Creating Cultural Synergy:
A Management Plan for a culturally diverse team

Theresa Famolaro

MGMT 615

Dr. Linda Smith

20 March 2012

Introduction

This paper presents a problematic multicultural team scenario and a management plan to bring about the team’s effectiveness and success through cultural synergy. A summary of the conflict among team members sets the stage for an innovative solution, while a description of the emergence of multicultural teams in the workplace provides a context. Initially, an assessment of the cultural diversity of the team members is provided. Then, a plan to leverage the richness of culturally diverse team members working together is explored. Finally, in the event that the plan is unsuccessful, a backup plan is offered for consideration. Due to globalization, people from various cultures find themselves working with individuals from other cultures, often in an intercultural team environment. A team is an interdependent group of individuals brought together for innovation and the achievement of a specific goal (Northouse, 2010). Team cohesiveness is positively associated with openness of opinions and collaboration between team members. Disagreement within teams negatively affects team members from sharing points of view (Woerkom & Sanders, 2010). Multicultural teams are more likely to display less cohesion than teams with members that share the same culture. Cultural diversity among team members can contribute to added stress and lack of cohesion because of mistrust and faulty communication within the team (Adler & Gundersen, 2008).

Statement of the Problem

A six-person work team located in an office in New Jersey must deliver a critical project due in 30 days. Four of the team members have worked together for 9 months and two team members that