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Teamwork & Cultural Differences
Gary M. Wederspahn, 2005 GROVEWELL associate Gary M. Wederspahn is a leading intercultural business coach, consultant, speaker, and writer. His book, Intercultural Services: A Worldwide Buyer’s Guide and Sourcebook (2000), is available from Butterworth Heinemann (www.bh.com).
- Global teamwork inevitably requires the participation of people who have different cultural backgrounds. Differences in the ways members perceive teamwork and how they perform their roles on the team frequently produce serious challenges to the effectiveness of the team. A study of 58 global business teams, reported in MIT Sloan Management Review (Summer 2001) identified the most critical challenges. Team members were asked to rate challenges on a 7-point scale according to how they perceived each factor’s importance to the team’s success and how difficult it was to achieve. Critical Global Team Challenges
-- Obviously issues of trust, communications, individual versus team goals, and objectives are greatly influenced by cultural differences. Likewise, team members’ knowledge and skills are shaped within their own cultural contexts. - Most efforts by intercultural specialists to provide insights into cultural differences between nations involve a process of contrasting cultural values. There are several researched-based studies on the ways in which cultural values differ. These include the works of Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, and André Laurent. They reflect different approaches and methods but they all compare particular value dimensions of specific countries. Some of the most important cultural value contrasts are: -- -1. Individualism versus group orientation - -2. Hierarchical versus democratic distribution of power - -3. Content-focused versus context-focused communication style - -4. Formality versus informality - -5. Punctuality versus flexible sense of time - -6. Task and goal orientation versus relationship orientation - -7. Deductive versus inductive reasoning - -8. Holistic versus linear thinking - -9. Confrontation versus diplomacy/face-saving - 10. Short-term versus long-term viewpoint - 11. Competition versus cooperation - 12. Loyalty to particular people versus obedience to universal rules - 13. Self-determination versus acceptance of fate/circumstance - 14. Religious versus secular worldview - 15. Permissiveness versus strict rules/regulations - 16. Pragmatic flexibility versus adherence to detailed plans - 17. Achieved versus ascribed status - 18. Change as positive versus tradition as revered - 19. Youth orientation versus age veneration - 20. Male dominance versus gender equality 21. Rigid class structure versus social mobility 22. Action/doing versus contentment with being Awareness of these areas of potential
misunderstanding and conflict is an excellent starting point for identifying
the specific differences likely to cause problems in a particular global
team. If global team leaders and members start to observe signs of
frustration and friction emerging in the team, referring to this list may
help them to identify causes and suggest ways to resolve the conflicts
and to improve intercultural understanding and cooperation within the team.
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