People and Global Organisations Reflection: Teamwork and Challenges

Verified

Added on  2021/10/27

|24
|7304
|67
Report
AI Summary
Read More
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Contribute Materials

Your contribution can guide someone’s learning journey. Share your documents today.
Document Page
People and Global Organisations Reflection
Name
Course
University
Professor
Date
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
People and Global Organisations Reflection
1. INTRODUCTION
The use of PPD simulations for team learning has been very interesting for me and my team
because of its user-friendly interface, ability to make accurate forecast and suitable for all
management level. As a team, the experience i had from the use of simulation makes me feel and
assume that I and my team were in a real world situation. Our company was named 3rd Mobile, it
was incorporated and as a team, we make decision that impacts the business. Our team consist of
a diversified group of individuals from different culture and nation who has different beliefs,
culture, ethics, religion, traits and gender. Working as a team at the early stage, we experienced a
lot of back lashes and conflict which arises from inequality, communication barriers, resentments
from individuals, risk associated with decision making, absenteeism, personality traits that
affected inter-personal relationships and disunity that existed amongst us, this therefore affected
the pace in which we make decision. Later on, to enable us resolve the conflict and disunity
amongst us, we were able to set out some certain rules and objectives to help us achieve our aim.
We also adopted distributive leadership style and we were also able to tackle the issue of
inequality that exist amongst us. This report will depict the challenges we faced as a team in our
decision making process, how we were able to resolve such conflict and challenges, the theories
we adopted in resolving it and also recommendation on the best fit to resolve organizational
conflict in a situation of diversity.
Document Page
2. FACTORS AFFECTING TEAMWORK
a. Team Working Across Cultures
Our company 3rd Mobile was made up of individual from different nation, culture, traits, ethics
and belief making business decisions that affects the profitability and productivity of the
business. According to o Hofstede et al. (1997), “a multicultural team is a team whose members
have different cultural backgrounds”. at the early stage of the business inception working as a
team, we experienced a lot of conflicts as a result of communication barriers. This
communication barrier was as a result of ineloquence in English language amongst some team
members also some felt that they do not have great accent to communicate thereby making them
give ineffective feedback. Also, the emergence of Covid 19 pandemic abruptly limit our meeting
thereby limiting how often we meet for discussions and decision making. According to Pincas,
(2001), “the use of English as a second language and the lack of paralinguistic cues in cross-
cultural communication cause many difficulties, e.g. using conventions of mother tongue,
politeness, modes of emphasis, ways of referring back to previous messages, use of netiquette
rules, and the perception of relevance, which is reported as the most difficult aspect of cross-
cultural discourse”.
We were also faced with the issue of inequality resentments amongst team mates, inequality here
does not ponder only on the issue of gender inequality but also on the issue of cultural
supremacy. Some individuals feels that coming from a particular culture or being from a
particular race places some certain team members above others especially towards decision
making. Some team members were made to feel that they do not have much to contribute
because they come from a developing or under develop nation that might limit their mental
capacity in making decisions that deals with business management especially in a business that
Document Page
deals with technology, the affected individuals was not cool about such treatment and thereby
they started harbouring resentments this therefore affected the effectiveness of their feedback
especially when given a task. When two people with different perception and value systems
meet, it is almost inevitable that each party misunderstands the behavior and motives of the
other” (Robinson, 1997).
In order to resolve this conflict and challenges arising from communication barrier, I made my
team to understand that we need to tolerate each other culture to enable us achieve our
objectives. Pauleen & Yoong (2001) advise that “cultural tolerance and empathy are basic
conditions for communicative openness”. We were able to subject our meeting to online which
we felt was easier and more productive because some of the team mates that absconded from the
physical meeting as a result of some personal and social factor can now attend the meeting at
their convienience. Also, the issue of inequality was addressed with the introduction of
distributive leadership which enhances creativity amongst teammates and also giving individuals
the power to influence an event or a situation. According to (Uhl-Bien 2006), he suggested
distributed leadership is a systemic perspective, whereby leadership is conceived of as a
collective social process emerging through the interactions of multiple actors”.
