DIVERSIFICATION IN CROSS CULTURAL TEAMS

In my 14th class of intercultural management, we saw a very particular topic that from my point of view is the most interesting one of all topics that we have seen during the semester.

Is fascinating how a good understanding not just about the topic that teams are researching but also the connection that members of the group have to create in order to have a successful result.

Saying this now we ask ourselves way teams some time fail in their objectives or the result is not the expected, this is because there are some facts that teams have to study first to avoid those failures. As we saw in the last class there is a theory call “Developmental Sequence in Small Groups” which say that there are some steps to follow and this will be the success or fail of a team work.

Now getting deeper on the subject, talking about teams with people that share same language, same costumes might be easier to work, but when the team is formed by people with different characteristics the job gets harder, but why? because there is a lack of leadership where nobody wants to take the responsibility to delegate, and nobody wants to follow others. Also because there is a deference to authority where people are afraid to express their feelings and emotions, as well as sometimes there are members who block the other people's work.

Trust and the lack thereof

According to Lencioni ''Trust is a characteristic of all efficient teams, lack of trust one of the most common or important causes for a dysfunctional team''

According to '' The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'' written by Patrick Lencioni, the following are the description of the dysfunction.

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust

The fear of being vulnerable with team members prevents the building of trust within the team.

• Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
• The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles the occurrence of productive ideological conflict.
• Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
• The lack of clarity or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions they will stick to.
Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
• The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding one another accountable.
Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results
• The pursuit of individual goals and personal status erodes the focus on collective success.
''Negative trust-destroying events are more noticeable and more heavily weighted in impression formation which subsequently propagates or solidifies further distrust'' (Slovic, 1993)

On the other hand what is it needed to build a good team?

According to the proffesor Heiko, first team members have to identify the issues and then set specific goals, and obviously trust in each other.

QUESTION!!!

Should people eliminate fear for a more effective teamwork?

According to the article published by the magazine inc.com ''fear can be the enemy of innovation and effective teamwork, because effective teamwork works best when workplace teams are not afraid to fail or even worse, lose their employment (talking about team works within companies). So, instead of being fearful, team leadership should incent its workplace teams to look at things from a long-term perspective''

From my point of view it is very important to do so, because fear would not let team members to adapt and do what they are suppose to do withing the team.

• Lencioni, P. (2003). The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (p. 240). John Wiley & Sons.
• Schmidt, H. (Director) (2015, May 5) Finding Common Ground - Multicultural Teams. Lecture PowerPoint. Lecture conducted from EAFIT Universty, Medellin.  
• 3 Ways to Ensure Your Team Is at Peak Performance. (n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2015, from http://www.inc.com/quora/3-ways-to-ensure-your-team-is-at-peak-performance.html?cid=sf01001