Multicultural Teams Research Articles

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTIVE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

At present the essence of cultural knowledge lies in its integration with major aspects of our life and belongs to the global skills which are also known as “life skills” and needed to achieve for lifelong success and fulfilment in the fast-changing and diverse world. The paper discusses the findings of international researchers (Kramsch (1992), Triandis (2002), Hall (1959), Schwartz (2012), Kulich (2002, 2015), M. Taylor (2002), M. Gelfand (2018) who explored different aspects of cultural awareness demonstrates the benefits of such knowledge for smooth and painless adaptation to new culture and society, transforms this knowledge into competence and develop flexibility and adaptability. The author consolidates and sums up these aspects and proposes some advice for efficient cooperation in multicultural teams. Among the recommendations how to nudge a culture she singles out the following: to share the best practices of expats; to transform cultural knowledge into competence and develop flexibility and adaptability in cros-cultural communication; to be aware of etic and emic lenses of different cultures; to avoid stereotyping judgements and estimates; to apply knowledge of ethnorelativism towards understanding the foreigners; to understand the logic of tight-loose cultures to cultivate cultural empathy; to accept different cultural norms to lower judgmental attitudes towards them; to observe, ask politely and interpret for understanding other cultures; to learn target language to bridge cultural gaps; to be open and sincere in conversation, avoid taboo and personal questions, ask what is important to others in culturally appropriate ways.

AWWA Water Science Author Spotlight

AWWA Water Science Author Spotlight

Effects of cultural intelligence on multicultural team effectiveness: The chain mediation role of common ingroup identity and communication quality

In a globalizing world, intercultural competence has become increasingly important for university graduates. Using a sample of 177 students participating in study abroad programs organized by a Swiss university and a Chinese university, we investigate antecedents and mediators to multicultural team (MCT) effectiveness. Based on social identity and self-categorization theories, our findings show that cultural intelligence is positively related to common ingroup identity and MCT effectiveness, and common ingroup identity is positively related to communication and MCT effectiveness. Specifically, common ingroup identity and communication quality play a significant full-chain mediating role in the relationship between cultural intelligence and MCT effectiveness. From an international education perspective, these results provide knowledge of strategies and actions necessary to ensure MCT effectiveness in intercultural collaboration. The latter is relevant for international business collaborations with employees, customers, and external stakeholders.

DOES CULTURAL DIVERSITY MATTER FOR TEAM PERFORMANCE IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES? AN ANALYSIS OF CONFLICT, COMMUNICATION, SOCIAL INTEGRATION, CREATIVITY AND SATISFACTION

Team performance is key in each organisation. Hence, cultural effects in teams are a relevant matter of subject clarifying the ambiguous findings from previous research. With this background, we investigate how the macro-constructs of conflict, communication effectiveness, social integration, creativity and satisfaction interact with cultural diversity on team performance in an environment characterised by a largely homogeneous and ethnic workforce. We test our hypotheses on a sample of firms in Thailand. Our results indicate that creativity and satisfaction have a significant positive impact on team performance whereas cultural diversity has a significant positive impact on influencing conflict in a team-based environment. However, cultural diversity has no significant impact on communication effectiveness and social integration, and it has no significant impact on team performance.The key theoretical contributions from our study are that cultural diversity can contribute to conflict even in a team composition that is seemingly cohesive and homogeneous in nature. Further, our study establishes that creativity and satisfaction have a positive effect on team performance even in the context of a homogeneous and ethnically majority-based team. For the practitioners, the results of the study indicate that initial actions need to be taken by the leaders of multicultural teams as they create teams to avoid the initial pitfalls due to conflict.

Co-sensing and co-shaping as shared and relational practices in bringing about relational leaders in higher education

The aim of this article is to investigate how and what kinds of relational and shared practices were co-created within a multicultural team in a higher education collaborative learning environment. The students interacted while working towards the shared goal of co-constructing knowledge. The study provides insight into how student teams can actively build collaboration in learning spaces through manifesting relational leadership. Shared and relational practices refer broadly to all the knowledge, attitudes and skills that emerge from team interaction. A compound theoretical framework combining relational leadership and leadership trichotomy was adapted to study what particular factors enable shared and relational practices. The qualitative study drew data from students’ reflections and group discussions in an intervention which served as a space for experimentation in collaboration and dialogue. The results showed that the students practised Co-sensing and Co-shaping to effectively allow knowledge co-construction. A broadening perception of diversity and the perception that barriers were a doorway to new relational possibilities enabled Co-sensing and Co-shaping to work in collaboration. The results of the study could provide new insights for other kinds of higher education learning environments.

