Chapter 13 Multicultural Teams - Leigh Thompson Chp 13.pdf · Chapter 13 • Multicultural Teams 325 CULTURAL VALUES Defining Culture Culture is the personality of a group. Culture

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India has a population of 1.2 billion people, but only 3 percent of the people pay taxes, and tax collections amount to about 17 percent of the gross domestic product. In comparison, U.S. and U.K. collections make up 25 percent and 33 percent of their country’s GDP, respectively. Although a large number of India’s people are too poor to owe any taxes on their earnings, many of those who could and should pay taxes evade compliance because of the lack of government enforcement systems. In an effort to increase tax compliance, commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal of Thane, India, introduced public embarrassment as a method for collecting taxes from delinquents. City tax officials, holding a flag with Thane’s coat of arms are preceded by four or five professional drummers and a couple of security officers. The drummers play the same raucous beats as wedding or birthday party processions outside the home of delinquents. Across the city, property tax revenue has increased by 20 percent. For five years, Prahul Sawant, a real-estate developer, ignored government orders to pay his overdue taxes. When the tax drum line showed up outside his house demanding payment however, Mr. Sawant wrote a check to the city for the $945 he owed to settle his tax arrears. “When you get a notice, you’re the only one aware of it,” said Mr. Jaiswal. “A drum band downstairs from your house changes that. Few things are as important to people as their reputation.”1

In this chapter, we explore key challenges of multicultural teamwork. We define what culture is and how to analyze cultural values that explain many behaviors. We describe the concept of cultural intelligence and explore how it is measured and how to improve it. We review research about multicultural teamwork and multicultural collaboration. Finally, we consider the options that members of multicultural teams have when it comes to how to collaborate.

1Parussini, G. (2016, April 18). If you don’t pay these taxes, expect drummers at your door. The Wall Street Journal. wsj.com

Multicultural Teams13C

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324 Part3 • TeamsinOrganizations

CHALLENGES OF CROSS-CULTURAL TEAMWORK

Multicultural teams and multinational teams have become a fact of life. Research from both academic institutions and the private sector reveals that ethnic diversity helps companies deliver superior business results. For example, a 10 percent increase in gender and ethnic/racial diversity on management teams results in 5.6 percent increase on earnings before interest and taxes.2 In multicultural teams, people must work closely and competently with people from different geographic and national cultures.

Multinational teaMs

Onesurveyofemployeesatmultinationalcorporationsreportedthat64percentwereinvolved in a global work team, and this group reported that on average, 52 percent of team members were based outside the company’s home country.3

stereotypes versus prototypes

Given the ubiquity of multicultural teams, it is not surprising that companies and man-agers invest in learning about different cultures and global teamwork. A common method might be to pick up books titled, “Japanese-U.S. Business Negotiations: A Cross-Cultural Study” or “Negotiating Agreement and Disagreement In Japanese: Connective Expressions and Turn Construction.”Theriskwetakehowever,whenweattempttoembarkonacrashcourse of learning about a single culture is the risk of stereotyping. A stereotype is a generalized (usually faulty) belief that everyone from a given culture is the same. In this book, we do not rely on stereotypes to examine culture. Instead, it is more useful to focus on prototypes or central tendencies within a culture. Unlike stereotypes, proto-types recognize that there are variations among cultures. For example, in the United States,9percentofAmericansages14to34havestartedabusiness.Conversely,inGermany, business startups and entrepreneurialism are scarce, and only 2% of Germans inthatagegrouphavestartedabusiness.Forexample,ChristianBrandhorst,ayoungGerman man is an outlier because he has started two companies since graduating from university.4

When we look at culture through the lens of prototypes, people from a given culture actually might be more similar to a typical person from a different culture. For example, 27-year-old tech-blogger Ryoma Machida lives in Japan with his wife in a small house in a densely populated neighborhood. He studied international business at a university in New Zealand, is an Airbnb host, launched a startup, and has a photo of Applefounder,SteveJobstapedtohisrefrigerator.Tobesure,Machidabetteridentifieswith San Francisco’s entrepreneurial ethos than with the ultraconservative Japanese culture in which he lives, and to bridge cultures, Machida organizes informal get- togethers between his Airbnb guests and Japanese friends.5

2Gallardo,C.H.(2015,June22).London’sdiversityisoneofthestrongestattributesofitstechecosystem.The Guardian. theguardian.com3Culturaldifferences:Inevitabilityinaglobaleconomy(2015).The Economist Intelligence Unit. futurehrtrends.eiu.com4Geiger,F.(2015,March4).ThegiantholeinGermany’seconomy:Startups.The Wall Street Journal. wsj.com5Corbett,S.(2015,February18).MeettheunlikelyAirbnbhostsofJapan.The New York Times. nytimes.com

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Chapter13 • MulticulturalTeams 325

CULTURAL VALUES

Defining Culture

Cultureisthepersonalityofagroup.Cultureistheuniquecharacterofagroup,includ-ing the group’s assumptions, values, beliefs, norms, ideologies, and the structure of its social, political, economic, and religious institutions.6

iCeberg MoDel

According to the iceberg model of culture (see Exhibit 13-1), when we meet someone from a different culture, we don’t see their values, beliefs, and assumptions, rather, we see their behavior and appearance. In order to understand their values, assumptions, and beliefs, it is necessary to take the time to understand that person.7 For example, LazloBock,seniorvicepresidentofPeopleOperationsatGoogle,wasveryconcernedthat Google interviewers overestimate their interviewing skills, especially in interviews with global candidates. “Interviews are too often an exercise in confirmation bias, in which interviewers, without realizing it, are looking for data to affirm the snap judgment they’vealreadymade.”Tocombatthisbiasandhaveabetterchancetounderstandtheinterviewee beyond just their surface appearances and behaviors, Google uses a hiring committee of several employees to interview and vet applicants.8

HofsteDe’s MoDel

According to Hofstede, people from various cultures differ in terms of two key dimen-sions: individualism-collectivism,andsmall–largepowerdistance.Power distance reflects the tendency to see a large distance between those in the upper part of a social

6Brett,J.M.(2014).Negotiating globally: How to negotiate deals, resolve disputes, and make decisions across cultural boundaries(3rded.).Jossey-Bass.7French,W.L.,&Bell,C.H.(1923).Organization development behavioral science in interventions for organization improvement.NewJersey:Prentice-Hall.8Komisar,R.(2015,October7).HowGooglethinksabouthiring,managementandculture.Tech Crunch. techcrunch.com

Exhibit 13-1 Culture as an Icebergadapted from French, W. L., & Bell, C. h. (1923). Organization development: Behavioral science in interventions for organization improvement (p. 18). New Jersey: prentice-hall.

Values, Beliefs, and Norms

Assumptions

Behavior, Artifacts,and Institutions

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or organizational structure and those in the lower part. Individualism reflects the ten-dency to see oneself as autonomous and self-reliant versus connected to others and their welfare. Specifically, Hofstede examined 73 countries in terms of power distance and individualism-collectivism.9 Exhibit 13-2 reveals where different countries are posi-tioned in terms of individualism and power distance. Note that individualism and low-powerdistancearerelated;andcollectivismandhigh-powerdistancetendtocovary:Countrieshighincollectivismalsotendtobehighinpowerdistance.Themostcol-lectivist,high-powercountriesincludeGuatemala,Panama,andEcuador.Themostindividualistic,low-powerdistancecountriesincludeGreatBritain,theUnitedStates,and Australia.

INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS COLLECTIVISM Individualism refers to the extent to which people define themselves by their own traits and attributes and give priority to their per-sonal goals. For people from individualistic cultures, the pursuit of happiness and regard forpersonalwelfareisparamount.Thefocusisontheindividualasadistinctivelevelofanalysis. For example,AubreyMcClendon cofounderofChesapeakeEnergy, oftenexpressedindividualisticvaluesininterviews:“IfIwantedtoalwaysdothemostpopularthing, then I’d be a follower” and “I’ve always been comfortable thinking things through anddoing it,moreor less,myway.”Whenmakingbusinessdecisions,McClendon prioritized his personal goals, rather than the best interests of his company.10

Conversely,collectivism focuses on how people define themselves in relation to others and how they seek to further group goals. For people in collectivist cultures, thefocusisonthesocialgrouporunit.Thefundamentalunitofanalysisisnottheindividual, in possession of his or her unalienable rights; rather, the focus is on the social group. People from individualistic cultures are more likely to use I, me, and mine pronouns; people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to use plural pronouns, such as we, us, and ours.

Most modern Western and democratic societies and their organizations place ulti-mate value on the individual, which creates an intrinsic and inherently irresolvable tension between the individual and the group and the individual and the organization.11 In contrast, Eastern and Asian societies have a synergistic view of the person and the group.OnestudyexaminedAmericanandSingaporeanperceptionsofleadersandtheirteams.12 In comparing cultural differences in how leaders are viewed, Americans (indi-vidualistic culture) represented leaders standing aheadoftheirgroups.Conversely,Asiansrepresented leaders standing behind their groups. Moreover, Singaporeans evaluated their leaders (in the back) more favorably than did the Americans, whose leaders were

9Minkov,M.,&Hofstede,G.(2012,January).Hofstede’sfifthdimension:NewevidencefromtheWorldValuesSurvey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1),3–14.10Gruley,B.,Carroll,J.,&Loder,A.(2016,March10).TheincredibleriseandfinalhoursoffrackingkingAubreyMcClendon.Bloomberg Businessweek.bloomberg.com;Shiffman,J.,Driver,A.,Grow,B.(2012,June7).Specialreport:ThelavishandleveragedlifeofAubreyMcClendon.Reuters.reuters.com;Loder,A.(2012,June26).McClendoneatinghealthynohelpinbetunderminingChesapeake.Bloomberg Markets. bloomberg.com11Drechsler,W.(1995).Collectivism.InH.Drechsler,W.Hillinge,&F.Neumann(Eds.),Society and state: The lexicon of politics (9th ed., pp. 458–459).Munich,Germany:FranzVahlen.12Menon,T.,Sim,J.,Fu,J.H.-Y,Chiu,C.-Y,&Hong,Y.-Y.(2010).Blazingthetrailversustrailingthegroup:Cultureandperceptionsoftheleader’sposition.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 113(1), 51–61.

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Exhibit 13-2 Position of Countries on Power Distance and IndividualismSource: hofstede, G., hofstede, G.J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind (3rd ed). Chicago: McGraw hill.

Guatemala

PanamaVenezuela

Ecuador

ColombiaPakistan

PeruTaiwanTrinidad

Costa Rica Indonesia

El Salva

dor

Vietnam

Singapore

Africa W

China,

Bangladesh

S Korea

ThailandChile

Hong KongSlovenia

Africa EPortugal

GreeceUruguay

BulgariaMexico

Croatia

Romania

Serbia

Malaysia

Philippines

Arab ctrsRussiaBrazil

Turkey

IranJamaica

Argentina

IsraelAustria

Japan MoroccoIndia

Suriname

Slovakia

Poland

Czech Rep.

Spain

Malta

Switzerland FrS Africa

LithuaniaEstonia,

Luxembourg

Finland

GermanyNorway

LatviaSweden

Canada QuebecDenmark

Ireland

Switzerland Ge

New Zealand

Netherlands

Great BritainAustralia

United States

30

small largePower Distance (PDI)

50 70 90 1101095

85

75

65

55

45

35

25

Col

lect

ivis

tIn

divi

dual

ism

(ID

V)

Indi

vidu

alis

t

15

5

Canada totalHungary

ItalyBelgium NI

Belgium FrFrance

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inthefront.Similarly,thefounderoftheJapanesecarcompany,Toyota,said,“Eachperson fulfilling his or her duties to the utmost can generate great power when gathered together,andachainofsuchpowercangeneratearingofpower.”Thefoundingprin-ciplesofToyotabreathecollectivism.13

Individual, relational, and collective selves.Broadlyspeaking,people’sself-conceptsconsistofthreefundamentalrepresentations:theindividualself(similartoindividual-ism), the relational self, and the collective self.14Theindividual self is realized by dif-ferentiation from others, reliance on interpersonal comparison processes, and is associated with the motive of protecting or enhancing the person psychologically.15Therelational self is achieved by assimilating with significant others (i.e., relationship part-ners, parents, friends, siblings, etc.) and is based on personalized bonds of attachment. People who are high in relational identity engage in more prosocial behaviors with workgroup members, even from different groups.16Thecollective self is achieved by inclusion in large, social groups, and contrasting the group to which one belongs with relevantout-groups.Thesethreeself-representationscoexistwithinthesameperson,however at any given time, one or more of these self-identities might seem relevant. Exhibit 13-3 is one example of how personal, social, and collective identities are measured.

Independent versus Interdependent Self-Orientation.Considertwotypesofrelational focuswhenitcomestoteamwork:independent and interdependent.17Thisdistinc-tion also is known as egocentric versus sociocentric18 or individualism versus collectiv-ism.19 People with an independent outlook focus on the extent to which they are autonomous and unique; in contrast, people with an interdependent outlook focus on the extent to which they are embedded within a larger social network.

Considerhow independent versus interdependent construals affectbehavior in multicultural teams. In one simple task, people were given a sheet of paper and asked to write 20 statements about themselves, each beginning with “I am.”20 People who are

13Gallant,M.(2013,September6).Thebusinessofculture:Howcultureaffectsmanagementaroundtheworld. Halogen Software. halogensoftware.com14Brewer,M.B.,&Gardner,W.(1996).Whoisthis“we”?Levelsofcollectiveidentityandself-representations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(1), 83.15BrewerandGardner,Whoisthis“we”?;Markus,H.R.(1977).Self-schemataandprocessinginformationabout the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35,63–78.16Vos,M.,&vanderZee,K. (2011).Prosocialbehavior indiverseworkgroups:Howrelational identityorientation shapes cooperation and helping. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 14(3),363–379.17Gardner,W.L.,Gabriel,S.,&Lee,A.Y.(1999).“I”valuefreedom,but“we”valuerelationships:Self-construalpriming mirrors cultural differences in judgment. Psychological Science, 10(4),321–326.18Schweder,R.A.,&Bourne,E.J.(1984).Doestheconceptofthepersonvarycross-culturally?InSchweder,R.A.,&LeVine,R.A.(1984).Culture theory: Essays on mind, self and emotion (p. 158–159).CambridgeUniversityPress.19Triandis,H.C.(1989).Cross-culturalstudiesofindividualismandcollectivism.InJ.J.Berman(Ed.),Cross-cultural perspectives: Nebraska symposium on motivation(Vol.37, pp. 41–133).Lincoln,NE:UniversityofNebraskaPress.20Gabriel,S.,&Gardner,W.L.(1999).Aretherehisandherstypesofinterdependence?Theimplicationsofgender differences in collective versus relational interdependence for affect, behavior, and cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77,642–655.

