Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems

Prakhar Maheshwari 190101080

Gopal Ajay Kamath 190102017
Shivam 190102052
Ashish Sandapu 190103191
Tresa John 190103160
Saksham Bansal 190102045

According to Hofstede’s Findings, different countries have different cultures. There were
cultural differences between the teams operating in the four countries. India struggles to
meet deadlines because of low uncertainty avoidance. The company moved at a faster pace
than their culture would allow. In France, due to their extremely high uncertainty avoidance,
it would not enable them to see things from different perspectives when it comes to
customers’ needs. They need to be able to adapt to different cultures, making France
unfitting to be the customer advocate for the company. UAE lies on the high end of the
power distance spectrum, which means that they need clear leadership and sufficient time
to meet with Greg James. Finally, in the United States, their power distance score is
extremely low compared to other countries. This is where the other members feeling
neglected come in because in the United States power is shared. The other countries team
members feel neglected when they hear about Greg James meeting with the United States
members frequently.

In order to bridge the existing gap between the communications, we suggest to conduct an
annual workshop where the different team members can get to know each other’s culture
as these workshops will enable them to appreciate different cultures in the given countries
and will align their ideology to work towards a common goal.
Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems
PROBLEMS AND THEIR SOLUTION STATEMENTS:

 Time Zone Differences

We believe James should come up with a time for the conference calls that work for all of
the different countries. We believe the time of the conference call should be changed on a
weekly or monthly basis to adhere to each country's needs. This solution would make each
country feel as if their wishes are being heard, and it supports the idea of adhering to each
country's problems and making them feel wanted.

 Favouritism between the regions

We believe Greg James should put importance on each branch’s needs and opinions. Putting
an emphasis on this problem will increase employee morale and show the importance of
each branch working together. We believe working together as a single unit is much more
efficient than constant battles between the branches. This would eliminate finger pointing
when a problem arises. We also feel that Greg James should not show any favouritism when
collaborating with branches on an idea until all groups have made their input.

 Disconnect between compensation in regions

We believe he needs to post information updated daily on an easily accessible portal for all
team members around the world to access. In order for them to be up to date on all of the
various countries costs of living, currency value, exchange rates, and the typical benefits
package of every country involved. This would allow all team members to be up to date on
the other branches benefits and governmental/cultural variances, and it would allow the
understanding of differences between the countries involved. Thus eliminating the
discrepancy between pay and vacation between branches.

 Absence of Centralization

Greg James can put into place a centralized ERP system where everyone will know what is
the work others are doing and everyone is updated with each new record that is changed or
created. All branches should have easily accessible information on costs of living, benefit
plans, and compensation packages across the globe, so that every employee is aware of
what you receive based off of your country’s norms, and your skill sets/work experience in
your given occupation

 Not utilising the potential of all the regions

It looks like that Greg James has failed to recognize the skillset of his team members. As is
evident from the case that Indians are only working on customer service management and
Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems
they are only called in a crisis situation without even getting properly informed from other
teams. Greg should understand that Indian team members are handpicked from the
premier institutions of the country and they are as capable as any other team. They should
also be given a chance to show their skills in the creative end of the spectrum.