Global and local identities on the balance scale: Predicting transformational leadership and effectiveness in multicultural teams.

The performance of multicultural teams depends, to a great extent, on the effectiveness of their leaders. Transformational leadership is thought to be effective across organizational contexts and national cultures; yet we know little about what shapes these leadership behaviors. This study argues that leaders’ social identity configurations influence their transformational leadership behaviors and leadership effectiveness in multicultural settings. Building upon the global acculturation model, we test the effects of four identity configurations, based on the relative strength and balance of identification with the global and local cultures. We suggest that multicultural team leaders with balanced identity configurations, either glocal (high global, high local) or marginal (low global, low local), demonstrate more transformational leadership and consequently are more effective than leaders with unbalanced (dominant global or dominant local) configurations. Data were collected from 298 MBA students who worked on a four-week project in 77 multicultural teams. We used polynomial regression to capture how the discrepancy between the global and local components of leaders’ identity configurations affects transformational leadership behaviors and effectiveness. The results generally support the theoretical model, showing that the most transformational and effective leaders are those with balanced identity configurations. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Leadership Competencies Development Among Academic Staffs: A Preliminary Observation

Every organization needs a leader who is competent in managing change to meet the current demands of remaining competitive in the market, policy demands in government policy, information technology that is evolving day by day. Development of the global technologies required leadership competencies in order to achieve the organizational goal within the current trend setting. Hence, leadership competency development is embracing from time to time to fulfil the organization need not only in technology sector but also to cater the employee’s requirement such as skills, knowledges and abilities as well. Competent leaders manage to drive the employees towards the organization objective. They play their roles bringing the employees to work towards the strategic planning that have been plan ahead. This is essential because leader who perform well delegating task and to motivates employees to excellence and in the same time avoid conflict can easily adapt and participate in multicultural teams. This paper investigates the characteristics of leadership development programme that suit for the future leader among academic staffs.

Conceptual Development and Content Validation of a Multicultural Instrument to Assess the Normalization of Gender-Based Violence against Women

The normalization of gender-based violence (GBV) consists of all those cultural beliefs and values that sustain, justify, or minimize GBV perpetration. Acknowledging the lack of instruments addressing the normalization of GBV and its constitutive sociocultural dimensions, this article presents the conceptual development and initial validation of the Normalization of gender-based violence against women scale. This 18-item instrument could be used to assess the normalization of violence against women in GBV survivors of various cultural contexts. The scale has been developed through a sizeable mixed-methods study. This paper reports the qualitative portion of the study that allowed the development of the instrument and assessment of its content and face validity. In particular, the method section details the process by which the assessed scale’s domain has been identified through an expert panel workshop, the analysis of GBV survivor’s interviews, and the review of existing scales. The assessment of face and content validity, trough expert judges’ evaluation and Cognitive Interviewing, is presented. This instrument is the first normalization scale developed by a multicultural team for use with violence survivors. The techniques used to construct this scale aimed to capture cultural aspects of normalization that might be shared across women from diverse groups. Therefore, its use could enable social or health care providers worldwide to program or evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to contrast GBV by promoting a clearer understanding of cultural and social norms that sustain the acceptance and normalization of violence.

Cross-Cultural Competence of Students from Selected European Union Countries (Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy).

