Mutual Adjustment Processes in International Teams: Lessons for the Study of Expatriation
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Researchers have commonly regarded expatriate adjustment as a unidirectional process of one individual adjusting to a foreign environment. In contrast, we conceptualize the expatriate's adjustment to social interactions as part of a process of mutual adjustment within an international team. Eleven teams of four combinations of nationalities—German—English, German—Indian, German—Japanese, and German—Austrian—were examined in two German companies in a one-year longitudinal study. In-depth interviews and team observations were conducted with 116 participants. We developed a model that captures the mechanisms of mutual adjustment at the level of cognitive processes, attitudes, and behaviors of team members. We also explain how these internal adjustment components are influenced by a number of external context factors. These factors are seen to create power relationships between the members of the different nationalities in the team. This has a major influence on the direction of adjustment. Implications for models of adjustment and forms of capital accrued by global leaders are discussed.
Authors: Angelika Zimmermann, Paul Sparrow
Institutions: Loughborough University, University of Manchester
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1982202840