What if leaders fail to navigate

cultural complexities? Managing a diverse team

effectively

Randall S. Peterson

Professor of Organisational

Behaviour

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Work done in collaboration with:

Dr. Kristin M. Behfar, Darden School of Business,

University of Virginia

Karim Ginena, Ph.D. Student, Darden

School of Business, University of Virginia

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We want to better understand certain cultural

differences in order to give better advice to

managers in how to lead teams:

1) Work groups are assembled to share individual

expertise and opinion, but this creates task conflict

(i.e., task debate, different views about how to

achieve the work, etc.). How to deal with this

problem is likely to depend on national and regional

culture.

2) How should groups deal with diversity of culture?

What makes sense in one culture is not interpreted

the same across national cultures.

To an Anglo manager, this is a leader who is ahead of the crowd;

To a Japanese manager, this is a cohesive team working together who happen to be behind a single individual;

To a Singaporean manager, this is not about leadership. This is kiasu and the one in front wants to make certain that the others don’t get ahead of him; he is being selfish and possibly holding the team back;

To an Indian manager we can think about shipping a box of crabs without a cover… (i.e., the team may be preparing to pull the colourful one back).

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General Principles of Effective Team Leadership (and the cultural principles that threaten them)

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1) Trust between team leader and members is critically important (However, the

core of trust is different by culture and individual [e.g., masculine versus

feminine]; trust can be alternatively about benevolence, behavioural integrity,

and/or competence).

2) Information exchange is central to the success of teams (However,

information exchange typically happens when people disagree about the

content of a decision [i.e., task conflict], which is seen as threatening to the

longer-term relationship building process in collectivist cultures).

3) Successful teams take on board information that those from outside of the

team are telling them about their work (However, critical feedback is

perceived as insulting in some cultures where face or honour are strong

cultural values).

4) Successful teams establish clear goals and group process before decisions

about content are made (However, in some cultures [i.e., high power

distance] leaders are expected to provide direction, while in others all team

members expect to participate in this process).

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FIGURE 1: Double-Edged Sword Model of Diversity

Group

Diversity

Social Categorization:

Ineffective Group

Processes

Informational Benefits:

Access to Diverse

Information

Group

Performance

-

+

Surface Level

Diversity

Deep Level

Diversity + +

+

+

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As a team leader:

1) How do different cultures deal with these

challenges? For example, how to collectivist

cultures deal with the need to debate issues

when this process is seen as disruptive and

dangerous?

2) As the leader of a multi-national team, how do I

achieve these imperatives…and at the same time

respect team members and bring out their best

performance?

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In depth interviews with 25+ people in four

regions/countries:

1) Who are managing teams

2) Who have not worked outside of the country

3) In their native language (Mandarin, Arabic,

English)

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Anglo English-speaking Countries:

Hofstede (1984): High individualism, low power

distance, low uncertainty avoidance, relatively short

term perspective.

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

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1) Power Distance: Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

2) Individualism vs. Collectivism: The degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. In individualistic societies, the stress is put on personal achievements and individual rights. In collectivist societies individuals act predominantly as members of a lifelong and cohesive group or organization.

3) Uncertainty Avoidance: A society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. It reflects the extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to be more emotional.

4) Masculinity vs. Femininity: The distribution of emotional roles between the genders. Masculine cultures' values are competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power, whereas feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life.

5) Long-term Orientation vs. Short-term Orientation: First called "Confucian dynamism", it describes societies‘ time horizon. Long-term oriented societies attach more importance to the future. In short term oriented societies, values promoted are related to the past and the present.

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Anglo English-speaking Countries:

Hofstede (1984): High individualism, low power

distance, low uncertainty avoidance, relatively short

term perspective.

Personal values most highly cherished: Family,

achievement orientation, honesty, responsibility.

Group Leadership Metaphor:

Mechanical.

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China:

Hofstede (1984): Low individualism, high power

distance, low uncertainty avoidance, long term

perspective.

Personal values most highly cherished: Family,

success, Guanxi (personal connections), personal

sacrifice for greater good.

Group Leadership Metaphor:

Flock/herd of animals.

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Arab Countries:

Hofstede (1984): Low individualism, high power

distance, high uncertainty avoidance, high

masculinity.

Personal values most highly cherished: Extended

family, community charity, honour, religion in

everyday life (i.e., impact of Islam), fatalism.

Group Leadership Metaphor:

Human body.

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A Few Examples of Implications:

1) When leading a team in China, a team leader

needs to emphasise the potential benefits of

idea exchange/task conflict versus in an

Anglophone team where the leader should

emphasise the benefits of relationships over time

(i.e., cohesion).

Implications

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A Few Examples of Implications:

2) When leading a team in an Arab country,

motivation and context is always central because

team member replacement is not generally an

option and the honour culture means direct

confrontation is difficult as well.

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A Few Examples of Implications:

3) When leading a multi-cultural team of people

from all three of these regions and beyond,

these teams have the potential to bring the best

of all worlds…..but also the potential to spiral

downwards in a cycle of cultural

misunderstanding and poor performance.

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Leading the Multi-Cultural Team:

1) Shared team values/identity is critical for success. To build trust you need to share

something (i.e., teams from one nation share national values and identity).

2) Start further back to get further ahead (i.e., diverse teams take more time, but have the

potential to bring greater returns in the longer run; success needs to be very carefully

defined, including both affective and economic outcomes).

3) Cultural Intelligence (CQ) among teammates is essential (thankfully much of it can be

learned). The one thing that is hard to learn is CQ-Drive: a person's interest, motivation,

and confidence in functioning effectively in culturally diverse settings.

Cultural Intelligence: Three Parts The Head, the Heart, and the Body

Thinking/Cognitive “Do I understand what is happening and can I figure

out how to learn about new cultures?”

Energizing/Motivational “Am I motivated to act?”

Acting/Behaving

“Can I respond appropriately and effectively?”

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Leading the Multi-Cultural Team:

1) Shared team values/identity is critical for success. To build trust you need to share

something (i.e., teams from one nation share national values and identity).

2) Start further back to get further ahead (i.e., diverse teams take more time, but have the

potential to bring greater returns in the longer run; success needs to be very carefully

defined, including both affective and economic outcomes).

3) Cultural Intelligence (CQ) among teammates is essential (thankfully much of it can be

learned). The one thing that is hard to learn is CQ-Drive: a person's interest, motivation,

and confidence in functioning effectively in culturally diverse settings.

4) Coordination failure (i.e., problems integrating a team’s informational resources that arise

from unanticipated differences in perspective) is normal in diverse, multi-national teams.

All team members, but especially leaders, need to expect this and avoid attributions of

blame for failure.

5) Team leaders need to be very self-aware and open to feedback.

The one sure thing about diverse multi-national teams is

that they ALWAYS surprise you – just when you think you

have hang of it, something happens.

THANK YOU

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Questions?