Paper presentation

At

National conference

On

“Implications of Multiculturalism in the changing business scenario” organized by

Al-Ameen Institute of management Studies,

Bangalore on Oct 10th 2012

Paper prepared & presented byDr.MAHESH KUMAR.K.R.

M.com, MBA (Marketing), MBA (Finance), MHRM, MA (Economics).,M.Phil., MS (Edu.Mgt).,LLB., PGDFM., PGDBA., DCA., Ph.D., M.Sc., (Psy).,

MIMA.,MA.,( Mc&Jr)DEAN

Community Institute of Management studies,2nd Block Jayanagar,

Bangalore-11

Prof.Bhagya Rathna .RAssociate Professor

Community Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore

SRINIVAS.K.T.M.com, (Ph.D),

Associate Professor,Community Institute of Management studies,

2nd Block Jayanagar,Bangalore-11

Venkatesh. RMBA, MA, PGDBAAssistant professor

Community Institute of Management studies,2nd Block Jayanagar,

Bangalore-11

Topic: Managing cultural conflicts among multicultural teams

“Culture is a group which shapes a person's values and identity”.

Abstract:

India, seventh largest country in the world, in terms of land area and second most populous

country. It is known for its rich diversities. It’s a country with population, speaking different

languages, practicing different culture, cuisines and traditions, different religion. It is aptly

regarded as Sub continent, because of its rich diversities. Despite these diversities, we believe

and practice ‘Unity in diversities’. In this context the concept multiculturism gains more

importance, because, any organisation will have employees belonging to different cultures. In

due course of time, differences tend to arise between them, due to these diversities. Balancing

those cultural diversities, winning confidence of the employees and working towards the goal is

the challenge that almost all organizations are facing now. In this regard this paper concentrates

on, understanding those cultural diversities and probable methods to deal with them.

Meaning of Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism means communities containing multiple cultures. Organizations are known as

‘Melting pot’ which comprises of employees belonging to different cultures.

Culture

Culture is a group which shapes a person's values and identity. A single term used to define a

particular culture is often exclusive. For example, the term "Hispanic" does not take into account

cultural differences between Cuban-Americans and Mexican-Americans. Cultural identities can

stem from the following differences: race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion, country of origin,

and geographic region.

Cultural assumptions

Cultural conflicts arise because of the differences in values and norms of behavior of people

from different cultures. A person acts according to the values and norms of his or her culture;

another person holding a different worldview might interpret his or her behavior from an

opposite standpoint. This situation creates misunderstanding and can lead to conflict. Often

people of the mainstream America, the Anglo culture, perceive their behavior and beliefs as an

ultimate norm, forgetting that Anglo culture is just one of the multiple cultures existing in the

USA. They are often unable to perceive their own cultural distinctiveness.

For example, a group of women wrote an excellent and detailed proposal, but did badly during

the interview part of the evaluation. It happened because those women came from a culture

where establishing personal relationships precedes business relationships. These women felt

uncomfortable when government officials did not allow time for casual conversation and

immediately moved toward firing questions at them.

The following case exemplifies how unintentionally one cultural group can hurt the feelings of

the other. The city of Kenai, Alaska was planning a celebration of 200 years since the first

Russian fur traders came to the region. A Native Indian tribe which lived in Alaska for a

thousand years was offended by the implication that before the Russians came to the region there

was no civilization there. As a result the celebration turned to a year-long event and Native

Indian culture became its basis. By the end of the celebration, the Kenai Bicentennial Visitors

and Cultural Center was completed. Thus, accommodation of different cultural interests helped

the region to recognize its historical past.

Identifying cultural conflicts

Cultural conflict has three dimensions. To the two dimensions that every conflict has (content

and relational), cultural conflict adds the third one--"a clash of cultural values." This third

dimension constitutes the foundation of the conflict since it determines personal identity.

Cultural conflict can be identified by the following signs:

(1) It usually has complicated dynamics. Cultural differences mentioned above tend to create

complex combinations of expectations about one's own and others' behavior.

(2) If addressing content and relational issues does not resolve the conflict, it can be rooted in

cultural differences.

(3) Conflict reoccurs or arises strong emotions even though the issue of disagreement is

insignificant.

