The culture as a factor influencing the key processes of the management of the company

It is scientifically proven that the knowledge sharing is positively correlated with team performance (Choi, Lee, & Yoo, 2010; Lee, 2010; Van der Vegt & Bunderson, 2005; Wang & Noe, 2010) and project performance (Liu et al., 2011). Knowledge sharing is of particular importance in project-based work, as consulting business. It is important for the success of the projects for the teams to integrate their capabilities. This means the process of knowledge sharing is a key factor for the projects to be successful. Without the effective sharing of knowledge, a project may suffer from coordination problems, leading to unsuccessful collaborations (Herbsleb & Moitra, 2001) Herbsleb, J. D., & Moitra, D. 2001. Global software development. IEEE Software, 16-20.. If the accumulated knowledge could be lost if it is not shared among project team members and other project stakeholders. However, some authors like (Sethi, Smith, & Park, 2001) argue that knowledge sharing can be a difficult task and a challenging process Sethi, R., Smith, D. C., & Park, C. W. 2001. Cross-functional product development teams, creativity, and the innovativeness of new consumer products. Journal of Marketing Research, 38, 73-85..

The role of social capital is increasingly critical in facilitating organizational collaboration and innovation. Networks and social capital can enable the transfer of tacit knowledge in highly ambiguous situations such as a radical and global new product development effort (McDonough et al. 2007) McDonough III, Edward F., Athanassiou, N., & Barczak, G. 2006. Networking for Global New Product Innovation. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research. 1:1/2, 9-26. Local learning networks are more likely to enable innovations while international intra-organizational learning networks show knowledge as an important resource by encouraging diffusion (Tregaskis 2003) Tregaskis, O. 2003. Learning Networks, Power and Legitimacy in Multinational Subsidiaries. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 14.3, 431-447.. There is a need to integrate global and local knowledge across the organization. The demand for global knowledge-sharing requires new approaches to managing cross-cultural team interaction. Geographically distributed teams need to seek cross-cultural knowledge in order to share, create, and implement innovative customer solutions that respond to global and local market needs.

Why we choose exactly consulting firms as an object which can be influenced of knowledge sharing? Some gurus in consulting business as George Ignatius (2014) is consigning learning as a "heart of consulting - it applies across all levels of a consulting organization" Ignatius G. 2014. The management consulting industry Growth of consulting services in India: Paneldiscussion, Growth of consulting services in India: Panel discussion on consulting and the financial services industry, IIMB Management Review 26, 257-270.

Consulting firms are gaining their competitive advantage thanks to their ability to create and sustain knowledge resources and institutional capital based on legitimacy, reputation or relationships (Reihlen & Nikolova 2010) Reihlen, M. & Nikolova, N. 2010. Knowledge production in consulting teams. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 26(3), pp.279-289.. The most important thing for the consulting companies is realize this that the knowledge sharing process matter. They should incorporate innovation managements into their strategy and operation, not only with their employees but also with the customers and suppliers.



Conclusions chapter 2

In this chapter, first of all, we concentrated our attention on MNCs, working in a consulting field. We observed the main literature, connected to the consulting firms and distinguished some challenges that they are facing now. We divided this challenges into three groups: competition and differentiation, organizational design of the firm itself and internal organization of knowledge flows.

Second, we discussed different types of innovations in MNCs, as we pointed out that the main type of innovation concerning consulting firms is a service innovation.

Third, we described how the culture influences on the process of innovation and knowledge - sharing in MNCs.

In addition we composed our second main RQ: How can we define the innovation process involving multicultural team?



3. Empirical research

In the theoretical part of this work it was shown that any multicultural team is a continuous process that depends on many factors. Base on empirical studies in this field even in the international scale is small. The most common empirical researches on the multicultural teamwork is mostly in a particular industry. It is important to mention the most popular from the industries that were an object of research is construction industry (Bielic (2005), Rodrigues, Sbragia (2011), Laroche (2012)) and software development (Krishna, Sahay (2004), Asgary, Thamhain (2008), Finland, Jaakkola (2010)). It is interesting to follow through how the nature of multicultural team has been changing through years and different industries. If some industries as construction one, are dominated by the physical multicultural teams (i.e. those teams where common physical communication between their members), in some of them - software development, or consulting business most often studied teams are virtual and they are united through the global Network.

