Individual characteristics on multicultural team performance: does the role played by leaders and team members matter?

The main purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of individual characteristics of cultural sensitivity, adaptability, cohesion, and cultural diversity on the multicultural team performance. Also, we analyzed the moderating effect of being a team member or a team leader on the relationships mentioned above. To test out hipotheses, data were collected from 415 members of multicultural teams specifically, from 304 team members and 111 leaders. The findings provided evidence to support a positive relationship between cultural sensitivity, adaptability, cohesion, and team performance. Cultural diversity did not show a significant impact on team performance. The study also showed that the leaders and members had different perceptions about the factors that influence team performance. For instance, team members consider that cohesion influences team performance, while leaders consider adaptability as the key factor to achieve performance. Main implications from findings are discussed.

The Happy Culture: A Theoretical, Meta-Analytic, and Empirical Review of the Relationship Between Culture and Wealth and Subjective Well-Being

Do cultural values enhance financial and subjective well-being (SWB)? Taking a multidisciplinary approach, we meta-analytically reviewed the field, found it thinly covered, and focused on individualism. In counter, we collected a broad array of individual-level data, specifically an Internet sample of 8,438 adult respondents. Individual SWB was most strongly associated with cultural values that foster relationships and social capital, which typically accounted for more unique variance in life satisfaction than an individual’s salary. At a national level, we used mean-based meta-analysis to construct a comprehensive cultural and SWB database. Results show some reversals from the individual level, particularly masculinity’s facet of achievement orientation. In all, the happy nation has low power distance and low uncertainty avoidance, but is high in femininity and individualism, and these effects are interrelated but still partially independent from political and economic institutions. In short, culture matters for individual and national well-being.

Managing Communication within Virtual Intercultural Teams

As global companies increasingly rely on virtual teams to conduct short- and long- term projects, business students need to be prepared to manage the communication of intercultural teams. Communicating across cultures using technology can be a difficult task. It requires understanding the advantages and limitations of technol ogy and how to build relationships via technology. Virtual team members need to choose an appropriate communication channel for their purposes and be sure to balance distance work with face-to-face communication. Team leaders should encourage open communication and brainstorming, and avoid assignment of blame. Other strategies for success include: 1) develop a network of good relation ships built on trust and understanding, 2) show respect for other cultures and lan guages, and 3) understand how diversity strengthens the team.

Virtual Teams and Group Member Dissimilarity

The consequences of demographic dissimilarity for group trust in work teams was examined in a virtual (computer-mediated) and a face-to-face (FTF) environment. Demographic dissimilarity (based on age, gender, country of birth, enrolled degree) was predicted to be negatively associated with group trust in the FTF environment but not in the computer-mediated environment. Participants worked in small groups on a creative task for 3 consecutive days. In the computer-mediated environment, participants worked on the task for an hour per day. In the FTF environment, participants worked on the task for 20 minutes per day. Partial support was found for the effectiveness of computer-mediated groups in reducing the negative consequences of dissimilarity. Age dissimilarity was negatively related to trust in FTF groups but not in computer-mediated groups. Birthplace dissimilarity was positively related to trust in computer-mediated groups. Implications for the successful management of virtual teams are discussed.

Ethnic Composition and its Differential Impact on Group Processes in Diverse Teams

This study contrasts the effects of two types of ethnically heterogeneous groups on their enjoyment of and performance on an interactive creative task. The majority of each group was composed of either ethnic minorities or Caucasians. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling where appropriate. Teams composed mostly of ethnic minorities rated working with the group to be more enjoyable and reported experiencing more positive and fewer negative emotions. Ethnic composition was not predictive of task creativity. Both individual ethnicity and the interaction between individual ethnicity and ethnic composition had an effect on negative emotions; these effects were independent of the group-level effect. Issues concerning ethnic diversity, group dynamics, and context effects are discussed.

