Practical Applications and Recommendations for HR and OD Professionals in the Global Workplace_4 potx

Critical Process #4: Engaging in Perspective Taking to Develop a Cultural Foundation One of the challenges to interaction within multicultural teams isthat cultural differences in values

members will ask for assistance In addition, if team membersmisinterpret the cues offered within heterogeneous teams, theymay provide backup when it’s not needed, neglect the cue thatsignals help is needed, or provide backup in a manner that isculturally inappropriate Given this example, it becomes easy tosee how heterogeneous teams may have more difficulty in backupbehavior because of misinterpretations and miscommunications.Variations in power distance among members may also have animpact on the success of any supporting behavior offered Inmulticultural teams with large variations in power-distance orien-tations among team members, it will become more difficult tosuccessfully engage in supporting behaviors, because team mem-bers will vary in their acceptance of these behaviors based onthe status differentials between recipients and senders Further,given some cultural orientations, the explicit manner in whichbackup behavior is conducted may be seen as threatening, rude,

or embarrassing

Critical Process #4: Engaging in Perspective Taking

to Develop a Cultural Foundation

One of the challenges to interaction within multicultural teams isthat cultural differences in values and beliefs lead individual mem-bers to expect different things, ranging from how a team shouldfunction to the interpretation of members’ actions Yet oftentimesthese cognitive assumptions lie hidden In the absence of explicitrecognition of such underlying assumptions members are oftenlikely to use stereotypes to explain behavior or will engage infaulty attributions as they assume that fellow team members areoperating under the same set of rules, expectations, and prefer-ences as their own Perspective taking may be one of the mostimportant transition processes (see Marks et al., 2001) that occurwithin multicultural teams It involves ‘‘understanding how andwhy another person thinks and feels about the situation and whythey are behaving as they are’’ (Sessa, 1996, p 105) Perspectivetaking is not empathy, but reflects a more cognitive process.Perspective taking has been shown to have a number ofbenefits such as: (1) reducing stereotypic responses and increas-ing the overlap ‘‘between representations of the self andrepresentation of the outgroup’’ (Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000,

p 708), (2) encouraging social coordination and helpingbehavior (Galinsky, Ku, & Wang, 2005), and (3) facilitating bettercommunication Specifically, Sessa (1996) found that perspectivetaking caused people to disclose more information and frametheir conversations in such a way that they were easily understood.This, in turn, leads to overall greater success in multiculturalcommunications In essence, perspective taking is a key aspect

of effective intercultural team interaction; it provides the tional knowledge pertaining to a recognition of the need to adaptbehavior in some manner and offers a mechanism through whichlikely member actions can be projected in the future However,perspective taking is not a natural tendency This is especially truewhen it involves taking the perspective of members of anotherculture Though it has been argued that individuals who are high

founda-in self-monitorfounda-ing (Densten & Gray, 2003) are better at tive taking than those who are low self-monitors, there may also beinterventions that can be designed and implemented to facilitatethis process (we will discuss this more later in the chapter)

perspec-Critical Process #5: Engaging in Negotiation to Find Common Ground

Negotiation is a process that is often ignored or minimized when

it comes to the delineation of important team processes However,within a multicultural setting negotiation becomes key to effectiveinteraction Negotiation has been defined as ‘‘the ways in whichindividuals manage their interdependence’’ (Walton & McKersie,

1965 as cited in Gelfand, Fulmer, & Severance, in press) Inaddition, whereas negotiation may differ across cultures, Gelfand

et al (in press) argue that there are several core characteristics thatshould apply across cultures: there is a perception of conflictinginterests, communication is involved, a joint outcome exists, andalthough there are mixed motives, compromise is possible.Within multicultural teams negotiation is critical becausemembers often come to the team with disparate cognitivestructures that are based in their cultural orientations Theseknowledge structures, in turn, serve to affect the way eachindividual member views the world, team interaction, and theattributions that are made Though there are situations in whichthe knowledge structures are different but still compatible, it

is often the case that the differences are not initially compatible

It is the team leader’s job to facilitate a negotiated reality forthe team such that coordinated, adaptive action is enabled.Researchers have argued that the emergence of a third culturewithin multicultural teams is one of the mechanisms thatfacilitates effective interaction (see Earley & Mosakowski, 2000).However, negotiation is a complex process even when conductedwithin a single culture; it becomes even more complex whenconducted within the context of a multicultural team Forexample, culture has been shown to affect the types of negotiationstrategies, the nature of the influence used in negotiation, aswell as the valued outcomes (Gelfand et al., 2002; Morris et al.,2004; Gelfand & Brett, 2004) Although viewing negotiation

