Cultural Diversity In Teams Research Articles

The dark side of teamwork–the relationship between social stressors, social resources and team member well-being in monocultural and multicultural work teams

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between cultural diversity in teams and team members' individual well-being. The paper further explores the relationship between social resources, social stressors, team member well-being and the influence of the type of team individuals are working in (mono- vs. multicultural), gender and individualism/collectivism (IC).Design/methodology/approachUsing data collected via an online survey, the authors analyzed 659 responses from individuals working in mono- and multicultural work teams. A theoretical model explaining the influence of social stressors, social resources, and social and demographic variables was proposed and tested using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results indicate that members of multicultural work teams perceive significantly more social stressors and lower levels of social resources than do members of monocultural teams. Higher levels of social stressors suggest decreased psychological well-being, while social resources have an indirect positive effect on psychological well-being. Furthermore, personal characteristics, namely, individualism and gender, have direct effects on the perception of social stressors and indirect effects on team member well-being.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates that cultural diversity in teams can influence the social stressors and resources that individual team members experience. Moreover, the pivotal role of social resources in the facilitation of team member well-being is highlighted primarily through its direct effect on social stressors and its concomitant indirect effect on well-being.

The JIBS 2020 Decade Award: Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural groups

The JIBS 2020 Decade Award: Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural groups

Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A retrospective of research on multicultural work groups and an agenda for future research.

Our 2010 Journal of International Business Studies article, “Unraveling the Effects of Cultural Diversity in Teams: A Meta-analysis of Research on Multicultural Work Groups,” attempted to take stock of existing research on cultural diversity in teams, to reconcile conflicting perspectives and past results, and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms and boundary conditions under which diversity affects team outcomes. To guide our analysis, we developed a theoretical framework outlining how cultural diversity leads to both process gains and losses in teams, and specifying the contextual conditions under which diversity contributes to effective team outcomes. We tested our hypotheses in a meta-analysis of research on cultural diversity in teams, encompassing 108 primary studies with a combined sample size of 10,632 work groups. The results suggested that cultural diversity does not have a direct impact on team performance but rather that the effect is indirect, mediated by process variables such as creativity, cohesion, and conflict; and is moderated by contextual influences such as team tenure, the complexity of the task, and whether the team is co-located or geographically dispersed. Unexpected findings raised important questions about the dynamics of diverse teams and underscored the need for further examination. In this Retrospective, we reflect on progress made in research on culturally diverse teams over the last decade, highlight remaining gaps and open questions, and propose an agenda for future research.

The anatomy of an award-winning meta-analysis: Recommendations for authors, reviewers, and readers of meta-analytic reviews

Meta-analyses summarize a field’s research base and are therefore highly influential. Despite their value, the standards for an excellent meta-analysis, one that is potentially award-winning, have changed in the last decade. Each step of a meta-analysis is now more formalized, from the identification of relevant articles to coding, moderator analysis, and reporting of results. What was exemplary a decade ago can be somewhat dated today. Using the award-winning meta-analysis by Stahl et al. (Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(4):690–709, 2010) as an exemplar, we adopted a multi-disciplinary approach (e.g., management, psychology, health sciences) to summarize the anatomy (i.e., fundamental components) of a modern meta-analysis, focusing on: (1) data collection (i.e., literature search and screening, coding), (2) data preparation (i.e., treatment of multiple effect sizes, outlier identification and management, publication bias), (3) data analysis (i.e., average effect sizes, heterogeneity of effect sizes, moderator search), and (4) reporting (i.e., transparency and reproducibility, future research directions). In addition, we provide guidelines and a decision-making tree for when even foundational and highly cited meta-analyses should be updated. Based on the latest evidence, we summarize what journal editors and reviewers should expect, authors should provide, and readers (i.e., other researchers, practitioners, and policymakers) should consider about meta-analytic reviews.

