Cross-Cultural Leadership

Understanding national culture is a critical piece to conducting business operations around the globe, and HR practitioners must be prepared to take their cultural intelligence and incorporate it into the best practices of managing all HR functions.

This assessment is based on the following scenario:

You and your human resources team work for a hi-tech gaming firm in Northern California called Fighting Games. Fighting Games has offices across Europe and the Pacific Rim and more than 1200 employees in more than 50 countries. Among the biggest challenges the members and leaders of each office face is scheduling meetings in asynchronous time frames. The New York team and the Shanghai team have been assigned to work on the same project. The New York team is leading the story line and the graphics. The Shanghai team is in charge of special effects and overall integration of the game. Meetings are scheduled twice a week. The teams have been meeting, but both teams have been complaining to the executive team. The New York team has been arriving late and running the meetings much longer than they were scheduled to last. This has happened over a dozen times. The relationship between the teams seems strained and not long ago something surprising happened: the Shanghai team canceled a meeting after the New York Team had arrived late to the last three.

Consider the following points as you prepare for your assessment:

• The New York and Shanghai teams are in different time zones, which makes coordinating meetings difficult.


• There are two national cultures involved. Although the American team is multicultural, they have all lived in the US most of their lives. The Chinese team is comprised of all Chinese employees. 

Write a 3–5 page paper, using correct APA style and format, on cross-cultural leadership and how this scenario's situation might be resolved. Include the following:

• Explain why cultural intelligence is important for HR practitioners and other organizational managers.


• Articulate recommendations to develop cultural intelligence. Make three recommendations.


• Describe how to respond and overcome the issues present in this workplace scenario.