Diversity
3rd Mobile was made up of board of directors from various socio-cultural backgrounds.
According to Wentling & Palma-Rivas (2000) Organizations with a diverse workforce can
provide superior services because they can better understand customers’ needs. The challenges
we experienced was not only limited to differences in race, gender, age, colour, physical ability,
ethnicity, etc, we also experienced a situation whereby some individual feels that their work
ethics and beliefs might not be in line with other person view or opinion. Research indicates that
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
greater diversity can create higher levels of dissatisfaction (Miliken & Martins, 1996). Also some
female individual feels that they might not give opinion on situations that requires decision
making simply because their culture does not deem it right to make suggestion in the midst of
men, this is perceive as a sign of disrespect in their culture. Talking of ethics, we experienced a
situation whereby there was a conflict associated with the decision of proceeding with sales
without market research as a result of covid 19, though some were for and against. I discovered
that the ones that were against it was simply because their work ethics does not allow them to
make assumption on business without getting the necessary information from the target market
before proceeding with sales, to provide solution to this, I suggested that since there is covid 19
and restriction to visit the target market, we should make decisions based on the available
published market data from reliable sources like marketline, passport, knoema etc. Organisations
that develop experience in and reputations for managing diversity will likely attract the best
personnel (Fredrick, Omboi & Francis 2012).
Change management
Today, organization are facing a lot of change as a result of globalization, one of the problem
that pose as a challenge to us during our simulation work was how 3rd Mobile will adopt
innovative changes to increase productivity. According to Mutihac (2010) “Organizations today
are facing more change than ever before”. Though it was very challenging for some of my team
mates to adapt to these technological changes because they feel that they are being mandated to
accept such changes of programs which did not correspond to their own contributions or views
this therefore, discouraged some individuals not to participate actively to achieve the
management aim and result. This also leads to no sense of ownership being generated amongst
the team which then delayed the pace of decision making due to lack of commitment from some
Document Page
members of the team. Ansoff & McDonnell, (1990) cited that “it is even more astonishing given
that it is well recognized that the success of organizational changes often rests on the motivation
and commitment of employees themselves” . To proffer solution to this perceived challenge, we
agreed to implement the GE Seven Step Change Acceleration Model (2000) built by Lewin.
According to Lewin (1947) he suggested that “successful change has to go through three phases;
unfreezing, moving to a new state and refreezing”. Adapting this model pacified our decision
making process because w were able to integrate leadership, engagement, communication and
commitment feature frequently which enabled us to affect change in the management. We did
not only at affecting these change, we also implemented them for every member to follow.
Conclusion and Recommendation
It is very important to note that an organization should always consider its employee opinion or
their diversified status whenever there is need to adapt any plan to effect any change because
employees may feel that work might be shifting environment. It is important to be aware of what
other changes are also occurring and acknowledge the risk that one set of changes may be
overwhelmed by the combination of other changes taking place. Change is an initiative that
every organisation has to take to sustain and compete in changing environment and to be flexible
in all aspects. The organisation and people in it have to be committed to change process
successfully and take positive steps towards new heights, sustainability and profit. It is believed
that organizations should put in place strategies to enhance workforce diversity. Managing
diversity in organizations is absolutely dependent upon the acceptance of some primary
objectives to which employees are willing to commit, such as the survival of the firm. In today's
fast-paced work environment a successful organization is one where diversity is the norm and
not the exception (Lawrence, 2001).
Document Page
References
Ansoff . I, & McDonnell E. 1990. Implanting Strategic Management. Prentice Hall 2nd Edition.
Fredrick, W.O., Omboi, B.M., & Francis, K.M. 2012. Effects of Workplace Diversity
Management on Organizational Effectiveness: A Case Study. European Journal of
Business and Management 28 (4) 78-94
Hofstede, G.J, A Vermunt, M Smits, & N Noorderhaven, 1997. Wired International Teams"
Experiments in Strategic Decision Making By Multicultural VTs. [On-line]. Available:
http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6714909.pdf
Lawrence, P. 2001. “Diversity in action news”, available at: www.tc.faa.gov/employee-prg/
diversity/20.htm (accessed December 8, 2003).
