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Cross-Cultural Teams: Workforce Opportunities and Challenges

Chapter 15

Cross-Cultural Teams

What Is Culture?

Transmitted through society

Communicates or labels the positive or negative aspects of other cultural groups

Culture provides a context for understanding a person.

We compare and contrast other cultural groups.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Why Is It Important to Understand Culture?

We need to develop an understanding for one’s culture as well as others.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Hofstede’s Framework

Power distance—Explores the extent to which members of a society accept that power is unequally distributed.

Uncertainty avoidance—This concept measures the degree to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations; it can impact the creation of beliefs and institutions to avoid uncertainty.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Hofstede’s Framework, Continued

Individualism—This concept explores the extent to which people believe that their primary concern in life is the well-being of individuals and their immediate family, or the well-being of a wider grouping with a more extended network of support and loyalty.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Hofstede’s Framework, Continued

Masculinity—This concept measures the extent to which masculine values, such as success, money, and possessions are given priority over “caring” values (or less masculine values), such as nurturing and sharing.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Challenges Encountered:

Expenses related to reduced productivity; damaged relationships (Johnson et al., 2006)

Developing Intercultural Competence (Matveev & Miller, 2004)

Willingness to invest in cross-cultural training

Cross-Cultural Teams

Challenges with Communication: Questions to Ponder

Do you have knowledge of the culture?

What are the cultural preferences?

Do you know the language?

What are the non-verbal forms of communication?

What may be considered offensive in this culture?

Cross-Cultural Teams

Diversity in Teams

Organizations have utilized teams as a means of conducting meaningful work and making informed decisions.

In the current business environment, organizations have begun to form specialized teams to address contemporary issues.

(Ely and Thomas, 2001)

Cross-Cultural Teams

Diversity in Teams, Continued

Culturally diverse teams have been important in the modern business environment as companies seek to understand and make inroads into various niche markets.

(Ely and Thomas, 2001)

Cross-Cultural Teams

Challenges for Cross-Cultural Teams

When certain cultural identity groups have greater power, prestige, and status than others, this manifests into certain groups having more power in society.

(Ely and Thomas, 2001)

Cross-Cultural Teams

Challenges for Cross-Cultural Teams, Continued

For example, in Western societies White men typically hold more positions of power in organizations.

As a result, in order for cross-cultural teams to be effective, a structure that mitigates these power issues needs to be implemented.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Challenges for Cross-Cultural Teams, Continued

In order for cultural diversity to be used in the team, it must incorporate diversity into the team as a resource for teaching and learning.

Cross-Cultural Teams

What makes an effective cross-cultural team is the integration and building of knowledge from various cultural perspectives.

Cross-Cultural Teams

Cross-Cultural Teams, Continued

In order for teams to be effective, the cross-cultural skills of the team members need to be developed.

Intercultural competence (IC) needs to be implemented. The components of the model include:

Cultural knowledge

Skills culturally relevant to the foreign culture

Personality orientation

(Matveev and Milter, 2004)

Cross-Cultural Teams

IC Model

Possess cultural knowledge

Explore differences in communication and interaction styles within different cultures.

Demonstrate a level of comfort when communicating with different cultures.

Demonstrate flexibility in resolving conflicts among team members.

Cross-Cultural Teams

IC Model, Continued

Demonstrate a culturally appropriate skillset:

Use decentering and recentering as a means to be inclusive and obtain a diverse set of perspectives.

Possess valued skills such as the ability to understand and communicate team goals and roles.

Cross-Cultural Teams

IC Model, Continued

Possess a personality that exhibits empathy to foreign nationals and conveys an understanding of their perspective of the world.

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Cross-Cultural Teams

• IC Model, Continued

– Possess a personality that exhibits empathy to foreign nationals and conveys an understanding of their perspective of the world.

Cross-Cultural Teams

•IC Model, Continued

–Possess a personality that exhibits empathy to foreign

nationals and conveys an understanding of their

perspective of the world.