Effectively managing a multicultural business requires at least a basic knowledge of your

employee's culture and traditions. Familiarity with both is essential because each has a bearing

on an employee's every day behavior.

Our cultural identity helps us feel like we are "part" of the society around us. It keeps us from

feeling isolated and sometimes it even helps us know how to react. For example, as Americans,

we know it's appropriate to stand and place our hands over our hearts when we hear "The Star

Spangled Banner" because it's part of our culture.

Traditions involving family, religion, education, and nationalism play a large role in anyone's

life. Personal appearance, ethics, and etiquette are also factors to be considered.

Whether we realize it or not, culture and tradition are powerful principles we always carry with

us. It's almost like carrying a cell phone. We take it for granted that our phone is in out pocket,

but we don't think about it until it rings. Culture is like that. It's always with us even though we

are unaware of it.

When a major international software developer needed to produce a new product quickly, the

project manager assembled a team of employees from India and the United States. From the start

the team members could not agree on a delivery date for the product. The Americans thought the

work could be done in two to three weeks; the Indians predicted it would take two to three

months. As time went on, the Indian team members proved reluctant to report setbacks in the

production process, which the American team members would find out about only when work

was due to be passed to them. Such conflicts, of course, may affect any team, but in this case

they arose from cultural differences. As tensions mounted, conflict over delivery dates and

feedback became personal, disrupting team members’ communication about even mundane

issues. The project manager decided he had to intervene—with the result that both the American

and the Indian team members came to rely on him for direction regarding minute operational

details that the team should have been able to handle itself. The manager became so bogged

down by quotidian issues that the project careened hopelessly off even the most pessimistic

schedule—and the team never learned to work together effectively.

Multicultural teams often generate frustrating management dilemmas. Cultural differences can

create substantial obstacles to effective teamwork—but these may be subtle and difficult to

recognize until significant damage has already been done. As in the case above, which the

manager involved told us about, managers may create more problems than they resolve by

intervening. The challenge in managing multicultural teams effectively is to recognize

underlying cultural causes of conflict, and to intervene in ways that both get the team back on

track and empower its members to deal with future challenges themselves.

We interviewed managers and members of multicultural teams from all over the world. These

interviews, combined with our deep research on dispute resolution and teamwork, led us to

conclude that the wrong kind of managerial intervention may sideline valuable members who

should be participating or, worse, create resistance, resulting in poor team performance. We’re

not talking here about respecting differing national standards for doing business, such as

accounting practices. We’re referring to day-to-day working problems among team members that

can keep multicultural teams from realizing the very gains they were set up to harvest, such as

knowledge of different product markets, culturally sensitive customer service, and 24-hour work

rotations.

The good news is that cultural challenges are manageable if managers and team members choose

the right strategy and avoid imposing single-culture-based approaches on multicultural

situations.

The Challenges

People tend to assume that challenges on multicultural teams arise from differing styles of

communication. But this is only one of the four categories that, according to our research, can

create barriers to a team’s ultimate success. These categories are direct versus indirect

communication; trouble with accents and fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy and

authority; and conflicting norms for decision making.

Direct versus indirect communication.

Communication in Western cultures is typically direct and explicit. The meaning is on the

surface, and a listener doesn’t have to know much about the context or the speaker to interpret it.

This is not true in many other cultures, where meaning is embedded in the way the message is

presented. For example, Western negotiators get crucial information about the other party’s

preferences and priorities by asking direct questions, such as “Do you prefer option A or option

B?” In cultures that use indirect communication, negotiators may have to infer preferences and

priorities from changes—or the lack of them—in the other party’s settlement proposal. In cross-

cultural negotiations, the non-Westerner can understand the direct communications of the

Westerner, but the Westerner has difficulty understanding the indirect communications of the

non-Westerner.

An American manager who was leading a project to build an interface for a U.S. and Japanese

customer-data system explained the problems her team was having this way: “In Japan, they

want to talk and discuss. Then we take a break and they talk within the organization. They want

to make sure that there’s harmony in the rest of the organization. One of the hardest lessons for

me was when I thought they were saying yes but they just meant ‘I’m listening to you.’”