In this paper there is a combination between research on expats, working on the territory of Russian Federation and examples of both physical multicultural teams and virtual teams, working in Moscow in four international consulting middle size companies.

3.1 Methodology

Research design and procedure:

In the framework of the empirical part of this study it was planned to make a research of multicultural teams operating both in Moscow and virtual (from different parts of the world). The empirical research consist of two stages - qualitative and quantitative study. In study 1 we provided the quantitative part of the research, and in the study 2 - the qualitative one.

First stage of the study

For the qualitative part we used the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. This is a measure of the strength and direction that can be find between two variables measured. We also used multiple regression. We used it because we wanted to predict the value of a variable based on the value of two or more other variables. The variable we want to predict is called the dependent variable. The variables we are using to predict the value of the dependent variable are called the independent variables.

3.2 Data analysis and results

In the framework of the theoretical part of this work we highlighted four key factors influencing the multicultural teamwork for increasing innovation in MNCs:

* Communications - the factor characterizing the intensity and quality of explicit and implicit information within the group;

* Team climate (trust, efficacy, commitment) - as a driver for culturally diverse teams to their maximum effectiveness and innovativeness.

* Process of knowledge sharing - the need of seeking cross-cultural knowledge in order to share, create, and implement innovative customer solutions that respond to global and local market needs.

* Sources of ideas - if the company affords an opportunity for the members of multicultural team to develop and share their creative ideas

The first stage of the empirical research devoted to determine the importance of each of these factors to the overall performance of multicultural teams for increasing innovations. The data required to solve this task, was collected through providing a survey to Russian and foreign employees, members of both, physical and virtual multicultural teams, working in the field of consulting business. In order to perform the quantitative part of the research we provided our participants with an online survey implying within subject design. Participants were asked to rate the communication, the team climate, the process of knowledge sharing, and the overall company`s contribution for developing creative ideas for increasing innovation. In the organization they work in a 5- point Likert scale. At the end of the questionnaire they were requested to report their age, gender, nationality, education level, languages that they speak, company they work in and their position.

Sample:

49 Russian and foreign representatives of multicultural teams working in three MNCs operating in the consulting field took part in the first part of the empirical study. Our participants are between 18 - 44 years old. 80% from them indicated their gender. 65% of them are Russians, 35% - foreigners from five different countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Indonesia, and Australia). Every one of them speaks English, and uses English as a work language. The sample was recruited using convenience sampling technique. The general characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 5 below:

Table: 5.Characteristics of respondents. Source: Author`s survey

Number of respondents	49 persons
Age	(18-24) 50% (25-34) 48% (35-44) 3%
Gender	Men 40% Women 40% Did not indicate 20%
Nationality	Russians 65% Foreigners 35%
Education level	Bachelors 25% Masters 75% Other 5%
Languages	Russian English



3.3 Measures

1. Dependent variable:

The outcome variable we were interested in was Multicultural teamwork. In order to define the level of multicultural teamwork among the employees we used a scale which consisted of eight items. We used items which described how fast team members get on the tasks, how team members can deal with problems, how do they consider other members` mistakes, how often do they receive a feedback from their team leader and how do they consider help as a sign of incompetence. It was important to understand the overall attitudes of the teams that participated in the survey. The scale that was used was 5- point Likert scale where 1 = Not at All 2= Rarely, 3= Sometimes, 4= Often, 5= Very often. The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .726. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency.

2. Independent variables:

The independent variables for our regression and correlation analysis we were interested in were communication, team climate (trust, efficacy, commitment), knowledge sharing and sources of ideas.

In order to define the level of communication among the employees we used a scale which consisted of nine items. We used items which described how team members are getting informed about what is happening in the organization, do they have opportunities to express their ideas, what is the level of communication between different departments and between team members from both one and different teams. The scale that was used was 5- point Likert scale where 1 = Disagree 2= Somewhat Disagree, 3= Somewhat Disagree, 4= Somewhat Agree, 5= Agree. The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .812. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency.

The next independent variable that we were interested in is team climate. We decomposed this variable into trust, efficacy, and commitment, based on our theoretical review. We used a scale which consisted of eleven items. We used items which described how efficient are the team meetings, do managers give tasks with higher responsibility, do team members really understand the given tasks, do they trust their coworkers, what are the relationships across company units, and is there a coordination between the team member from different company units. The scale that was used was 5- point Likert scale where 1 = Not at All 2= Rarely, 3= Sometimes, 4= Often, 5= Very often. The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .768. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency.