A framework for culturally diverse teams and the importance of agility: findings from a qualitative study

In this study, we investigated the conditions for successful collaboration in culturally diverse teams from a Positive Organizational Scholarship perspective. As a result of globalization, organizations increasingly rely on culturally diverse teams. Based on 19 semi-structured interviews with international managers of a large German car manufacturer, we analyzed how these teams work together and which factors promote collaboration. Our findings result in a new framework for understanding culturally diverse teams, which indicates that agile team behavior is an important factor for performance in culturally diverse teams. Agile forms of collaboration enable better adaption to change through iterative learning processes. Agile methods have strong structural elements, but in between, allow the greatest possible scope for continuous adjustment. These structuring and flexible elements seem to meet the requirements of culturally diverse teams in particular. The minimal structure provides the opportunity to bring in all perspectives and views of a culturally diverse team. In addition, we confirm the influence of well-studied factors such as openness, perspective taking and leadership behavior. Our findings help to further sharpen the understanding of culturally diverse teams and point to a fruitful future research direction on agile behavior and cultural diversity in teams.

The relevance of cultural diversity on safety culture: a CIRS data analysis to identify problem areas and competency requirements of professionals in healthcare institutions.

Aim: The society and consequently also the health system have become increasingly culturally diverse which applies to both – patients and professionals. Studies indicate an influence of the ethnicity on the care context. With regard to this, considerably more knowledge is available regarding diversity among patients than among professionals, for example considering the effect of cultural diversity in teams. The impact of cultural diversity on patient safety has barely been investigated which means that potential effects as well as required measures and competencies cannot currently be specified. As part of the project “Gestaltungskompetenz als Innovator für hochzuverlässige Organisationen im Gesundheitssystem” (abbreviation: GIO, “Gestaltungskompetenz as an Innovator for High Reliability Organisations in the Healthcare System”) these questions are investigated in the context of a case study. Therefore, a CIRS data analysis was carried out to identify specific problem areas to derive competencies for the safe handling of cultural diversity between employees. On this basis and adjusted to the target group, an interactive learning management system will be developed for the advanced training of professionals. Method: For the topic of cultural diversity, an analysis of the patient safety cases reported in CIRSmedical (Critical Incident Reporting System) was carried out followed by a qualitative summarising content analysis. The systematic search in CIRS was based on previously defined search terms as well as inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: 45 cases were included in the analysis. The results can be classed into two categories: “(Unsuccessful) communication” and “Unsuccessful adaptation to patient needs”. Cultural diversity was not usually named as a primary or explicit cause but usually a combination of several factors was given as the reason for the occurrence of an undesirable event.Conclusion: The analysis of CIRS data identified concrete challenges resulting from the intercultural composition of teams and in the care context. The approaches for improvement should include both, organisational and personnel measures. In case of the latter, it is essential that competency requirements are identified resulting in suited offers for the competence development in the course of initial and professional development training for medical and nursing staff in ethnically diverse teams.

MULTI-CULTURAL TEAMS AS SOURCES FOR CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION: THE ROLE OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY ON TEAM PERFORMANCE

Multi-cultural teams are seen as a wellspring of creativity and innovativeness. Yet, we still miss an in-depth study of their potential and challenges during the innovation process in firms. This is a serious omission as many international firms are in need of improving their global innovation position by the inclusion of insights from team members of different nationalities with knowledge about markets and culture. To derive first insights, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative study in a large global company with 70 personal interviews in five innovation teams over a period of two years. These data, based on semi-structured interviews, provide us with rich information about effects of cultural diversity in teams in the innovation process. Data were analysed through a thematic network analysis and two coders inductively forming categories. Results indicate that cross-cultural teams have a high potential of creativity, but are confronted with difficulties arising from different working- and communication styles which have to be proactively managed from the beginning. While progressing, teams learn to cope with this diversity related to some more surface-level cultural dimensions and members even align. Yet, diversity of power distance induces conflicts that deeply impact the innovation process. Based on these findings, we develop a set of propositions, which lead into a conceptual model on the effects of multi-cultural team work on creativity and innovation. Finally, we discuss further implications for research and practice.

A dynamic double-hierarchy model of multicultural individuals' roles in culturally diverse teams

While inter-person cultural diversity in organisational teams is recognised as having potential opportunities and challenges, the effects of intra-person cultural diversity in teams – that is, mult...