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Instructions: For each of the statements below, indicate how characteristic or true it is for yourself.

1. Not important to my sense of who I am.2. Slightly important to my sense of who I am.3. Somewhat important to my sense of who I am.4. Very important to my sense of who I am.5. Extremely important to my sense of who I am.

_____ 1. My moral standards and personal values._____ 2. Being popular._____ 3. Being a part of the many generations of my family._____ 4. My imagination and dreams._____ 5. The ways other people react to what I say and do._____ 6. My race and ethnic background._____ 7. My personal goals and hopes for the future._____ 8. My physical appearance._____ 9. My religion or faith._____ 10. My feelings and emotions._____ 11. The reputation I have._____ 12. Places where I live or where I was raised._____ 13. My thoughts and ideas._____ 14. My attractiveness to other people._____ 15. How I deal with fears and anxieties._____ 16. Being a unique person, distinct from others._____ 17. Knowing that I continue to be essentially the same person even though life involves

many changes._____ 18. My gestures and mannerisms, the impression I make on others._____ 19. My feeling of belonging to my community._____ 20. My self-knowledge, such as knowing what kind of person I really am._____ 21. My social behavior, such as the way I act when meeting people._____ 22. My feeling of pride in my country, being proud to be a citizen._____ 23. My personal self-evaluation, the private opinion I have of myself._____ 24. My allegiance on political issues or my political activities._____ 25. My language, such as my regional accent and a second language that I know.

Exhibit 13-3 Aspects of Identity Questionnaire

Note: To score your personal identity, average items: 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23To score your social identity, average items: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 18, 21To score your collective identity: average items: 3, 6, 9, 12, 19, 22, 24, 25

adapted from Cheek, J. M., tropp, L. r., Chen, L. C., & Underwood, M. K. (1994). Identity orientations: Personal, social, and collective aspects of identity. paper presented at the meeting of the american psychological association, Los angeles, Ca.

independent in their relational orientation tend to write statements that describe their inner values, attributes, and appearance (e.g., ambitious, creative, and muscular). Conversely,peoplewhoare interdependent tendtowritestatements thatdescribethemselves in relation to others and their social roles (e.g., father, son, and community member).

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Whether team members view themselves as independent or interdependent influ-ences the motivations they have and how they achieve their goals.21Ourculturalvaluesinfluence our world outlook. Most North Americans value independence and autonomy, show a great disdain for conformity, and seek to be unique. In contrast, Asians value interdependence and collectivity, show a disdain for uniqueness, and seek conformity.22 Even within a culture however, there is variation in individualism versus collectivism. For example within the United States, people in the Deep South are more collectivistic and those in the Mountain West and Great Plains are more individualistic.23

Perhaps even more striking is the fact that interdependence and independence can be activated within one person at any given time. For example in one investigation, some people were instructed to read a paragraph containing primarily independent pronouns (e.g., I, me, and mine); in contrast, other people read identical paragraphs that contained collective pronouns (e.g., we, us, and ours); then, motivations and behaviors were exam-ined.24 European Americans who read collectivist pronouns (we, us, and ours) shifted toward collectivist values and judgments.

POWER DISTANCE People from low power distance cultures typically espouse egalitar-ianvaluesandbelievethatstatuslayers,whiletheyexist,arepermeable.Conversely,people from high power distance cultures typically hold hierarchical values and believe thatstatuslayersarenotreadilypermeable.Thus,egalitarianismversushierarchyrefersto how the different status layers in a society or organization relate to one another. In egalitarian cultures, status layers exist, but they are permeable; in hierarchical cultures, status layers are not easily permeated. In egalitarian cultures, members of high- and low-status groups communicate frequently and do not go to great lengths to perpetuate differences.Thestatuslevelsinegalitarianculturesareinherentlypermeable—meaningthat if a person works hard enough, he or she can advance in an organization. For example, in companies such as Southwest Airlines, it is possible to permeate status layers.ColleenBarrett firstworkedasasecretarywithHerbKelleher,a founderof Southwest Airlines, but she eventually served as president of the airline until her retire-ment in 2008. Jim Ziemer was a freight elevator operator at Harley-Davidson Motorcycles whoworkedhiswayuptobecomeCEOofthecompanyin2005.25

In hierarchical cultures and organizations, status differences are not easily permeated. As a consequence, members of different classes or status levels do not communicate fre-quently, and there is a deep sense of obligation among those at the highest levels to provide for and protect those at the lowest-status levels, who in turn put their trust in the high-status members of their organization. For example, Kazuo Inamori believes that his highest

21Markus,H.R.,&Kitayama,S. (1991).Cultureandtheself: Implications forcognition,emotion,andmotivation. Psychological Review, 98(2),224–253;Morris,M.W.,Podolny,J.M.,&Ariel,S.(2000).Missingrelations: Incorporatingrelationalconstructs intomodelsofculture. InP.C.Earley&H.Singh(Eds.),Innovations in international and cross-cultural management (pp. 52–90).ThousandOaks,CA:SagePublications.22Kim,H.,&Markus,H.R.(1999).Devianceoruniqueness,harmonyorconformity?Aculturalanalysis.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(4),785–800.23Vandello,J.A.,&Cohen,D.(1999).PatternsofindividualismandcollectivismacrosstheUnitedStates.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(2),279–292.24Gardner,Gabriel,&Lee,“‘I’valuefreedom,but‘we’valuerelationships.”25Grant,A.(2015,December19).Theonequestionyoushouldaskabouteverynewjob.The New York Times. nytimes.com;Arnoult,S.(2015,February28).ColleenBarrettalksHerb,go-gobootsandservicewithasmile.Runway Girl Network. [Weblog post]. runwaygirlnetwork.com

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purpose and obligation to his company, Kyocera, is focusing on the happiness, both mate-rial and intellectual, of his employees. While this philosophy might not excite Kyocera’s shareholders, Inamori feels obligated to protect his employees from investor pressure and believes that happy employees have a direct effect on increased productivity and earnings for all. “If you want eggs, take care of the hen,” said Inamori. Investors “want to get the highest returns possible” but, “at times company management has to say no to sharehold-ers’selfishrequests.”AnotherCEOwhosaidhefeelsobligatedtobeultimatelyresponsiblefortheactionsofhissubordinatesisToyotaPresidentAkoToyoda.Followingoneemployeescandal,Toyodatooktheblame,saying,“Tome,executivesandstaffwhoaremydirectreports are like my children . . . It’s the responsibility of a parent to protect his children, and if a child causes problems, it’s also a parent’s responsibility to apologize.”26

Dignity, faCe anD Honor Cultures

A related but different model of culture is based on a tripartite model of three cultural prototypes:face,dignity,andhonor.27Theseculturalvaluesrepresentpeople’sself-viewsand are highly correlated with particular geographic regions. Face, honor, and dignity all refer to how people define and regard their self-worth, or how they define themselves and their relationships in social and team environments (see Exhibit 13-4).

26Taniguchi,T.(2015,November5).Kyocerafounder’ssecret:Makeworkershappy.The Japan Times. japantimes.co.jp;Neuman,S.(2015,June19).Toyota’stopfemaleexecutivearrestedinJapanondrugcharges.NPR. npr.org27Brett,“Negotiatingglobally.”