The third independent variable that we were interested in is a process of knowledge sharing. We used a scale which consisted of seven items. We used items which described if the process of knowledge sharing is encouraged in the company, if there is non - conformity to the process of knowledge sharing between team members from different cultures and what is the overall situation of the companies` systems of knowledge sharing. The scale that was used was 5- point Likert scale where 1 = Disagree 2= Somewhat Disagree, 3= Somewhat Disagree, 4= Somewhat Agree, 5= Agree. The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .608. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency.

The fourth independent variable that we were interested in is a sources of ideas. We used a scale which consisted of seven items. We used items which described if the innovations are encouraged, or what is the level of ideas` conversion into good business, are they any event in which the team members can create good ideas, or if the creative and innovative creators receive recognition in the company. The scale that was used was 5- point Likert scale where 1 = Disagree 2= Somewhat Disagree, 3= Somewhat Disagree, 4= Somewhat Agree, 5= Agree. The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .781. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency.

For the other decomposed questions we used the method - frequency.

In this research we distinguish two types of research questions - the central one and associated sub-questions.

First of all, we wanted to understand what is the impact of the culture on the multicultural teamwork, thus we composed our first main research question: What is the impact of culture for the multicultural teamwork? We decided to decompose this question into fourth additional questions. Three of them we examined during our first quantitative stage of the research, the third one we examined through qualitative method, which took part during our second stage of the research.

1. First decomposed research question is related to the process of communication in the company: How does the communication influence multicultural teamwork in the organization? This research question measured how communication influences a multicultural teamwork. We asked such kind of questions as: Please, indicate how much do: I am kept well informed about my work group`s plans and progress or Please, indicate how much do: I am satisfied with the communication in the company where I work.

Correlation: There was a strong, positive correlation between communication and teamwork, which was statistically significant (r = .593, n = 42, p = .000) (see Table 6). In these results, the Pearson correlation between communication and teamwork is about 0.593, which indicates that there is a moderate positive relationship between the variables.

Table: 6. Correlation matrix for all variables

	communication	team climate	facilitate innovations	knowledgesharing	sources of ideas
communication	Pearson Correlation	1	.584**	.674**	.437**	.604**
	Sig. (2-tailed)		.000	.000	.005	.000
	N	48	44	40	40	40
team climate	Pearson Correlation	.584**	1	.671**	.420**	.585**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000		.000	.007	.000
	N	44	44	40	40	40
teamwork	Pearson Correlation	.593**	.461**	.667**	.519**	.591**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.002	.000	.001	.000
	N	42	42	40	40	40
knowledge - sharing	Pearson Correlation	.437**	.420**	.509**	1	.529**
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.005	.007	.001		.001
	N	40	40	39	40	39
sources of ideas	Pearson Correlation	.604**	.585**	.882**	.529**	1
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.000	.000	.000	.001
	N	40	40	39	39	40

Regression: We tested the statistical significance of each of the independent variables - communication and knowledge sharing. A multiple regression was run to predict teamwork from communication and process of knowledge sharing. These variables statistically significantly predicted multicultural teamwork, F(2,37) = 14.739 (see Table 9), the two variables pcommunication and pknowledge-sharing added statistically significantly to the prediction, p < .05., R2 = .443 (see Table 7).

Table: 7

The results of the regression model

Coefficientsa
Model	Unstandardized Coefficients	Standardized Coefficients	t	p-value	95.0% Confidence Interval for B
	B	Std. Error	Beta			Lower Bound	Upper Bound
1	(Constant)	9.370	3.753		2.497	.017	1.767	16.974
	communication	.348	.102	.464	3.400	.002	.140	.555
	knowledge-sharing	.268	.116	.317	2.322	.026	.034	.502
a. Dependent Variable: teamwork

As we can see from a Table 8 the R2 = .443, which means it is lower than 50%. In some fields, it is entirely expected that the R-squared values will be low. For example, any field that attempts to predict human behavior (our research), such as relationships inside the teams, typically has R-squared values lower than 50%. Humans are simply harder to predict rather than predicting for instance a physical processes. Furthermore, our R-squared value is low but we have statistically significant predictors. That allowed us to draw important conclusions about how changes in the predictor values are associated with changes in the response value. Obviously, this type of information can be extremely valuable.

