Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-12-2015
Abstract
The complexities of global business and the need for rapid, effective responses to problems that cross borders and span cultures demand an understanding of why transnational multiparty collaborations have failed and why they have succeeded. At the core of this work is 1) understanding the role that culture and identity play in creating a meta-identity built on the strengths of individual and organization identities and the sameness those identities represent; 2) the development of strong connectedness between the parties and 3) the creation of a shared vision of what is trying to be achieved. Ultimately the strength of the meta-identity surpasses the strengths of individual identities without the loss of same to transition to a place where collaborative success can occur. This paper analyzed qualitative data through grounded theory techniques and respondents reported their experience on successful transnational multiparty endeavors and unsuccessful experiences. This paper summarizes the findings from twenty seven interviews conducted with professionals in a variety of businesses encompassing the government, profit and non-profit sectors representing six nations and four indigenous populations for the purpose of understanding the behavior of transnational, multiparty collaboration. Key implications from this study include the need for the understanding and awareness that the management of distinct cultures should be considered the management of a hygiene factor that can only dissatisfy and that the emphasis and effort be spent building on the strengths of individual identities, development of strong interconnectedness and the creation of a shared vision.
Keywords
management, workplace communication, Weatherhead School of Management
Rights
© The Author(s). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Hemsath, James R., "Looking Beyond Culture: Building Successful Multiparty Collaboration" (2015). Student Scholarship. 289.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/289