A MULTICULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAM (slp) - Essay Example

A Multicultural Virtual Team SLP and Section # of A Multicultural Virtual Team SLP A team spanning different cultures of the world is a multi-cultural team. Its members are usually from different markets and setting of the businesses around the world. In very today's world, more and more business dealers are looking for people who bring in different inputs to their business. Multi cultural teams are also very cost effective in ways like saving time. for example if a member of the group has a holiday on Friday’s, then the people who work on Friday’s can carry forward his part of work so that no loss of time occurs.

The different teams also bring different thoughts to the table. People from US are graduated from better colleges which impart better education, so that the ideas that they put forth are more workable and easy to follow. These days’ multi-cultural virtual teams are even more important as they save the cost of travelling and at the same time provide a means of increased globalization and enhanced thoughts. Working of the team according to the Tuckman’s Teamwork Model This report describes a multicultural virtual team that was formed for a business company based on selling market products related to cosmetics.

The few things that were required of the team were: 1. to keep a market survey of the number of customers 2. to keep a market survey of the demand of the cosmetics 3. promoting the products The team took the survey and found out that score was highest in the norming section of the questionnaire. And the two highest scores were performing and norming so the team was clearly in the performing stage altogether. The team first took together members from all over the world including places like Japan, USA, KSA, UK, Canada, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

The purpose of including all these teams went from very much business-like country and highly developed countries to third world countries. This helped the team to gather information from all around the world. The team could give very clear statistics about the demand of the products. This was the forming stage. The team had a hard time trying to adjust with each other and the idea of now working with people from different variant cultures and settings. Everyone was desperately trying to find their places in the group.

Many thought that the group would dissolve because of the In the second stage, the team, everyone on the team began to think of themselves as part of the team. After that the team started to move towards their next goal which was talking and discussing the problems they were faced with and the challenges they had to overcome. The team also had to fix up times to contact each outer appropriately. For example, the people from KSA have a holiday on Fridays. So no meetings could be held then. Also the team had to synchronize time for vacations and national holidays and cultures.

The team was also faced with the task of solving the issue of communication as a few countries had very slow LANs or internets. Like the under-developed ones. Conflicts and confrontations were solved. The team lost its focus for a while when it concentrated on big and small issues and differences, and performance was stalled. The team is currently in this stage. The team has finally started to put aside the differences and reach a common consensus so that they start working towards a goal complying with the problem at hand; i.e. the task of selling the cosmetic products and generating revenues.

The team has decided upon an agenda, and the process that needs to be followed to complete the task successfully. The team has also decided the roles that have to be assigned to different people. Everyone feels more as a team now. The team is currently working towards the performing stage. The team is going to increase concentration on the final results, working in harmony and all in all reaching synergy as they know that the only way to do. Conclusion With the help of the Tuckman's Model, the team has understood the way a team works, how it evolves and grows to be a better gathering of individuals than one without it.

The multi cultural group has the advantage of spanning many countries. These members also bring in different thoughts and arguments on the table. Constructive discussion is the only key to better evolution. Although the team sometimes broke the pattern of the Tuckman Model, but most of the model was followed through. Nevertheless it should be kept in consideration that the team's working loops around as well. Not all times is it seen that all steps are followed in the right sequence. References MAJOR CHALLENGES IN MULTI-CULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAMS: Robert Vinaja, University of Texas-Pan American, 1201 W.

University Dr., Edinburg (2003); http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/research/swdsi/2003/Papers/068.pdf Tuckman’s Team Development Model; http://www.e3smallschools.org/download/TuckmansTeamDevelopmentModel.pdf Tuckman forming storming norming performing model (2011); http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm Teamwork Theory: Tuckman's Stages of Group Development: The happy manager (2003-2011); http://www.the-happy-manager.com/teamwork-theory.html