as the process by which differences in cultural values within asingle team are resolved is not the normal way this behavior isexamined in the literature, taking this approach within teams

is essential in order to achieve the common ground that allowscoordinated action In engaging in this process Gelfand andDyer (2000) report that emotional appeals are thought to

be more impactful within collectivistic cultures, and rationalappeals more effective within individualistic cultures Leadersneed to be cognizant of this difference when seeking to facilitate

a negotiated reality For more detailed treatment of the role ofnegotiation, the reader is referred to a recent review by Gelfand,Fulmer, and Severance (in press)

Delineation of Emergent States

Although processes explain the manner in which interactionoccurs within multicultural teams, it is also essential to recognizethe effect that emergent states may have on multicultural teams.Specifically, these cognitive and motivational states can arise asthe result of multicultural team interaction and, in turn, serve

as inputs to future interaction As with the process variables,there are many emergent states that have been identified withinthe teams literature that may be argued to be important for thesuccessful interaction of multicultural teams, but due to spaceconstraints we limit our focus here to a few which we feel formthe foundation for success: psychological safety, shared mentalmodels, and transactive memory systems See Figure 3.1 for avisual representation

Critical State #6: Creating a Sense of Psychological Safety

to Facilitate Interaction

Psychological safety has been defined as a shared belief ing the degree to which the team is perceived to be a safeenvironment to engage in interpersonal risk taking (Edmond-son, 1999) As such, psychological safety reflects a team climatecharacterized by mutual respect and trust Edmondson (2003)found that psychological safety was important in culturally diverseteams (such as medical teams) because it facilitated team inter-action For example, as the degree of psychological safety withinmulticultural teams increases, members will be more willing totake interpersonal risks, such as speaking up and offering con-tributions during plan development or engaging in supportingbehaviors One of the potential benefits of multicultural teams isthe diversity of vantage points that exist within these teams; psy-chological safety helps the team to take advantage of this diversity

regard-by promoting a climate in which members feel free to questionsuggestions and decisions, in essence allowing members to play atype of ‘‘devil’s advocate.’’ Furthermore, though cultures vary inthe degree to which they may engage in these actions, based onpower differentials and concerns about saving face, psychologicalsafety might play a role in mitigating some of these tendencies bypromoting a collective, holistic view of the team setting in whichout-groups are diminished

Edmondson (2003) found that team leaders could promotepsychological safety within culturally diverse teams by engaging

in motivational, interpersonal activities and fostering a climate ofinclusion so that power differences were minimized and the input

of all members was recognized As psychological safety reflects

a climate of trust and mutual respect, activities that promotetrust would be expected to facilitate a sense of safety Withinmulticultural teams, research has shown that not only does trusthave different relational bases, but also that cultures vary intheir motivational bases Specifically, Yuki et al (2005) foundthat in more collectivist cultures (such as Japan) an importantbasis on which team members based their decisions to trust eachother was the indirect interpersonal ties that existed betweenthem Conversely, within more individualistic cultures (such asthe United States) decisions to trust were related to how well team

members identified with each other, based on a shared category

is often very challenging within multicultural teams, because mostoften members come to the team with very different knowledgestructures These knowledge structures, as partially witnessedthrough the metaphors used (see Gibson & Zellmer-Bruhn,2002), guide member expectations, attributions, and interactions.Shared mental models and transactive memory systems are twocategories of knowledge structures which, though difficult toconstruct in multicultural teams, are essential for coordinatedaction

Both shared mental models and transactive memory areaspects of shared understanding Transactive memory system(TMS) is defined as the collective knowledge within a groupthat is coupled with the coordinated awareness of the knowl-edge distribution among group members (Wegner, 1987) WhenTMSs are effective, team members can easily assess who should

be responsible for which task based on a mutual understanding

of expertise, thereby reducing the cognitive load through moreefficient social information searches Thus, using TMS within mul-ticultural teams may affect communication patterns in that theperceptions of where expertise lies within the team will differen-tially guide interaction based on perceived expertise-based powerdifferences In addition, when TMSs are accurate and knowledgewithin them made explicit this may counter the tendency of indi-viduals within multicultural teams to rely on false stereotypes andinaccurate attributions

TMS involves three primary components: specialization, or thedifferentiation of information among team members; credibility,

or the beliefs of members regarding the accuracy and ity of others’ knowledge; and coordination, or the organizedknowledge processing of information (Akgun, Byrne, Keskin,

reliabil-Lynn, & Imamgolu, 2005) Essentially, the root of this theory liesupon distributed complementarity and compilational emergence,where team members work as social information searchers todetermine who possesses which knowledge and expertise, andthen coordinate to ensure that the correct individuals are calledupon to utilize such knowledge.

