# Managing Groups and Teams/Working in International Teams

, racial, and socioeconomic variety in situations, institutions, and
groups.\'\'^1^ \\[<File:Women.jpg%7Cthumb%7Cright%7CAppreciation> of
and Respect for Differ Cultural diversity can be found everywhere we
look, however this article focuses specifically on the impact of
cultural diversity in the business world. The business world is a
treacherous interpersonal landscape to navigate when dealing with people
of a similar culture to ourselves, but this pales in comparison to the
complexity of dealing with other cultures.

**Why is cultural diversity such a challenge?** The problem we face when
dealing with people of different cultures is that the false consensus
effect confuses us. The false consensus effect is the tendency to
believe that others see the world more like us than they actually do.^2^
People of different cultures see the world even more differently from us
than we are used to, yet the false consensus effects leads us to behave
as though people of other cultures see things just like we do. This
creates confusion, misinterpretations, poor decisions, ineffectiveness,
and is bad for business. The solution is cultural intelligence, which is
described later.^3^

**Cultural diversity is becoming more and more important.**

• White males occupy 5% fewer management jobs in 2006 than in 1998, and
every other racial/gender group occupy more management jobs.^4^

• The U.S. population of foreign born residents is 12.4%, an amount of
international diversity that the U.S. has not seen since 1920.^5^

• 90% of leading executives from 68 countries named cross cultural
leadership as the top management challenge of the next century.^6,7^

• The proportion of revenue coming from overseas markets is expected to
jump by an average of 30 to 50 percent over the next 3 to 5 years.^7^

**Today's corporations recognize the importance of cultural diversity.**
Many companies value diversity so strongly that they devote large
sections of their websites towards diversity. Companies share their
personnel statistics to illustrate their relatively progressive minority
staffing for jobs in lower management, upper management, and their board
of directors. Such companies want to show that they are meritocracies
where minorities will be treated equally, which leads to greater
diversity. Notably culturally diverse companies include Aetna, AT@T,
Booz Allen Hamilton, General Mills, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Lucent Technologies, Nissan, Price Waterhouse Coppers, Toyota, and
Waster Management. These companies have received many awards that
recognize their pursuit of a more diverse workplace.^8^

## Advantages of Diversified Teams

**What are the advantages of diversified teams?** Many organizations
fall into the trap of creating a team, based on a need -- need of
completing a project, hitting a deadline or filling a role. They seldom
base the project on the need for different perspectives or ensuring that
the group brainstorm is effective. Thus, there are many advantages to
creating diversified teams that focus on a common goal and work towards
a universal solution. More and more companies and associations are
realizing the importance of diversity in teams in this modern society.
There are many advantages to different cultural backgrounds, diverse
experiences within team members and the benefits of individual
brainstorming. By creating diverse teams, with people of different
backgrounds and cultures, the group can help prevent groupthink.
Diversity provides a greater variety of perspectives and ideas, which
can lead to more creative solutions. "Workplace diversity now focuses on
inclusion and the impact on the bottom line. Leveraging workplace
diversity is increasingly seen as a vital strategic resource for
competitive advantage."^15^

\'\'\'Defining diversity is problematic diversity refers to the ways
that people in organizations differ. "That sounds simple, but defining
it more specifically is a challenge because people in organizations
differ in a great many ways - race, gender, ethnic group, age,
personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, and more.
There is also the fact that diversity not only involves how people think
of others and how this affects their interaction but how they conceive
of themselves." ^13^ In When Teams Work Best, Cooke and Szumal
"discovered that across a variety of problem-solving groups,
constructive individual styles -- as opposed to aggressive and passive
styles -- are associated with higher quality solutions." ^12^ By
creating a diverse team, an organization is empowering individuals to
perform at a higher-level and to increase productivity.

![Working and Getting along even though we are
different

**There are still many people who view working in teams as an
ineffective practice.** There is the old adage that two heads are better
than one, but many do not see the relevance in meeting in teams to work
on projects. It may appear, especially to those that have had bad team
experiences in the past, the more people on a team, the more confusion
and wasted time in finding the end result. But this is not the case --
it only means that the team needs to be restructured. "Seeing
differences among people as the same, makes diversity a benign, almost
meaningless, concept." ^13^ It is essential for organizations to design
effective teams, including the team players that will manage and utilize
this arena for success. The "team process" has to be constantly managed
and diversified if necessary.