Table: 8

Model Summary

Model	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate
1	.666a	.443	.413	3.170

Table: 9

ANOVA for teamwork and knowledge-sharing/communication

Model	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
1	Regression	296.162	2	148.081	14.739	.000a
	Residual	371.738	37	10.047
	Total	667.900	39
a. Predictors: (Constant), knowledge-sharing, communication b. Dependent Variable: teamwork

2. Second decomposed research question is related to the team climate. From the theoretical review above, we pointed out that that as a team climate we identified three variables: trust, efficacy and commitment. How they influence a multicultural teamwork. We asked such kind of questions as: Please, indicate how often the: My manager gives me tasks with higher responsibility or lease, indicate how often the: How often do the team members balance their individual needs for autonomy with the benefits of mutual interdependence. Does the communication influence multicultural teamwork in the organization?

Correlation: In order to test the relationship between multicultural teamwork and team climate we decided to check whether there is a correlation between them (see Table 6) The results showed that there was a strong, positive correlation between team climate and teamwork, which was statistically significant (r = .461, n = 42,

p = .002). In these results, the Pearson correlation between communication and teamwork is about 0.461, which indicates that there is a moderate positive relationship between the variables. The p-values for the correlation between communication and team work is less than the significance level of 0.05, which indicates that the correlation coefficients are significant

3. The third decomposed research question related to the impact of the culture in multicultural teamwork is How does the company contribute to increase the multicultural innovations? The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .828. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency. We asked questions as: Please, indicate how often the: Team members are provided with a great deal of feedback regarding their performance and Please, indicate how often the: Team members are often given a chance to work on interesting tasks. Most of respondents (more than 50%) answered that there are satisfied from the company`s contribution for increasing and busting multicultural innovations.

Correlation: There is a strong, positive correlation between facilitate innovations and teamwork, which was statistically significant (r = .667, n = 40, p = .000) (see Table 6). In these results, the Pearson correlation between facilitating innovations and teamwork is about 0.667, which indicates that there is a moderate positive relationship between the variables.

The second main research question is related to the process of innovation. How can we define the innovation process involving multicultural team? We decided to decompose our main research question into three additional questions:

1. How do knowledge-sharing processes influence multicultural team work? As we already mentioned below the reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .608, which means that it did not show high result but it is still acceptable. We asked such kind of questions as: Knowledge sharing is not encouraged in the company I work in and My organization has a system for knowledge sharing throughout the organization.

Correlation: There is a strong, positive correlation between process of knowledge sharing and teamwork, which was statistically significant (r = .619, n = 40, p = .001). In these results, the Pearson correlation between knowledge sharing and teamwork is about 0.619, which indicates that there is a moderate positive relationship between the variables.

Regression: As we showed above (see Table 7, Table 8 and Table 9) we tested the statistical significance of each of the independent variables - communication and knowledge sharing. A multiple regression was run to predict teamwork from communication and process of knowledge sharing. These variables statistically significantly predicted multicultural teamwork, F(2,37) = 14.739 (see Table 9), the two variables pcommunication and pknowledge-sharing added statistically significantly to the prediction, p < .05., R2 = .443.

2. Our second decomposed research question is Which phases of the innovation process do the employees pay more attention to? After observing the literature, we and distinguished seven factors that are most important for the innovation process: Knowledge - sharing practices, Trust-building, Developing new ideas/team creativity, Maintaining an interactive dialogue, Understanding the global strategy of the company, Team engagement, Task distribution. We asked our respondents to prioritize them form 1 to 7 (see Figure 3). The respondents choose as a most important process - understanding the global strategy of the company. Second place is for a trust building, third, for its part is knowledge sharing process. On the fourth place they choose task distribution and on the fifth - managing an interactive dialogue. On the sixth place is team creativity and last - task distribution.

Figure: 3

Survey results for a question: How would you prioritize the following elements challenging the global team development?

3. Our third decomposed research question is What are the sources of ideas` elaboration for implementing innovations?

Last, but not least, we argue that it is important to know how what are the sources of ideas` elaboration in MNCs. The reliability of the scale is good, as we can see from the Cronbach's Alpha, б = .781. This is significant for the research suggests that the items have relatively high internal consistency. We asked such kind of questions: My company quickly turns good ideas into a good business, My company seeks for ideas for adapting to changes in our industry, My company often organizes meetings for creating new ideas (brainstorming, training and etc.), The most creative workers receive additional benefits (monetary and non- monetary). Moreover, we investigated the correlation between ideas` elaboration and multicultural teamwork. In addition we can see from the Table 6, there is moderate positive relationship between the variables sources of ideas and teamwork

(r =.591)

As a final part of our first stage of the research we wanted to find out what is most important for our respondents when we are talking about the strategy (see Figure 4). As a result, 43% of our respondents consider innovation strategy as a most important, and 25% - the global strategy. Leadership finished at third place with only 25%. Overall the results are not differ from each other, but anyway our respondents consider innovation strategy as more important than the global strategy.

