Lost In Translation : Betydelsen av Kultur utifrån Nationalitet, Lingvistik samt Organisation i Multinationella Team

Sammanfattning: As a result of globalization, multinational teams are being more frequently used in today´s businesses. This specific type of team can be described as heterogeneous when it comes to nationality and linguistics. The aim of this study was to explore the concept of multinational teams. This was made using culture as a main concept, and nationality, linguistics, and organizational culture in order to describe it. We intended to say something about how this type of team´s efficiency; when it comes to satisfaction and performance; was affected by national and linguistic heterogeneity within the team. While analyzing differences between the teams’ efficiency when it comes to satisfaction and performance, we also intended to say something about how organizational culture can affect this. This study was made by using a qualitative approach, with focus on a deductive way of doing it. Four different case studies were conducted in order to support this study. A total of seven different respondents where used in this study and their narratives are together with the theoretical framework the basis for this study´s analysis and conclusions. This study reveals that perceived efficiency when it comes to satisfaction and performance can be affected by national and linguistic heterogeneity among team members in multinational teams. It also suggests that organizational culture can be used in order to overshadow these differences among team members, and that this in turn affects the perceived efficiency. A straightforward answer regarding nationality, linguistic, and organizational culture´s influence on multinational team´s efficiency, was never given from the case studies. Instead, this seemed to vary from case to case. Two extremes were yet to be found. When nationality and linguistic heterogeneity were easy to observe, low efficiency was perceived in the multinational team. In contrast, when organizational culture was easy to observe, high efficiency was perceived within the multinational team. This suggests that organizational culture can override national and linguistic heterogeneity when it comes to creating high performance and satisfaction among members of multinational teams.