Exhibit 13-4 Dimensions of Culture

Based on Brett, J.M. (2014). Negotiating globally: How to negotiate deals, resolve disputes, and make decisions across cultural boundaries (3rd ed.). San Francisco, Ca: Jossey-Bass ; aslani, S., ramirez-Marin, J., Brett, J., Yao, J.J., Semnani-azad, Z., Zhang, Z.-X., tinsley,C., Weingart, L., adair, W. (2016). Dignity, face, and honor cultures: a study of negotiation strategy and outcomes in three cultures. Journal of Organizational Behavior. advance online publication. doi: 10.1002/job.2095; tinsley, C.h., turan, N., aslani, S., Weingart, L.r. (2011). the interplay between culturally and situationally-based mental models of intercultural dispute resolution: West meets Middle east. International Negotiation, 16(3), 481–510.

Cultural Prototype

Face

Dignity

Honor

East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan

Europe, North America, Australia, & New Zealand

Middle East, South Asia, North Africa, and Latin America

Self-worth is socially-conferred

Self-worth is self-determined

Self-worth is socially-claimed

•Face-saving•Face-giving•Desire to maintain

group harmony

• Direct confrontation• Open information-sharing• Rational• Analytical• Friendly exchange of

information

•Expression of emotions•Confrontational

Primary Geographic Location

DescriptionTeamwork Behaviors

& Expectations

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FACE People in high face cultures seek to maintain group harmony and not insult others. People from face cultures agree with statements such as “People should be very humble to maintain good relationships” and “People should control their behavior in front of others.”28 In multicultural groups, people from face cultures do not immediately trust others, the way that people from dignity cultures do. Rather, they build trust slowly, over time.Communicationinfaceculturesishighlycontextdependent,meaningthatpeopledo not bluntly make requests and demands, but rather signal information subtly, so as to help others save face. For example, when Japanese professors, Ryo Sahashi and Satoru MorimetforabusinessdinnerinTokyo,theyleftthemiddleseatbetweenthememptyat the booth. In Japanese culture, the middle seat is reserved for the most senior person.29

DIGNITY People in high dignity cultures speak their mind and expect others to speak theirminds.Theymakedecisionsonthebasisoffactsandinformation.Peoplefromdignity cultures endorse statements such as, “People should stand up for what they believe in even when others disagree” and “How much a person respects himself is far more important than how much others respect him.”30 In multicultural groups, people from dignity cultures ask pointedquestionsandwillinglyexchangeinformation.Theirtendencyistotrustothers,evenwithoutalonghistory.OnestudyexaminedhowAngloAmericansversusAsianAmericans make judgments about their own moral status.31 It was reasoned that because Americans represented a dignity culture, whereas Asians represented a face culture (i.e., saving face), this would affect judgments of morality. Asians felt the greatest concern about their own morality when thinking about how others would judge them; conversely, Anglos were primarily concerned about their own behaviors, not about third-party perceptions.

HONOR People in honor cultures also express their ideas and often take matters into their own hands and relative to people from face and dignity cultures, they are more emotionally expressive. People from honor cultures endorse statements such as “People must always be ready to defend their honor” and “If a person gets insulted and they don’t respond, they will look weak.”32 In multicultural teams, people from honor cultures might be perceived as overly argumentative and even emotional. For example, a Gallup surveyrevealedLatinAmericancountriesdominatedthetopspotsonthelistofmostemotionalcountriesintheworld.Nearly6in10residentsincountriessuchasBolivia,El Salvador, and Ecuador reported experiencing high positive or negative emotions inagivenday.LatinAmericancountrieshowever,werenottheonlyonesonthelist.peoplefromhonorculturesinthePhilippines,Iraq,andCambodiaalsorankedhighonGallup’s“MostEmotional”list.OnediplomatfromthePhilippinesexplained,

28Brett,J.(2016).Culturalsurveyreport.Kellogg School of Management;Brett,“Negotiatingglobally.”29BySallyHerships,S.(2015,August11).EtiquetteandritualsruleinJapan’sbusinessculture.Marketplace. marketplace.com30Brett,“Culturalsurveyreport”;Brett,“Negotiatingglobally.”31Kim,Y.-H.,&Cohen,D.(2010).Information,perspective,andjudgmentsabouttheselfinfaceanddignitycultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(4),537–550.32Brett,“Negotiatingglobally.”

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“Thefocuswe[Filipinos]placeoninterpersonalrelationshipsimpelsusnotonlytoexperience emotions more intensely but also to be more open in their expression.”33

tigHt versus loose Cultures

Akeyculturaldistinctionisthatbetweentightandloosecultures.Tight–loosereferstothe degree to which cultural institutions control people’s behavior and how much vari-ability there is in people’s behaviors in a given culture. Dignity cultures are generally loose cultures; meaning that there is a wide variation in what is considered normative or appropriate behavior. Norms are flexible and there is less monitoring of behavior by team members. However some cultures are tighter, meaning that there is less variability in terms of what is considered to be acceptable behavior. Relatively speaking, the United States is a loose culture but East Asia is a tight culture.34The implications formulticulturalteamsarequitesignificant:Itisrelativelyeasierforamemberofatightculture to enter and work in a loose culture because the culture is more forgiving; when people from a loose culture enter a tight culture however, they might unwittingly make cultural mistakes. In a country as conservative and tight-cultured as Japan, Airbnb hosts say they deliberately keep quiet about their involvement with the online bed and break-fast site, concerned that their neighbors might have one bad interaction with a foreigner—morenoisethanisacceptable,leavingshoeswheretheyarenotpermitted,atrampledflowerbed—thatmightleadtoproblemswiththeirlandlordorthepolice.OneAirbnbhostdescribedaconflictwithhiscondo-ownersassociationwhenabusi-nesswoman from Europe was spotted, to everyone’s horror, charging her cellphone in the building’s lobby.35

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE

Just as people are believed to have intellectual intelligence and motivational intelligence, peoplevaryintermsoftheirculturalintelligence.Culturalintelligenceenhancesthelikelihood that teams on global assignments will engage actively in four key states of learning:experience,reflection,conceptualization,andexperimentation.36

CQ MoDel

Cultural intelligence is a person’s ability to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts.37 Early and Mosakowski introduced the measure of cultural intelligence in terms of three

33Clifton,J.(2015,August27).LatinAmericansleadworldinemotions.Gallup. gallup.com34Gelfand,M.J.,Raver,J.L.,Nishii,L.,Leslie,L.M.,Lun,J.,Lim,B.C.,&Aycan,Z.(2011).Differencesbetweentightandloosecultures:A33-nationstudy.Science, 332(6033),1100–1104.35Corbett,S.(2015,February18).MeettheunlikelyAirbnbhostsofJapan.The New York Times. nytimes.com36Ng,K.,VanDyne,L.,&Ang,S.(2009).Fromexperiencetoexperientiallearning:Culturalintelligenceasalearning capability for global leader development. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(4),511–526.37Earley,C.P.(2002).Redefininginteractionsacrossculturesandorganizations:Movingforwardwithculturalintelligence.InB.M.Staw&R.M.Kramer(Eds.),Research in Organizational Behavior(Vol.24, pp. 271–299). Oxford,UK:Elsevier.