Figure: 4

Survey results for a question: Which one of the following elements do you consider as the most

important one?

3.4 Second stage of the study

In the project, deductive reasoning or top down approach was performed. Deductive reasoning, according to Burney (2008), is a type of research method that starts with general information and finishes with the specific aspects and it is based in laws, rules and accepted principles. Deduction means prediction of what should occur based on confirmed body of facts, principles, or beliefs In this particular case, specific observation will be made and in theory and conclusions will be made from these theories. As we mentioned above, we decomposed our first research question into forth additional sub - question. The last sub research question we decided to observe through qualitative study in our second stage of the research. The research design for this study was exploratory qualitative inquiry. The research is focusing on managers who are in charge of managing multicultural teams in the organization where they work in. It is important to take into consideration the managers` point of view and experience. Also, due to the deep analysis of the opinion that were collecting we can receive an insides of the effect of multicultural team work on the innovation processes in organizations.

The addition question is

What are the main challenges in managing a multicultural teams?

Regarding the qualitative part three expert interviews were conducted with managers from examined (?) companies. We asked question in order to understand from the practical point of view what are the main challenges in managing multicultural teams.

Sample:

The participants in this quality research have been selected based on their current roles that they possess in the companies they work in.

Manager X is in charge in Singapore office in a consulting department of one of the consulting companies. His sex is male and he is 43 years old, speaking Russian and English language, country of origin - Indonesian. The company is a global energy, chemicals, renewables, metals and mining, research and consultancy group. The company itself is supplying comprehensive data, written analysis and consultancy advice. It is based in Edinburgh and it has 25 offices worldwide.

Manager Y is a senior manager with more than 10 year experience in a consulting field. Sex: Female, 39 years old, country of origin - Russian. She speaks fluently Russian and English language. She is a manager of Manufacturing, Construction & Real Estate department in a recruitment consulting company. The company itself is a specialist recruitment consultancies.

Manager Z is Managing Director Eastern Europe of the same recruitment consulting company as manager Y. he is male and he is 42 years old. He speaks fluently Russian and German languages, country of origin - German.

3.5 Data analysis

We measured the question What are the main challenges in managing a multicultural team? through qualitative measurement - expert interview, as we believed could gather precious inside information from people who are managing and working in the company. Interviews are considered prime source of information as they helped the author to make conclusions of real life versus theory explored. Marvasti (2010) says that interviews are a basic form of data collections and that they may provide meaningful data by acquiring in-depth respondent's knowledge. The qualitative research was based on semi-structured interview with open ended questions. The participants were asked about cultural awareness and how can they use their competencies related to the culture to extract a positive outcome from their teams? Open-ended questions` main aim is to encourage interviewees to share their opinions and lived experiences.

The method of data analysis is based on the Creswell (2014) and it consists of 6 parts: 1) starting with row data, 2) organization of data 3) making the first read of the collecting data 4) alpha coding of the data 5) defining the main thoughts 6) interpretation of the data Creswell, J. 2014. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. (4th ed., pp. 8-137). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

In our case we asked managers from examined companies four questions related to the problems that they face managing multicultural teams and potential decision that they took for increasing their effectiveness.

Q1. What are the main differences between managing multicultural teams and culturally homogenous teams?

Our respondents completely agreed with the fact that managing multicultural teams faces more challenges. They pointed out that there is a big impact of cultural values on the attitudes the members of their teams. Manager X pointed out factors as responsibility and expectation could also differentiate the homogenous and multicultural teams. During the interview and further discussion with the managers the communication was clearly notable as an issue that differentiate multicultural team form the homogenous one. All of the managers stressed on the fact that it is essential to develop different type of communication for a positive outcomes form culturally diverse teams. As manager Z pointed out: "I do faced this problem, when I came to Russia. Before that I worked only with Germans, but after coming in Russia I had to work with people from different countries, mainly from Russia. I noticed it took less time for explaining a task when the team is homogeneous, than, when the team members are from different countries". However managers pointed out something really interesting. All of them mentioned the creativeness of multicultural teams, as manager X stressed: "Homogenous groups are great at executing a plan, but terrible at coming up with the right plans to execute. Diverse groups have no shortage of ideas, but need to focus on getting plans finalized and into the execution phase, I would say finding the Right balance between both." In addition once again was proved from a managers involved in multicultural teams, the positive outcomes of cultural diversification of the teams.

