Multicultural Teams & Groups

1. Multicultural Teams & Groups

2. Class Discussion • Discuss experiences in lego block exercise in terms of Cultural Intelligence concepts • Meta cognitive • Cognitive • Motivational • Behavioral

3. Working in Multi cultural Teams • Meta cognitive CQ • Develop learning strategies to learn what the cultural differences in team members’ mental models of a group, a leader, etc. • Cognitive CQ • Learn the content of these differences

4. Working in multicultural teams • Motivational CQ • Persist in trying to determine what these are differences based on observation and experience with team members • Behavioral CQ • Behave in ways appropriate to culture of group members

5. Content of differences in multi cultural teams

6. Points of differences in Multicultural Teams • Mental model of a team • Rules of interaction • Rules of allocation Thomas, Earley

7. Mental models of a team • Specific objectives vs. broad scope • Voluntary membership vs involuntary role • Emphasis on Group goals vs. individual goals • Social loafing

8. Rules of interaction • Confrontational vs. face saving • Hierarchical vs. egalitarian • Information sharing (Janssen & Brett) • Access to resources • Relationship vs. task oriented • Decision making • Collaboratively vs. individually • Interacts with task?

9. Allocation rules • Based on seniority vs. experience • Rules for allocating resources or responsibilities • Need, equity, equality • Rewards depend on organizational norms

10. Group Composition • Group Level outcomes • Advantages and disadvantages of increased cultural diversity in the group • Sub-group formation in moderately diverse groups • Individual Judgments • Mental model of cultural diversity

11. Mental Model of Cultural Diversity • Perception of self as a member of a culturally homogeneous vs. heterogeneous team • Appropriateness of behavior • Perceived status • Perceived Cohesiveness and satisfaction • Identification of self with task vs. cultural group  willingness to participate • Perceived level of conflict, • idea sharing • Cost of effort to interact (e.g., benefits of learning language etc)

12. Culture & Group Task • Production vs. decision making groups • Tool use • Emergency • Temporary, project-focused task forces need good inter-member relations because of intensity and duration of member interactions

13. Interaction medium for Multicultural groups

14. Structuring Multi cultural Groups

15. Objectives while working in multicultural teams • Need to develop a shared/hybrid multi cultural team identity based on commonalities beyond common rules of interaction and allocation • Formal coordination mechanisms • Participation norms Earley, Thomas

16. Management Support • Resource Support • Member resources in terms of cultural skills • Design of work • Around groups vs. around individuals • Norms of culture for diversity

17. Management Support • Norms for rewards • Equity, equality, need • Group vs. individual rewards • Evaluation criteria • Encourage exploring vs. exploiting

18. Status of multi cultural group • Cultural differences in the Degree to which membership in high status group is important for members • Work Group status affects individual and group performance

19. Status differences within group members • information access • Resource access Janssen & Brett

20. Training Support • For being effective group members • Using electronic tools for interaction • Cross cultural training

21. Empowerment vs. self management • Degree to which authority is delegated to the group can have positive and negative effects • Setting direction for group to empower vs dictating work processes and procedures • Feeling of empowerment > degree of self management • Empowerment = team beliefs in efficacy, task importance, task significance, autonomy • Self management=autonomy