The changes taking place in the contemporary labour market were the fac­tor that prompted our project. The employee’s position on this market does not depend only on his specialist knowledge and professional qualifications. This is particularly important in a multicultural environment, in which even linguistic competences are losing their significance because – without the ability to adapt to new cultural conditions – they do not play a major role. Cultural diversity becomes a source of competitive advantage at the moment when a company adopts appropriate strategies and techniques, which is the task faced by, among others, modern managers. The aim of the project is to explore the role of cross-cultural competence as an important element of uni­versity education from the point of view of both: educational programmes and the labour market. It is now believed that cross-cultural competence, under­stood as an attitude towards cooperation with representatives of other cultures, is a very important element of university education in the process of prepar­ing students to successfully function on the global labour market. The level of interpersonal skills of individual members of a multicultural team (espe­cially the level of their cultural intelligence) which enables them to effectively cooperate with representatives of other cultures is one of the main elements of cross-cultural competence. On the basis of the results of the study, the theo­ries of management science will be elaborated on, taking into account interna­tional realities and emphasising the importance of cross-cultural competence on the labour market. The results of the project will support the development of management science, especially in the field of intercultural management, by indicating how existing management theories are based on and benefit from practice, and how they are interpreted in management practice. Thanks to the study, both theoreticians and practitioners of management will be able to obtain more knowledge about cross-cultural competence.

Cultural influence on innovativeness - links between \u201cThe Culture Map\u201d and the \u201cGlobal Innovation Index\u201d

In the ongoing debate on the relation of cultural differences and national innovativeness this research aims to find out which of the seven cultural dimensions of The Culture Map (communicating, evaluating, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing, scheduling) have a significant influence on a nation’s ability and capacity to innovate. The findings show that cultural aspects as described by The Culture Map clearly influence the innovativeness of a nation. Based on these findings, tentative recommendations for fruitful monocultural and multicultural teams respectively are given.

Views of Bedouin physicians and nurses on nursing as a profession in Israel: There is more to strive for.

Bedouin society poses challenges to attempts at modernization. Great efforts are being made to expand the number of nurses coming from the Bedouin population. This cross-sectional study among 201 Bedouin nurses and physicians from southern Israel examined differences in their views on nursing as a profession and its relationship to the working environment, using a self-administered questionnaire. Bedouin physicians demonstrated less positive attitudes towards the nursing profession than did nurses, but perceived the nursing work environment more positively. Compared to nurses, physicians ranked both nurses' involvement in policy practice and their clinical contribution to quality care lower, but scored nurses' dependence on physicians' orders higher. They also ranked teamwork and professional nursing development higher, and the autonomy of nurses lower. In conclusion, the perception of nursing as a profession in Bedouin society is linked to cultural fundamentals, gender, and the social status of women. Managers of multicultural teams, especially those including Bedouin-origin healthcare workers, should be aware of the effect of cultural background and should take care to address social disparities and eliminate differences in perspectives.

Impact of Multi-Disciplinary International Engineering Service Learning in Instilling Global Engineer Attributes among Undergraduates

International Engineering Service Learning engages multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural engineeringstudents in experiential learning through structured community service. Through participation in this effective pedagogy approach, students is expected to gain first-hand knowledge of engineering practice, global competency, actively contribute to the community through the service they performed and develop a personal appreciation for civic responsibility.In addition, what makes service learning an activity worthy of engineering course is its reflective nature. Reflective writing is one of important component in determining value of learning experience and it gives an impact on the students.This paper aimed to investigate the impact of multidisciplinary and cross-cultural engineering service learning among undergraduates through qualitative analysis done on their reflection journals. The findings indicated that this 9-day intensive program, utilizing the concept of multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team for engineering service learning project, can be implemented to instill global engineer attributes among students.

Applying a relational lens to ethnographic inquiry: Storied insight into the inner workings of multicultural teams in men's elite football

