Goup Work Behavior / Management

Managing Groups in a Multicultural Setup

Surviving and succeeding in today 's global competitive business environment is obviously difficult . Cross-cultural working , managing changes , technological advantages give the much needed edge to set organizations apart . Our progress and approach strategies clearly defines our success . Developments in recent years have reinforced the view that we are moving from a world in which we determined our destination to one in which we must learn to navigate a path between myriad future possibilities (Stickland ,1998

I had been assigned to a study group , which I

was to work with , during the first semester . The group members met each other for the first time in the lecture theatre and decided to meet after class . The meeting was informal and we all introduced ourselves exchanged e-mail addresses and phone numbers . All five team members talked about their backgrounds and I seemed to like the team from the beginning . Everyone seemed humble . As we kept on talking , it became apparent that some team members were more talkative than others . Team members , A and B were very talkative and kept asking questions while C and D were more quiet . I was more like an average participant , but in the end I too talked less . A and B looked at each other and me but not at C and D C and D were thus not included in the conversations . I noticed this , but decided to ignore it for the time being . I thought I need to only change it later

The five members came from different countries across four continents . A was from India and from experience I knew that Indians would talk a lot and have strong opinions . B was from Honduras whom I thought would be talkative and easy going like my friends from Nicaragua and other Central American countries . While C was from Georgia , a country I did not know much about , D was from the US whom I thought would be a hard working , self-centered and confrontationist . The team was truly diverse . Having lived in Asia , North America and Europe working with several multicultural teams for over a decade I knew from the beginning that I had to learn more about their cultures and backgrounds . This was perhaps the only way I could interpret their behavior and adapt to them , while they could adapt to me too . I believed that judging people even before you get to know them was wrong , while at the same time I was sure that my assumptions about certain cultures and the norms within these cultures , were mostly right

We were assigned the first group task in management science . I walked into the assignment with a positive attitude and everyone else in the group did , too . After all , the first get-to-know meeting had been positive . Once we had gathered , we decided on where to work . We sat down and focused on the task that had been given to us . We read the assignment and were ready to discuss the...