Q.2 What kinds of skills and competencies are necessary in order to manage a mixed group of native and foreign workers?

Our participants agreed that communication and skills related to it play an important role. Furthermore, the were not indifferent to the skills, related to the knowledge of different values is various cultures. Moreover, our participant manager Y pointed out some skills, that are required in managing multicultural teams, such as: "ability to listen to the employees, to be into the problems within the team, and to communicate in a appropriate way with the members of your team". Other manager X stressed: "The Most important skill is Effective communication skill, Approachable, Friendly, Yet Fair & Firm, Understanding, and bit of Humor also helps. I am adapting myself to the needs of my employees, voluntarily by picking up a few basic words by asking may be a few team members. I never assume the team members understand the task, I am asking them to demonstrate that they know how to do what I had told them to do. Last but not least, I am asking them always for feedback about myself, so that I can improve on it. Getting feedback helps where you stand and to improve yourself. If you make them feel comfortable with your approach being supportive and encouraging them in their work." As a result, we can make a conclusion that it is not always important for the managers to focus only on issues that a related to the work process, but to develop their social skills and multicultural communication skills. It was also clear that developing of the system of rules will be a good way of treating the members of multicultural team equally.

Another accent that managers gave us through the interview and further discussion was the positive outcomes of the given feedback. As manager Y said "Manager should be capable to create the team, project management and management skills in general. As for personal profile, such Manager need to be open-minded and really good in communications. He should always give feedback to his subordinate, but at the same time really attentive how does he deliver the information to the members of his team". We can stressed again on the cross cultural differences, and hoe different cultures react to negative feedback. It is really useful for the manager to receive a feedback for his work and his managing skills too. Mutual system of feedback will create an equal environment for every member of the multicultural team. Related to this information, Manager Z pointed out something really important: "I think you have to be a good communicator, ready to learn new things and be able to accept other ways of doing things. For us Germans this is very difficult. Many of us have a kind of teaching approach trying to teach the world. In countries like Russia with high national pride that approach usually does not work."

Q.3 Do you believe language is the biggest barrier in managing multicultural team? How do you influence on the teamwork of your subordinate?

From this point managers pointed out that communication is really important as the members from their team come from different countries. Misunderstanding between the team members could be a problematic part of their interaction. This is true especially for teams that work from a distance. This problem was mentioned by all the managers that took part in the research. For instance the problem and misunderstanding can occur when the messages are not translated in appropriate way, and as a result the conflict it is possible to arise.

However Manager X pointed out this as not a big problem, or as a problem that can be solved: "No, I don't believe that the language is the biggest barrier, at least for myself, if you have the urge to learn something new every day and open to diverse cultures & open to learn languages." Form its part Manager Y says: "Yes it can be, but not at every case.

The main concern is mindset of the nation or local society, the key values." Our third respondent had the same opinion: Manager Z says: "No I don't think language is the main barrier. It definitely makes thinks much easier but more important are the soft facts I have mentioned about the communication."

Q.4 How do you influence on the teamwork of your subordinate?

Our participants agreed that there are some point that every manager of the diversified culturally team should strictly follow, thus to influence on the team work. They agree that the most important think for influencing the team is their own behavior.

First, they stressed the attention to such kind of issues as information that they give to their subordinates, making sure that the information itself is reliable and can help the team members to achieve the goals. Second, managers pointed out that it is necessary to treat the team members from their teams equal. As a next point they indicate the subordinates` independent, giving them a control over their own work. As a result they said in most of the case there is a positive output from the work. Moreover they made an accent on the group work: Manager Y says: "Set up the goals that should not be achieved individually."

Analyses showed that the level of diversity in multicultural teams had a positive relationship with the team performance and process of innovation within the company.



