In a multicultural society you meet people with different backgrounds all the time. The question is, whether it is a problem and if so, how to co-operate. People have different attitudes, expectations, assumptions and so on and all of them might be influenced by culture (as mentioned in Culture 1: ultimately at the level of every individual person). In working together for instance one person may wait for orders while others take the initiative; flexible or strict in using time; working alone or in groups; focus on the job or in persons; status or achievement; and the list goes on. Such differences may create tensions even if the intentions are the best to be desired. Sometimes tensions may run high and a manager has to intervene. How is s/he going to do that if lacking in cultural competence?

However, the problems at the level of smaller groups are not limited to work and may occur in all kinds of day-to-day situations, like shopping. An example in public transport involved an older woman who decided to wait for the next bus because the one in front of her had too many passengers with a migration background. In the same vein people refuse repairpersons with a migration background into their houses (and even change providers for that reason) or do not accept medical care from someone with a migration background (although the cleaning lady may be all colours of the rainbow, particularly if paid in cash).

Working together in teams with different cultural backgrounds, whether as a result of multicultural society or the demands of an international company, faces its own problems and will be dealt with in Culture 5: Teams and Projects.

Problems at the level of small groups