Effects of Training Interventions for Multicultural Working in Teams

This CAT evaluates the effectiveness of training interventions designed to improve multicultural working in teams through scientific evidence. The inclusion criteria is to select research articles that measure the effectiveness of multicultural team-building training. The study materials or research papers that measure the effectiveness of the multicultural team-building training are selected. The research articles are critically appraised based on their methodological approaches and the selection criteria that is used to form result evaluation assessments. The main findings show that multicultural training diminishes the conflict due to cultural difference and improves the workplace relationships between employees.

BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Effects of training interventions designed to improve multicultural working in teams
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Table of Contents
Section 1: Background: What is the context of the CAT question?......................................................2
Section 2: Formulating the CAT question: What does the CAT answer?.............................................2
Section 3: Defining inclusion criteria: Which studies will be taken into account?...............................4
Section 4: Search strategy: How should the studies is sought?.............................................................5
Section 5: Study selection: How should you select the studies?...........................................................6
Section 6: Data extraction: What information should be extracted?.....................................................8
Section 7: Critical appraisal: How should the quality of the studies is judged?..................................11
Section 8: Results: What did you find?...............................................................................................11
Sections 9: Conclusion........................................................................................................................12
Section 10: Limitations........................................................................................................................13
Section 11: Implications and recommendations..................................................................................13
Reference List......................................................................................................................................15

2BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Section 1: Background: What is the context of the CAT question?
Increasing trend of company globalization results in multiple diversity people working
under same team and field. Inclusion of workplace diversity fosters mutual respect among the
employees and offers more exposures to employees from different cultures. However, problem
like psychological barriers and conflicts has been observed due to less interaction among the
employees. As opined by Bhagwanji and Vasquez-Colina (2009), multicultural employees can
helps their team members to understand the dynamics of their cultures, review the potential area
of conflict and promoting team synergy in construction industry. Thus, this CAT is conducted to
evaluate whether or not the enhancement of multicultural working in teams through
multicultural team-building training is supported by proper scientific evidence.
Section 2: Formulating the CAT question: What does the CAT answer?
The point of interest for this CAT is that larger projects are often managed by diverse
cultural members, who are from different countries and background (Terry 2007). However, this
report focuses on the potential problems of forming multicultural teams so that the employees
can be trained properly to work under multicultural teams and environment.
The CAT question that is focused is thus: What is known in the scientific literature
about the effects of training interventions designed to improve multicultural working in
teams?
Supplementary Questions:
 What is a multicultural team?
 What are the major problem occurred in developing a multicultural team?
 What are the strategies through which the occurred problem due to multicultural team can
be overcome?

3BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
In order to gain in-depth knowledge of the CAT question, PICOC model is utilized as this
framework helps in development of well-built practical questions. The Questions developed
using the same framework is as follows:
Population The employee of the construction projects because they can express the situation
of facing problem in working with a person of different background and culture
and whether or not the existing training programs is effective to allow them work
together as a team.
Intervention Survey, questionnaire and feedback because respondents share their genuine
perception effectiveness of the current training program for multicultural working
in teams. They can also share exact problems in communication with other
employees that can also be considered as valuable suggestion to implement
strategies for developing multicultural team-building training programs (Tabassi et
al. 2017).
Comparison Working with the people of same culture and background with the people of
different culture because it will help in understanding the aspects that helps
construction project employees to work as a team.
Outcome Improved multicultural team work because problem identified in the research will
help in ideas that can overcome adversity that creates problem in collaborative
working of employee belong for different work culture.
Context Construction projects where greater number of migrants are recruited from
different countries because in major construction projects, many migrants are
recruited in lesser cost but due to communication gaps, these workers are not able
to work collaboratively that affects the productivity of the products (Strnadová et

4BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
al. 2014).
Section 3: Defining inclusion criteria: Which studies will be taken into account?
The main aim of this CAT is to find whether or not the multicultural team-building
training enhances the multicultural working in teams; thus, the study materials or research papers
that measures the effectiveness of the multicultural team-building training. The inclusion criteria
is to select research articles that is published after the year 2000-2017 for the content analysis
and 2008-2017 for primary data analysis so that only the recent training techniques can be
evaluated that is used for developing multicultural working in teams (Wang, Jiang and Pretorius
2016). Thus:
Inclusion Criteria
1. Date: Research articles that are published between 2000-2017 for the content analysis and
2008-2017 for primary data analysis
2. Language: English Language
3. Type of studies: Empirical studies including both quantitative data and qualitative data
4. Study Design: Meta Analysis will be considered so that the result found from the
empirical studies can be combined with the statistical approach used in other research
papers. This will enhance the relevance of the research made on the selected research
topic.
5. Measurement: Research based on the (a) concept of multicultural team in the construction
industry, (b) multicultural training and management of team and (c) major problems
occurred in developing a multicultural team within an organization. These studies will
help in identifying the main challenges in training multicultural team so that strategies for

5BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
multicultural team-building training for enhancing multicultural working in teams can be
obtained (Sarhadi 2016).
6. Outcome: Strategies for improved multicultural team work
7. Context: Research studies related to the multicultural team, communication gaps, team
works and team-building training
Exclusion Criteria
1. Studies referring to the area of training for developing career opportunity, other human
resources activities other than developing multicultural team and diversity management
Section 4: Search strategy: How should the studies is sought?
Initially, the search for different research articles it is found that the cross cultural
training is important for building collaborative teams to maximize the positive outcome,
overcome the problem of verbal and non-verbal communication to avoid misunderstandings and
frustrations, diminish linguistic differences and understand the important of own and other’s
culture.
In search for providing the multicultural team building training it is found that it is better
to formulate a training team with agreed upon guidelines from all the employees. As per
Choudhury (2001), this will help them to understand the work responsibility faster and they can
also help the other to follow the same. There is a second approach which is to show visuals
presentations as people working in construction industry are not always educated and understand
the guidelines and modules presented to them. Thus, it is better to give training by showing
evidences in audio and visuals (Congden, Matveev and Desplaces 2009). Personal phase like
shared meal will also help the employee to learn about the culture of others and develop an
effective interpersonal relation among them.

6BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
In order to conduct this CAT, Business Source Complete from EBSCO is selected. The
following are the generic search filters in order to find resources based on the CAT question:
2. Scholarly journals, peer-reviewed
3. Research articles that are published between 2000-2017 for the content analysis and
2008-2017 for primary data analysis
4. Articles written in English language
5. Some keywords for completing the search are- Employee training and development,
multicultural training, team building and multi-cultural work environment in the
construction industry.
Business Source Complete from EBSCO
Search Terms Business Source Complete from EBSCO
Employee training and development 40
Multicultural training 22
Team building 31
Multi-cultural work environment in the construction
industry
25
Section 5: Study selection: How should you select the studies?
Since the aim of the CAT is to find the effects of training interventions designed to
improve multicultural working in teams, the initial search was multicultural team training. Thus,
searching with the keyword “team-building training” from the published dates between 2000-
2017, shows the search for healthcare industry and leadership improvement training. Thus, the

7BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
search keyword is modified to “multi-cultural work environment training” to narrow down the
number of articles to 25.
Moreover influenced by Santoso (2009), in order to make the search more accurate, the
abstract of each of the founded articles was studied. Particularly for this CAT question, the result
shows that conflict occur due to the multicultural employee status but other research articles
based on the multicultural training shows that those training allows every employee to reduce the
conflict among them and also improves the workplace relationships between them. Influenced
from the views of Connaughton and Shuffler (2007), it can be opined that since, team building
training is also applicable for healthcare industry and training to develop leadership in job, the
number of articles reduces to 257 to 138.

8BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Section 6: Data extraction: What information should be extracted?
Author
Name and
Year of
publication
Research design Sample size
and
population
Main findings Effect size Limitations level of
trustwor
thiness
Madera,
J.M., Neal,
J.A. and
Dawson, M.,
2011
Primary survey
and quantitative
data analysis
96
Participants
Perspective-taking training is
more effective in raising the
positive attitude towards non-
English speaking people
Large
Sized
effect
Limited relevance to the
research question based on the
perspective-taking training and
empathy generated from the
given strategy
A
Ochieng,
E.G. and
Price,
A.D.F.,
2010
Primary data
through interview
and observational
study
20 project
manager
from Kenya
and UK
It is important to develop
leadership so as to ensure
effective cross cultural
collectivism, trust,
communication and empathy
(Zemliansky 2012)
Medium
Sized
effect
This research is based on one
intervention that is leadership
for implemented cross cultural
aspects on construction
industry
A
Tabassi, Primary survey 126 team The findings show that Large This study is focused on the AA

9BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
A.A., Bryde,
D.J.,
Abdullah, A.
and
Argyropoulo
u, M., 2017
and quantitative
data analysis
leaders and
supervisors
and 378
member
multicultural training
diminishes the conflict due to
cultural difference from
comparative style,
accommodating style,
avoiding style and
compromising style. The
findings also represents that
conflict management styles,
team coordination and team
performance should be
focused in training sessions n
order to lowers the changes of
cultural disputes among the
employees
Sized
effect
conflict which is raised due to
the difference in the culture
and tradition
Congden,
S.W.,
Primary data
analysis and
71
American
The research result shows that
the cross cultural
Medium
Sized
This research based on the
communication aspects
C

10BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Matveev,
A.V. and
Desplaces,
D.E., 2009
correlation
analysis on for
multicultural team
performance and
cross-cultural
communication
competence
dimensions
and 91
German
respondents
communication majorly
comprised of development of
interpersonal skills, team
effectiveness, cultural
uncertainty and cultural
empathy
effect between Germans and
Americans

11BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Section 7: Critical appraisal: How should the quality of the studies is judged?
The critical assessment of the all selected research articles, only few of them are selected.
The pares that are selected is based on their methodological approaches and the selection criteria
that is used to form result evaluation assessments like- cultural diversity, cultural competence
during training, awareness of one’s own values along with the biasness, awareness of the client's
worldview and culturally appropriate intervention strategies. Another article shows the content
analysis from 178 articles based on diversity training articles and includes categories like-
diversity training context, diversity training design, trainee characteristics and training outcome
(Diana Bebenova - Nikolova 2014). The research therefore qualified as level A or AA, due to the
fact that the selected articles also focus on training intervention. Another reason for the
appropriateness of the selected articles is that it illustrates multicultural training comparison
between campuses and workplace (Rentsch et al. 2014). Some of the articles are excluded based
on the industry on which the research has been conducted. These studies are also have a small
impact as aim is to underscore the need for the profession for developing standards for making
people multi-culturally competent with casual observation.
Section 8: Results: What did you find?
In most of the article the common thing that is found is the definition of the multicultural
which is the collaboration of several people from different cultural and traditional background
within a team. Multicultural is different from the term cross-culture as the later represents
comparison between two or more culture. In some of the research articles, Hofstede culture is
indicated to understand the difference among two nations (Goodman 2012). The research articles
based on the construction industry shows that they managers of the overseas construction
projects need to understand the international context and assess the situation from different

12BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
cultural perspectives. This will help the managers to identify the aspects based on which the
training intervention can be provided for better development of the interpersonal relationship
among them. 14 articles show that communication barrier is a major issue in a multicultural
environment due to which productivity of the employee may get hampered. The solution is found
from other research papers, where it is mentioned that people working in the construction
projects often are uneducated and hence it is better to present them training using audio and
visual training materials. However, since being familiar with cultural issues allows
empowerment in requisition of the knowledge that improves the efficiency of managing project
teams with multicultural people, it is better to develop interpersonal relationship between the
employees (Kassar, Rouhana and Lythreatis 2015). Another research article shows that
perception training help team member to understand the differences and importance of both the
culture and hence develop the sensation through which the feeling of working collaboratively
enhances.
Sections 9: Conclusion
Thus, it is found that sharing individual concerns and agreed upon guideline helps the
people from different background to work together in projects. The training interventions should
be focused more on the development of skills in order to make isomorphic attributions,
leadership assistance for formulating the appropriate behavior of the host cultural people, culture
awareness training, interaction training, language training, didactic training and experimental
training for giving the expatriate to practice situations through which they can understand the
host culture (Kealey et al. 2005). However, studies also shows that the training hours should not
be restricted to few hours or some days as it is not enough for overcoming the stigma employees
develop while working with different culture people.

13BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Section 10: Limitations
Sources only from the EBSCO database has been considered as a result some other
resources have not been targeted in order to complete this research. In addition to that, this
assessment focused more on the A or AA level research journal and articles and hence mostly the
research papers with primary data observations has been considered.
Another limitation of this CAT is some of the papers are based on hundreds number of
employees, some are based on interview methods and some based on critical research articles
reviews (Kroken 2007). Again, from the opinion of Presbitero and Toledano (2017), it is evident
that each research procedure has different methods and purpose and often shows result through
different perspective and biasness. Thus, no single format of research data analysis technique has
been conducted in order to answer the developed CAT questions.
Third limitation is that some articles are not based on construction industry. Since, this
CAT is based on developing the multicultural working in teams, articles with suggestions to
improve multicultural environment is mainly highlighted (Ochieng and Price 2010).
Section 11: Implications and recommendations
Thus, it can be said that in making the employee from different background
collaboratively with each other, communication and perception understanding is the major
aspects that should be focused in the training interventions. Management should assess the team
members by making effective interactions and understands the basic needs and working
expectations (Madera, Neal and Dawson 2011). This will help them to prepare a set of guidelines
that is agreed by all the employees. The management also emphasizes with new methods to deal
with prejudice so that conflict among the people from different culture can be diminished.

14BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
The CAT question can also be better addressed if research papers by other research
scholars could be based on the employees working in the construction sites. The result can be
better accomplished if interview from the employee can be conducted. In this way, it is easier for
the management people to understand their demands and the problem they face to work in a
same project with people, who are incompetent to understand their language and have cultural
biasness (Midgett, Hausheer and Doumas 2016). Moreover, it is also recommended that the
management people need to establish some success criteria that will help them to assess whether
or not the multicultural team building training they have developed is effective in diminishing
the conflict, improve the communication and enhance the productivity of the employee of
different cultural background in the same project.

15BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Reference List
Bhagwanji, Y. & Vasquez-Colina, M.D. 2009, "An Innovative Cross-Cultural In-Service
Training Model: Findings from a Multi-Year Project", Journal of International Special Needs
Education, vol. 12, pp. 11.
Choudhury, I. 2001, "Cross-Cultural Training of Project Personnel Implementation of
International Construction Projects by U.S. Contractors", Journal of Construction
Education, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 20.
Congden, S.W., Matveev, A.V. and Desplaces, D.E., 2009. Cross-cultural communication and
multicultural team performance: a German and American comparison. Journal of Comparative
International Management, 12(2).
Connaughton, S.L. & Shuffler, M. 2007, "Multinational and Multicultural Distributed Teams: A
Review and Future Agenda", Small Group Research, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 387-412.
Diana Bebenova - Nikolova 2014, "Intercultural Competence – Key Competence of
Multicultural Teams", Journal of Danubian Studies and Research, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 177-185.
Goodman, N. 2012, "Training for cultural competence", Industrial and Commercial
Training, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 47-50.
Kassar, A.N., Rouhana, A. and Lythreatis, S., 2015. Cross-cultural training: its effects on the
satisfaction and turnover of expatriate employees. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 80(4),
p.4.
Kealey, D.J., Protheroe, D.R., MacDonald, D. & Vulpe, T. 2005, "Re-examining the role of
training in contributing to international project success: A literature review and an outline of a
new model training program", International Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 29, no. 3, pp.
289-316.

16BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
Kroken, P. 2007, "Building a strong team: training for success", Radiology management, vol. 29,
no. 1, pp. 31.
Madera, J.M., Neal, J.A. and Dawson, M., 2011. A strategy for diversity training: Focusing on
empathy in the workplace. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 35(4), pp.469-487.
Midgett, A., Hausheer, R. & Doumas, D.M. 2016, "Training Counseling Students to Develop
Group Leadership Self-Efficacy and Multicultural Competence through Service
Learning", Journal for Specialists in Group Work, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 262.
Ochieng, E.G. and Price, A.D.F., 2010. Managing cross-cultural communication in multicultural
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Management, 28(5), pp.449-460.
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offshoring sector", The International Journal of Human Resource Management, , pp. 1-21.
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17BUSM136 EVIDENCE BASED HRM – CAT
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