Literature Review Report, Session 3 OP 300 CI

Managing Multicultural Teams, by Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary C. Kern







Prepared for:
Professor Celeste Ayers





By:
Paul Kahihia

On:
September 6, 2014


Managing team is hard; it is even harder if the teams are very diverse in terms of ethnic,
age, gender and functional differences. Teams that have different cultural backgrounds place
special challenges to managers especially when differences occur and managers have to step in
to resolve them.
The article Managing Multicultural Teams introduces us to the challenges facing
managers when dealing with multicultural teams and how to overcome them. These cultural
differences can cause problems with teamwork and even smooth running of the organization if
not addressed early. Although there are four categories of challenges arising from multicultural
teams, people tend to assume that challenges on multicultural teams arise only from differing
styles of communication (Brett, et al, 2006), but different styles of communication are just one
of the four categories challenging multicultural teams. In the article (Brett, et al, 2006),
challenges of managing multicultural team can be put into four categories that can create barriers
in teams communication. These are direct and indirect communication, peoples accent and
fluency, attitudes toward authority, and conflicting norms.
Difference in communication styles can be challenging when some team members are
from two opposite cultures; one that communicate in a direct and explicit way and the other
indirectly and inexplicitly. In the article above, Americans who are from western culture (direct
and explicit) could not agree with Indians whose culture communicates indirectly (Brett, et al,
2006).
Accent and fluency can also create misunderstanding among teams that have different
cultural backgrounds. Although they may speak English, heavy accents and lack of fluency in
English can cause frustration not only to themselves, but also to other team members. Sometimes

they are compelled to keep quiet, be spectators and therefore do not put much input into team
members projects.
In some cultures, people are treated according to their status in the organization and or in
the society. Those in the authority are not supposed to be challenged directly or else you are
considered to be rude. This is radically different from cultures that do not treat those in authority
differently; hence bringing confusion when such team experience problems.
Decision making can be painful and time consuming if there are two or more different
cultures involved. In American culture, people like to take decision quickly while other cultures
like Korean they might want to take time to know each other and discuss all facts before making
a decision (Brett, et al, 2006).
In Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams case (Gratton, et al, 2007), the issues are lack in
collaborations and knowledge sharing among team members. When there are differences in
culture, age, gender of function backgrounds, fault lines sometimes naturally emerges within
teams. The authors of the article outlines fours steps that can be helpful in managing diverse
team; diagnose the fault lines, focus on task orientation, learn when to switch to leadership, and
then learn when to switch to relationship orientation. Similarly, managing multicultural teams
article discusses four strategies that most successful teams and managers use to deal with these
challenges. They are adaptation which is acknowledging that such cultural differences exists,
structural intervention which is changing the combination of the team, managerial intervention
which is either setting the protocols or involving a senior manager to intervene when issues
occurs, and exiting which is taking the team member from the team if other methods are not
working (Brett, et al, 2006).

Managing multicultural teams is not that easy. Some individuals are multicultural by
ethnic background, others through expatriate job assignments and still others by living and
working in a foreign country with multiple cultures. All these groups of people are multicultural,
but will approach and act on issues differently. Multicultural team can be a very resourceful if
handled well because they bring creativity and diverse views, but they can also be a source of
constant cross-cultural conflicts. Multicultural managers would make a positive impact in how
these teams are managed. They can play a big role in creating good relationships by integrating
new team members from different cultures that will eventually develop their own working
culture.
References:
- Gratton, L., Voigt, A. & Erickson, T.( 2007). Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams.
MTIS loan Management Review. 48(4), 22-29. Retrieved from
http://www.plateforme.com/medias/cv/pj/227/109.pdf

- Brett, J. Behfar, K. & Kern, M.C. (2006). Managing Multicultural Teams. Harvard
Business Review. 84(11), 84-91. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2006/11/managing-
multicultural-teams/ar/1

Class Discussion:
Discuss an experience that you have had either at school, with a customer, or at work as
team with cultural differences and how you resolved.