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keydimensions:cognitiveCQ,physical(behavioral)CQ,andemotional/motivationalCQ.38 An investigation of leadership emergence in multicultural teams revealed that people who scored high on cultural intelligence (as well as global identity and openness toculturaldiversity)weresignificantlymorelikelytoemergeasleadersofMBAstudentteams than were other team members.39

FOUR-FACTOR MODEL A four-factor model of cultural intelligence includes metacogni-tive,cognitive,motivational,andbehavioralCQ40 (see Exhibit 13-5).MetacognitiveCQfocusesonplanningandawareness.CognitiveCQfocusesongeneralandspecificcul-turalknowledge.MotivationalCQreflectsmotivationtoadjusttodifferentcultures.BehavioralCQfocusesonbothverbalandnonverbalbehaviors.Onestudyexaminedthe four-factor model of cultural intelligence on the development of shared values in culturally homogenous versus culturally heterogeneous teams.41Behavioralandmeta-cognitiveCQhadapositiveeffectonsharedvaluesinculturallyheterogeneous teams; but motivationalandmetacognitiveCQhadanegativeeffectonsharedvaluesinculturallyhomogenous teams.

CQ & PERFORMANCE A study of motivational cultural intelligence among real estate agents across 26 U.S. real estate firms revealed that an individual’s motivational cultural intelligence was positively related to the number of housing transactions occurring between people of different cultural origins.42 Similarly, a study of the assessment and selection of potential professionals for international assignments revealed that emo-tional intelligence is related to overall cross-cultural adjustments.43 Moreover, teams withhigherlevelsofCQgraduallyexhibithigherratesofperformanceimprovementoverthelifeoftheteam,andCQmoderatestherelationshipbetweenculturaldiversityandteamperformance,suchthatthemorediverseateamis,themoreimportantCQbecomes for successful performance.44

38Earley,P.C.,&Mosakowski,E.(2004).Culturalintelligence.Harvard Business Review, 82(10),139-146.39Lisak, A., & Erez, M. (2015). Leadership emergence in multicultural teams:The power of globalcharacteristics. Journal of World Business, 50(1),3–14.40VanDyne,L.,Ang,S.,Ng,K.Y.,Rockstuhl,T.,Tan,M.L.,&Koh,C.(2012).Sub-dimensionsofthefourfactormodelofculturalintelligence:Expandingtheconceptualizationandmeasurementofculturalintelligence. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(4),295–313.41Adair,W.L.,Hideg,I.,&Spence,J.R.(2013).Theculturallyintelligentteam:Theimpactofteamculturalintelligence and cultural heterogeneity on team shared values. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(6), 941–962.42Chen,X.-P.,Liu,D.,&Portnoy,R.(2012,January).Amultilevelinvestigationofmotivationalculturalintelligence,organizationaldiversityclimate,andculturalsales:EvidencefromU.S.realestatefirms.Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1),93–106.43Gabel-Shemueli, R., &Dolan, S. (2011). Do emotionsmatter?The role of emotional intelligencecompetences in cross-cultural adjustment for international assignment. Management Research: The Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, 9(3),207–229.44Moon,T.(2013).Theeffectsofculturalintelligenceonperformanceinmulticulturalteams.Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(12),2414–2425.

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Cultural MetaCognition

Cultural metacognition is a key dimension of cultural intelligence.45 Cultural metacognition refers to an individual’s level of conscious cultural awareness and execu-tive processing during cross-cultural interactions.46 Managers and leaders high in cul-tural metacognition are more likely to develop trusting relationships with people from

45Earley,P.C.,&Ang,S.(2003).Cultural intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures. Stanford University Press.46Ang,S.,&VanDyne,L.(2008).Conceptualizationofculturalintelligence:Definition,distinctiveness,andnomological network. Handbook of cultural intelligence: Theory, measurement, and applications,3–15.NewYork:Routledge.

Factor Sub-Dimension Example Items

Metacognitive CQ • Planning• Awareness• Checking

• Idevelopactionplansbeforeinteractingwithpeoplefromadifferentculture.

• Iamawareofhowmycultureinfluencesmyinteractionswithpeoplefromdifferentcultures.

• IadjustmyunderstandingofaculturewhileIinteractwithpeoplefromthatculture.

Cognitive CQ • Culture-GeneralKnowledge

• Context-SpecificKnowledge

• Icandescribethedifferentculturalvalueframeworksthatexplainbehaviorsaroundtheworld.

• Icandescribethewaysthatleadershipstylesdifferacrossculturalsettings.

Motivational CQ • IntrinsicInterest• ExtrinsicInterest• Self-EfficacytoAdjust

• Itrulyenjoyinteractingwithpeoplefromdifferentcultures.

• IvaluethestatusIwouldgainfromlivingorworkinginadifferentculture.

• IamconfidentthatIcanpersistincopingwithlivingconditionsindifferentcultures.

Behavioral CQ • VerbalBehavior• Non-verbalBehavior• SpeechActs

• Ichangemyuseofpauseandsilencetosuitdifferentculturalsituations.

• ImodifyhowcloseorfarapartIstandwheninteractingwithpeoplefromdifferentcultures.

• ImodifythewayIdisagreewithotherstofittheculturalsetting.

Exhibit 13-5 Assessing Cultural Intelligence© Cultural Intelligence Center 2011. Used by permission of Cultural Intelligence Center.See Van Dyne, L., ang, S., Ng, K.-Y., rockstudhl,t., tan, M.L., & Koh, C. (2012). Sub-dimensions of the four factor model of cultural intelligence: expanding the conceptualization and measurement of cul-tural intelligence (CQ). Social and Personal Psychology: Compass, 6(4), 295–313.

Example items from the 11-Dimension Expanded CQ Scale (The E-CQS)

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different cultures.47Conversely,managerslowerinmetacognitiveculturalintelligenceshared fewer new ideas with members of different cultures than they did with members of their own culture. A study of 37 multicultural teams showed that when team members had high cultural metacognition, fusion teamwork and creativity were more likely.48

fusion teaMwork

Thefusion principle of coexistence facilitates the ability of global teams to extract informa-tion and make decisions as compared to letting the dominant culture dictate the work ways or compromising.49Forexample,AmericanbusinesswomenLinShiworkedinHongKongfor more than a decade. During that time, she and her work teams learned ways to create trust by fusing cultures. When she realized that Asian managers typically do not give direct feedbackduringmeetings,LinShibegantocallonpeopleduringmeetings,butalsoworkedto create trust by not scolding those giving feedback as other managers might. As a result, people began to speak up in meetings, thus opening up communication channels.50Con-sideranotherexampleofculturalfusionbyIKEAinIndia.TheSwedishhomegoodsretailerwanted to sell its furniture and housewares to India’s growing middle class, but its plans to move forward came to an abrupt halt when the Indian government made a trade contin-gencybeforeIKEAcouldobtainpermitstostartbuildingtheirstores.Thecontingencyrequired that at least 30 percent of the value of IKEA’s inventory must be manufactured in India.TheproblemwasthatIKEAadherestoEuropeanUnioncriteriaforenvironmentalsafety standards, and labor practices in India did not meet IKEA’s standards. IKEA’s multinational resource team however, found local suppliers willing to experiment creatively using locally sourced, indigenous resources, such as mango bark, bamboo, coconut fiber, jute, and sugar cane to develop chairs and chopping boards for the retailer.51

MultiCultural engageMent

Oneaspectofculturalintelligenceisthepsychologicalmindsetorapproachthatpeopletake when they are immersed in a multicultural environment. Multicultural engagement refers to the extent to which people adapt to and learn new cultures. An investigationofMBAstudentsrevealedthatstudentshighinmulticulturalengagementreceived more job offers upon graduating, even when controlling for key personality and demographic variables.52 In addition, students high in multicultural engagement showed increased integrative complexity, which explained their job market success.

