How can we manage a Multi-cultural team ?

Culture is central to what we see, how we make sense of what we see, and how we express ourselves. And when we are working with a team consisting of Americans, Indians, Chinese and Europeans, differences are bound to come. I feel, by facilitating open discussions we can manage cultural differences. As far as communicational differences is considered, I feel a perfect common ground is impossible but we can train ourself and our team to attain acceptable international standards of communication. Moreover, country specific communication training will help bridge those gaps.

Hi 

Strategies for dealing with these cultural challenges which include:

1) Adaptation (acknowledging cultural gaps openly and working around them)

2) Structural intervention (changing the shape of the team)

3) Managerial intervention (setting norms early or bringing in a higher-level manager)

4) Exit (removing a team member when other options have failed).

Why?

• Trouble with accents and fluency
• These may also influence perceptions of status or competence
• Differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority.
• Conflicting norms for decision making

There are a variety of things that can be said and done about this. It just all depends on the situation. But there needs to be a clear understanding among everyone involved about how things will operate. Sometimes, on occasion people among the team need to be a little sensitive towards the differences among them. There needs to be rules and guidelines established for the team members.

There needs to be respect among team members. There needs to be good leaderships and keeping focused on the goal. There needs to be some effort put towards good communication at all levels. There should be cross-training of members. There needs to be clarity and focus for the job at hand. There needs to be ample amount of patience. There should be slight humor to help lighten the mood and make the work go a little smoother, etc, etc…

There are many things that can and should be done but clear communication, focus and strategic planning is most important.

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