MULTICULTURAL TEAMS

The most important topic in this class is the advantages of multicultural or diverse teams, as there are people from different cultures, with different traditions, beliefs, visions or ways to see the world, and so on, working with a multicultural team can help you to acquire a new perception of the things, and more over of the world, it gives you an openness mind, and you become more innovative. By adopting this kind of mind or thinking it’s easier to understand the needs and desires of the customers. But not everything is flowers and butterflies, when working with a multicultural team, there are also problems, like the difficulty to communicate due to the differences of languages and expressions, for example do not understanding what the other says due to the pronunciation or the lack of vocabulary or speaking in a sarcastic or ironic way, or wanting to joke, which can also lead to conflicts or misunderstandings. Also due to all the differences on thinking’s and ideas (it can be in a brainstorm) it can be very hard to get into an agreement, depending on the strength of their positions or interests. The team should have some characteristics in order to be successful, like the built of trust by being transparent and open and also built respect by getting to know better each other, avoiding or being respectful toward religion, politics and so on, for another part it is important that they protect and support each other, they need to have an open mind in order to improve the communication, they should also share a common strong goal, values and beliefs.

My research question is about how a manager can facilitate the characteristics of an effective team in a multicultural team. There are many ways to help improve the relations inside a multicultural team, for example to gather them in a cafe, bar, or park, in order to let them know more about each other, their likes and dislikes, their traditions and behaves, and in general learn about their culture. It is also important to inform them or advise them to do some research from the others countries, like analyzing in a simple way the Hofstede dimensions, in order to have a small guide on how to behave and to help them to appreciate the international context and create a cultural sensitivity. The manager can also do like a brainstorm with the multicultural team in order to give ideas to create a unify work style, too improve coordination and the control of issues. They have to feel comfortable and safe with each other and have a sense of belonging to the group.

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