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Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation Volume 3 Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation Volume 3 Series Editor Melvin F. Shakun, New York University, U.S.A. Editorial Board Tung Bui, University of Hawaii, U.S.A. Guy Olivier Faure, University of Paris V, Sorbonne, France Gregory Kersten, University of Ottawa and Concordia University, Canada D. Marc Kilgour, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada Peyman Faratin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A. The book series, Advances in Group Decision and Negotiation — as an extension of the journal, Group Decision and Negotiation — is motivated by unifying approaches to group decision and negotiation processes. These processes are purposeful, adaptive and complex – cybernetic and self-organizing – and involve relation and coordination in multiplayer, multicriteria, ill-structured, evolving dynamic problems in which players (agents) both cooperate and conflict. These processes are purposeful complex adaptive systems. Group decision and negotiation involves the whole process or flow of activities relevant to group decision and negotiation – such as, communication and information sharing, problem definition (representation) and evolution, alternative generation, social- emotional interaction, coordination, leadership, and the resulting action choice. Areas of application include intraorganizational coordination (as in local/global strategy, operations management and integrated design, production, finance, marketing and distribution – e.g., as for new products), computer supported collaborative work, labor-management negotiation, interorganizational negotiation (business, government and nonprofits), electronic negotiation and commerce, mobile technology, culture and negotiation, intercultural and international relations and negotiation, globalization, terrorism, environmental negotiation, etc. Claire B. Halverson • S. Aqeel Tirmizi Editors Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice Editors Claire B. Halverson S. Aqeel Tirmizi School for International Training School for International Training Brattleboro, VT Brattleboro, VT USA USA ISBN: 978-1-4020-6956-7 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-6957-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2007941590 © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com I dedicate this book to my daughter Renya Halverson Larson who encouraged me to write this book and helped me with her outstanding writing skills - Claire My mother Nighat Sultana taught me to embrace kindness and patience which continue to enrich my life and my father Ahmad Raza has always encouraged me to pursue my dreams - I dedicate this book to them - Aqeel Preface Multicultural and multinational teams have become an important strategic and structural element of organizational work in our globalized world today. These teams are demonstrating their importance from the factory floors to the boardrooms of contemporary organizations. The emergence of multicultural teams is evident across a variety of organizations in the private, public, and civil society sectors. These developments have led to an increasing interest in the theory and practice of multicultural teams. Management educational and training programs are giving increasing attention to these developments. At the same time, there is emerging interest in research about and study of multicultural teams. This book emerged from our teaching, research, and consulting with multicul- tural and diverse teams in multiple sectors over the last several years. In particular, we have developed and refined our ideas about the concepts in this book from teaching an advanced course called Effective Multicultural Teams in the Graduate Program at the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont. We have learned from the rich background of students who are from, and have worked in, six conti- nents, and who are, or plan to be, working in the public, educational, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors. Additionally, we have engaged with a variety of teams through our consulting and training, providing consultation to teams in a variety of sectors and continents as they struggled to become more effective. During our work we have developed a great appreciation for the roles that teams play in our lives and organizations, the complexity surrounding the individual and organizational factors that make them effective, and how the larger contextual and cultural dynamics impact them. We have been excited to see the potential of teams, particularly ones that are committed to shared leadership, participation, and/or self-management. We truly believe in the potential of diversity—international and multicultural—which for us includes age, race/ethnicity, gender, religion, class, and ability. In addition, diversity of viewpoint, personality, and professional role can improve effectiveness. There is also the potential that teams with this diversity will be less effective than more homogeneous teams. We see the study and practice of multicultural and international teams and how to manage them as an important discipline. We believe that this discipline is a complex and continuously emerging area of knowledge and practice. We have not found any textbook that is relevant to our vii viii Preface students and participants who are working, or will work, globally in a variety of sectors. For years we kept hearing, “Why don’t you publish your own book?” So we took on this project and asked our colleagues to contribute some of the chapters. It has been a rich learning process. We bring our own diversity in age, race/ethnicity, nationality, ability, religion, and gender to the process, but we bring a common commitment to the potential of effective multicultural teams. We have both said that we could never have edited this book alone. The book is written for graduate students, advanced undergraduate students, or those pursuing a certificate in management or leadership. Cultural background, social identity, and individual characteristics provide an overlapping tri-lens through which to view the complexity of team member diversity. The chapters use a variety of examples, exercises, questions, specific ideas, and practical suggestions that we hope will engage you. Case studies and an assessment inventory are at the end of each chapter. Chapter 1 opens with a broad overview of the emergence and importance of multicultural teams, the different forms these teams may take, and the numerous factors that impact team effectiveness. Chapter 2 defines culture, and presents an integrated cultural framework that can be used to explain and understand behavior in multicultural teams. Chapter 3 discusses foundations of individual behavior, including social identity, personality, and multiple intelligences. Chapter 4 provides the reader with an understanding of typical stages a team experiences as it develops to a level of high performance, and describes team- building processes that may enhance this development. Chapter 5 discusses team process, both overt and covert, functional and dysfunc- tional roles team members may take, and how to conduct successful meetings. Chapters 6–9 discuss specific team processes: leadership, communication, conflict, and problem solving and decision making. Claire B. Halverson S. Aqeel Tirmizi Acknowledgments Our multicultural team of contributors included individuals who are engaged scholars and reflective practitioners in the field of multicultural teams. They included Linda Gobbo, John Ungerleider, Ken Williams, and Teressa Moore Griffin. We greatly appreciate their commitment and dedication to this project. Anitra Ingram, Susan Peters, Chulin Jiang and Mariana Syrotiak provided valua- ble support in terms of background research, formatting, editing and indexing. We are thankful to all of them for their contributions and attention to detail throughout the project. Veronica Johnson helped us edit all of the chapters in this version of the book. She provided a series of valuable comments and suggestions, which brought clarity and coherence to a number of our discussions appearing in different chapters. We are thankful to Adam Weinberg, Provost of the School for International Training, and Marla Solomon, Dean, for providing a grant to support the research and editorial work for this project. We would like to express our appreciation to Melvin Shakun, Myriam Poort and Esther Otten at Springer. Their encouragement and support greatly helped with the timely completion of this project. We recognize all those individuals who, over the years, have taught us the value and importance of culture in making work authentic and meaningful in multicul- tural settings. ix Contents Preface . vii Acknowledgments . ix About the Authors . xv 1 Towards Understanding Multicultural Teams . 1 S. Aqeel Tirmizi The Emergence and Study of Multicultural Teams as a Discipline Teams Defined Types of Teams Multicultural Teams and Team Performance A Model for Multicultural Team Effectiveness 2 The Impact of Culture in Multicultural Teams . 21 S. Aqeel Tirmizi Defining Culture: The Challenges Involved Cultural Values Frameworks An Integration
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