**Teams provide a setting where politics can be worked out and diverse
individuals can come together to share their cultures and backgrounds.**
It is important to rely on other team members to delegate the workload
and to learn from individual experiences. This is the key element to any
organization and needs to be the focus for any decision-making strategy.
In addition, it is important to understand that some teams do not work
well together. "Clearly, the attitudes, styles and interaction patterns
of team members have a direct impact on performance outcomes." ^12^
Management must understand that it is not the formation of a team that
is faulty, but the design of the team.

## Disadvantages of Diversified/International Teams

**SCOPE:**

The scope of the Disadvantages of Diversified Teams portion focuses on
challenges within the international team related to language, culture,
stereotypes, preconceptions, and differing value systems. These
challenges make it difficult for a team to develop team cohesiveness and
foster collaboration, which then leads to mistrust, miscommunication and
misunderstanding. Included are ways to overcome these difficulties when
working in an international team. Some of the disadvantages of
international teams are:

**Language-**

One of the first disadvantages of working in an international team can
be the impact of language. Even though we use might use the same words
does not mean that we use the same language. This is especially evident
when we compare American English and British English. Two people might
be using the same words, but understand one another on a completely
different level. Multi-International teams have individuals who will not
be able to converse in their native tongue. Undoubtedly, this will lead
to some form of misunderstanding when working together for at least one
member of the group. "When people speak with their team in a language
other than their native one, it often affects their ability to interact
with the group. It potentially affects spontaneity, clarity of
expression (vocabulary and pronunciation), and willingness to express
ideas. This is more challenging if your culture is indirect or your
personal style is more introverted." ^16^ Specific areas of
miscommunication can be found in the form of vocabulary, language style,
non verbal communication, and the unwillingness to express ideas.

• **Vocabulary-** The vocabulary that we and others use can sometimes be
confusing to others who do not speak the same native language, let alone
to those who do. Many miscommunications can arise if we are not aware of
the speech and vocabulary we use and how it is interpreted by the
receiving party.

• **Language Style-** Varying nationalities communicate differently.
When working in teams some individuals may be very direct and blunt,
while others may be indirect and vague in their communication. Each
person may interpret these language styles differently. It is important
to recognize the differing language styles and the common
misunderstandings that can come from it. Accents, pronunciation, slang
and the use of idioms can also cause fundamental misunderstandings.

• **Non Verbal Communication-** A majority of communication is done
through non verbal communication. Non verbal communication has an
enormous impact on intercultural communication because of the way in
which it can be misinterpreted from one culture to the next. Non verbal
communication can give off mixed signals if you are not aware of the
communication style of the person with whom you are working.

• **Unwillingness to express ideas-** The inferiority complex where team
members feel they cannot express themselves in the language that is
being used, so they do not express their ideas.

**Culture-**

*Culture is everything we see around us.* It is how we act, what we
think, and what we believe. It is the words we use, the food we eat, and
the clothes we wear. However, beyond these things mentioned underlies
invisible values and beliefs that make up behaviors that are unique to
each society. We may be able to see the obvious outward signs that make
up ones culture, but oftentimes we fail to understand the invisible
culture. "The only way to deal successfully with people from a different
country is to be aware of what's going on beneath the surface and use
that knowledge to shape your own behavior and expectations. If you don't
understand that what's below the surface is far more powerful and
potentially dangerous than what you can see, you run the risk of hitting
the invisible part of the iceberg." ^17^ Because there are so many
cultures and each one has its unique set of beliefs, below are listed a
couple of cultural pitfalls to take into consideration.

• **Attitudes toward time-**The difficulty in dealing with international
teams is that each culture has a different attitude toward time. This
can cause problems when prioritizing tasks and completing tasks within
certain deadlines.

• **Different Value Systems-** "Peoples' values are expressed through
what they say and what they do. Therefore people working together from
different cultural backgrounds may find that they approach and execute
tasks differently because of differences in their cultural values.
Understanding differences in value systems helps us to understand how
and why individuals may behave differently to ourselves. This can help
us work more effectively together and make the most of the benefits that
those differences offer." ^18^

**Preconceptions & Stereotypes-**

Stereotypes are the tendency we have to simplify the world by putting
people into a category, and then fitting the individual into the
stereotype of that category. If you interact with a team member from a
particular country, you may have the tendency to put another a future
team member in the same category as the first team member with whom you
interacted.