When Hierarchy Helps

Meta-analytic evidence indicates cultural diversity in teams improves creativity, but the same work notes the lack of moderators for the process-performance relationship in such teams. This research begins to address these concerns by examining how varying levels of cultural diversity on the hierarchy-egalitarian dimension affect teamwork process, creative performance, and satisfaction, and how these results are moderated by age. In a sample of 315 part-time MBA students working in 35 multicultural teams, teams with higher proportions of older hierarchical culture (here, Asian) team members performed better on a creativity task when using teamwork process congruent with their cultural values—termed hierarchical teamwork—in contrast predictions in the Western teamwork literature, but in line with a growing body of research on creativity in Asia. Though hierarchical culture team members were more satisfied when using hierarchical teamwork, such teamwork lowered satisfaction in their egalitarian culture counterparts. These findings suggest hierarchy may be functional, even in creative tasks, for teams with higher proportions of those with hierarchical cultural values and confirms existing work that suggesting generational value differences within many Asian cultures as result of rapid economic change.

Finding the right mix: How the composition of self‐managing multicultural teams' cultural value orientation influences performance over time

SummaryThis research investigates a new type of team that is becoming prevalent in global work settings, namely self‐managing multicultural teams. We argue that challenges that arise from cultural diversity in teams are exacerbated when teams are leaderless, undermining performance. A longitudinal study of multicultural master of business administration study teams found that in the early stage of team formation, teams with a low average level of, but moderate degree of variance in, uncertainty avoidance performed best. Four months post formation, however, teams with a high average level of relationship orientation performed better than teams with a low average level of relationship orientation. Furthermore, a moderate degree of variance in relationship orientation among team members produced better team performance than a low or high degree of variance. These findings suggest that different cultural value orientations exert different patterns of effects on the performance of self‐managing multicultural teams, depending on the stage of team formation. We discuss implications for the composition of self‐managing multicultural teams and its influence on team processes and performance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A look at the bright side of multicultural team diversity

Current research on multicultural teams tends to exhibit a bias towards studying the negative effects of team diversity more than the positive. This negative bias has limited our understanding of the conditions that promote the benefits of diversity and of the mechanisms that foster these benefits. In this article, we highlight a complementary perspective, namely the idea that cultural diversity and cultural differences can be an asset rather than a liability. This perspective has been present in the practitioner and anecdotal literature, but has thus far not received much rigorous research attention. Using a lens of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS), we draw upon recent research on cultural diversity in teams to explore the positive aspects of cross-cultural dynamics in teams and identify some of the processes underlying these effects in more rigorous ways, proposing a future research agenda.

Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups

Previous research on the role of cultural diversity in teams is equivocal, suggesting that cultural diversity's effect on teams is mediated by specific team processes, and moderated by contextual variables. To reconcile conflicting perspectives and past results, we propose that cultural diversity affects teams through process losses and gains associated with increased divergence and decreased convergence. We examine whether the level (surface-level vs deep-level) and type (cross-national vs intra-national) of cultural diversity affect these processes differently. We hypothesize that task complexity and structural aspects of the team, such as team size, team tenure, and team dispersion, moderate the effects of cultural diversity on teams. We test the hypotheses with a meta-analysis of 108 empirical studies on processes and performance in 10,632 teams. Results suggest that cultural diversity leads to process losses through task conflict and decreased social integration, but to process gains through increased creativity and satisfaction. The effects are almost identical for both levels and types of cultural diversity. Moderator analyses reveal that the effects of cultural diversity vary, depending on contextual influences, as well as on research design and sample characteristics. We propose an agenda for future research, and identify implications for managers.

The Influence of Social Identity and Personality on Outcomes of Cultural Diversity in Teams

The present study examined the influence of social identity and personality on work outcomes among business students who worked together in culturally diverse teams. As predicted, a negative effect of identification with one’s cultural background and a positive effect of identification with the team on well-being were found under conditions of high diversity. For commitment, the same pattern of findings was obtained, but now the impact of identification with the team was found regardless of the level of diversity. No support was found for strong positive outcomes associated with the case in which individuals identify with the team and with their cultural background.With respect to personality, the intercultural traits of Emotional Stability and Flexibility were found to have a positive effect on work outcomes under conditions of high diversity. Interestingly, whereas Flexibility had a positive effect on exam grades under conditions of high diversity, a negative effect of this trait was found under conditions of low diversity.