2001/06/01 by Cristina B. Gibson, Mary E. Zellmer-Bruhn, Mary Zellmer-Bruhn · 374 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Business #Computer science #Function (biology) #International Student and Expatriate Challenges #Knowledge management #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Linguistics #Meaning (existential) #Metaphor #Multinational corporation #Organizational culture #Political science #Psychology #Public relations #Scope (computer science) #Sociology #Team Dynamics and Performance #Teamwork #Variance (accounting)
paper · doi:10.2307/2667088
published in Administrative Science Quarterly 46(2), 274-303 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2001/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
This paper develops a conceptual framework to explain different understandings of the concept of teamwork across national and organizational cultures. Five different metaphors for teamwork (military, sports, community, family, and associates) were derived from the language team members used during interviews in four different geographic locations of six multinational corporations. Results indicated that use of the teamwork metaphors varies across countries and organizations, after controlling for gender, team function, and total words in an interview. Analyses of specific relationships between national cultural values and categories of metaphor use and between dimensions of organizational culture and categories of metaphor use revealed patterns of expectations about team roles, scope, membership, and objectives that arise in different cultural contexts. We discuss the implications of this variance for future research on teams and the management of teams in multinational organizations.