## Ways to overcome difficulties when working in an international team

**Language-**

Open and effective communication is paramount in any team, international
or not. Therefore, any miscommunications that can be mitigated
beforehand will only accentuate the success of the team. "Establish
conversational rules from the beginning. Acknowledge differences in
accents and encourage team members to be mindful of them. Remind team
members to refrain from using words with multiple meanings, idioms, or
slang." ^19^

**Non verbal communication-**

• "Even if you don't speak the language, it's a good idea to allow
versed in a culture's nonverbal expressions, such as touching or bowing,
personal gestures, and the display of emotions." ^20^

• Keep in mind that "There exists no body movement, no facial
expression, no gesture which could arouse the same reaction all over the
world. A smile expresses friendliness in one society, in another
embarrassment, in yet another it can include an enemy's warning that
attack is imminent if tension is not released." ^21^

• "Limit hand gestures and maintain a moderate body posture." ^22^

• "Silence can mean agreement, disagreement, or contemplation. Be
careful not to make assumptions and express the overt message whenever
possible." ^23^

• "Do not interpret the absence of disagreement as agreement" ^24^

• "Nonverbal communication is powerful. Learn about the ways in which
members express negative concepts. Silence is often one way to do this,
but it also may show respect and allow contemplation of another person's
comment." ^25^

!The importance of finding a way to work with people from different
cultures

**Culture-**

In order to overcome some of the difficulties of working in
international teams, the book Managing Across Cultures suggests that we
have a global mindset. A global mindset is "the ability to recognize and
adapt to cultural signals so that you intuitively see global
opportunities and are effective in dealing with people from different
backgrounds around the world." ^26^

The book also suggests three ways to mitigate any cultural problems
before they become a problem. They are:

• "Increase each individual team member's knowledge of his or her own
cultural values. This can be accomplished through suggested readings and
online resources." ^27^

• "Increase the team's collective knowledge of the range of cultural
differences in the group. It is important for people to review details
of the cultures present in their team and think about where they might
face challenges." ^28^

• "Encourage people to assess their own personal cultural styles and how
those styles may affect the group" ^29^

Other suggestions are:

• Do not assume things about a particular group or individual.

• Take time to get to know others.

• Learn about others' cultures and customs in order to build and sustain
relationships within your international team.

• Be sure to treat everyone in the group equally, regardless of their
nationality.

• Learn about each other's strengths and weaknesses.

• Do not put your own culture and way of doing things above others.

• "Try to see tasks from the other person's point of view before you
judge their contribution or performance." ^30^

**Stereotypes & Preconceptions-**

Do not give into preconceptions and stereotypes. Know that they exist
and realize there are ways to prevent them. Encourage face-to-face
interactions so team members can diminish any stereotypes that may
exist. "Trust often develops when members establish credibility by
demonstrating their abilities and competence. Give team members the
opportunity early on to engage in tasks that demonstrate their skills or
introduce team members to each other by highlighting their past
experiences and current expertise with the matters at hand."

## Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

*"Cultural Intelligence is the outsider's ability to interpret someone's
unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person's compatriots
would "*

*First there was IQ, then came EQ, and now there is CQ*

We are culturally groomed to think and behave in a certain ways from the
time we were babies.Every country and company has different cultural
programming that result in varied sets of strengths and weaknesses.^10^
Every company and department has culture, some more distinct than
others. Every country or region exhibits some cultural differences that
distinguish them from one another and are fully understood only by the
people from within. There are people that have the ability to seemingly
fit-in and mingle within virtually any environment or group and there
are others that find the cultural boundaries impossible to cross. What
if these differences and boundaries are present and around daily in the
team someone is a part of for eight to ten hours a day? How do people
with huge mentality and understanding gaps fit in and become an
effective team? International and highly diversified teams are becoming
more and more common as the world becomes more flat, but people still
carry their learned behaviors and mentality. These differences may
present a communication wall and prevent team from functioning.

The bad news is that very few people are gifted with high cultural
intelligence, but the good news is that people can change that. Cultural
Intelligence is related to Emotional Intelligence (EI) and one thing
that they share in common is the "propensity to suspend judgment and
think before acting". Take as an example international team that
consists of people from US and India. It is very difficult to determine
what features are natural and could be attributed to the individual and
what are related to the place of birth. If people on the team have low
CQ they much more likely to label the team-members from the other
country, become less interested in the individuals and thus hinder the
team's cohesiveness. Increasing team members CQ could help in overcoming
some of the disadvantages of working on international/distributed teams
by removing cultural boundaries and increasing personal trust and
connection.

Most managers fit within one of six established profiles. ^9^

• **The provincial:** Effective when working with people of similar
background, but lacks the ability to work with people from other
cultures

• **The analyst:** Tries to methodically analyzes other cultures and
tries to apply learned strategies

• **The natural:** Relies entirely on his own natural intuition and
avoids learning more or improving based on established techniques

• **The ambassador:** Likes differences and welcomes them, does not know
much about the culture, but he is confident he can handle it.

