ارزش های تیم جمعگرا برای رابطه همکاری کارگر کره ای ــ چینی و عملکرد شغلی

The global marketplace increasingly demands that culturally diverse people work together but studies have documented important barriers to cross-cultural relationships. Researchers have argued the need to study cross-cultural interaction directly in order to develop knowledge that diverse people can use to overcome obstacles and work productively. This study proposes and findings support the theorizing that collectivist values promote quality co-worker relationships and that quality relationships facilitate employee job performance and confidence in future collaboration. Results suggest that collectivist values can be an important basis for Korean and Chinese employees to develop a common platform where they help each other work productively across cultural boundaries.

Foreign employees must be able to work with local employees to realize the advantages of international business (Evangelista & Hau, 2009). However, colleagues, especially when they come from different countries, often find it difficult to exchange ideas and assistance needed for high job performance (Earley and Gibson, 2002 and Richeson and Shelton, 2008). Cross-cultural researchers have called for developing frameworks that can help diverse people overcome obstacles and develop relationships that facilitate their work (Bond, 2003, Leung, 2006 and Smith, 2003). This study proposes that collectivist and individualistic team values have significant effects to the extent that they alter the quality of co-worker relationships between team members from different countries. Quality co-worker relationships resulting from collectivist team values can help diverse people exchange resources and ideas that result in high job performance and confidence in future collaboration. This study tests this mediation model in Sino-Korean joint ventures in China. This study makes several contributions to the cross-cultural research. The study's findings suggest how people from different cultures can develop a common platform to cope with the challenges of working across cultural boundaries. It also documents how Korean and Chinese colleagues can draw upon collectivist team values and develop quality co-worker relationships. In addition, this study extends leader–member exchange research to co-worker relationships and shows how it can be applied in cross-cultural settings. 1.1. Co-worker relationships for cross-cultural work Studying cross-cultural interactions directly can develop relevant knowledge that diverse people can use to form a common platform for collaboration (Bond, 2003 and Smith, 2003). Studies have demonstrated the positive effects of high-quality relationships in leader–member dyads (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995 and Liden and Maslyn, 1994). As defined by Graen and his associates (e.g., Liden & Graen, 1980), a high-quality relationship is an in-group exchange characterized by high levels of information, communication, mutual support, informal influence, trust, and negotiating latitude. Previous research on high- and low-quality relationships has focused on leaders and subordinates and has found that quality relationships between managers and employees are key to effective leadership and result in trust and commitment that in turn help employees perform useful tasks (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995 and Howell and Hall-Merenda, 1999). Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) suggested that high-quality relationship exchanges between co-workers can lead to improved influence and coordination between teammates, much as these exchanges do for leaders and employees. When a team has a high average level of co-worker relationships, members can readily feel that everyone is “pulling their weight” and develop a strong sense of group identity (Ford and Seers, 2006 and Seers et al., 2001). Based on the above reasoning, it is hypothesized that: H1. To the extent that Chinese employees develop high-quality co-worker relationships with their Korean teammates, Korean employees perform their jobs effectively and they become confident that they will collaborate effectively in the future. It cannot be assumed that the collectivist values of Koreans and Chinese insure quality relationships. Indeed, collectivists have been found to discriminate more and develop stronger out-group attitudes than individualists (Morales, Lopez-Saez, & Vega, 1999). Chinese have a much stronger tendency to divide people into categories (Chen, Huang, & Tjosvold, 2008) and may exploit people not considered part of their in-group more than people from individualist cultures (Chen, Peng, & Saparito, 2002). The next section argues that Korean and Chinese teammates can draw upon their common culture of collectivism to strengthen their relationships. 1.2. Collectivist team values as a common framework Collectivist compared to individualistic values emphasize a social rather than personal self, that in-group goals are important rather than personal goals, and that social norms rather than individual attitudes should determine behavior (Kim et al., 1994 and Triandis, 1995). A recent meta-analysis suggested that more empirical evidence is needed to document the processes by which these values have their effects on people and their interaction (Oyserrman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Eby and Dobbins (1997) argued that the team orientation of collectivistic values is critical for developing cooperative, productive teams and found that team collectivistic values predicted to team members’ behavior. Team values may well have a stronger, more demonstrable relationship to team member interaction and collaboration than values measured at the individual or cultural level (Hong, Wyer, & Fong, 2008). Based on the above reasoning, it is hypothesized that: H2. To the extent that Korean employees work in teams with collectivist values, they develop high-quality co-worker relationships with Chinese teammates. H3. To the extent that Korean employees work in teams with individualistic values, they develop low quality co-worker relationships with Chinese teammates. Overall, the study proposes a mediation model (Fig. 1). The quality of co-worker relationship between team members from different countries is expected to mediate between collectivist and individualistic team values on job performance and confidence in future collaboration.

