CROSS-CULTURAL TEAMBUILDING

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ONCE UPON A TIME….

WHAT IS YOUR FLAG HISTORY?

CULTURES REPRESENTED HERE:

ALBANIA ARMENIA

BOSNIA ERZEGOVINA

BULGARIA

JORDAN

ITALY

LEBANON

MOLDOVA

NIGER

SERBIA

Guess

Flags!

PREJUDICErefers to prejudgment, or forming an opinion before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case. The word is often used to refer to preconceived judgments toward people or a person because of gender, political opinion, social class, age, disability, language, nationality or other personal characteristics.

In this case, it refers to a positive or negative evaluation of another person based on their perceived group membership. Prejudice can also refer to unfounded beliefs and may include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence

STEREOTYPEis a thought that may be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things. These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality.

a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.

DEFINITION I

groupwork = teamwork

A team is a group which works on a clear defined task. A team can manage a whole project or only part of it. Teams exist for a special task-orientated reason and their existence is limited to the fulfilment of the task.

there are two kinds of groupwork to distinguish:

DEFINITION II

1. formal group (which was founded on

organisational composition)

2. informal group (which is formed through personal wishes and sympathy)

TYPES OF TEAMS

1. Traditional work groups (Natural work groups)

2. Impromptu short-term teams (Swat teams)

3. Special purpose teams (project teams)

4. Cross-functional teams

5. Self-managed teams (“direct team”)

STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

1. Forming -getting to know each other and testing

2. Storming

-group structure begins to emerge

3. Norming -developing cohesion

4. Performing -working structure

SOCIAL GROUP STRUCTURE I

1. Status structure

- a relative and valued position of a member inside the group- mediator in a communication process

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SOCIAL GROUP STRUCTURE II

3. Leadership- formed informally lead back on behavioural attributes

2. Role structure - gives information about the behaviour and the expectations of the behaviour

GROUP COMPOSITION I

the number of team members should depend on the tasks which have to be solved

• Group Size small team (3-5 members) big team (8-12 members)

GROUP COMPOSITION II

Redl´s law of optimum distance:“homogeneous enough to ensure

stability and heterogeneous enough to ensure vitality” (?????)

• homogeneity & heterogeneity- homogeneity is needed to develop group cohesion- heterogeneity is necessary to produce the potential for change in a group

GROUP COMPOSITION III

Behavioural attributes: these refer to the way in which individuals behave, the

personality, attitudes and life- styles (talkative vs. quiet, dominant vs. submissive)

• Descriptive attributes:- Age- Gender- Race and ethnicity- Social class

DEFINITION OF DIVERSITY

“diversity can best be described in terms of differences from the accepted mainstream population” Myers, S.:Team Building For Diverse Work Groups, p.8

WorkforceDiversity

National origin

Gender

Family situation

Race

Sexual orientation

Marital status

Language

Religion

Culture

Age

Physical ability

Socio-economic status

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AIMS OF GROUP COMPOSITION

Cohesion through trust, openness and diversity

• the goal is to create a workplace in which individuals are not limited by traditional barriers, stereotypes and restrictions

CULTURAL DIVERSITY...

...can have positive as well as negative impacts on

a team.

+ a well managed diverse team augments the potential productivity because many different ideas

and perspectives concerning a special situation play a role

- cultural diversity increases the complexity of the whole process and can therefore lead to difficulties in integrating and evaluating the various perspectives

DISADVANTAGES I

• stereotyping/ prejudices personality conflicts, mistrust

• Differences in language

• Differences in communication

• Differences in management styles

• Differences in norms, behaviour

DISADVANTAGES II

decreased effectiveness

• greater complexity problems in reaching agreements, the decision-making process is influenced in a negative way

• lack of trust, communication inaccuracies stress, tension

ADVANTAGES

higher productivity

• sharing technology

• sharing skills and talents

• sharing experiences

• opportunity for cross-cultural understanding

• limited “groupthink”

• varied backgrounds exposure to different viewpoints and alternatives more and better ideas

WHEN DOES DIVERSITY BECOME MOST VALUABLE?

• When the need for agreement remains low and relatively high need for creativity is required, that means when an organisation wants to launch a new product, create new ideas or develop a new marketing plan from a new perspective, diversity becomes most valuable.

• Diversity can lead to better customer relationship because different market issues are handled from different points of view; customers are seen more individually and can therefore be treated more appropriately.

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

from: N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 137

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

“When well managed, diversity becomes an asset and productive resource for the team. When ignored, diversity causes process problems that diminish the team’s productivity. Since diversity is more frequently ignored than well managed, culturally diverse teams often perform below expectations and below organisational norms.”N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 138

SYNERGY

“The combined effect of two or more things, processes, etc that exceeds the sum of their individual effects: the synergy achieved by merging two companies“

[Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary]

SYNERGY

“The synergy approach assumes that we are not all the same – that the various groups within society differ and that each maintains its cultural distinctness. Appreciating a pluralistic, rather than a homogeneous, society underlies the synergy approach. Whereas the most commonly held assumption is that similarities among people are most important, cultural synergy assumes that similarities and differences share equal importance.”N.Adler: International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, p. 107

Cultural diversity should be seen and treated as a resource!

David Kearns, chairman of Xerox:

“We have to manage diversity right now and much more so in the future. American business will not be able to survive if we do not have a large, diverse workforce, because those are the demographics.”Deresky, H.:Managing Human Resources Around the World, p. 446

If a company wants to develop new markets and merge with other companies, it has to be able to deal with differences and diversity!

SYNERGY

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Diversity Management is an instrument which describes all measures that lead to the recognition of differences and which makes sure that those differences are getting highly valued.

Those measures should point out that diversity can have a positive impact on the company.

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

• Task-related selection

• Recognition of differences

• A vision or superordinate goal

• Equal power

• Mutual respect

• Feedback

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Task-related selection

To maximise team effectiveness, members should be selected to homogeneous in ability levels and heterogeneous in attitudes

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Recognition of differences

Teams cannot begin to communicate without first recognising and then understanding and respecting cross-cultural differences

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

A vision or superordinate goal

Members of diverse teams generally have more trouble agreeing on their purpose and task than do members of homogeneous teams

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Equal Power

Team leaders should distribute power according to each member‘s ability, not according to relative cultural superiority

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Mutual Respect

Mutual respect can be improved by selecting members of equal ability and by making prior accomplishments and task-related skills known to all members

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Feedback

Managers should give teams positive feedback - both as individuals and as a team - early in the team‘s life together

Positive external feedback (given by a manager who is not in the team) generally helps the team to viewing itself as a team

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

The MBI (Mapping, Bridging, Integrating) Model of Managing Cultural Diversity for Personal and Team Effectiveness

Map

Under-stand the

differ-ences

Bridge

Commu-nicate across

the differ-ences

Inte-grate

Manage the differ-ences

Value and

utilise the

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MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Map

Under-stand the differ-ences

COF - The Cultural Orientation

Framework

1) Relation to nature

2) Relationships among people

3) Mode of human activity

4) Belief about basic human nature

5) Orientation to time

6) Use of space

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Bridge

Commu-nicate across the differ-ences

3 important skills to effective communication in a cross-cultural setting

1) Prepare

2) De-center

3) Re-center

MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Inte-grate

Manage the differ-ences

3 main integration skills

1) Building participation

2) Resolving conflicts

3) Building on ideas