47R.Y.J.,Morris,M.W,&Mor,S.(2012).Collaboratingacrosscultures:Culturalmetacognitionandaffect-based trust in creative collaboration. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 118(1),116–131.48Crotty,S.K.,&Brett,J.M.(2012).Fusingcreativity:Culturalmetacognitionandteamworkinmulticulturalteams. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 5(2),210–234.49Janssens,M.,&Brett,J.M.(2006).Culturalintelligenceinglobalteams:Afusionmodelofcollaboration.Group & Organization Management, 31,124–153.50Sheng, E. (2016, January 12). How to manage cultural differences in cultural teams. Fast Company. fastcompany.com51Rana,P.(2016,February24).IKEA’sIndiabethitsthicketofrules:Foreignretailersmustacquireproductslocally; red tape, few labor laws. The Wall Street Journal. wsj.com52Maddux,W.W.,Bivolaru,E.,Hafenbrack,A.C.,Tadmor,C.T.,&Galinsky,A.D.(2014,July).Expandingopportunities by opening yourmind:Multicultural engagement predicts jobmarket success throughlongitudinal increases in integrative complexity. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(5),608–615.

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work ways

Work ways describe a culture’s signature pattern of workplace beliefs, mental models, and practices that embody that culture’s ideas about what is good, true, and efficient within the domain of work.53Culturaldifferencesareamplifiedratherthandiminishedin work contexts.54Considerthehighlymale-dominatedworkwaysofSiliconValleytech businesses. In 2016, four multicultural, multiracial, female engineers stood before a crowd of peers and accepted an award on behalf of Slack for “fastest-rising startup of theyear.”EngineersMeganAnctil,EricaBaker,DurettiHirpa,andtheircoworker,KinéCamara,toldthecrowdatTechCrunch’sawardsshow,“Wehave9percentofwomenofcolorinengineeringatSlack,4ofwhomareupinheretonightinformation,andwe’re the fastest-growing enterprise software startup of all time.” Forty-three percent of thecompany’smanagersarewomen,whereasatcompetitorcompaniessuchasTwitter,only 13 percent of the staff are women.55

MULTICULTURAL TEAMWORK

Creative innovation

In our discussion about diversity, we noted that diverse teams might experience more conflict, but they also produce more creative ideas. According to the foreign experience model of creative innovations, three dimensions of managers’ global work experiences predicttheirorganization’screativeinnovations:breadth,depth,andculturaldistance.56 A longitudinal study of 11 years of fashion collections at the world’s top fashion houses revealed that the foreign professional experiences of creative directors predicted the creativity ratings of their fashion collections. Most notably, the results were curvilinear forallthreedimensions:moderate levels of breadth and cultural distance were associated with the highest levels of creative innovations; whereas cultural depth had a decreasing positiveeffectthatneverbecamenegative.Statedanotherway:Culturaldepthisthemost critical dimension for achieving creative innovations.

In some instances, cultural diversity in a team can suppress team creativity through negative social processes that might hinder knowledge sharing and integration among teammembers.Twofactorsmightbeeffectiveinmoderatingthepotentialnegativeimpactofculturaldiversityonteamcreativity:informationtechnologyandthetaskenvironment.57 Specifically, information technology can have a drastic impact on the functioning of virtual teams and in particular, performance depends on accessibility

53Sanchez-Burks,J.,&Lee,F.(2007).Culturalpsychologyofworkways.InS.Kitayama&D.Cohen(Eds.),Handbook of Cultural Psychology.NewYork:GuilfordPress.54Sanchez-Burks,J.(2002).Protestantrelationalideologyand(in)attentiontorelationalcuesinworksettings.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83,919–929.55Peck,E.(2016,February10).Thisiswhatdiversityintechshouldlooklike.Huffington Post. huffingtonpost.com56Godart,F.C.,Maddux,W.W.,Shipilov,A.V.,&Galinsky,A.D. (2015).Fashionwitha foreign flair:Professional experiences abroad facilitate the creative innovations of organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 58(1),195–220.57Leung,K.,&Wang,J.(2015).Socialprocessesandteamcreativityinmulticulturalteams:Asocio-technicalframework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(7),1008–1025.

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(ease and convenience of use) and richness (how much social presence is provided, much like the place-time model). With regard to the task, there are three key consider-ations:taskinterdependence(howmuchteammembersrelyupononeanotherforinformation, material, and expertise), task complexity (less structure, less routine, and more ambiguity), and task intellectiveness (extent to which the task has a clear, demon-strableanswer).Theextenttowhichthetaskismoreintellective,thenegativeeffectsofcultural identity are reduced.58

relationsHip orientation

Self-managing multicultural teams do not rely on leaders and might even be leaderless. AlongitudinalstudyofmulticulturalMBAteamsfoundthatteamswithahighaveragelevel of relationship orientation performed better than teams with a low average level of relationship orientation. Moreover, a moderate degree of variance in relationship orientation among team members produced even better team performance than a low or high degree of variance.59

networks

Thesocialnetworktiesthatteammembershaveoutsideoftheirteamaffectthedegreeof cognitive variation within their team; teams in which members have heterogeneous tiesshouldbemorecreative.Astudyof82long-termMBAprojectteamsrevealedthatto the extent that team members had weak (rather than strong) outside ties with cultur-ally heterogeneous people facilitated creativity and ultimately creative performance.60 Moreover, a longitudinal study of 91 self-managing teams comprising 60 nationalities, revealed that dense task networks enhanced team potency, and centralized task networks facilitated team performance.61 And, the more culturally diverse a team, the more network density positively affected team potency and the more network centralization was required for optimal team performance.

egalitarian values

We noted earlier that a critical aspect of cultural values is a distinction between hierarchy versusegalitarianism.Oneinvestigationexaminedwhethercross-nationalvariationinegalitarianism predicts talent levels and organizational performance.62 Becauseegalitari-anism influences policymaking in institutions and social interactions, the effects on talent were measurable. Specifically, a study of soccer teams revealed that egalitarian countries

58Ibid.59Moon,T.(2013).Theeffectsofculturalintelligenceonperformanceinmulticulturalteams.Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(12),2414–2425.60Perry-Smith,J.E.,&Shalley,C.E.(2014).Asocialcompositionviewofteamcreativity:Theroleofmembernationality-heterogeneous ties outside of the team. Organization Science, 25(5),1434–1452.61Tröster,C.,Mehra,A.,&vanKnippenberg,D.(2014).Structuringforteamsuccess:Theinteractiveeffectsof network structure and cultural diversity on team potency and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124(2),245–255.62Swaab,R.,Galinsky,A. (2014).Egalitarianismmakesorganizationsstronger:Cross-nationalvariationin institutional and psychological equality predicts talent levels and the performance of national teams. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 129,80–92.