Shared mental models (SMMs) are analogous to but uniquefrom TMS Though SMMs are also a type of shared cognitionthat works through distinct aspects of efficiency, there is not reallyanything in the theory that mentions specialization of information.This may be because SMMs were developed in teams, in which

a level of specialization is understood, as team members have aninherent level of interdependency Instead, SMM theory reliesmore upon implicit coordination instead of social informationsearchers (Edwards et al., 2006) SMMs are defined as organizedknowledge structures held in common among team members

in order to allow them to act in coordinated ways (Mathieu,

et al., 2000)

SMMs are characterized by four main types of models:

technology/equipment, which hold information such as equipment

functioning, operating procedures, and system limitations;

job/task, which hold information such as task procedures, likely scenarios, and task strategies; team interaction, which hold infor-

mation such as roles, responsibilities, and information sharing;

and team, which hold information such as teammates’ knowledge,

skills, and attitudes (Cannon-Bowers, Salas, & Converse, 1993) Inorder to be successful, it is expected that team members need tonot only possess accurate and similar information regarding tasks,but also must be able to work together well as a team (Edwards,Day, Arthur, & Bell, 2006) Whereas compatible task-relatedmental models may be fairly straightforward within multiculturalteams, it is the knowledge structures governing team interactionthat are typically more divergent It is these more complex knowl-edge structures which need to be negotiated, or at a minimummade salient, so team members are cognizant of member pref-erences and can predict and adapt to member action as needed

In all, compatible knowledge structures are especially critical

to develop because of the inherent diversity of cognition withinmulticultural teams and the misattributions these can cause

Guidelines for Improving Multicultural Teamwork

Certainly, the aforementioned processes, states, and associatedchallenges of multicultural teamwork can be difficult to over-come Indeed, developing methods for reducing problems andmaximizing the benefits of multicultural collaboration has been

a struggle for researchers (van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007).However, drawing from what is currently known regarding how toprepare diverse teams to work together, and about general teamtraining principles, it is possible to provide guidelines that canaid practitioners in reducing some of the challenges to success-ful performance in such collaborations These guidelines can bedivided according to the temporal frame in which their imple-mentation is most effective: pre-interaction, during interaction,and post-interaction

Guidelines targeted at the pre-interaction phase on setting acommon ground for members of multicultural teams before teamprocesses are initiated This will facilitate shared cognition andskill-based processes that will encourage team members to utilize

a sense of cultural awareness in their multicultural environment,while also reducing the negative impact of ethnocentric tenden-cies Guidelines that can be implemented during interaction areprimarily targeted at enhancing coordination across team mem-bers, as this is a particularly challenging issue for multiculturalteams Finally, guidelines can also facilitate post-interaction as ameans to improve future multicultural team interactions, eitherwithin the same team or as team members move on to new teams.These guidelines are centered on facilitating feedback to teammembers regarding what went well during interaction, what could

be improved, and how to approach future interactions fully The next section provides a more in-depth look at theprocesses occurring within each phase and corresponding guide-lines to enhance multicultural teamwork that can be implemented

success-to enhance multicultural teamwork The following list provides asummary of guidelines

Guidelines for Improving Multicultural Teams

1 Utilize training that incorporates cultural self-awareness as well

as mitigation of ethnocentric tendencies

2 Implement training that emphasizes perspective taking.

3 Incorporate advanced organizers into training

4 Utilize textual & video vignette-based situational judgment tests

to promote cross-cultural skill development

5 Establish a set of team norms, behaviors, and beliefs to create ahybrid culture that emphasizes a combination of team membercultural characteristics

6 Encourage team members to discuss their similarities, especially

at the socio-contextual level

7 Enhance coordination through the use of regulatory nication and realignment

commu-8 Facilitate cognitive emergent states and behavioral-basedprocesses through the execution of AARs following teaminteraction

