Global Teams are Multicultural Teams with Geographically dispersed Members

Question 1

Multicultural Teams are also known as…

Answer 1

• is a team with persons from a mix of cultures
• Culturally diverse teams
• Culturally heterogeneous teams

Question 2

Monocultural teams are…

Answer 2

teams with members of only one culture (everyone is from the same culture).

Question 3

A token team…

Answer 3

is a multicultural team because everyone has the same culture except one person.

Question 4

A cultural faultline team…

Answer 4

is a multicultural team because it has a small number of subgroups

Question 5

Geographically (dispersed) teams are also known as…

Answer 5

• virtual teams
• distributed teams
• remote teams

Question 6

Co-located teams are..

Answer 6

teams that are not geographically dispersed. Members are in the same location and meet at work face-to-face (f2f)

Question 7

Global Virtual team

Answer 7

Multicultural team + (Globally) dispersed teams

Question 8

Homogenous nations vs Heterogenous nations

Answer 8

While US, UK, & AUS have similar national culture scores, Aus is a multicultural society, hence having solely Australians on the team does not necessary mean the team is monocultural, since these persons could be of different cultural backgrounds.

Question 9

Q - Lecture

Answer 9

Prefer a multicultural team for this case. US, UK & American markets will have different preferences & likes for the product. It’s good to know these different POVs to develop an innovative (creative) product that meets the needs of the buyers in these different regions (nations).

Question 10

Benefits of having Multicultural Teams

Answer 10

• Better creativity
• Better decision making
• Better connection to client/customers
• Better retaining of good employees

Question 11

More creativity (divergent processes) (Lane et al., 2010)

Answer 11

• Creativity (different ideas & POVs).

Question 12

Better & more informed decision-making (Strutton & Carter, 2013)

Answer 12

• potentially minimises group think & conformity in decision-making-
• more discussion help team members & leaders evaluate assumptions (question why they made a choice).
• discussions can lead to a better anaylsis of a problem (well-defined problem), more alternatives, and a rigorous evaluation of alternatives, especially when using the rational decision-making model.

Question 13

Multicultural teams are better able to solve complex global issues

Answer 13

• understanding of different markets
• understanding of best practices in the foreign markets
• knowledge to solve complex global (management) issues.

Question 14

Better connections with clients/ customers

Answer 14

• being similar helps you understand the needs & desires of the client/customer better (shared cultural background allows you to be perceived more as the in-group)
• Outsider’s perspective can also help you connect with client/customers

Question 15

Good employees stay in the company because they desire to work in a multicultural team

Answer 15

• the challenges of working in a multicultural team may offer employees opportunity to develop their skills (global skills); they find they have more variety in their work, and find working in a multicultural team satisfying.

Question 16

Why would multicultural teams not perform better than monocultural teams?

Answer 16

• CONFLICT DUE TO TOO MANY DIFFERENCES & LESS TEAM COHESION

Question 17

META-ANALYSIS: No pattern between culturally diverse teams & team performance Maznevski, Voigt, & Jansen, 2010

Answer 17

• cultural diversity has no effect (or negligible effect) on team performance :(

Question 18

What is the variable (missing link) between team cultural diversity & team performance?

Answer 18

• TEAM PROCESSES

Question 19

What is the solution for managers to improve the performance of multicultural teams?

Answer 19

• Essentially, how manage cultural diversity, ensure that all (cultural, personality) differences are integrated! (MBI Model, 2010).

Question 20

What is the impact of cultural diversity on team processes?

Answer 20

• Increased divergent processes
• Decreased convergent processes

Question 21

What are divergent processes (different perspectives) ?

Answer 21

Differences in ideas & opinions leading to a variety of solutions for solving problems. (Different perspectives is not in and of itself a process loss or process gain. It is just an outcome of cultural diversity).

Question 22

What are the outcomes (impacts) of divergent processes?

Answer 22

• Greater variety of ideas & opinions
• Different problem solving styles (Week 8, TKI Model, 2012)

Question 23

What is the process gain of increased divergent processes?

Answer 23

Different perspectives lead to greater creativity!

Question 24

What is the process loss of increased divergent processes?

Answer 24

Different perspectives leads to more conflict (& slower decision making).

Question 25

What is the effect of different problem solving styles on managing conflict?

Answer 25

• Members may use different methods in conflict - hard to determine whether a conflict exists within the team - because people have different reactions to problems/conflict.
• For example, according to the TKI Model for conflict resolution strategies (2012), people may choose to avoid problems/conflict, whereas another person could be more assertive & direct in solving problems (competitive).

Question 26

What other individual differences could result in more conflict for multicultural teams?

Answer 26

• DIFFERENCES IN NEGOTIATING STYLES (Week 8: Cooperative vs Competitive).
• DIFFERENCES IN COMMUNICATION STYLES (Week 3: Direct vs Indirect).

Question 27

What is the second way in which cultural diversity affects team processes?

Answer 27

• Decreased convergent processes.

Question 28

What are the outcomes of less convergent team processes?

Answer 28

• Less consensus around values
• Less coherence for action

Question 29

What is the process gain of less convergent team processes?

Answer 29

• Less group think

Question 30

What is group think?

Answer 30

No one questions decisions because everyone does not want to change the decisions for dislike of disruption or for fear of going against the grain (mainstream/majority).

Question 31

What is the process loss of less convergent team processes?

Answer 31

• Reduced team cohesion (because of the clash of different cultural identities).

Question 32

What is cohesion?

Answer 32

Cohesion is how well members in a team work together and the degree to which members are willing to stay in the team when things go wrong. Cohesive teams have a bond and get along well with each other.

Question 33

What do manager’s need to know about Multicultural teams?

Answer 33

Multicultural teams could outperform a monocultural team (and vice versa) as success is dependent on how these team processes are managed.

Question 34

CONFIGURATIONS OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY WITHIN A TEAM

Answer 34

• Heterogeneous Team (MC)
• Cultural Faultline Team (MC)
• Token Team (MC)
• Homogeneous Team

Question 35

DO NOT USE CULTURAL FAULTLINE TEAM

Answer 35

• The two sub groups become insular & may avoid each other.
• Creates an “Us vs Them” Mentality.
• Propagates an in-group & out-group mindset.

Question 36

DO NOT USE THE TOKEN TEAM

Answer 36

• the token member is often not listened to (token member feels terrible/ isolated).
• which makes it hard to reap the benefits of cultural diversity that is meant to be generated in the first place.