different types of dispersed teams Fully Three Two Subgroups Dispersed Subgroups (From Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa 2009)
  • 24. Example of a global team under study
  • 26. Genesis • Factors determining positive and negative outcomes, and user needs and design requirements: (a) the complexity of collective joint tasks: are they routine vs. creative tasks, how interconnected they are, how ambiguous they are? (b) the complexity of context or spaces (physical, virtual, mental/social) where a team is operating? (c) internal, regulative processes of individual or collective subjects (e.g. means of communication and collaboration, inter- connectedness, dependency, trust, etc) CONTEXTUAL COMPLEXITY OUTCOMES TASK INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE REGULATIVE - Performance COMPLEXITY PROCESSES - Well-being 20.04.2010 Aalto University School of Science of Technology
  • 27. (a) Task complexity • Task complexity has critical implications for the structure and processes of virtual teams: – Complicatedness of task: routine vs. creative – Interconnectivity of tasks – Ambiguity of tasks Low complexity of task High Inform coordinate collaborate cooperate Small degree of group communication Large
  • 28. (b) Complexity of working contexts determines requirements (job demands) - Number of sites? - Type of moving: ’on-site - Communication and - Distance? movers’, ’Yo-Yos’, collaboration tools? ’Pendulums’, ’Nomads’, Frequency of use? Location ’Carriers’? Purpose of use? - Number of places visited? Mode of - Frequently of changing interaction places? Mobility - Age, sex, education, nationality, - Time used language, in working at home, moving, religion, main workplace, secondary and individual Diversity tertiary workplace? characteristics Time - Time used in working together? - Members working at the Temporariness same time? - Length of working together? Team’s developmental stage? Team - Members working in different members’ other projects? Each member’s time use in team? time zones?
  • 29. Analysis of contextual complexity The dimensions and sub-dimensions of contextual complexity provide possibilities for project managers and team leaders to analyze and describe the type of the organizational unit they are working with. To determine the type of team, answering to the following questions may help: NOT VERY AT ALL MUCH - This team’s members are working in different locations? 1 2 3 4 5 - This team’s members move a lot in their work? 1 2 3 4 5 - This team’s members work asynchronously? 1 2 3 4 5 - This team’s members work temporarily together? 1 2 3 4 5 - This team’s members backgrounds are very different? 1 2 3 4 5 - This team’s members use electronic communication tools for communication and collaboration? 1 2 3 4 5 If the answer ‘NO’ to all these questions, the team is not virtual and dispersed at all.
  • 30. (c) Internal, regulative processes of individual and collective subjects Ep C r A2 S1 T1 R1 R2 S2 A1 T2 R3 T3 S3 • Individuals as acting subjects in dispersed work (Ep = external environment of individual, S1-S3 = dispersed sites, C = cognitive functions, r = internal world of individual, T1-T3 = different tasks, R1-R3 = roles, A1-A2 = attitudes) (Modified from Rice 1969)
  • 31. Analysizing competences on individual and team levels
  • 32. Types of activity environments and competences Unit and type Creatve of competence Job and task requirements Flexible Routine Stabile Disturbed Turbulent Type of activity environment Based on Emery, F. & Trist, E. (1997, orig. 1963) The causal texture of organizational environments.
  • 33. Demand defines internal structure of a competence Demand-oriented Internal structure Related to co-operation competence of a competence Example of a need: Knowledge Ability co-operate Cognitive skills Practical skills Attitudes Emotions Values and ethics Motivation Rychen, S.D. & Salganik, L.H. (eds.) (2003) Key competencies for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Göttingen: Hogrefe & Huber.