Researchers have argued that, in joint ventures, collaboration between local employees and expatriates is needed so that they exchange ideas and assistance to complete their jobs and contribute to joint venture success (Brower, Schoorman, & Tan, 2000). Previous research has emphasized the value of relationships between people with different cultural background (Brower et al., 2000, Chen and Tjosvold, 2007 and Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995). Findings support recent theorizing on the value of strong relationships for organizational work (Barney, 2001, Elicker et al., 2006 and Gersick et al., 2000). Results suggest that to the extent Korean employees develop quality co-worker relationships with their Chinese colleagues, they were more productive on the job and more confident in future collaborative work. Findings provide empirical support for using quality leader–member relationship theorizing to analyze cross-cultural team relationships (Chen and Tjosvold, 2005, Chen and Tjosvold, 2006, Chen and Tjosvold, 2007 and Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995). This study draws upon previous leader–member research but extends this research by investigating co-worker relationships in cross-cultural settings. Recently, researchers have argued that culturally diverse people need theoretical frameworks for how to deal with barriers and obstacles and interact effectively (Bond, 2003 and Smith, 2003). Results suggest that Chinese and Korean employees working with collectivist teams can develop quality co-worker relationships. These relationships are a basis upon which Chinese and Korean colleagues can overcome differences and obstacles and perform effectively. Previous research has identified the difficulties of forming such relationships, especially across cultural boundaries (Brower et al., 2000, Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995 and Hui et al., 1999). Our findings suggest that collectivist team values can be a basis for Korean and Chinese partners to develop a common platform for working together, called a “micro-culture” by Kimmel (2000) and “cultural tuning” by Leung (2006). To the extent that the team has collectivist team values, Korean and Chinese colleagues were able to overcome barriers to inter-cultural interaction, develop quality co-worker relationships, and work productively. However, when the team emphasizes individualistic values, then Koreans and Chinese colleagues may experience significant difficulties that frustrate relationships and job performance. Our findings extend our understanding of the role of collectivist and individualist values on group dynamics to cross-cultural settings and suggest the processes by which they have their effects. The more collectivist team values, the more Korean and Chinese colleagues believed that they had quality co-worker relationships. Individualist team values can have quite contrasting effects by reducing quality relationships and thereby affecting individual job performance. 5.1. Limitations and future research The sample and operations restrict the implications of this study. These data are also correlational and do not provide direct evidence of causal links between values, quality relationships, and job outcomes. However, Chinese colleagues completed measures of team values, and their Korean partners completed measures of co-worker relationship, job performance, and confidence in future collaboration, a procedure that should reduce the possibilities of same source method as an alternative explanation of the results. 5.2. Practical implications Results indicate that collectivist team values can aid developing work relationships that in turn help diverse people work together productivity. Managers can help their teams create a team vision and mission that incorporate collectivist values (Tjosvold, 1989). To support these values, colleagues together develop shared goals and rewards, team identity and vision, and social norms that emphasize joint action and success (Triandis, 1995). This study contributes to the emerging effort to develop the empirical base for how colleagues from different countries can develop a common platform to help them cope with the challenges of working across cultural boundaries. Korean and Chinese colleagues, to the extent that they drew upon collectivist team values, had quality co-worker relationships that promoted their job productivity and confidence. However, individualistic team values were found to hinder cross-cultural relationships development and job performance. This study's results coupled with previous research suggest that collectivist team values and quality cross-cultural co-worker relationships support productive job performance and confidence.