How Students Manage Group Work When They Are Working in Multicultural Teams - Research Paper Example

How Students Manage Group Work when they are working in Multicultural Teams Executive summary The purpose of this survey was to evaluate how students manage group work when working in multicultural teams by relating the same to business/management concepts. A literature review relating to this subject was conducted, with particular focus on Hostede’s multicultural dimensions: power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus feminism. To test how students apply these dimensions and other aspects of management in their groups, a sample of 20 students from the university who belong to multicultural teams was surveyed using questionnaires. Results show that many of these teams have students from three or more cultures. The most challenging aspect of managing these teams is language as many students come from non-English speaking nations. However, the students have their own ways of dealing with problems, mainly through discussion, which shows a collectivistic attitude. Many of the groups have low power distance as they encourage group member participation in decision making. This tends to reflect the attitude of the UK society, which is largely a low power distance, implying that many groups are influenced by this culture. Introduction Multicultural teams are made up of members coming from more than one culture. Business organisations and institutions of learning alike are increasingly being characterised by multicultural settings because of the influx of immigrant communities in many countries. Such organisations are therefore bound to experience various multicultural teams assigned to do a specific task. The team members must be willing to understand the differences in cultural backgrounds of all the other members in order to avoid conflict and to use those differences to the advantage of their team. This is not to say that conflict will not arise in multicultural teams; in fact, conflict is rife because of the failure of the people with different cultural backgrounds to integrate their differences. The key aspect of management in such context is to reduce conflict and to ensure that team members work hand-in-hand in spite of their differences to achieve the goals of their team. The purpose of this research is therefore to understand how students in multicultural settings manage their teams. Just as it is in business, it is important to understand the challenges that such students face in managing their teams and how they go about them. Additionally, it is worthwhile to study the organisational skills that students require to manage multicultural teams. Such skills are similar to those applied in managing multicultural workplaces. Literature review According to Aswathappa (2010, p. 232), multicultural teams can be divided into three types. First are token teams, in which only one member is from another culture. For instance, a group of students may comprise four students from the United Kingdom and one from Qatar. Second are bicultural teams, which have members from two cultures. For example, a group of students may comprise three students from the United Kingdom and three others from South Africa. Third are multicultural teams, in which the members of a given team are from three or more cultures. For instance, a team of students may be made up of three students from the United Kingdom, two from Saudi Arabia, two from the India, one from China, and one from Kenya. Groups and teams emerge because teamwork and working in concert are regarded important in and of themselves (Halverson & Tirmizi, 2008, p. 3). Halverson and Tirmizi (2008, p. 3) further note that collaboration and working mutually result in competence and contentment that may not be attainable otherwise. Teams are also formed because of the feeling of individual and joint fulfilment, accomplishment, and gaining knowledge that happens as different individuals put their efforts together to realise team and organisational objectives (Halverson & Tirmizi, 2008, p. 3). This means that by becoming members of groups, students from different cultural groups are able to integrate their efforts to attain something greater than they would have attained working individually. But this is not always true given that there are challenges in a multicultural group. Leading a multicultural team or even being a member of one is challenging because of the inherent differences between the members. Brett, Behfar and Kern (2006) argue that teams whose membership comes from diverse countries and backgrounds put special requirements on managers – particularly when a team in disagreement looks to the manager for assistance with an inconsistency. To students, the challenge will be on the team leader to ensure that his or her team solves any kind of conflict so as to pay attention to accomplishing the task at hand. Geert Hofstede published Culture’s Consequences in 1980 (which was fully revised in 2001). This literature is the key typology that has been very influential for cross-cultural management research. After a study of employees at IBM, Hofstede came up with what are referred to as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: power distance, masculinity/feminism, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and later, long-term versus short term orientation (Tian, 2004, pp. 18-27). Power distance is related to the degree of centralisation of authority and the degree of autocratic leadership. It highlights the degree to which a society admits that power in institutions and organisations is dispersed unequally. Societies with high power distance agree to the inequality of power, regard the disparities between superiors and juniors natural, and consider managers to be entitled to extraordinary privileges. The contrast is true for societies with low power distance (Tian, 2004, p. 19). Individualism/collectivism refers to the degree to which people are incorporated into groups. Persons with a high level of individualism tend to place a high value on their personal time, choice, goals and autonomy. They have an elevated desire for accomplishment and tend to consider individual interests as being more significant than group interests. On the contrary, collectivists tend to perceive themselves in a group as opposed to individual terms and thus value group interests more than their own (Tian, 2004, p. 20). Uncertainty avoidance implies the level to which a society feels intimidated by uncertain and vague conditions and tries to stay away from