  • 34. Framework to study compentence needs and competences TASKS TIME MOBILITY JOB DEMANDS IN DISPERSED WORKING CONTEXT CHARACTERISTICS (a) Individual - Meanings, knowledge LOCATION - Attitude, SKILFUL OPERATIVE - Experience, traits ACTIONS, i.e., RESULTS AND (b) Collective process of doing, OUTCOMES - Shared knowledge performing, skills - Quality - Ability to work together - Ability to interact and -communicate LOCATION DIVERSITY MODE OF INTERACTION
  • 35. Individual competence (Spencer & Spencer 1993, 9) • A competency is an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion-referenced effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation” (Spencer & Spencer 1993, 9).” ”Purpose” ”Activity” ”Result” Individual Behavior Performance characteristics Motive Skill Characteritic Self-image Knowledge
  • 36. Study 1: Individual and collective competences in virtual project organizations See references 5, 6, 10
  • 37. Purpose and research questions • The purpose was to analyze and describe competences in a dispersed context in order to develop working and leadership practices in virtual organizations. • The research question of the study was: – What are the competences needed by project and team leaders, and employees in virtual teams and projects?
  • 38. Data and methods • The data was collected in eleven companies in the electronics, woodworking, road infrastructure, social work, and banking industries in 2003-2005 • First, a context analysis was made in each company by collecting documents and by interviewing company management. • Four researchers interviewed (n=102): two executives, 31 team leaders, and 65 team members. In addition, three executives participated in a face-to-face focus group interview, one executive was interviewed in a videoconference and two team members on telephone. • The interviews were conducted in Amsterdam, Dongguang, Espoo, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Kuopio, Oulu and Tampere. The interview sessions, ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours, were recorded and transcribed and then analyzed with Atlas/ti
  • 39. Semi-structured interviews - themes • Describe your work and role in this dispersed workgroup. • How does the virtual work differ from co-located work in your opinion? • Describe the special challenges and benefits that you and your group have encountered when working in 1) geographically dispersed, 2) mobile, 3) across different time zones, 4) in a temporary / permanent manner, 5) with diverse group members, and 6) by mediated interaction? • What sort of skills or competences do you need in your work? • Which special competences do you need in a virtual setting? • How about the other members’ competences (colleagues, team leader)?
  • 40. Location Loneliness, isolation Inequality of Maintaining team members trust Missing social network Unclear Mobility Mode of Unanswered career interaction e-mails Increased Accumulated Unclear responsibility Unclarity of tasks in office communication goals and roles Time lag Availablity of Missing team face-to-face Sharing local members Non-rich contacts knowledge Social Long working days communication Building we- conflicts Fuzzy work-life boundary spirit Findings 1: Meagre feedback (identity) Finding adequate workplaces Information overflow perceived Local Time used for co-ordination challenges culture Differences in and habits Late calls ways of thingking Different educational Lack of ad-hoc meetings backgrounds Knowledge Language transfer One-way communication Differences In project between Cultural differences projects Flexible practices Co-ordination of working tasks Number of times Diversity simultaneou Time s Turnover of projects colleagues and projects Job tenure (Interviews, n= 102) Temporariness = a face-to-face organisation
  • 41. Findings 2: Individual team member and leader competences (n=102) Characteristics Skilful operative actions Employee: Employee: - Independence, self-motivation, self- - Communication skills (n=59) management (n=51) - Skills to use communication and collaboration - Cultural sensitivity (n=39) tools (n=39) - Work experience and expertise (n=38) - Flexibility (n=31) - Structured work style (n=33) - Proactive behavior (n=30) - Trustworthiness, honesty, openness and - Language skills (n=29) responsible (n=28) - Working processes compliance (n=28) - Cooperative (n=13) - Written expression skills (n=25) - Readiness to travel (n=13) - Control of multi-project complexity (n=22) - Patience (n=7) - Ability to see the bigger picture (n=17) - Control of information flow (n=17) Team Leader: Team Leader: - Assertiveness and determination (n=29) - Result-oriented management style (n=40) - Propensity to trust (n=22) - Leadership actions (n=40) - Earlier experience of virtual work (n=16) - Information sharing and comprehensive - People skills (n=16) communication (n=37) - Trustworthiness, honesty, openness (n=9) - Coordination and organizing skills (n=14) - Time management (n=9) - Macro-management (n=7)