Pre-Interaction Phase

Before members of multicultural teams even begin to interact,there are several phases that can be leveraged to ensure that effec-tive team processes occur First, a primary issue in multiculturalteams is the proclivity for a lower degree of shared understandingamong team members due to cultural differences (Cramton &Hinds, 2005) Shared understanding among team members can

be captured through shared mental models; the shared mentalrepresentations held by team members; the team’s transactivememory system; or the collective knowledge within the group(Wegner, 1987) Therefore, addressing this prior to team perfor-mance can aid in reducing some of the misunderstandings andcommunication failures that arise from differences in logic andinformation storage (Kayworth & Leidner, 2002; Baba, Gluesing,Ratner, & Wagner, 2004)

In addition to forming accurate shared understanding amongteam members, a strong foundational set of skills that are neces-sary to interact in multicultural environments can be cultivatedprior to multicultural interaction Doing so will enhance culturalawareness and ensure that team members have the appropriateskills in their repertoire when faced with new or challengingcultural situations (Salas, Wilson, & Lyons, 2009) Encouragingteam members to practice their skills in a safe environment,

such as through the use of situational judgment tests, shouldaid in facilitating the transfer of these skills during real inter-actions (Bhawuk & Brislin, 2000) The following discussion pro-vides a more detailed explanation regarding how both sharedknowledge and skill-based processes can be developed duringpre-interaction.

Facilitating Shared Mental Models & TMS

Developing at least some degree of a shared understanding amongmulticultural team members is a critical pre-interaction step

As previously discussed, shared mental models and transactivememory systems can enable team performance by reducing con-fusion regarding who can provide a particular expertise Sharedunderstanding will also streamline communication, coordina-tion, and comprehension of new knowledge (Cramton, 2001).However, it is often the case in multicultural environmentsthat the development of shared mental models and transac-tive memory is much more complicated than in homogenousenvironments Individuals in homogeneous teams tend to reportstronger feelings of affinity and ease of interaction than those

in multicultural environments (Ibarra, 1992) Individuals fromdifferent cultures bring their own methods for storing, retriev-ing, and exchanging information, which while at times can

be advantageous (for example, in preventing groupthink andpromoting creativity), can also be detrimental to the forma-tion of a shared knowledge system (Adler, 1991; Williams &O’Reilly, 1998)

However, this does not mean that developing a sharedunderstanding among multicultural team members is impossible.Indeed, multicultural teams should strive to develop a sharedmeaning system in order to overcome the negative impacts ofcultural diversity and promote effective interactions (Gibson &Earley, 2002) Furthermore, establishing shared mental modelsand a transactive memory system early on in multicultural teamdevelopment can aid in reducing or preventing later conflictsand setting the tone for information sharing within the team Toaccomplish this, several strategies can be enacted during the earlystages of team development in order to promote a lasting andbeneficial shared knowledge system

Guideline #1: Utilize Training That Incorporates Cultural

Self-Awareness as Well as Mitigation of Ethnocentric Tendencies

The first strategy that can help establish a shared ing in multicultural teams is the use of cultural self-awarenesstraining to mitigate ethnocentric tendencies Cultural awarenesstraining is based upon the idea that individuals who have a betterunderstanding of their own culture will be more effective andaware of the cultural norms, beliefs, and behaviors of other cul-tures (Bennett, 1986) Therefore, this type of training is designed

understand-to first educate an individual about his or her own culture sothat when interacting with individuals from different culturesthe trainee will appreciate differences instead of ignoring them

or reacting negatively (Littrell & Salas, 2005) Furthermore, asindividuals are driven by their cultural beliefs and norms, it isoften the case that a tendency to view one’s own culture as supe-rior will cloud interactions with others from different cultures(Bussema & Nemec, 2006; Salas et al., 2009) Therefore, beforecultural interactions begin, bringing team members ‘‘back to thebasics’’ by encouraging an awareness of their own cultural beliefs,biases, feelings, and responses to culture can aid team members

in developing a common understanding of cultural similarities,differences, and biases This can in turn reduce ethnocentricbehaviors and lead to greater tolerance and flexibility in cul-tural perspectives, leading team members to be more effective increating shared knowledge structures as they begin to perceivecommonalities and acknowledge beneficial differences with theirteam members

Guideline #2: Implement Training That Emphasizes

Perspective Taking

In relation to enhancing team member cultural self-awareness

as a means of improving the development of shared knowledge,multicultural teams can also benefit from training in perspectivetaking, which is a social cognitive process of perceiving somethingfrom the viewpoint of another person (Fiske & Taylor, 1984).Perspective taking is particularly beneficial in cross-cultural envi-ronments, as it allows an individual to assume the perspective ofanother person during interactions, therefore enhancing under-standing and the likely success of the interaction Perspective

taking has been found to be a valuable skill in cross-culturalinteractions, as Imai and Gelfand (under review) noted in theirstudy of cross-cultural negotiations Their study demonstratedthat individuals adept at perspective taking were more effective inmaintaining cooperative sequences of behavior and ultimatelyachieving higher outcomes with individuals from a differentculture.

