University of Pittsburgh

Home > Centers > CEE > Programs > Courses > Leading Global Teams

Leading Global Teams

Understanding How Leadership, Culture and Team Create Organizational Effectiveness

About This Seminar

How can a leader effectively drive performance within global teams? Clearly the answer to this question draws our attention to a critical issue for organizations. While global teams are a powerful management tool, research suggests that many falter and most experience a great deal of conflict and miscommunication. Global teams also remind us that there is no such thing as one universal leadership style or approach. This course focuses on understanding what it takes for leaders to be effective when managing global teams. You will gain valuable insight into the challenges and opportunities presented by designing and managing cross-cultural teams. You will also assess your own leadership competence across critical cross-cultural management situations. This course will involve lecture, case analyses and student-led case discussions.

Who Should Attend

  • Leaders and managers who are asked to orchestrate change across people, projects and culture.
  • Managers, leaders and project team members who seek to understand and leverage cultural diversity within a global context.
  • Individuals seeking to gain a better understanding of how culture impacts leadership, change, team effectiveness and performance.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand why culture matters to effective team performance and outcomes.
  • Identify the key components of leadership effectiveness within multi-cultural teams.
  • Develop an understanding of a culture competency in the contact of leading teams.
  • Assess your understanding of the role that culture plays in organizational effectiveness.
  • Identify diverse styles of leadership and the best fit across different cultural profiles.

Program Outline

  • Defining global leadership
    • What do we mean by "global leadership"?
    • Examining the work of "effective" general managers
    • Developing global leaders
  • Becoming a global leader
    • Developing cultural awareness among global managers
    • Understanding culture - developing cultural competency
  • Managing global teams
    • Lessons learned from when global business teams fail
    • Building an effective global business team
    • The art of managing virtual teams
  • Transformational global leadership
    • Leading teams and organizational transformation
    • Leadership, teams and culture - keys to organizational effectiveness
    • Leading teams - complementary strengths or conflicting agendas

Days/Duration

1 day - six (6) hour program

Professor Bio

Audrey J. Murrell conducts research, teaching and consulting that helps organizations better utilize and engage their most important assets - their human and social capital. She is an Associate Professor of Business Administration, Psychology, Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh Pitt Business School of Business and Director of the David Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership. Professor Murrell conducts research on mentoring, careers in organizations, workforce/supplier diversity, and social issues in management. Audrey has received numerous recognitions including the University of Pittsburgh Student Choice Award, the "Women of Distinction" award from the Girls Scouts of Southwestern Pennsylvania, the Susan B. Anthony "Women of Vision" award from the Women's Leadership Assembly, and the Chancellor's Distinguished Public and Community Service Award from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Murrell is the author (along with Crosby and Ely) of the book entitled, Mentoring Dilemmas: Developmental Relationships within Multicultural Organizations published by McGraw-Hill, and the forthcoming book (along with Forte-Trummel and Bing) entitled, "Blue Mentoring: Innovative Mentoring for Organizational Learning at IBM" published by Pearson Education Group.