The differences between direct and indirect communication can cause serious damage to

relationships when team projects run into problems. When the American manager quoted above

discovered that several flaws in the system would significantly disrupt company operations, she

pointed this out in an e-mail to her American boss and the Japanese team members. Her boss

appreciated the direct warnings; her Japanese colleagues were embarrassed, because she had

violated their norms for uncovering and discussing problems. Their reaction was to provide her

with less access to the people and information she needed to monitor progress. They would

probably have responded better if she had pointed out the problems indirectly—for example, by

asking them what would happen if a certain part of the system was not functioning properly,

even though she knew full well that it was malfunctioning and also what the implications were.

First, managers must develop skills that will allow them to evaluate their own cultures as well as

those of others. Harris and Kumra (2000) list the prerequisites for doing this that Geert Hofstede

elaborated in Culture's Consequences (1980)

These key cultural skills are:

1. The capacity to communicate respect

2. The capacity to be non-judgmental

3. The capacity to accept the relativity of one's own knowledge and perceptions

4. The capacity to display empathy

5. The capacity to be flexible

6. The capacity for turn-taking (letting everyone take turns in discussions)

7. Tolerance for ambiguity

Once managers have internalized these skills, they can approach work with multicultural

employees with more confidence of communicating well.

For a general cultural outlook, managers can use an analogy developed by the Youth for

Understanding exchange program, which holds intercultural training sessions for high school

exchange students for living with overseas host families. Briefly, this analogy posits that

Americans wear a pair of yellow sunglasses, which represent our culture and the Japanese, for

example, wear a pair of blue sunglasses that represents the culture of the Japanese. When

managers attempt to understand Japanese culture, they want to view the culture through the same

blue sunglasses the Japanese wear. What managers should avoid at all costs is placing their

yellow sunglasses on top of the blue ones of Japanese culture and interpreting what they see as

green.

Keeping this analogy in mind will help managers understand an important theory on how to

present management practices and objectives to a multiculturalism diverse workforce

What rings your cultural bell?

Even though it's hard to make broad generalizations about culture, many studies have been

conducted over the years on its importance to Hispanics. There are certain basic principles about

Latino culture and tradition that make good survival skills for all American employers.

Family: Nuclear families are the foundation of Hispanic society. An intense love of family is a

strong feature in Latinos employees.

To most, the family and its needs are even more important than work. Work is often seen as a

"necessary evil" done for the purpose of earning enough money to satisfy the needs of the family.

As managers, we must also take into consideration the fact that many Hispanic employees have

left close members of their families in Latin America. This is true for both first and second

generation Hispanic employees.

Personal sacrifice in Hispanic families is the rule, not the exception. The estrangement and

isolation that comes with being separated from parents, wives and children can be devastating.

This causes severe depression, isolation and even substance abuse. Each of these becomes high

risk factors for on the job accidents.

Children: Children in Latino families are cherished, protected and loved. A typical weekend is

spent enjoying time together, preparing meals, visiting friends, or extended family. Children are

more heavily influenced by their parents and extended family members rather than by those

outside the family.

Religion: Religion and spirituality are also deeply rooted in Latin American culture. Almost 90%

Latin Americans are Roman Catholic and most observe basic religious traditions, even though

they might not attend church on a regular basis.

Throughout Latin America religious practices play a more visible role in the workplace than they

do in the US. Many Hispanic managers feel these practices make a valuable contribution to

overall worker morale.

An unusual feature of Latin American spirituality is an indefinable fatalism or fatalismo which is

pervasive in the culture. Many Latinos have the underlying sense that their lives are controlled

by fate; consequently, whatever success or tragedy befalls them is no result of their own actions.

Whatever is supposed to happen, will happen.

This is almost opposite of the American belief that our success or lack of it depends solely on the

choices we make and the hard work we put into it.

Nationalism: Nationalism is deeply ingrained in Hispanics. This is a fact that most Americans

don't realize fully. When we see a person speaking Spanish, many automatically assume that the

person is Mexican. Often that just isn't true. Spanish is spoken over a wide geographic area that

includes many very different countries.

All of us are deeply proud of our roots. Latin Americans have deep attachments to their

homelands and the unique culture that comes with that. Because you speak English, would you

like to be mistaken for a Canadian instead of an American? Probably not!

It's savvy management for employers to know which countries their employees come from.