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had higher talent levels and better performance, holding constant a number of country-level variables.63 In fact, countries with greater institutional equality had better perform-ingnationalteamsbecausetheypsychologicallyendorsedegalitarianvalues.Thecausalsequenceis:institutionalequality S psychological equality S top talent S performance. Moreover,psychologicalequalitymeasuredatTime1predictedtheperformanceofnational soccer teams more than a decade later.

status perCeptions

Recall the Managerial Grid that revealed that leaders can either be high or low in task focus and high or low in relationship focus, leading to evaluations by others expressed in terms of competence and warmth.64Competenceandwarmthmapontotwokeytypesofleadership:task(highcompetence)andrelational(highwarmth).One’sowncultural values influence whether one uses competence or warmth to attain status and to judge the status of others. Individualistic cultural orientation influences people’s tendency to view high status people as competent, as opposed to warm.65Conversely,the more collective people are, the more they view high status people as warm.66 Consider the different leadership styles ofMarryBarra atGeneralMotors versusChristopherCabreraofXactly.Barraembodiesthetraitsofarelationalleaderandtakesa consensus approach to seeking input before making a tough decision.67Conversely,XactlyCEOChristopherCabreraconstantlyprodsemployeesbystatingthattheskillsneeded to take the company from zero to $20 million are far different from the skills needed to take it from $100 million to $200 million, part of what he calls “moving the ballforward.”Cabreranotesthatearlyinhiscareerhehadatendencytogetinvolvedwith issues between colleagues and soon realized that he was becoming part of the problem. For this reason, he takes interest in the “annoyance threshold” of potential hires, which ideally is pretty high to keep the focus on the task at hand.68

eMotional Display

We noted earlier that people who ascribe to the honor culture are more comfortable withusingemotionaldisplays.Culturalvalueorientationaffectsnormsregardingappro-priate emotional displays and how people interpret the emotional displays of others. A study of emotional displays revealed that display norms prescribed a greater expression of positive emotions and the suppression of negative emotions in multicultural versus

63Swaab,R.I.,&Galinsky,A.D.(2015).Egalitarianismmakesorganizationsstronger:Cross-nationalvariationin institutional and psychological equality predicts talent levels and the performance of national teams. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 129,80–92.64Blake,R.R.,&Mouton,J.S.(1964).The Managerial Grid.Houston,TX:Gulf.65Torelli,C.J.,Leslie,L.M.,Stoner,J.L.,&Puente,R.(2014).Culturaldeterminantsofstatus:Implicationsfor workplace evaluations and behaviors. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 123(1),34–48.66Ibid.67Engelmeier,S.(2014,January22).DidMaryBarra’sinclusiveleadershipstylepropelhertothetop?Industry Week. industryweek.com68Bryant,A.(2016,January9).ChristopherCabreraofXactly:Learningtostayabovethedrama.The New York Times. nytimes.com

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culturally homogenous teams, and national identity influenced norms for culturally homogenous, but not multicultural teams.69

MULTICULTURAL COLLABORATION

Multicultural collaborations are temporary assignments that are not embedded in a given organizational context but nevertheless involve completing a task or mission, such as building a house or making a film.70Temporarycollaborationsfacemanyofthechallengesas teams, but they often lack the mechanisms and infrastructure that formal organizations provide. A study of multicultural humanitarian homebuilding collaborations revealed four keychallengesthatmulticulturalcollaborationsencounter:(1)adjustmentprocessesare critical for coping with the absence of organizational embeddedness; (2) collaborations use internal and external strategies for adjustment; (3) cultural differences affect the ability toadjust;and(4)over-adjustmentisdetrimentaltotheprocess.71

etHnoCentrisM

Perhaps the greatest threat to effective multicultural collaboration is ethnocentrism, or the rigidly held beliefs that one’s own culture or country is better than or superior to others.72Thesebeliefsoftencaneruptininsultandconflict.Forexample,theChinesebranch of a large European-based multinational pharmaceutical company saved money bysubmittingproposalsfortheapprovalofnewmedicinesinEnglishtotheChinesegovernment.ThelawrequiredthatallproposalsbewritteninChinese,buttranslatingtheproposalstoChinesewouldbeexpensive,requiringnewcomputersandsoftware.TheChinesegovernmentdidnotcomplainaboutreceivingtheproposalsinEnglishuntilthecompanyreplacedoneofitstopChinaexecutives,whohadestablishedexcel-lentrelationswiththegovernment,withoutnotifyinganyone.TheChinesebecameoffendedandmandatedallfuturesubmissionsbewritteninChinese.Thecompanydidnot take into account the importance of long-standing relationships in Chineseculture.73

Cultural relativisM

Theoppositeofethnocentrismiscultural relativism, or the principle that people should be understood by others in terms of their own culture.74DanChou,anAmerican investment banker working in Hong Kong, traveled to India on business and had a

69Glikson,E.,&Erez,M.(2013).Emotiondisplaynormsinvirtualteams.Journal of Personnel Psychology, Special Issue: The Role of Norms in Virtual Work, 12(1),22–32.70Dibble,R.,&Gibson,C.(2013).Collaborationforthecommongood:Anexaminationofchallengesandadjustment processes in multicultural collaborations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(6),764–790.71Ibid.72LeVine,R.A.,&Campbell,D.T.(1972).Ethnocentrism: Theories of conflict, ethnic attitudes, and group behavior. NewYork,NY:JohnWiley&Sons.73Goodman,N.R.(2015,September29).Trainingforculturalcompetence.AssociationforTalentDevelopment.td.org 74Herskovits,M.J.,&Herskovits,F.(1974).Culturalrelativism;perspectivesinculturalpluralism.American Journal of Sociology, 79(5),1326–1330.

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painfullifelessoninculturalrelativism.Chouneededalargepresentationuploadedandprinted within a few hours for a meeting, and his India team assured him that it could be doneontime.Butwhenhewenttopickupthepresentation,itwasnotcomplete.Monthslater,whendiscussingtheincidentwiththeIndiateammembers,Choulearnedthattheyperceived his straightforward request as a lack of respect for their workload, that they were nothing but a handy print shop for a pushy American wielding perceived power.75

MANAGING MULTICULTURAL TEAMS

Bydefinition,multiculturalteamsarediverse.Whenteamscontainmembersofdifferentcultures, it is important to be proactive about how best to manage the team so as to prevent misunderstanding and conflict. Unfortunately, simply embracing the concept of diversity does not guarantee success. For this reason, it might be necessary to imple-ment a highly articulated diversity curricula that includes strategic advantage, recruit-ment, retention, and community partnership to allow managers and their teams to set thestageforeffectivemulticulturalteamwork.Forexample,theIntelCorporationtakesdiversity so seriously that it established a $300 million fund to improve the diversity of the company workforce, long populated in the majority by white and Asian men.76

CHange anD aDaptation

When members of different cultures interact, a mutual adaptation process takes place. Knowledge about cultural differences allows people to know what to expect when they interact with members of different cultural groups. Indeed, team members who are high in cognitive complexity (i.e., think analytically and deeply about things) and have a shared cognition about the social diversity of their team are better able to overcome the barriers to global teamwork.77 In addition, team members who have knowledge about cultural norms are able to reduce uncertainty in ambiguous and novel situations. More-over,peoplewhoarehighinneedforclosure(NFC)haveastrongdesiretogetclearanswerssoastoreduceuncertainty.Forthisreason,peoplewhoarehighinNFCaremore likely to rely on dominant cultural norms when they are in a foreign country and deciding how to interact with others.78

Some people might be either unwilling or incapable of making changes and adap-tations necessary for effective cross-cultural teamwork. Cultural inertia refers to a resistance to cultural change, unless change is occurring already. Groups high in cultural inertia resist change because of perceived pressures from outside forces.79Changeitself

75Sheng, E. (2016, January 12). How to manage cultural differences in global teams. Fast Company. fastcompany .com76Wingfield, N. (2015, January 6). Intel allocates $300 million for workplace diversity. The New York Times. nytimes.com77Magnus,E.B.(2011,April).Theconceptualizationofsocialcomplexityinglobalteams.Nordic Psychology, 63(1),35–50.78Chao,M.M.,Zhang,Z.-X,&Chiu,C.-Y.(2010).Adherencetoperceivednormsacrossculturalboundaries:Theroleofneedforcognitiveclosureandin-groupidentification.Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 13(1), 69–89.79Zarate,M.A.,Shaw,M.,Marquez,J.A.,&Biagas,D.(2011).Culturalinertia:Theeffectsofculturalchangeon intergroup relations and the self-concept. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48,634–645.

