Multicultural Workforce: Team Work And Communication
A lot of research has been done in an attempt to understand cross-cultural communication and its implications in the context of large companies in the global landscape. To determine how and what influences the effectiveness of a team, we need to look at several cultural preferences. In this text, I will discuss how a multicultural workforce affects team work as well as communication in the context of large companies.
Team work and communication ion a multicultural workforce
According to Parhizgar (2002), several cultural preferences have been known largely influence the effectiveness of teamwork. One of these cultural preferences is the view of time. Various cultures view time differently (Adler et al. 2008). For example, mainstream Americans have a tendency to plan the activities they are to engage in well in advance, with each activity timed with regard to when it is supposed to take place. Mainstream Americans also tend to concentrate on a single task at a time. On the other hand, Latinos and some other members of the Hispanic groups have a tendency to multitask and their view of time is mostly holistic, systemic as well as abundant (Jackson et al. 2008). For example, in this case, when a member of a Hispanic group is in a given conversation, he will be reluctant to end the current conversation to attend to other commitments. The belief here is that the other parties will understand. This may in one way or the other affect the effectiveness of teamwork as vital players in the team view time differently.
Adler et al. (2008) argues that an individuals approach to work is another cultural preference that can affect the effectiveness of teamwork as well as communications in large companies. Depending on which culture an individual comes from, his or her view of work may be different from that of other members of different cultures. Various diverse groups such as Latinos are mostly brought up in a communal setting where individual preferences come after societal needs. In this setting, relationships also take precedence over knowledge, data or even tasks. With that in mind, they have been known to be excellent members of any given team as they tend to give the team’s goals more prominence than their own goals. Their tendency to favor relationships also works in making communication within the team efficient and effective. Cultures that do not put emphasis on building relationships may stifle efforts towards efficient communication in large companies.
Lastly, another cultural preference that can affect the effectiveness of teamwork as well as communications in large companies is how individuals share information. People from different cultural background communicate differently. For example, Latinos and other employees from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate differently. Indirect communication has been linked to Latinos and other members of the Hispanic groups. For instance, they may not say something is not right explicitly even as they imply it (Jackson et al. 2008). This may impact negatively on the effectiveness of a team as well as hinder communication efforts.
Conclusion
It is important to note that a large company should put in place appropriate measures to manage a multicultural workforce as well as ensure that teamwork and communications are enhanced. The effective management of a multicultural workforce is especially important in the current day and age given the global trends where the world is increasingly becoming a global village.
References
Adler, J.N., & Gunderson, A. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behavior, 5thCengage Learning
Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S., & Werner, S. (2008). Managing Human, 10th Edition. Cengage Learning
Parhizgar, K.D (2002). Multicultural behavior and global business. Routledge
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