ObjectiveTo examine the impact of transnational migration on the functioning of multicultural teams in men's elite football and to explore the cultural transition experiences of transnational players from the relational perspective of receiving football environments. Designand Method: This 26-month ethnographic study adopted a researcher-practitioner approach to investigate two elite European football clubs during the course of two complete seasons. Over 80 male participants from 18 different countries were involved in the approximately 1200 h of field observation (e.g., practices, games, closed-door meetings, etc.) and 50 h of transcribed interviews. Detailed field notes and interview data were thematically analyzed, followed by a narrative analysis of structure and form. Finally, the genre of ethnographic creative non-fiction was employed to present the findings. FindingsBy applying a relational lens to the study of cultural transitions, this investigation illuminates the centrality of relations in the daily functioning of multicultural teams embedded in transnational networks and spaces. The complex interactional dynamic between transnational players and members of the receiving environment as well as the structural constraints shaping footballing (sub)cultures and behaviours highlight the salience of restrained agency as a collective phenomenon in elite men's football. Moreover, the study explores the hows of cultural transition by engaging with temporality and proposing a complementary perspective that extends current understandings in the narration of cultural transition experiences. ConclusionsThe findings carry applied utility that can benefit stakeholders and practitioners working with culturally diverse teams in the deployment of culturally informed club management strategy, educational tools, and interventions.

Gender paths in international careers: an approach centred on demands and resources

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the interplay between international experiences and male and female top managers' career paths, taking into consideration gender differences. Furthermore, the research investigates the specific job and personal demands and resources related to the different types of international work experiences.Design/methodology/approachThis study provides an in-depth subjective reconstruction of the international professional experience of 37 male and female top managers employed in Italy, using semi-structured interviews.FindingsParticipants highlighted the benefits of their international assignments (IAs) in terms of the development of managerial, soft and cross-cultural skills. Family issues and cultural differences were frequently cited as challenges by the top managers interviewed. Culture shock and perceived difficulty in managing multicultural teams were reported by both women and men. Men reported experiencing long periods of separation from their family more often than women and cited the support of their partner as a valuable resource. In addition to the support of a partner, women also indicated that certain job resources and welfare policies played a crucial role. Moreover, women appear to be more interested in work-family management issues, thus suggesting that the traditional division of roles between men and women continues to persist in Italy.Originality/valueThis study provides an insight into the extrinsic factors linked to career success, as well as the challenges and the resources associated with different forms of global work other than traditional expatriation. It takes into consideration a specific country, Italy, where a traditional family paradigm persists, providing an insight into better understanding the link between IA experiences and gender roles in global mobility. Managerial implications are also discussed.

Prompt-specificity in scenario-based assessments: Associations with personality versus knowledge and effects on predictive validity.

Many scenario-based assessments (e.g., interviews, assessment center exercises, work samples, simulations, and situational judgment tests) use prompts (i.e., cues provided to respondents to increase the likelihood that the information received from them is clear, sufficient, and job-related). However, a dilemma for practitioners and researchers is how general or specific one should prompt people's answers. We posit that such differences in prompt-specificity (i.e., extent to which prompts cue performance criteria) have important implications for the predictive validity of scenario-based assessment scores. Drawing on the interplay of situation construal and situational strength theory, we propose that prompt-specificity leads to differential relationships between scenario-based scores and external constructs (personality traits vs. knowledge), which in turn affects the predictive validity of scenario-based assessments. We tested this general hypothesis using intercultural scenarios for predicting effectiveness in multicultural teams. Using a randomized predictive validation design, we contrast scores on these scenarios with general (N = 157) versus specific (N = 158) prompts. As a general conclusion, prompt-specificity mattered: Lesser prompt-specificity augmented the role of perspective taking and openness-to-experience in the intercultural scenario scores and their validity for predicting intercultural performance, whereas greater prompt-specificity increased the role of knowledge in these scores and their validity for predicting in-role performance. This study's theoretical and practical implications go beyond a specific assessment procedure and apply to a broad array of assessment and training approaches that rely on scenarios. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

TEACHING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TO BILINGUAL CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS OF THE TOMSK REGION: MONITORING RESULTS

Introduction. The paper presents analytical monitoring data on teaching non-native Russian language-speaking students. The monitoring aimed to effectively implement the project on the adaptation of bilingual children and their parents and to create a common ethnic-educational environment in the Tomsk region. Research methods. The research employed the data processing methods (generalization, systematization of the obtained material) and empirical methods (questionnaire and statistical processing of research results). The practical significance of the monitoring results is the development of recommendations for the adjustment of educational programs to factor in the training of non-native Russian language-speaking students, in particular, in a multi-level multicultural team; the development of methodological recommendations for the adaptation of bilingual children and their parents in the educational environment of the school and region as a whole.

