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Multi-Cultural Teaming

Multi-Cultural Teaming. The Joys and Challenges of Teamwork. Biblical Basis for Multi-cultural teams. The Concept of the Body of Christ. The Early Apostolic Team (Paul’s teams) Our Future Destiny: Rev. 5:9-10 The universality of the gospel.

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Multi-Cultural Teaming

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  1. Multi-Cultural Teaming The Joys and Challenges of Teamwork

  2. Biblical Basis for Multi-cultural teams.

  3. The Concept of the Body of Christ. • The Early Apostolic Team (Paul’s teams) • Our Future Destiny: Rev. 5:9-10 • The universality of the gospel. • The need for help with each of our cultural bias. (bonwood)

  4. Thesis: • World missions must be multicultural because the gospel is for everyone and the Great Commission is for all believers. But being an effective multicultural leader (team) is not easy, especially when false expectations and hidden assumptions exist about what it means to be a leader or follower (or team). • Plueddemann, James E. Leading Across Cultures p22.

  5. “Anyone who aspires to lead a multicultural team must invest time and resources to learn who the people on the team are, what expectations they have about teamwork, and how those expectations create the potential of mistrust and conflict. Leaders must understand that individuals in stressful situations, despite their considerable cross cultural learning and experience regress to their default culture-habits, values, and patterns of interaction acquired in childhood.” (Lingenfelter,p.26)

  6. Culture….no big deal! We are basically all the same… How are a chicken and buffalo alike?

  7. Value Dimensions Hofstede, Peterson, Hofstede. Exploring Culture

  8. Same Values- Different Terms

  9. Equality vs. Hierarchy Equality Be self- directed Have flexibility in roles Freedom to challenge those in power Make exceptions, be flexible, bend the rules Treat men and women in basically the same way Hierarchy take direction from those above Certain roles= certain behavior Respect and not challenge opinions of those who are in power Enforce regulations Treat men and women differently

  10. Direct Style VS. Indirect Direct Direct in speaking and less concerned about how it is said Openly confront issues Straightforward communication Engage in conflict when necessary Say things clearly, not leaving much open to interpretation Indirect Focus on message and how it is said Discreetly avoid difficult or contentious issues Express concerns tactfully Avoid conflict if at all possible Diplomacy Count on listener to interpret meaning

  11. Individual vs. Group Individual Take individual initiative Use personal guidelines in personal situations Focus on themselves Judge people based on individual traits Make decisions individually Move in and out of groups as needed Be nonconformists when necessary Group Act cooperatively- group goals Standardize guidelines Loyalty to friends and family Identity through group Team or group is before the individual Conform to social norms Keep group membership for life

  12. Task vs. Relationship Task People defined by what they do Business first- relationships come later Sacrifice leisure and family time for work Get to know people superficially Impersonal selection criteria Relationship People defined by who they are Establish rapport and trust before business Have personal relationships with co-workers People come before work Use largely personal selection- family connections

  13. Risk vs. Caution Risk Decisions made quickly with little information Focus on present and future Less cautious in – “let’s get it done” Change quickly without fear of risks Ready to try new or innovative ways of doing things Willing to change plans at last minute Fewer rules and guidelines Caution Collect information, then make decision Focus on the past Change slowly and avoid risks More rules needed Refer to past precedents- what worked and what did not Stick to proven methods for solving problems No last minute plans Peterson, Brooks. Cultural Intellilgence

  14. KEY • “to work in harmony leaders (teams) in the global church must recognize and appreciate cultural differences in both external preferences and internal values. • The more cultural diversity on the team, the greater the possibility for misunderstanding and greater the need for patient, humble understanding about cultural expectations and preferences.

  15. Key Questions: • What are my own cultural assumptions about teaming and leadership? • What are my teammates cultural assumptions about teaming and leadership? • What biblical principles of teaming and leadership are universal and what are flexible.

