The Benefits and Challanges of Multicultural Teams
In:
Submitted By lioly86 Words 2059 Pages 9
Introduction
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." -Michael Jordan
When talking about accomplishing success in any type of organization, we must mind the essential role of team working. A team that provides high performance is one of the most important assets for a company. But even if an organization has the best talents in its field, it is not enough unless their aptitudes are incorporated into collectively performing unit. Turning an average performing into high performing team can be done by utilizing the strengths of each team member and the cultural diversity of the entire group.
In the contemporary world we live, it is very common to work in multicultural teams. These teams are perceived as highly potential based on the perception that the greater the diversity, the greater the creativity and productivity of a team is. Yet, there are certain challenges that international teams encounter and that is why it is of great importance to be aware of the cultural diversity around the globe. Despite of how influential is our own culture on our beliefs and behaviours we must be aware that we are not coming from the one and only “valuable” culture in the world. People often tend to believe that their own values and beliefs are the only “right” ones as they are embedded in their particular cultures. We must be aware that each of us, each singular culture might shine in a different way, but that does not mean someone else’s light is less bright than ours. We must respect, mind and understand others differences in order to communicate efficiently and realize that these dissimilarities do not makes us weak ,they are actually the source of our strength.
Frameworks for cultural analyses
In order to acquire better understanding of the different cultures, several frameworks were developed by famous