Thinking Outside the Black Box

Despite the widespread involvement of third parties in organizational team decision making, little empirical research has explored the effect of these individuals on team outcomes. Expanding literature on team decision making to include the role of external third parties, this study investigates the effects of the interaction between type of third-party input (direction, devil’s advocacy, or expert advice) and team cultural values heterogeneity on team decision outcomes. Using an experimental design, the authors find that input type interacts with team cultural values heterogeneity on individualism-collectivism to predict decision effectiveness. With no third-party input, teams homogeneous and heterogeneous on individualism-collectivism were equally effective. With devil’s advocacy or expert advice, homogeneous teams were more effective than were heterogeneous teams. However, importantly, when an external third party provided direction, heterogeneous teams were more effective thanwere homogeneousteams. The findings contribute to the theory regardingteam composition and decision making. The article concludes with suggestions for practice and future research.

Leading Conflict? Linkages Between Leader Behaviors and Group Conflict

This article is intended to contribute to the creation of a theoretical framework for more fully assessing the nature of the relationship between leadership styles and group conflict. The authors report the results of a laboratory study conducted to assess the connection between leadership behaviors and the levels of cognitive and affective conflict generated in decision-making groups. The findings support the assertion that differences in leadership behaviors can trigger different levels of cognitive and affective conflict among group members. Behaviors reflective of the transformational style of leadership demonstrated the greatest capacity to motivate group members to constructively debate ideas. However, in contrast to transactional and external leader behaviors, transformational leadership behaviors also showed a greater capacity for igniting affective conflict among group members.

The Impact of Team Members’ Cultural Values on Productivity, Cooperation, and Empowerment in Self-Managing Work Teams

Using a field survey of 81 self-managing work teams (SMWTs) in Belgium, Finland, the Philippines, and the United States, we examined the extent to which team members’ resistance to SMWTs mediated the relationships between team members’ cultural values and team effectiveness. Specifically, we found that teams higher, rather than lower, in collectivism were also more productive, cooperative, and empowered; and that these relationships were fully mediated by the level of team resistance to the team-related aspect of SMWTs. Also, we found that teams that were more, rather than less, doing-oriented were also more empowered, and that this relationship was fully mediated by the level of team resistance to the self-managing aspect of SMWTs. The findings suggest that it may behoove managers who are charged with implementing SMWTs to pay close attention to the predominant cultural values inherent in the teams they lead. Additional practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

The Impact of Demographic Heterogeneity and Team Leader-Team Member Demographic Fit on Team Empowerment and Effectiveness

The authors report the results of an investigation on how demographic heterogeneity in work teams influences team empowerment and team effectiveness. Using data collected from 111 intact work teams in four organizations, it was found that team race heterogeneity was negatively related to team empowerment and to multiple indicators of team effectiveness. Teams were also less effective when their team leaders had longer, rather than shorter, organizational tenure. Team empowerment fully mediated the relationships that race heterogeneity had with team leader ratings of team effectiveness and partially mediated the relationships with team member ratings. In addition, demographic dissimilarity between team leaders and their teams on race was negatively related to empowerment and team leader ratings of team effectiveness; and team members reported less empowerment when led by older team leaders. The authors discuss both theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

Influence and Political Processes in Cyberspace

The ways team members choose to influence each other and the political processes that take place within the team have important implications for the team’s effectiveness. We present an exploratory investigation of the ways both phenomena occur in global virtual teams. Based on interviews with team members and managers, combined with existing knowledge of these processes, we present a preliminary model that includes familiarity, team centrality and task focus as variables mediating the relationship between the multicultural and virtual aspects of the teams and the use of influence and politics. Our findings also suggest that the use of hard influence tactics and political actions is milder in global virtual teams in relation to collocated teams.

Employing an Innovation Strategy in Racially Diverse Workforces

This study explored racial diversity’s influence on firm performance. A national sample of 177 banks was used to first test competing hypotheses supported by the resource-based view of the firm and social identity theory that posited positive and negative direct effects, respectively, of racial diversity on organizational performance. No support was found for either prediction. However, a contingency theory-based hypothesis was supported. A moderation effect indicated that racial diversity’s association with performance was contingent on firms’ level of innovation. Specifically, racial diversity enhanced performance for banks pursuing an innovation strategy, whereas for banks low in innovation, performance declined. The results suggest that a racially diverse workforce in conjunction with an innovation-focused business strategy may provide firms a competitive advantage. This study thus supports a contingency/resource-based perspective that states that racial diversity, as a knowledge-based resource, needs to be set in an appropriate context to fully realize its potential benefits.

A Review of Cross-Cultural Methodologies for Organizational Research: A Best- Practices Approach

Cross-cultural studies that use self-report instruments can present researchers with a variety of challenges. This article reviews the organizational research literature between the years of 1995 and 2001 to identify common practices prevalent in this type of research. Key methodological issues are examined within the context of a three-stage framework: (a) the development of the research question, (b) the alignment of the research contexts, and (c) the validation of the research instruments. This examination serves as a basis for the identification of best-practice recommendations for cross-cultural researchers.

Socially responsible diversity management

The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual framework to describe ‘socially responsible diversity management’. This framework seeks to demonstrate that the desired social justice outcomes of affirmative action programs and the business benefits of diversity management programs can be achieved but only by undertaking initiatives at a number of levels. Traditional approaches to afirmative action have been unsuccessful in achieving their goal of equitable labour market outcomes and it is unclear that diversity management programs have contributed to business outcomes. The article argues that neither affirmative action nor diversity management has been able to fully achieve its objectives because of a number of limitations. The article argues that organisations can achieve better business outcomes, as well as equity outcomes associated with a diverse workforce, by adopting a relational, multilevel framework of managing diversity. Such a framework provides for the creation of what is termed ‘socially responsible diversity management’.

Socially responsible diversity management

The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual framework to describe ‘socially responsible diversity management’. This framework seeks to demonstrate that the desired social justice outcomes of affirmative action programs and the business benefits of diversity management programs can be achieved but only by undertaking initiatives at a number of levels. Traditional approaches to afirmative action have been unsuccessful in achieving their goal of equitable labour market outcomes and it is unclear that diversity management programs have contributed to business outcomes. The article argues that neither affirmative action nor diversity management has been able to fully achieve its objectives because of a number of limitations. The article argues that organisations can achieve better business outcomes, as well as equity outcomes associated with a diverse workforce, by adopting a relational, multilevel framework of managing diversity. Such a framework provides for the creation of what is termed ‘socially responsible diversity management’.

Openness to diversity, trust and conflict in multicultural organizations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between openness to diversity in terms of linguist, visible, value and informational heterogeneity and group processes depicted by group trust and group conflict. We collected data using a web-based survey among 498 academics in multicultural departments. The departments were located in four different Danish universities. We found openness to value diversity and informational diversity to have a positive association with group trust and a negative association with group conflict. Openness to linguistic diversity had positive relationships with group trust. The findings of this study suggest that openness to diversity should be highly prioritized by human resource managers in demographically diverse organizations. Possible interventions include organizational culture change programs, diversity training at individual and team levels as well as rewarding group oriented behavior.

Professional football squads as multicultural teams

After the Bosman ruling in 1995, the cultural diversity of professional football teams in Europe has increased considerably. Recruiting players regardless of their nationality allows football clubs to make use of a global talent pool and to combine the specific strengths of individuals with different cultural backgrounds. At the same time, it confronts them with the challenge of having players who speak different languages and who have different football philosophies ingrained in them. Based on a structure–leadership–performance model, we test the impact of various cultural factors on team success against the background of archival data of 2483 players of 98 clubs in the 5 largest European football leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). We find a negative effect of cultural diversity of the team and of intercultural experience of a coach on team performance. We derive implications for research on multicultural teams and for the management of football teams.

Openness to diversity, trust and conflict in multicultural organizations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relation between openness to diversity in terms of linguist, visible, value and informational heterogeneity and group processes depicted by group trust and group conflict. We collected data using a web-based survey among 498 academics in multicultural departments. The departments were located in four different Danish universities. We found openness to value diversity and informational diversity to have a positive association with group trust and a negative association with group conflict. Openness to linguistic diversity had positive relationships with group trust. The findings of this study suggest that openness to diversity should be highly prioritized by human resource managers in demographically diverse organizations. Possible interventions include organizational culture change programs, diversity training at individual and team levels as well as rewarding group oriented behavior.

