Teamwork is crucial to any modern organization, but with team members increasingly pooled from around the world, cultural factors can be crucial. A recent paper highlights some of the cultural challenges Scandinavian teams face, and how they’ve overcome them.
The authors developed a new approach to ensuring multicultural agile software teams work effectively. The method aims to be adaptable to particular situations to take advantage of local differences.
“We want to develop the right methods for projects with development activities taking place in the same time zone, and for projects being carried out across time zones” the researchers explain.
Cultural differences
Cultural differences were found to be key to the effectiveness of teams. For instance, the researchers recall a team with a Swedish boss operating in China with a Chinese deputy.
“While the boss was away for a day, he asked his deputy to complete a report. The deputy said okay. Later in the day, the deputy confirmed that everything was okay. But the next day the report wasn’t ready. Who was responsible? The Swedes would argue that it was the deputy who had failed in her duties,” they explain. “But the Chinese would argue that it was the boss. He should have known that she had more than enough on her plate and couldn’t finish the report. Perceptions like this are worth examining more closely.”
Working hours also often differ between cultures. For instance, while an 8-4 working day is common in Norway to allow people to collect children from school, in America and Australia very long days are common.
“We have talked to Norwegian developers working in Australia and they think that efficiency is low,” the researchers say. “Moreover, it’s impossible to calculate the real costs of a project. We don’t want overtime worked on agile software development projects. A standard 40-hour week is sufficient.”
Similarly, legal and contractual matters are likely to differ when working overseas. For instance, in places like Poland, Ukraine, and even the US, short-term contracts are common, with people often employed just for that one project. This kind of environment can make it hard to develop real trust and confidence in the team.
Equally, while flat hierarchies are common in Scandinavia, countries like India and China have more rigid hierarchies, especially among people who have become used to working in such a way within local firms.
“In spite of this, we’re seeing that the rest of the world is catching up when it comes to agile development,” the researchers conclude. “There are major benefits to be had, and we believe in our values and our way of organizing work. This approach to organizing development work will help to enhance the innovation capability of Norwegian companies.”