such situations by greater career stability, creating more official regulations, not stomaching abnormal ideas and behaviour, and faith in complete truths and accomplishment of expertise (Tian, 2004, p. 21). Masculinity/feminism refers to the degree to which the overriding values in a society are masculine, such as fierceness, acquisition of material things, and so forth, which basically reflect masculinity. The opposite of masculinity is feminism, in which a feminist culture tends to place more emphasis on interpersonal relations and care for the weak (Tian, 2004, p. 23). In a work environment, managing a multicultural workforce presents new challenges and opportunities to harness new skills, especially with regard to language and cultural knowledge (Regional Language Network London, 2008, p. 1). In such an atmosphere, effective communication is a critical skill. This calls upon managers and supervisors to enhance knowledge as well as understanding of existing cultures, to comprehend their own mind-sets and in some cases to become accustomed to their working practices (Regional Language Network London, 2008, p. 1). Similarly, students must address challenges such as language to increase the effectiveness of communication in their team. For instance, since English is the language used by learning institutions in the United Kingdom, multicultural teams comprising students from the United Kingdom and those from other regions such as the Middle East can benefit when these students interact to enable the non-English speakers to grasp the language. The English speakers can also take this opportunity to learn about the aspects of culture of the students from Asia. As well, students from English-speaking African countries such as Kenya and South Africa can be of great benefit to students from other regions such as China, and from non-English speaking African countries such a Senegal and Libya. Such interactions will enable the students to do away with the barriers to effective communication in their teams. Trefry (2006, p. 565) cites a number of studies done on the effects of organisational culture on diversity dynamics. One of the studies was done by Ely and Thomas (2001) who asserted that diversity is more likely to lead to positive results if organisational culture emphasises on integration and learning. By using this approach, it is noteworthy that students in a team will emphasise those attributes that lead to better problem solving efficiency, team learning and achieving set goals rather than those that tend to divide their group based on cultural differences. Another important point noted by Trefry (2006, p. 565) is from Cox and Tung (1997), who argue that the extent of structure and informal integration in an organisation will affect the outcomes of team diversity. Similarly, student teams are likely to achieve more if they put aside their differences by integrating their output towards attainment of their goals. Aswathappa (2010, p. 232) and Brett, Behfar and Kern (2006) discuss a number of strategies that can be used to tackle problems of multicultural teams. First is adaptation, which involves acknowledging the cultural gaps that exist in a team and working around them. For instance, a group should determine the differences among its members such as religion, language and so forth and forge a way of handling them without hurting any member. Second is structural intervention, which involves changing the shape of a team. For instance, if a group has one student from a cultural background is different from those of the rest; he or she will feel alienated. It is thus wise to invite a student with a similar background to such a group. The third strategy is managerial involvement, which encompasses setting norms, or introducing a higher echelon manager. For students, the group should be responsible for setting the rules to be used in the group. These rules should consider every members background and ability. Fourth is exit, which involves eliminating a group member when other alternatives have been unsuccessful. Although this is not a good options, students may have to consider it if a member fails to gel into the group even after they have explored all the other options. Methodology To understand how students manage group work when they are working in multicultural teams, it is important to ask them consistent questions so as to evaluate how different students respond to similar questions. Questionnaires facilitate evenness and accuracy in terms of the details of the questions, and this makes the analysis of the responses easier (Denscombe, 2007, p.153). Questionnaires are also preferred in this survey because they enable the researcher to focus only those points concerned with the research (Denscombe, 2007, p. 154). The target population will be students who participate in group work. Twenty questionnaires will be given randomly to students observed in group discussions. It is expected that all questionnaires will be fully completed since the researcher will have identified the appropriate members of the target population. Since the university is made up of a multicultural population, it is assumed that at least every group formed by students will exhibit token team, bicultural team or multicultural team attributes. The limitation of this approach however is that not all those students randomly chosen may belong to multicultural teams, as some teams may be formed by students who share the same nationality and hence cultural background. As well, some teams may not be truly multicultural. The responses will be fed into an MS Excel spreadsheet and for analysis. Findings/analysis It was found that most of the groups formed at the university are multicultural with students from three or more nationalities. This is because of the nature of the UK as a multicultural society, particularly the learning institutions. However, there are also token teams and bicultural teams as shown in figure 1. Figure 1: Nature of multicultural team The teams’ biggest challenge as regards management is language. This revelation tallies with a finding made by (Mendez & Mughan, 2006, p. 9) who asked respondents in a study whether language problems were the major source of misunderstandings in comparison with intercultural differences. In the Mendez and Mughan (2006) study, 46 percent of the respondents agreed with the statement while 40 percent disagreed. Thus, much as international students may have some knowledge of the English language, it is important to note that there could be problems due to factors such as accent and