Multinational and multicultural teams at IBM When many individuals think of a well-established traditional company, they think of IBM (International Business Machines Corporation). This organization is famous for its written and unspoken rules, such as the policy of not firing employees, its focus on individual promotion and achievement, the expectation of lifetime service with the company, and its requirement to wear a suit and white shirt. at work. The company was one of the mainstays of the \"man in a gray wool suit" corporate culture in the United States. Of course, times have changed. IBM has clients in 170 countries and now conducts two-thirds of its business outside the United States. As a result, he has changed virtually every aspect of his old culture. One of its relatively new approaches is that of teamwork. While IBM uses work teams extensively, like all large organizations, the way it does so is unique. To encourage recognition of a variety of cultures and open up emerging markets, IBM sends hundreds of its employees to volunteer for monthlong team projects in regions of the world where most large companies do not do business. AI Chakra, a software development manager living in Raleigh, North Carolina, was sent with Green Forest, a team that makes furniture in Timisoara, Romania. Chakra was integrated with IBM employees who came from five other countries. Together, the team helped GreenForest increase their computer skills to improve their business. Green Forest did not have to pay for the advice of the IBM team. This is hardly altruism. IBM strongly believes that multinational and multicultural teams are a good investment. First, they help pave the way for business discovery in emerging economies, many of which are expected to outperform mature markets in the future. Stanley Litow, the IBM vice president who oversees the program, also thinks it helps employees develop multicultural team skills and understand local markets. Litow notes, \"We want to create a group of leaders who know these places and also learn to share their diverse culture and skills." Some of the countries IBM has sent its multicultural teams to include Turkey, Tanzania, Vietnam, Ghana and the Philippines. As for Chakra, he was very excited to be chosen for the team. "I felt like I had won the lottery," he acknowledged. Chakra advised GreenForest on how to become a paperless company in 3 years, recommending computer systems to increase productivity and exports to Western Europe. Another member of the team, Bronwyn Grantham, an Australian individual who works at IBM's London offices, advised GreenForest on sales strategies. Describing the team's experience, Grantham noted, "I have never worked so closely with an IBM team with such a broad range of skills.\" Questions: If you calculate the man-hours spent on IBM team projects, that adds up to more than 180,000 annual hours of managerial time. Do you think this is a smart investment for IBM human resources? Why? Why do you think IBM's culture has changed from being formal, stable, and individualistic to being informal, transient, and tea m-oriented? Would you like to work on one of IBM's multinational and multicultural project teams? Multicultural team projects often face issues of communication, expectations, and values. How do you think such challenges could be overcome