For the development of a shared knowledge system in ticultural teams, perspective taking is pivotal Being able to takeanother’s perspective can facilitate a better understanding as towhy one team member may view a construct differently fromanother, and can aid in reaching a consensus regarding that con-struct (or agreeing to disagree in the case of equally viable qualitymental models) Furthermore, perspective taking can aid teammembers in being able to better predict each other’s actions,regardless of their cultural origins

mul-In order to train perspective taking, providing safe nities to practice may be most beneficial Practice-based trainingmethods offer a mode of active learning that is necessary for teammembers to more completely develop their repertoire of skills; this

opportu-is particularly beneficial for a more complex skill such as tive taking (Salas & Cannon-Bowers, 2000) There are a number

perspec-of practice strategies that can be utilized, ranging from fidelity role playing with actors or team members to high-fidelitycomputer-based simulations of a real person (Fowler, 1994) Nomatter which type of practice is selected, it is necessary to ensurethat these practices occur in a ‘‘safe’’ environment in which teammembers can make errors without the same consequences thatthey would experience in the real world Scenario-based trainingmay also be useful for perspective taking, as it provides teammembers with examples of critical incidents, leading to bothpositive and negative outcomes, to which they can apply theirknowledge of perspective taking and reflect upon how they wouldhave responded in the given situation (Bhawuk & Brislin, 2000).Regardless of the approach utilized, ensuring that team mem-bers have the opportunity to practice taking perspectives prior totheir interactions as a team can enable more open and effectivecommunication that will lead to better shared knowledge systems

low-Guideline #3: Incorporate Advanced Organizers into Training

A final way to enhance a shared understanding across members of

a multicultural team during training is to provide team memberswith advanced organizers, which are commonly utilized in thebeginning of a training program to provide a guiding theoreticalframework to trainees (Kraiger, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 1995)

As novel content is more likely to be understood and recalled whenlinked to existing knowledge, providing an advanced organizer

as a conceptual framework aids in the facilitation of trainingorganization and retention of the new information gained (Mayer1979; 1989) Advanced organizers may be as simple as a briefoutline of the training modules and objectives or as complex as acomplete reference guide that can be consulted throughout thetraining program

Advanced organizers have been found to enhance trainingeffectiveness, particularly for programs such as cultural trainingwhere content is complex Bhawuk (1998; 2001) proposed thatcultural assimilators are more successful when linked to a cul-tural theory that gives trainees a means by which to make sense ofcultural differences Furthermore, by providing the entire teamwith an advanced organizer, a shared understanding can be facil-itated through a common understanding of the training and itsgoals, thus enhancing not only the training itself, but also serving

as an initial foundation upon which team members can begin todevelop a shared knowledge system

Facilitating Skill-Based Processes

An effective shared knowledge system is not the only area in which

to target multicultural team enhancement prior to actual teamprocess and performance Team members can also work to refinetheir cross-cultural skills before performing as a team, in order

to ensure that they will be able to operate effectively in a ticultural environment As many different types of cross-culturalskills, including flexibility, social intelligence, and adaptability,have been recognized as being important for success in multicul-tural teams; instead of focusing on particular skills, we will addressthe training techniques that can best foster development of these

mul-skills in a pre-interaction environment—namely, through the use

of situational judgment tests (SJTs)

Guideline #4: Utilize Written and Video Vignette–Based Situational Judgment Tests to Promote Cross-Cultural Skill Development

SJTs are a form of practice that can be implemented quicklyand easily, either through the use of written tests or throughvideo vignettes, in order to ensure that team members possessnecessary cross-cultural abilities prior to interacting (Fritzsche,Stagl, Salas, & Burke, 2006) This ease of implementation provides

a fast way to provide feedback to team members and addressany major gaps in skills prior to actual interaction, potentiallypreventing conflicts and misunderstandings Furthermore, theability to incorporate both written and visual information intoSJTs by using different media can provide a richer and moreinteractive learning environment that enables active learning andpromotes better skill development