vocabulary. Other challenges noted in the current study are shown in the chart below. Figure 2: Biggest challenge to managing team From the study, most students use discussions to deal with issues in their groups. Others report to authorities for help while only one respondent reported that their group ignores problems. See figure 3. Figure 3: Dealing with challenges in a group Figure 3 shows that most students are able to resolve the problems in their teams through discussion. This is true going by Behfar, Kern and Brett’s (2006, p. 240) assertion that establishing norms for approaching work should involve the decision to structure and proceed with work in the multicultural team. This also shows that building effective multicultural and non-hierarchical leadership in teams in campus is the best way to manage group work (Outcalt, Faris & McMahon, 2001, p. 236), just as it is for managing multicultural teams in various business organisations. Even in organisations, problems in multicultural teams are best solved by the team members, since by intervening, leaders (management) tend to create more problems than they resolve as the members only feel disempowered (Aswathappa, 2010, p. 232). The fact that most many groups prefer sorting issues through discussion means that such groups have relatively low power distance (as is the case in the UK society, see Hofstede, 2001, p. 89) such that every one is allowed participate as opposed to high power distance scenarios where such decisions would be made by the team leader. Further, there is evidence that most groups have low power distance since more than 50 percent of the respondents indicated that their group leaders consults with the team before making decision (figure 4). In high power distance groups, the group leader would be making decisions for the groups. However, this is not to say that high power distance team do not exist, as 25 percent of the students reported that the group leader makes decisions for the entire groups (figure 4), meaning that such leaders are highly revered. Figure 4: Power of the group leader Conclusions The results of the survey show that students working in multicultural face language as the main challenge in their teams. There are also other problems such as religious affiliations of group members and dimensions of behaviour due to different nationalities but these are not pronounced. Team involvement emerges as the best way to manage a team as through it, group members are able to identify the problems that affect them and solve them amicably without involving other authorities. This can be likened to organisations, where team leaders should understand the intercultural problems affecting teams to facilitate effective management of the organisation as a whole. References Aswathappa, K 2010, International Business 4E, 4th edn, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New Delhi. Behfar, K, Kern, M & Brett, J 2006, ‘Managing challenges in multicultural teams’, National Culture and Groups Research on managing Groups and Teams, vol. 9, pp. 233-262, viewed 11 April 2012 Brett, J, Behfar, K & Kern, M C 2006, ‘Managing multicultural teams’, Harvard Business Review, November 2006, viewed 10 April 2012 Brett, J, Behfar, K & Kern, M C 2006, ‘Managing multicultural teams’, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 84, Issue 11, pp. 84-91, 156, viewed 11 April 2012 Denscombe, M 2007, The Good Research Guide: For Small-scale Social Research Projects, 3rd edn, McGraw-Hill International, London. Halverson, C B & Tirmizi, S A (eds) 2008, Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice, Springer, New York. Hofstede, G 2001, Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations, 2nd edn, revised, Sage, London. Mendez, M C & Mughan, T 2006, ‘Multicultural Teams and Language Issues: A quantitative study’, ICOPROMO, viewed 11 April 2012 Outcalt, C L, Faris, S K & McMahon, K N 2001, Developing non-hierarchical leadership on campus: Case studies and best practices in higher education, Greenwood Publishing Group, New York. Regional Language Network London 2008, ‘Managing multicultural workforce: Languages and culture at work in your business’, RLN Business London Guides, viewed 10 April 2012 Tian, Q 2004, A Transcultural Study of Ethical Perceptions and Judgments Between Chinese and German Businessmen, Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, Munich. Trefry, M G 2006, ‘A Double-Edged Sword: Organizational Culture in Multicultural Organizations,’ International Journal of Management, Vol. 23, No. 3, Part 2 September 2006, pp. 563-577, viewed 10 April 2012 Appendix Questionnaire 1. What is the nature of your team? (tick as appropriate) a) Token team b) Bicultural team c) Multicultural team 2. Which is the most challenging problem in your group? a) Language barrier b) Religious affiliations c) Dimensions of behaviour that reflect country of origin 3. How do you relate with your group leader? (Power distance aspect) a) Interact with him freely b) S/he makes decisions for the group 4. How do the members of your group do their tasks? (Individualism/collectivism dimension) a) Individually b) Collectively through discussion 5. Does your group treat members of different sexes equally? (Masculinity/feminism dimension) a) Yes b) No 6. How do you deal with conflict in your group? (Uncertainty avoidance dimension) a) Through discussion among members b) Assume it and let it pass 7. Does being a member of a group for a long time change your perception towards the group? a) Yes b) No 8. Would you want to work with one group consistently or with different members at different times? 9. How do you deal with language and communication barriers between members of your group? 10. How do you deal with dimensions of behaviour that reflect different members’ country of origin? 11. How does your team deal with problems associated with religion? 12. How does your group choose its leader? 13. What powers does the group leader have over the group? 14. How does your group adapt to existing gaps within the team? 15. How does your group make final decisions that require the opinions of members? 16. How would you change your team so that it would make better decisions? 17. Does your team have any rules? If yes, who set them and how do the rules affect members from different countries? 18. Has your group ever experienced a member’s exit? 19. If your answer in question 17 above is yes, what was the reason for the exit? 20. Given your experience in a multicultural setting, would you consider working in a multicultural organisation? Read More