The Role of Leadership in Managing Multicultural Teams. Polish Managers’ Point of View: Preliminary Research

Today, in the globalized world of the 21 st century, the issue of leadership is topical and particularly important, hence it is not surprising that it is extensively analyzed in numerous publications. The role and significance of leadership primarily result from the fact that it has a great impact on the achievements of teams and companies, relations between people, their motivation to work, their openness to changes and new challenges, and a vision of the future development of the company. The theoretical part of the article first explains the concept of leadership and its significance, and next describes multiculturalism as a challenge for contemporary leadership in the context of managing intercultural teams. The empirical part presents the methodology of the study and the results obtained, which are followed by conclusions and recommendations. The research described in the article (ten telephone interviews) was conducted with international companies among managers who work with culturally diverse teams. At this stage the research is preliminary, and the author intends to conduct an in-depth study among managers of multinational companies in Poland and Spain that will investigate the role of leadership in managing multicultural teams. The main aim of the article is to demonstrate the importance of leadership in managing multicultural teams. Considering this aim, the following research question was formulated: How do Polish managers employed in multinational companies define leadership and how do they perceive the role of leadership in managing multicultural teams?

Determinants of Multicultural Identity for Well-Being and Performance

Abstract Cultural diversity, which poses both challenges and opportunities in a multicultural education setting, necessitates recognising factors that promote multicultural identities of educators to maximise multicultural attitudes for their wellbeing and performance. This study employs structural equation modelling to examine the determinants of multicultural identities from the perspective of the cognitive-developmental model of social identity integration (CDMII) framework. Categorisation, compartmentalisation, and integration were hypothesised to explain multicultural identity and its effect on well-being and performance. Purposive sampling via survey method involved 288 educators from Malaysian Universities. The findings confirmed that multicultural identity constructs have direct and significant relationship with well-being and well-being has direct and positive relationship with the performance of multicultural team.

Cultural Value Diversity: Influence towards Multicultural Teamwork Performance among Restaurant Employees

Malaysia currently has a diverse workforce, relying on foreign workers in the hospitality industry. This study tested a conceptual model to investigate the role of specific cultural diversity value in influencing multicultural teamwork performance. A self-administered questionnaire was conducted in casual ethnic restaurants in Malaysia. The findings revealed that the three diversity dimensions of collectivism, determinism, and orientation each had distinctive effects on productivity and/or cooperation. This study offers new insights on cultural value diversity and multicultural teamwork performance at a dimensional level thus provides rigid answer for the argument from previous scholars. In addition, by providing the current phenomena in workforce industry, this study helps the restaurant managers to prepare with strategic management on handling diversity among multicultural team.

Design Pedagogy for Learning Sustainability with Communities

This paper discusses tools and methods of learning for upcoming professionals to explore and understand sustainability in relation to people, neighborhoods and communities during the workshop ‘Small is Beautiful’. The workshop has been jointly developed since 2016 by academic faculty in Architecture, Interior Design, Visual Communication, Design Management and Social Community Work from India and Israel. The workshop takes place each summer in India and Israel simultaneously. Students from the above fields and countries participate in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams. Each team is assigned a case study in a community where people live in dense environments and often have limited economic resources. Students are challenged with a design task and develop together with people in the community concepts that can improve living conditions in the specific site and might hopefully be scaled up to be implemented elsewhere in the world. According to ‘Habitat III New Urban Agenda’ the main tool for urban sustainability and resilience is the ability to design solutions that cover different scales, time frames and disciplines, all through a cultural and human-based perspective. Such solutions can be derived from communities in different cultures, living within limitations of small spaces, who develop intrinsic design responses that are remarkably resilient and suitable to the context. This forms a significant area of study largely ignored by designers. The research method is based on the triangulation of qualitative (before and after interviews with all participants) and quantitative methods, as well as design analysis of the case studies. The research suggests that a combination of multidisciplinary, multicultural and participatory practice is a viable pedagogical tool for sustainable transformative education. Findings indicate that this multi-layered design education facilitates the development of skills critical to the understanding of complex systemic socio-technological problems, and to foster the development of creative solutions viable for implementation in the community.