Multicultural Teams and Their Leadership

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Cultural Diversity: A Brief Overview
Challenges in Multicultural Teams
Management of multicultural challenges
Conclusion
References

Introduction

As a result of globalization, many organizations are employing people from different countries in order to pool resources and boost their operational efficiency. However, documented literature indicates that having a culturally diverse team presents numerous challenges based on language differences, communication issues, different working techniques and conflict resolution mechanisms (Gibson & Vermeulen, 2003).

If not addressed efficiently, these challenges may lead to process and coordination inefficiencies. This paper shall provide solutions to five problems a multicultural team may face as it tries to open and run a shop in Zurich.

Cultural Diversity: A Brief Overview

Cultural diversity refers to a situation whereby members of given group have different beliefs, ethnicity, languages and attitudes. Hankin (2005), states that there are negative and positive consequences that may arise from a culturally diverse team.

For example, a multicultural team has different experience levels, skills and attitudes that may help organizations tackle numerous challenges in international business (Hankin, 2005).

However, differences between members may lead to increased conflicts, miscommunications and confusions leading to low productivity due to process and coordination inadequacies. As such, understanding and acknowledging cultural diversity may help teams create a more efficient group process.

Challenges in Multicultural Teams

Early and Mosakowski (2004) assert that the cultural orientation of an individual affects the level of tolerance for uncertainty he/she can handle. For example, people from individualistic or low-context cultures prefer to confront conflicts directly, while those from collectivistic or high-context cultures adopt an indirect approach to conflict resolution.

The high-context culture and low-context culture concepts shall be used to identify the problems a multicultural team might face while trying to run a business in Zurich.

Norms for problem solving and decision making

US, Germany and Australia are considered as individualistic societies. As such, a majority of the people that belong to such societies focus their attention on individual goals rather than those of a team.

On the other hand, Italians adopt a collectivist approach, in which the needs of the group have more weight than those of an individual. This difference in personality may cause a big problem when it comes to making quick decisions regarding the business.

For example, individualistic people within the team will do what they think is best for the business while those from collectivistic cultures will prefer to discuss and come up with a solution that is acceptable to all members. As such, decision making and conflict resolution within this team will be difficult because members apply different approaches when handling such issues.

Communication challenges

Efficient communication is very important in any business endeavor. However, different cultures use varied communication styles. As such, miscommunication in a culturally diverse group is likely to occur due to language barriers, accents and communication styles (direct or indirect communication). In this case, accents may be the main challenge faced by the members of the team.

For example, English spoken by the Germans and Italians may not be clearly understood by the Americans and Swiss and vice versa. As such, it may be difficult to communicate effectively therefore leading to conflicts arising from such miscommunications and misunderstandings.

Prejudice and stereotyping

This challenge is very common in multicultural settings. In most cases, different cultures have varied opinions about other cultures. For example, Italians and Germans perceive Americans as disrespectful, talkative and egocentric.

On the other hand, Americans and Australians may view the Italians and Germans as proud, lazy and less intelligent. With such stereotypes, fair delegation of duties and teamwork may be difficult because each member believes that his/her culture is more superior than that of fellow members.

Time, urgency and pace orientation

According to Hogan (2007), different cultures view time differently. For example, individualistic cultures like keeping time, working with schedules and deadlines, and tackling one task at a time. On the other hand, collectivistic cultures view time holistically. As such, they like taking their time and doing things as they come without restrictions. In this team, this will be challenging because the Italians may be viewed as slow workers.

Attitude towards work

In this regard, the challenge may arise from the different perspectives members have about acceptable work etiquette. According to Hankin (2005), nations have different work norms and behaviors. As such, members of a culturally diverse team may have different descriptions of personal time and work time. Individualistic cultures have the ability to separate personal time from work time.

When at work, Americans, Germans and Australians tend to do what they are supposed to do and try as much as possible to minimizing personal or social disruptions. On the other hand, Italians tend to be social while working and may even sacrifice work time so that they can deal with personal matters. As such, this team may face a difficult task of determining and separating personal and work time.

Management of multicultural challenges

According to Hogan (2007), challenges emanating from cultural diversity can only be solved if a culturally diverse workforce learns to tolerate each other and focus on attaining the set organizational goals. In this case, the members of this multicultural team should acknowledge their differences and come up with an organizational culture that fosters cooperation, effective communication and fairness among team members.

Similarly, Hecht-El Minshawi and Berninghausen (2009) suggest that members of a culturally diverse team should understand the existing barriers that may affect the efficiency of the group process.

With this in mind, this team should develop procedures for decision making, conflict resolution and work etiquette. Implementation of such procedures and policies play a pivotal role towards addressing the challenges arising from work attitudes, time orientation and communication barriers.

Conclusion

Cultural diversity in workplace settings presents numerous challenges for managers. If not addressed these challenges may lead to the failure of businesses. As such, people should try to be multiculturally competent in order to facilitate teamwork and cooperation in a multicultural work environment.

References

Early, P., & Mosakowski, E. (2004). Cultural intelligence. Harvard Business Review, 82(10): 151 – 157.

Gibson, C., & Vermeulen, F. (2003). A healthy divide: Subgroups as a stimulus for team learning behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(12): 202 – 239.

Hankin, H. (2005). The new workforce: Five sweeping trends that will shape your company’s future. Chicago: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn

Hecht-El Minshawi, B., & Berninghausen, J. (2009). Intercultural Competence – Managing Cultural Diversity: Training Handbook. New York: Kellner Klaus.

Hogan, M. (2007). The four skills of cultural diversity competence: a process for understanding and practice. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

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