  16. Thesis: “Even the most current traditions of leadership are culturally bound, and when applied in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts, these traditions become obstacles to effective ministry” (p.15)

  17. Cultural values and Biblical Principles. • Uncover your own unconscious cultural values. • Discover the cultural values of others through interaction and careful listening. “Leaders in multicultural situations have the opportunity to explore Scripture from the perspective of the other culture.” p.65

  18. Metaphors of Cultural Expectations. • Found in Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business by FonsTempenaars and Hampton Turner. Pp 157-178.

  19. The Family Culture

  20. Family Culture • Hierarchical and personal: Relationships are face to face. The company is a family with responsibility to take care of its employees. Employees are expected to be loyal and obedient. This is a high context culture; high value on collectivistic harmony; high power distance and high tolerance for ambiguity. • (Japan, France and Spain).

  21. The Effel Tower Culture:

  22. Effel Tower Culture: • Hierarchical and bureaucratic. Narrow at the top and broad at the bottom. The leader doesn’t need to be personal. The role of the leader is more important than his personal qualities. Values efficiency and achievement of pre-determined goals. Decisions are logical and follow the rules. This culture is low context, individualistic and high power distance with a low tolerance for ambiguity. (German and Austrian companies).

  23. The Guided Missile Culture

  24. The Guided Missile Culture • Egalitarian and project oriented. Leaders are coordinators of experts. Members tend to be loyal to their profession rather than to each other or the company. When the task is completed they move on to another company. It is low context, individualistic, low power distance, low tolerance for ambiguity. • (U.S. and British companies).

  25. The Incubater Culture:

  26. Incubator Culture: • Based on the idea that organizations are secondary to the fulfillment of individuals. • Incubators for self-expression and self fulfillment. Personal and egalitarian. High context, low power distance, collectivistic. Examples of this would be high tech start ups, legal firms, medical practices, artistic groups. Leadership is achieved by skill, not ascribed. The best programmer, or doctor, or artist becomes the leader. There is a high tolerance for ambiguity. (Sweden).

  27. “Learning to lead in the multi-cultural context will be disconcerting.” (p.11- Plueddemann) • One may have a very successful style in his own culture and be entirely out of tune in a multicultural setting. Multi-cultural leadership calls for different skills and attitudes, withholding judgment and the awareness that familiar tunes are played differently. • See page 110

  28. Leadership is difficult! Leading in a multicultural context is even more difficult. • My strengths can be my greatest weakness, because I learn to be independent of those with whom I work. When I begin to see the church or my co-workers as slow learners, impediments to progress, or even as those who I should not bother, I am setting my self up for failure. Arrogance is a very subtle temptation! At times we are blinded by how our own cultural history shapes how we do things and what our own expectations are.

  29. “We can not accomplish the work of the Kingdom of God unless we are willing to work together in the fellowship of a loving community and forgive as he has forgiven us.” • Col. 3:15 (p.25)

  30. Big questions: • How can leaders help team members break the habits of their default culture? • What priority should a leader give to the creation of a covenant community in which team members commit first to one another as people of God and then to working together as one on the mission of God?

  31. Building a Covenant Community (Lingenfelter) • Theological Basis: I Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen race, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had notreceived mercy but now you have received mercy.”

  32. The Biblical Foundation of Teaming A. We are people with a new identity: • 1. we are chosen people. • 2. We are people on a mission – to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness to light. • 3. we are people “once without mercy who have received mercy” B. We must commit together to practice this Covenant relationship.

  33. What does a Covenant mean. • It is a “partnership with others through a ritual meal or ceremony witnessed by God, in which we agree together to live according to new standards of behavior founded in our relationship with God”(p. 75) and our calling as a people of God to proclaim Christ.

  34. Foundational Principles • 1. Identity in Christ as God’s chosen people. • 2. Presence of the Holy Spirit. • 3. Love one another. • 4. One Body serving in diversity. • 5. One Body working together in unity. • 6. Submitting to one another. • 7. Speaking graciously. • 8. Restoring mercifully. • Lingenfelter, pp. 76-79

  35. Work to build a culture of Grace • Plueddemann pp. 212-215

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