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is perceived differently in teams as a function of how well the team matches the current dominantculture.Culturalinertiaishigherwhenpeopledonotidentifywithagivencultural group, hold low esteem for that group, and perceive that the culture is not changing.

transaCtive MeMory systeMs

Teamsthathaveadevelopedtransactivememory(knowledgeaboutwhoknowswhat)of their team are more effective than teams that are low in transactive memory. A study of 60 global virtual supply teams from a large multinational organization found that transactive memory systems and preparation activities were critical for team effective-ness.80 Members who allocated a greater percentage of their time to the team initially led to a positive influence on preparation but led to a negative influence as interdepen-dence was reduced.

language barriers

Perhaps the most immediately striking problem facing multicultural teams is language andlanguagebarriers.Languagebarriersnotonlyhinderthetransmissionofknowledgeand expertise, they erode the ability of team members to build trust and cohesion. An investigation of senior managers in 15 multinational teams revealed that surface-level language diversity creates the perception of deep-level diversity.81 Specifically, team members’ cognitive and emotional reactions to language barriers caused them to view others as less trustworthy. Practically, this means that leaders need to manage team members’ negative reactions to language barriers so as to build, rather than erode, trust. Japanese written communication is often indirect or flowery, with single sentences bur-iedinapageofprose.Thestylewasabadfitforthedawnoftexting,whichdependsonconcise or truncated messages. So, Shigetaka Kurita, a developer with Japan’s largest cellularcarrierMTTDoCoMo,developedasystemofcommunicationbasedonthevisualshorthandofmanga—astyleofcomicgraphicswithwhichmostJapanesepeoplearefamiliar.TheunspokenbutwidelyknownconventionsofmangaallowedKuritatoturn tiny dot matrixes into instantly recognizable visual declarations. Emojis became a wildly popular text supplement in Japan and grew more complex as smartphone tech-nology progressed. Eventually, they became a worldwide phenomenon.82

CULTURAL CHANGE

Culturalawarenessofone’sownandothers’valuesisthefirststeptowardbecomingan effective member and leader of a multicultural team. Deciding how much one wants to adapt and how much others are expected to adapt is a key issue. According to

80Maynard,T.,Mathieu,J.,Rapp,T.,&Gilson,L.L.(2012).Something(s)oldandsomething(s)new:Modelingdrivers of global virtual team effectiveness. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33,342–365.81Tenzer,H.,Pudelko,M.,&Harzing,A.W.(2013).Theimpactoflanguagebarriersontrustformationinmultinational teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(5),508–535.82Alt, M. (2015, May 6). How emoji got to the White House. The New Yorker. newyorker.com

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the acculturation framework, people have four choices when it comes to adapting in a multicultural context.83

integration

Integration is a type of acculturation whereby each member of the multicultural team maintains their own culture, while also maintaining contact with the other culture. In other words, group members maintain their own cultural identity and values, but also show a great receptivity to other cultural groups. When Nancy Ruddy, cofounder of architecturalfirmCetraRuddyworkedinJeddah,SaudiArabia,onalargebusinesshotelproject, she was familiar with Saudi customs governing the behavior of women, such as wearing head coverings, and restaurants that segregate women and children from the men. Even then, she had to make adjustments. Many business meetings took place in a modern, 23-story office building, which had no women’s restroom because of the lack of women in the workforce. And, because women are not allowed to walk unaccompa-nied on public streets, when Ruddy had to use the facilities, one of her male colleagues had to walk with her back to the hotel. A compromise was soon reached however, and one of the private bathrooms in the office building was reserved just for her. Addition-ally, Ruddy had to gain the trust of Saudi businessmen, who have great respect for expertise but are not used to that expertise coming from a woman. As she displayed her knowledge, the rules relaxed, and eventually some men called her by name and even made direct eye contact.84

assiMilation

Assimilation occurs when a person does not maintain his or her culture but rather, absorbstheotherculture.WhenHumanResourcesexecutiveRonThomastookaposi-tion in Saudi Arabia for a multinational company, he found the only way to become culturally fluent was to become completely immersed in the country’s lifestyle and work culture.Thatmeantmorethanobservingtheculturalrestrictionsaboutmovietheaters,alcoholandsocializingwithwomen.Tobecomepartoftheculture,heaccepteddinnerinvitations and coffee meetups gleaned from networking with Middle Eastern business-men. He learned to accept without questioning items such as biometric palm scanners that even top executives commonly use to “clock in.” And he learned to never begin a conversation with starters such as “In New York, we did this . . . ” to avoid alienating others.85

separation

Separation occurs when a person maintains their own culture and distances from the otherculture.Forexample,BoAndersson,theSwedish-bornchiefexecutiveofRussia’slargestautomaker,AvtoVAZ,broughtWesternbusinessacumenandaSwedishmilitary

83Berry,J.W.(1980).Acculturationasvarietiesofadaptation.InA.Padilla(Ed.)Acculturation: Theory, models and findings (pp. 9–25).Boulder,Westview.84Sharkey,J.(2015,February2).BusinesswomennavigatetraditionsinSaudiArabia.The New York Times. nytimes.com85Thomas,R.(2015,March5).ConfessionsofanexpatHRleaderintheMiddleEast.The HR Observer. thehrobserver.com

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style into a Russian company, but he quickly ran into problems when state-led capital-ism blurred the distinctions between business and politics. When he renegotiated sup-plier contracts and laid off thousands of workers, he angered not only those in the one-industrycityofTogliatti,butsoonattractedtheireofMoscow.Ultimately,Anders-son was pushed out of the company, barely two years after his initial assignment.86

Marginalization

Marginalization occurs when group members neither maintain their own culture nor do they attempt to assimilate into the other culture.

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Chapter Capstone

Managers do not have to be on a global assignment to be part of a multicultural team. Multicultural teamwork is not simply learning a new culture and understanding language, instead, multicultural teamwork involves three key aspects: understandingone’s own cultural values and assumptions, understanding the values and assumptions of the other team members, and devising a method by which to engage in effective teamwork and taskwork. A key threat to the

effectiveness of multicultural teamwork is ethnocentrism, which is a rigidly held belief that one’s own cultural values are more important than are those of others. Self- managing multicultural teams represent special challenges because by definition, they are often leaderless.Thismeans thatteam members need to take a proactive role in terms of overcoming language barriers and building shared mental models.

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Documents

Chapter 13 Multicultural Teams - Leigh Thompson Chp 13.pdf · Chapter 13 • Multicultural Teams 325 CULTURAL VALUES Defining Culture Culture is the personality of a group. Culture