Leader Cultural Intelligence in Context

Despite clear calls from industry to better understand cross-cultural leadership competencies, academic research on leader cultural intelligence (CQ) is remarkably sparse. To date, very few empirical studies have examined the unique contribution of leader CQ to leadership performance outcomes beyond the effects of competing leadership competencies. Data from 99 culturally diverse organizational leaders and 321 of their followers demonstrated that leader CQ predicted follower perceptions of leader performance and team performance in contexts where work teams were characterized by significant ethnic and nationality diversity. Furthermore, leader CQ predicted follower perceptions of leader performance and team performance on culturally diverse work teams beyond the effects of leader emotional intelligence and other leadership competencies. Implications for cultural intelligence theory, future research directions, and management practice are discussed.

Special Review Article: Culture in groups and teams: A review of three decades of research

This article reviews research on culture in groups and teams by analyzing 85 empirical studies published in the 15 leading management journals from 1980 to 2009. At first, we review the culture values used in the 85 articles. We next review how these culture values, as independent variables or dependent variables, were studied in each research topic. Then we review the methodological issues in the 85 articles. The review shows some advances but also many gaps in both theory and methods. Therefore, we highlight critical challenges for future research.

Special Review Article: Diversity and its not so diverse literature: An international perspective

This paper reviews workforce diversity literature and its research findings. We identify important gaps between the literature and the challenges of diversity management. These gaps include lack of organizational level analysis, tokenism, and artificially constructed research settings that cannot address a variety of cultural contexts. Furthermore, most studies do not investigate underlying beliefs and values or managerial interventions. We conclude that the diversity field itself is not very diverse and has been dominated by US-centric research. We provide suggestions for future research themes: language diversity, cultural contextualization of diversity, and social class diversity.

Deliberation and Diversity: Perceptions of Small Group Discussions by Race and Ethnicity

One of the challenges facing public deliberation scholars and practitioners is to identify deliberative processes that address inequities in interaction and foster active participation among all members of ethnically or racially diverse groups. This study draws from cocultural communication theory and uses mixed methodology to examine the experiences of citizens assigned to racially/ ethnically diverse small groups who participated in “By the People: Dialogues in Democracy”—a national/local initiative and public deliberation event. One hundred participants in a local deliberation in Omaha, Nebraska, completed a postevent questionnaire and 20 participants were subsequently interviewed. Data were analyzed to compare the perceptions of White participants and participants of color (African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American). Analysis of variance indicated that participants of color perceived greater communication quality and group effectiveness and experienced more satisfaction with their small groups than did Whites. Both White interviewees and interviewees of color said they valued being exposed to diverse group members and perspectives, the respectful tone of the group interaction, the facilitators’ ability to guide the interaction, and the opportunity to learn. Consistent with cocultural communication theory, participants of color specially praised the equal opportunity to speak in their groups and the experience of being heard. The results fortify the importance for public deliberation practitioners to take concerted steps to ensure racial/ethnic diversity and egalitarian interaction of members in deliberative small groups.

Moving Beyond Conventional Wisdom: Advancements in Cross-Cultural Theories of Leadership, Conflict, and Teams

In this article, we discuss the importance of a cross-cultural approach to organizational behavior. To do so, we illustrate how cross-cultural research in the past two decades has enabled us to reconceptualize constructs, revise models, and extend boundary conditions in traditional organizational behavior theories. We focus on three domains-teams, leadership, and conflict-and review cross-cultural empirical evidence that has extended several theories in each of these domains. We support the claim that even well-established organizational behavior theories vary in the extent to which they may be applied unilaterally across cultures, thus identifying the critical need to advance these theories via a cross-cultural research agenda.

Can cultural differences lead to accidents? Team cultural differences and sociotechnical system operations

OBJECTIVE

I discuss cultural factors and how they may influence sociotechnical system operations.

BACKGROUND

Investigations of several major transportation accidents suggest that cultural factors may have played a role in the causes of the accidents. However, research has not fully addressed how cultural factors can influence sociotechnical systems.

