Multicultural

Teams

Multicultural teams consist in different forms, ranging from teams with participants with different nationalities to teams that monitor the international aspects of the company’s environment.

Multicultural teams need to deal with cultural differences between countries, e.g. different perceptions of hierarchy, co-operation or time management. These teams also face differences in organisational cultures, e.g. within a joint venture. The research, providing handles for such situations, is still rather limited.

You can easily imagine a situation in which one team member takes initiative and self-responsibility as starting points and the other the order given by the boss. They will not be able to deliver results (without further intervention).

This mix of national and organisational cultures is one of the major problems expats are facing (conflict on how things are done in the home country and in the host country). And how does the expat fits in the host country?

In his book Mind your Manners John Mole mentions a series of topics of possible conflict within a multicultural team.

▼ Language: for some the

chosen language is more of an

advantage than for others

▼ Expectations vis-à-vis function

and outcome

▼ Preparation: from thorough to

hardly at all

▼ Attendance: who will attend,

how many, status, seniority,

discipline (walking in and out)

▼ Punctuality: start, end,

punctuality, deadlines

▼ Agenda: strictly follow the

agenda or be flexible

▼ Chair: strict control, flexible,

challenging chair or not

▼ Participation: on content,

position or process,

interruptions, contradicting one

another, rational or emotional,

formal or flexible, pragmatic /

realistic, humour

▼ Consensus: degree of being

committed to outcome

▼ Follow-up: focus on

implementation of result or

spirit of co-operation