Conclusions Chapter 3

In third chapter of our research we provided our empirical research, which consisted of two stages - quantitative and qualitative research. In order to make our survey we first defined our outcome variable - multicultural team. In addition to this we described our independent variables which were communication, team climate (trust, efficacy, and commitment), knowledge sharing and sources of ideas. As a result of our correlation and regression models, we found out there is a significant evidence, that the level of innovations in MNCs is depended on our four variables. Some of our respondents suggested important issues, regarding the improvement of the process of communication as: process of mixed team-buildings with specialists from different departments, making the work environment more it more transparent and more depending on compromise, taking into account everyone`s needs, introducing more personal communication, based on relationship.

Secondary we used the frequencies in order to find out what participants think in their practical point of view, thus to make some assumptions regarding our research questions.

As a next step we conducted a qualitative research in order to give an answer to our RQ, what are the main challenges, in managing multicultural team. Managers pointed out few problems regarding managing multicultural teams such as: difference in perceptions as responsibility and expectation in homogenous and multicultural teams. However they do not consider a language barrier as the most important issue. After additional discussion they made an accent on managers' aspiration and group work. multicultural team work negotiations



Conclusions and directions for further research

Implication for practice:

While the study was limited only to MNCs in consulting field, there is nothing which would indicate that the data collected would not be applicable to other industries in other parts of the world, where the work of the company is based on project type of work, or the team members are working from a distance. The participants themselves came from six different countries and possessed working experience in Russian Federation as well as in other countries. The foundings` implication in this study is for those organizations which, either develop multicultural diversity initiatives, or attempt to fully capture the power of multicultural work teams. Managers, who were interviewed shared their experiences in leading multicultural teams, they disclosed greater insights for successfully managed multicultural teams. Each participant`s responses ultimately reflected a certain way of working that would allow them to succeed in creating an environment, in which multicultural team can work more effectively. Clearly the data support that middle managers working in a multicultural environment must understand culture and diversity and the impact on performance. Moreover, the responses from participants, both managers and team members, indicated that MNCs should develop multicultural training as a part of developing a diversify environment.

There are several practical implications for the managers in consulting firms that can be distinguish from the presented study. First, our research proved that the development and further improvement of trustful relationships among team members should be encouraged. This can affect in a positive way the feeling of commitment to the project. Such kind of healthy relationships between the team members can improve and the process of knowledge sharing within the team, and within the different departments. As a result, the outcomes from the projects can be positive. Trust, itself is a key factor for the healthy relationships within the team, thus without it, commitment to the project is unlikely to occur. If there is a trust between the team members, there will be a confidence in the team members` abilities. As a result, managers of the multicultural teams will be more willing to commit tasks and thus, to make the projects successful and innovative. Moreover, it is important to mention the role of collaboration and providing opportunities for team members to demonstrate their individual competency.



Key issues concerning multicultural team work for increasing innovations

We are disclosing some of issues that could be helpful in developing a multicultural teams and measuring its innovativeness.

1. Realization of surveys for the company`s employees to evaluate employees` suggestions and degrees of satisfaction of working in a multicultural environment and identify areas where there is a need of improvement.

2. Implementation of ongoing discussions not only between team members, but also with the team from other departments or company`s subsidiaries in different parts of the world.

3. Development of global database for employees' skills and monitoring of their skills development and progression.

4. Providing an information of equal pay evaluation

5. Measuring of past and current employees` innovation performance and Forеsighting future and expected employees innovation capacity

6. Improving the performance of multicultural teams throughout corporate system of trainings

7. Dialogue connected with the improvement of the process of knowledge sharing

8. Measuring past and current knowledge sharing preprocess

Peter Senge (1990) argues the best MNCs that it for sure excel in the future will be those that "discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization." Senge, P. 1990. The Fifth Discipline, New York: Doubleday Currency

We point out some recent frameworks that are fragmentary but not limitative. They are concentrated on service innovation and can be used for future research about consulting firms. As we went deeply, investigating these researches, we found out that many authors suggest a service innovation model based on their own point of you of service innovations. Some of them connected their model due to capabilities and dimensions (den Hertog et al. 2010) or a process within the company (Rubalcaba et al. 2012). On their part, other authors centered their model in the collaboration with networks with customers, suppliers and other institutions (Battisti 2012; D'Alvano & Hidalgo 2012), while others have different point of view (Furseth & Cuthbertson 2013), connected elements that encompassing elements that permit service innovation within and outside the firm (creating of a global ecosystem).



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