  • 42. Findings 3: Collective team and organization competences (n=102) Characteristics Skilful operative actions Team: Team: - Defined roles and responsibilities (n=48) - Open and frequent communication (n=61) - Trust (n=39) - Adequate face-to-face meetings (n=41) - Goal clarity (n=36) - Knowing the other team members (n=36) - Communication practices (n=35) - Time difference enabling shift work (n=4) - Common operations models (n=31) - Commitment and we-spirit (n=30) - Common language and understanding (n=14) - Local expertise (n=6) - Cultural richness due to diversity (n=5) Organization: Organization: - Common IT-systems, communication and - Management support (n=26) collaboration tools (n=58) - Local ICT-support and maintenance (n=9) - Common processes and guidelines (n=56) - Open culture (n=28) - Adequate resources and time (n=26) - Methods to utilize local knowledge (n=17)
  • 43. Study 2: European survey - competence challenges in global collaboration See reference 13
  • 44. Research question and survey design • Research question: What are the main challenges of the company when operating outside Europe? • Sample size – n=1015 (~200 per country), data was collected in between 18th April and 5th June, 2008 – 70-160 per country (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and U.K.) • Interview duration – 15-20 minutes on average (excluding initiation) • Interview methodology: Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing • Unit of observation – Only companies of a certain size (5+ employees) because of uneven coverage of micro enterprises in list sources – Only companies that engage in global activities • Unit of response – Owners / CEOs / Heads of R&D / Heads of international operations
  • 45. Findings: Competence challenges in global collaboration (% “very often”, “often” or “sometimes”, Base: all SMEs with global activities Problems caused by language or cultural barriers Difficulty to meet face-to-face when necessary Problems due to regulatory barriers in host countries Difficulty of building trust between collaboration partners Problems in organising work across time zones Increasing stress among employees Lack of interoperability of processes & ICT systems Difficulty of making employees adapt their working times Total sample Problems regarding protection Knowledge- intensive of Intellectual property business services Problems regarding data security High- tech manufacturing Medium-high-tech Problems regarding data manufacturing privacy 0 10 20 30 40 50
  • 46. Study 3: Leader and employee competences in global settings See reference 8 ARCHITECTS OY
  • 47. Purpose and research questions • The purpose was to analyze and describe competences in a dispersed context in order to develop working and leadership practices in global virtual teams. • The research questions of the study was: – Which special competences and characteristics of you and your team members are required to work in a global setting? – Which leadership competences and characteristics does a leader need in a global setting??
  • 48. Data and methods • Collection of data (a) Secondary analysis of data from literature (b) Semi-structured interview (n=103), i.e., target unit interview from 12 global companies - Team and project members, team leaders, executives - Face-to-face and videoconference interviews - Data was collected 2008-2011 • Analysis of data – Interview answers were transcribed and analysed qualitatively by using a text-analysis program Atlas.ti See: Future competences http://www.futurex.utu.fi/julkaisut_Future_Competences.pdf
  • 49. Target unit interview - themes • Which special competences and characteristics of you and your team members are required to work in a global setting? • Which leadership competences and characteristics does a leader need in a global setting? • How would you improve leadership in the global CWE?