METHOD

I review literature on cultural differences in general and cultural factors in sociotechnical systems and discuss how these differences can affect team performance in sociotechnical systems.

RESULTS

Cultural differences have been observed in social and interpersonal dimensions and in cognitive and perceptual styles; these differences can affect multioperator team performance.

CONCLUSION

Cultural factors may account for team errors in sociotechnical systems, most likely during high-workload, high-stress operational phases. However, much of the research on cultural factors has methodological and interpretive shortcomings that limit their applicability to sociotechnical systems.

APPLICATION

Although some research has been conducted on the role of cultural differences on team performance in sociotechnical system operations, considerable work remains to be done before the effects of these differences can be fully understood. I propose a model that illustrates how culture can interact with sociotechnical system operations and suggest avenues of future research. Given methodological challenges in measuring cultural differences and team performance in sociotechnical system operations, research in these systems should use a variety of methodologies to better understand how culture can affect multioperator team performance in these systems.

Leaders’ Orientations to Diversity: Two Cases from Education

This article explores two case colleges in England to consider how context, conceptualisation, orientation and action interact in relation to diversity issues in leadership. Focus group and individual interview data are analysed. Context is perceived as influential in shaping concepts and action. In one case, the diversity and socio-economic disadvantage of the community create a perceived imperative to address diversity, resulting in multiple conceptions of diversity and systemic action. In the second case, the context of a perceived homogeneous community interacts with an equal opportunities conceptualization of diversity to justify little or no action. A tentative theoretical model is suggested to frame further enquiry.

The Impact of Group Composition and Attitudes Towards Diversity on Anticipated Outcomes of Diversity in Groups

In two studies, students evaluated group pictures of workgroups of varying ethnic and gender composition with respect to anticipated affective and productive outcomes. The impact of level of diversity, faultlines and individual differences in diversity attitudes on anticipated outcomes were examined. Favorable level effects of diversity were particularly found for groups with weak faultlines and for productive outcomes of diversity. In general, outcomes of cross-categorized groups were anticipated as more favorable than outcomes of groups with strong faultlines. Also in line with expectations, attitudes towards diversity moderated the impact of diversity on anticipated group outcomes. Interestingly, attitudes towards diversity buffered against increasing levels of diversity and not so much against the presence of faultlines.

Cross-Cultural Organizational Behavior

This article reviews research on cross-cultural organizational behavior (OB). After a brief review of the history of cross-cultural OB, we review research on work motivation, or the factors that energize, direct, and sustain effort across cultures. We next consider the relationship between the individual and the organization, and review research on culture and organizational commitment, psychological contracts, justice, citizenship behavior, and person-environment fit. Thereafter, we consider how individuals manage their interdependence in organizations, and review research on culture and negotiation and disputing, teams, and leadership, followed by research on managing across borders and expatriation. The review shows that developmentally, cross-cultural research in OB is coming of age. Yet we also highlight critical challenges for future research, including moving beyond values to explain cultural differences, attending to levels of analysis issues, incorporating social and organizational context factors into cross-cultural research, taking indigenous perspectives seriously, and moving beyond intracultural comparisons to understand the dynamics of cross-cultural interfaces.

The Role of Team Identification in the Dissimilarity-Conflict Relationship

This study examined the role of team identification in the dissimilarity and conflict relationship. We tested competing predictions that team identification would either mediate or moderate the positive associations between visible (age, gender and ethnic background), professional (background) and value dissimilarity and task and relationship conflict. Data was collected from 27 MBA student teams twice during a semester. Multilevel modelling and a longitudinal design were used. Results showed that value dissimilarity was positively associated with task and relationship conflict at Time 2. Its effects on relationship conflict at Time 1 were moderated by team identification. Team identification also moderated the effects of gender, age and ethnic dissimilarity on task conflict at Time 2, and the effects of gender and professional dissimilarity on relationship conflict at Time 2. No support was obtained for the mediating role of team identification on the associations between dissimilarity and conflict, or for changes in the effects of dissimilarity over time.