• **The mimic:** Has a high degree of confidence in his actions. Easily
communicates and fits in.

• **The chameleon:** Possesses high degree of CQ and could be even
mistaken for native in certain situations.

CQ is a relatively new notion and term but some countries are already
establishing structures to advance this skill in the general population.
Singapore has created a center devoted to CQ at a major university,
which offers training, consulting, and other resources for this
subject.http://www.cci.ntu.edu.sg/

Companies also benefit from increased CQ. Besides increased revenues,
companies that worked to enhance their leaders\' CQs expanded
internationally faster and became more successful at attracting and
retaining top talent.

There are many different tests that could help people get a better
understanding of their personal strengths and weaknesses and frameworks
that could help build up CI. It takes commitment, learning and patience
acquiring the necessary skills and thus increasing the Cultural
Intelligence level, however this skill could prove to be invaluable in a
world that is growing closer together each day.

A good start to improving CI level is testing it:
<http://www.cq-portal.com/>

## Conclusion

**Improving CQ, verbal and non-verbal communication will improve teams
and managers.** Once people understand and improve their CQ, they will
be better equipped to work within and lead diverse workgroups. Managers
of tomorrow will need to unite team members from various backgrounds and
cultures; more importantly, the different cultures and norms of the team
members will need to be deciphered and used for the greater good of the
team. Similar to the collaborative multinational peace efforts carried
out by the United Nations, or the global manufacture and sales practices
of Honda, companies can achieve more if team members and management
understand and build off of each other's strengths, culture, and norms.
Diverse teams will only succeed if dissimilar team members work together
and CQ is the solution.

## References

1\. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cultural+diversity>

2\. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_consensus_effect>

3\. David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret
to Success, AMACOM, 2010, page 13.

4\. Ruth Ellen Wasem, \"Immigration Reform: Brief Synthesis of Issue,\"
CRS Report For Congress (August 23, 2007). Available at
<http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/91856.pdf>.

5\. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's raw data.

6\. Economist Intelligence Unit, "CEO Briefing: Corporate Priorities for
2006 and Beyond" in The Economist: Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) at
<http://graphics.eiu.com/files/ad_pdfs/ceo_Briefing_UKTI_wp.pdf> or
<http://www.eiu.com/CorporatePriorities2006>

7\. David Livermore, Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret
to Success, AMACOM, 2010, page 15.

8\. <http://www.ethnicmajority.com/corporate_diversity.htm>

9\. Cultural Intelligence by P. Christopher Earley and Elaine Mosakowski

10\. Cultural Intelligence A guide to working with people from other
countries from Brooks Peterson
<http://books.google.com/books?id=-84MKmO-xi0C&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=Cultural+intelligence+test&source=bl&ots=z2T9omxLQ1&sig=_QIe9O7vQI50eUQ8_ZCNjSCKGlY&hl=en&ei=PLKBS9cahuCxA7e8nY0E&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CB4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Cultural%20intelligence%20test&f=false>

11\. Cox, Taylor, Creating the Multicultural Organization: A Strategy
for Capturing the Power of Diversity, Cornell University Library
Holdings,
<https://catalog.library.cornell.edu/cgibin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search_Arg=When+generations+collide+%3A+traditionalists%2C+baby+boomers%2C+generation+xers%2C+millennials+%3A+who+they+ar&Search_Code=TALL&CNT=50&HIST=1>,
Jossey-Bass, 2001.

12\. LaFasto, Frank, Larson, Carl, When Teams Work Best, Sage
Publications, 2001

13\.
<http://www.diversityworking.com/employerZone/diversityManagement/?id=5>

14\.
<http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/research/subjectguides/workplacediversity.html>

15\. <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_6_50/ai_n14702678/>

16\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (pp.156-157)

17\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.36)

18\. <http://www.cochrane.org/docs/crossculturalteamwork.doc> page 6

19\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.252)

20\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.147)

21\. Erlenkamp, Marco (2005). Managing International Teams and Workforce
Diversity. (p.15)

22\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.157)

23\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.157)

24\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.157)

25\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.157)

26\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.37)

27\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.252)

28\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.252)

29\. Solomon, Charlene M., Schell, Michael S.(2009). Managing across
cultures (1st Edition). (p.252)

30\. http//:www.cochrane.org/docs/crossculturalteamwork.doc page 10