Situational judgment tests typically consist of a set of dents and the alternative actions that could be taken to dealwith each incident (Chan & Schmitt, 1997) SJTs have mostcommonly been used as a selection tool or a method to assess per-formance (Motowidlo, Hason, & Crafts, 1997) However, for thepurpose of preparing team members to interact in multiculturalenvironments, they can be used to create an immediately activeexperience on the part of learners and provide useful informa-tion about their present understanding of and attitudes towardthe importance of cross-cultural skills The ease with which theseSJTs can be adapted to a team situation is also beneficial, as crit-ical incidents can be designed for a range of cross-cultural skillsand implemented as needed by multicultural teams This allows

inci-a teinci-am to receive feedbinci-ack on the skills most pertinent to itsgiven situation and context, as opposed to a mix of relevant andirrelevant skills

Although SJTs typically are conducted using text-based criticalincidents, video SJTs are increasing in popularity, particularly as

a training tool (Fritzsche et al., 2006) Video SJTs show trainees asketch or situation that they are then asked to respond to, just as

in a paper-based SJT In learning environments, video vignettesare used to demonstrate or allow individuals to practice a single

skill or set of skills Because they can lend context and richness to

a learning environment, video vignettes have been proven useful

in numerous domains For example, there are results suggestingimprovements in the reflective thinking of teachers (Calandra,Gurvitch, & Lund, 2008) as well as potential for teaching busi-ness ethics (Meisel & Fearon, 2006) Developing cultural skillsappears to be a prime use for video-based SJTs, as they canhighlight slight cultural nuances, such as nonverbal cues or cul-tural artifacts, which a paper-based SJT cannot communicate asrichly In culturally sensitive situations video vignettes have beenused to evaluate inappropriate behaviors and promote the use ofculturally appropriate behaviors (Molinksy & Perunovic, 2008).Exposing multicultural teams to such safe practice environments

in which they can further develop their skills prior to real tion is therefore a critical advantage to the use of both text- andvideo-based SJTs

interac-During Interaction Phase

As discussed, there are many critical components to consider wheninteracting in multicultural teams Though multiple processesoccur during the interaction phase of multicultural collaborations,for the purposes of identifying guidelines, the majority can begrouped into one of the following categories: communication,coordination, and cooperation As noted, team communicationinvolves the management of information flow, development ofplans and strategy, and the solicitation of feedback (Sims & Salas,2007) Team cooperation involves the desire of team members towork together and perform as a team Team coordination is vital

to team performance, as it is a composition of the behavioral andcognitive mechanisms required for task performance (Marks et al.,2001) Combined, these three larger facets represent the factorsthat comprise, contribute to, facilitate, and detract from effectiveteam performance during the interaction phase Breakdowns inany of these processes can lead to lasting damages to multiculturalteam performance

Unfortunately, as multicultural teams begin to interactthrough these three processes, it is very possible that despitethe best efforts prior to interaction, negative effects of multi-culturalism will reemerge to some degree These effects can

include the highlighting of differences, the development of faultlines, and the emergence of conflict (Jarvenpaa & Leidner,1999; Lau & Murningham, 1998) Therefore, it is important torecognize what strategies can be utilized during interaction

to maximize performance during this action phase and minimizeany negative effects of multiculturalism The following discussionprovides three suggested guidelines that can be utilized tofacilitate coordination, cooperation, and communication duringinteractions, namely through the development of a hybridculture, emphasizing similarities among team members, andestablishing a systematic means for coordination

Guideline #5: Establish a Set of Team Norms, Behaviors, and Beliefs

to Create a Hybrid Culture That Emphasizes a Combination

of Team Member Cultural Characteristics

It is undeniable that multicultural team members bring their owncultural influences, norms, and beliefs into their team interaction.However, this does not have to be a detriment to team perfor-mance if members are able to meld their cultural values into a new,hybrid team culture (Earley & Mosakowski, 2000) A hybrid teamculture is a new set of norms, rules, expectations, and behaviorsthat individuals within a team create themselves after some period

of interaction The degree to which these values are shared mines the strength of the culture, but the establishment of anydegree of team culture that can unify members would be a benefitduring team interaction Indeed, Earley and Mosakowski (2000)found in their qualitative field study of transnational teams thathighly heterogeneous teams who created their own team identitywere more successful than moderately heterogeneous groups lack-ing a team identity Recognizing that they had a high degree ofdiversity and differences among their team members, the highlyheterogeneous groups decided to minimize the negative impacts

deter-of these effects by creating deter-of a team culture that could bridgetheir cultural differences The moderately heterogeneous teamswho did not recognize the benefit of such a shared identity wereless successful Therefore, multicultural teams, regardless of howdiverse they are, may benefit from the development of a teamhybrid culture