Lewin, K, 1947. Group Decisions and Social Change. In Burnes, B. (2000), "Managing Change:
A Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics", 3rd Edition, Harlow: Pearson
Education, pp. 270-271
Lewin, K, 1951. Force Field Analysis, in Francis, D, & Woodcock, M, (1982), "Fifty Activities
for Self-Development", Aldershot: GOWER
Uhl-Bien, M. 2006. Relational leadership theory: exploring the social processes of leadership
and organizing. Leadership Quarterly, 17, pp. 654–676.
Pauleen, D.J., & P Yoong. 2001. Relationship building and the use of ICT in boundary-crossing
VTs: a facilitator’s perspective. J. Inf. Technol. 16(4), 205–220 (2001)
Pincas, A, 2001. Culture, cognition and communication in global education. Distance Educ.
22(1), 30–51
Robinson S.D., 1997. Intercultural management: The art of resolving and avoiding conflicts
between cultures. Paper presented at Global Theme Conference. Basel, Switzerland.
Wentling R.M, & Palma-Rivas N. 2000. "Current status of diversity initiatives in selected
multinational corporations", Human Resource Development Quarterly, 11 (1). pp.35-60.
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
Document Page
Introduction
This report will focus on the impact of globalization in the organization which they are yet to
achieved, but as more organization embrace this trend and become diversified, certain changes
will emerge. Some of these changes are good, while others may not have result positively. As
globalization becomes more prevalent, organization deal with increased diversity within the
labor force. These changes require organization to adopt effective policies and guidelines for
workers. This increased cultural diversity also has produced many benefits as organization gain
new dimensions into different cultures from a management and a marketing standpoint. The
report will also emphasize on change management, as long as globalization is concerned,
organizational change management is unavoidable to enable it adapt to globalization. This can be
in form of altering the mission, objectives and vision of the organization, use of new
technologies or innovation, changes in organizational structure and targeting a new set of
customer groups with other necessities and a totally different behavior than its previous
customers. This report will also find out how cultural differences affect teamwork as a result of
maybe risk and decision making amongst team. In some cultures, making a decision requires
more data and information than others.
Team working across cultures
The workplace is a unique environment that is frequently dynamic. Whether it is people,
processes, markets or products, there are often shifts that employees have to deal
with. Organisation is becoming increasingly globalized, which means that employees often
work with people from different countries, religions, cultures and backgrounds ( Anam 2020).
Document Page
It is crucial to understand the personality differences amongst team or employees in order to
foster harmony in the team. Most times, cultural differences affect teamwork as a result of
some factors according to (Future Learn 2020) which includes:
Style of communication: some cultures are against talking rudely to people especially when they
are older while some culture permits it, this definitely can cause miscommunication, resentment
and confusion. Most times, teammates may not speak up if they disagree with another team
member because it’s not something that is done in their culture. Also, they might view providing
feedback as stepping on the toes or taking too much authority.
Hierarchy and power: Equality in the organization is the norm in some cultures, whereas in
others the structure is more hierarchical. For employees or teammates that come from cultures
that emphasized more on status and authority, giving feedback about problems associated with
the organization may be difficult because they feel uncomfortable or disrespectful. Also , those
that treasure equality may see others as incompetence if they don’t share their views, thoughts
and opinions with leadership.
Decision making process and risk involved: In some cultures, making a decision requires
suffiecient, validated and reliable data and information than others. Some employees may have a
low level tolerance for risk and not want to commit to making a decision without having context
or reference. Others may be confident in making decisions without much data. This can affect
the pace of the team and how work is conducted.
Document Page
Lastly, employees can come from the same culture but still have many differences to deal with
in the organization. Most times, the personality trait of a team member affects how they work
with others.