Getting to know individual employees is a basic feature in successful Latin American

management strategies. The boss becomes personally acquainted with each employee and knows

a bit about his family. This is called "personalizmo" and it's very important to workplace

attitudes.

When "el jefe" or "el supervisor" recognizes an individual employee, he feels more respected and

valued. That increases his loyalty to the company and to its leadership.

Etiquette: Basic etiquette and social skills are valued by Latin Americans. Good manners are a

sign of solid upbringing. Training begins at the home and continues in school. Great emphasis is

attached to shaking hands and greeting the staff each morning in the workplace.

Not only is this sort of etiquette valued in face to face interactions, it's also a part of good

telephone communication. In a Latin American's eyes it's rude to "cut to the chase" on the

telephone and immediately begin to discuss business without first asking how the person is that

you are talking to. Next, to be truly polite you should ask how the family is doing.

Etiquette is so important on the job many think "por favor" and "gracias" are the two most

important phrases in the Spanish language. These are definitely words that will help you get the

job done.

Strategies for Success: There's no doubt that America's Hispanic workforce is going to become

even more important to our country's economic growth and success. Now that you understand

some of the basic attitudes your Hispanic workforce has, it's time to plot a course for your

success in a multicultural environment.

1. Work aggressively to overcome the language barrier. Obviously, this means learning to

speak some Spanish. You don't have to be fluent to be successful.

2. Make every effort to learn about the culture of your employees. This will help you build

trusting relationships that Latinos value.

3. Develop an open culture in your workplace that accepts and appreciates the differences

individual employees bring to your organization.

4. Establish employment policies carefully and communicate them so all employees

understand your expectations for appropriate conduct on the job.

5. Acknowledge your employee's strong family ties and desire to return home periodically.

Make every effort to develop staffing that is flexible enough to allow employees to return

home for a period of time to visit their families and then return to the job.

Learning these simple, common-sense practices and principles will give you a positive

edge in managing your multicultural work place.

Resolving Cultural Conflicts

The resolution of cross-cultural conflict begins with identifying whether cultural issues are

involved. There are three ways of cross-cultural conflict resolution.

1. Probing for the cultural dimension.

The resolution process should start from the parties' acknowledgment that their conflict contains

a cultural dimension. Next, there should be willingness on all sides to deal with all conflict

dimensions including the cultural one. Third, systematic phased work on the conflict is needed.

Williams identified four phases: (1) the parties describe what they find offensive in each other's

behavior; (2) they get an understanding of the other party's cultural perceptions; (3) they learn

how the problem would be handled in the culture of the opponent; (4) they develop conflict

solutions. Resolution of the conflict is particularly complicated if the conflict arose not just out

of misunderstanding of the other's behavior, but because of incompatible values.

2. Learning about other cultures.

People can prevent cross-cultural conflicts by learning about cultures that they come in contact

with. This knowledge can be obtained through training programs, general reading, talking to

people from different cultures, and learning from past experiences. Important aspects of cultural

education are understanding your own culture and developing cultural awareness by acquiring a

broad knowledge of values and beliefs of other cultures, rather than looking at them through the

prism of cultural stereotypes.

3. Altering organizational practices and procedures.

Often the organizational structure reflects the norms of just one culture and inherits the cultural

conflict. In such cases, structural change becomes necessary to make the system more sensitive

to cultural norms of other people.

Conclusion

Conflict, depending on the outcome, can be a positive or negative experience for an organization.

With changing demographics, cultural differences become an acute issue. Many groups resist

assimilation and wish to preserve their cultural distinctiveness, which makes cultural conflict

education an essential tool for maintaining healthy relations in organizations and society in

general.

References

1. Barry, B., 2001, Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism,

Cambridge, MA: Harvard.

2. Blum, L.A., 1992, “Antiracism, Multiculturalism, and Interracial Community: Three

Educational Values for a Multicultural Society”, Office of Graduate Studies and

Research, University of Massachusetts, Boston.

3. Carens, J., 2000, Culture, Citizenship, and Community: A Contextual Exploration of

Justice as Evenhandedness, Oxford: Oxford University Press

4. Parekh, B., 2000, Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory,

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

5. Dr. Mack is a professor of philosophy at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana