Montecinos and Grünfelder in Harvard Business manager on Collaboration in Global Teams

In global teams, the explanation often seems obvious. As soon as a cross border project stalls, cultural differences get the blame. Writing in Harvard Business manager, Prof. Dr. Julika Baumann Montecinos and Dr. Tobias Grünfelder show that this diagnosis is misleading and often hides very different problems.

Prof. Dr. Julika Baumann Montecinos and Dr. Tobias Grünfelder study how transcultural collaboration succeeds in teams and companies. The two authors identify four thinking errors that hold international teams back and illustrate each one with examples from practice.

The causes often lie in unclear roles, weak alignment and unspoken expectations. In addition, Montecinos and Grünfelder provide a roadmap that helps leaders recognise these patterns and improve collaboration in a targeted way.

The full article appeared in Harvard Business manager on 19 August 2026 and is available through the manager magazin website.