  • 50. Findings: Key competences of employees and leaders in global environments = skills Have presence Focus on (n=12) = characteristics big picture /strategy Management (n=12) (n=14) People Use skills different (n=11) approaches Leader + (n=8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Employee Understanding Flexible (n=11) & Leader (cultural) Communication skills (n=45) differences (n=42) Open minded (n=14) Outgoing/ Proactive (n=7) systematic (n=6)
  • 51. Findings: Communication in detail (n=45) • Language skills • Verbal and written communication skills – Clarity • Outgoing (outward acting) and systematic(n=6) – Opinions differed -> cannot be together? • Proactive (n=7). Listens and asks specific questions • Efficient use of technologies – Video -> Voice-> email • Increasing communication
  • 52. Findings: Understanding (cultural) differences (n=42) • Cultural differences (n=42) – Understands: local customs, what motivates people and how affairs are taken care in different places • Open-minded (n=14) • Flexible (n=11) – Ability to act and think globally – A ‘must’ in dispersed working – Workday is not 9-17
  • 53. Findings: Leader-specific competences • Competence needs do not ‘an sich’ differ from ‘local leadership’, but distribution creates different challenges • Management mind-set (n=14) – Follow progress • Focus on big picture and strategy (n=12) – Understanding markets – Communicating broader picture to team members – Setting a common direction and creating common processes • Having presence (n=12) – Visiting other locations/offices – Being active in virtual spaces • People skills (n=11) – Learning to motivate, communicate and deal with different people • Ability to use different approaches (n=8) – Changing behaviour according to situations
  • 54. Conclusions: it is all about cultural understanding and communication
  • 55. Employee, leader and team competences needed dispersed work settings (a) Employee - Characteristics: independence, self-management, cultural sensitivity, open-mindedness - Operative actions: communication skills, skills to use communication and collaboration tools (b) Team leader - Characteristics: assertiveness and determination, open- mindedness, management mind-set - Operative actions: communication, understanding cultural differences, result-oriented management style, leadership actions - Findings fit quite well with earlier studies (secondary data), see references.
  • 56. Collective competences needed by teams, projects and organizations in dispersed settings? (a) Team - Characteristics: defined roles and responsibilities, trust - Operative actions: open and frequent communication, adequate face-to-face meetings (b) Organization - Characteristics: common IT-systems, communication and collaboration tools, common processes and guidelines - Operative actions: management support, local ICT- support and maintenance, overcoming language or cultural barriers, organizing face-to-face meetings when necessary
  • 57. Summary of team member and leader competences – top frequencies STUDIES Characteristics Skilful operative actions Employee Study 1 - Independence, self-motivation, self- - Communication skills (n=59) (n=102) management (n=51) - Skills to use communication and collaboration - Cultural sensitivity (n=39) tools (n=39) Study 3 - Open minded (n=14) - Communication (n=45) (n=103) - Flexible (n=11) - Understanding (cultural) differences (n=42) - joint Team leader Study 1 - Assertiveness and determination (n=29) - Result-oriented management style (n=40) (n=102) - Propensity to trust employees (n=22) - Leadership actions (n=40) Study 3 - Open minded (n=14) - Communication (n=45) (n=103) - Flexible (n=11) - Understanding (cultural) differences (n=42) joint Study 3 - Management mind-set (n=14) - Follow progress (n=14) (n=103) - Focus on big picture and strategy (n=12) - Understanding markets, communicating Leader- - Having presence (n=12) broader picture to team members, setting a specific common direction and creating common processes (n=12) - Visiting other locations/offices, being active in virtual spaces (n=12)
  • 58. Summary of collective competences – top frequencies STUDIES Characteristics Skilful operative actions Team Study 1 - Defined roles and responsibilities - Open and frequent communication (n=48) (n=61) (n=102) - Trust (n=39) - Adequate face-to-face meetings (n=41) Organization Study 1 - Common IT-systems, communication - Management support (n=26) and collaboration tools (n=58) - Local ICT-support and maintenance (n=102) - Common processes and guidelines (n=9) (n=56) Study 2 - - Overcoming language or cultural barriers (n= - Meeting face-to-face when necessary around 488)
  • 59. Critique on rationalistic approaches Phenomenography (Sandberg 2000, 11): – The rationalistic ”operationalizations” of attributes into quantitative measures often result in abstract and overly narrow and simplified descriptions that may not adequately represent the complexity of competence in work performance. – The predefined competence categories may confirm a researcher’s own model of competence, rather than capture workers’ competence. – However: in this study, competence categories did not exist beforehand, but emerged from interview data!
  • 60. Future challenges • Competence descriptions are ’inherited’ reminding concepts of f-t-f competences: ’bounded rationality’ or ’delayed mindset’? • Context matters: as the cultural understanding issues emerged, both interview data (n=102, n=103) could be analysed ftom the viewpoint of culturally different interviewees! • It would be important to identify positive features in dispersed work settings (enablers), in addition to disablers! • Practical implications on organizational, team and individual levels should be developed
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