Change Management
It is a commonly expressed view that change is the only permanent thing in life. Much as the
view is commonly expressed. The world is evolving as a result of globalization, In the same way,
the organizations we create are equally evolving and dynamic. Change is therefore pertinent in
order to achieve organizational success. Organizational change management may therefore be
described as a systematic process through which an organization conceptualizes, implements
and appraises its change effort for the desired result (Burke 2011). Change in organization is
determined by internal and external factors. It is important to note that those internal factors
impacting change in organizations are directed towards establishing external changes. The
following have therefore been identified as some of the basic factors that may impact the quest
for change in an organization; low productivity, absenteeism, turnover, union activity and
leadership (Burke 2011). The above listed factors are also see as external factors, even though
they are categorized as internal factors to deal with external factor such as; Competition, need to
respond to market demand, changes in technology, changes in government policies and Social
pressure. Any organization that desires growth and success should always envisage in its
administrative process to encourage efficiency while managers are faced with the best fit to
respond to the forces of changes in a bid to move the organization forward. (George, & Jones
2012). The use of GE Seven Step Change Acceleration Model (2000) built on Lewin’s Model of
Change that was developed on the underpinning that change has three phases, i.e. Unfreezing,
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
Movement (change) and Refreezing as the essential component of the Change phenomenon.
Lewin’s model focused on Leaders’ role in establishing urgency for the change, crafting and
communicating the vision, leading the change, measuring the progress of change along several
dimensions and institutionalizing the change. This whole process involves the re-evaluation of
the basic management process (activities across functional units) in a bid to restructure and
achieve a great improvement in its performance, cost, quality and service of its product or
services.
Diversity
The term diversity can be used to mention the different forms of human societies or cultures in a
specific region, or in the world as a whole. Diversity also refers to the characteristics that people
use to identify themselves amongst other people. These characteristics can be seen in form of
demographic factors (race, gender, and age) also values and cultural norms (Ferris, Frink &
Galang 1993). The persistent increase of globalization in the world and cultural diversity in the
workplace has grown as a trend. “Cultural diversity is when differences in race, ethnicity,
language, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation are represented within a community
(Amadeo, 2013). Globalization provides both positive and negative influences on cultural
diversity which can have far reaching impacts.
One negative effect of cultural diversity in the workplace is the continous tendency for
employees to engage in inter-personal conflict. Opinions, thoughts, beliefs, norms, customs,
values, trends, and traditions arises when employees are culturally diversified. According to
Harrison, Price, & Bell (1998). “When culturally diverse workers are placed in a group to
achieve a goal with mutual effort and collaboration, these differences of opinions and other
variables can hinder the development of unity”. A positive impact of cultural diversity in the
Document Page
organization is perceived when employees belonging to different cultures usually have different
ways of reasoning and have same mindset in analyzing a conflict. This is hard to achieve when
employees belonging to the same culture are asked to analyze the same matter. Employees
coming from different cultures have different experiences, which can be beneficial by providing
the organization with a sound and vast knowledge base. Another positive impact of diversity in
the organization is the increased tendency of employees to subdue cultural shock shock as the
business expands in other countries and becomes international. This is a very important benefit
derived from cultural diversity of the employees because many modern companies have global
expansion on their corporate agendas.
Intervention and Recommendation
As far as change in management is concerned, the necessity of proper management of
organizational change that involves employing the strategies embedded in the adopted theories is
capable of eliminating the problems in organizational change management. Therefore, it is
important that organizations intending to implement change objectives should prioritize the
reaction of its employees in its change plan and should be ready to integrate employees in the
process of change in order to gain acceptance and achieve the desired objectives.
Most times, the effects of cultural diversity in the workplace depend upon how well they are
being managed by the organizational leaders. With proper strategic planning, top management
can enhance the positive effects and reduce the negative effects of cultural diversity in the
workplace.
The issue of team working across culture will be more effective if organization can hire teams
within its business, or are hiring employees to work as part of a team. It is very important to
Document Page
note that bringing the right people together will increase efficiency. Also it is important to
focus on employee unique skills, education and experience while recruiting or selecting a team.
Also, cultural and personality differences should be taking into account while recruiting, if not
you may end up with a dysfunctional team that might not meet up with organizational goal.
Having team members who can play the following roles; results-oriented, relationship-focused,
process-focused, innovative thinker, and pragmatic and practical is important too
Conclusion
Cultural diversity in the organization can be in a positive or negative form. Some negative forms
include dysfunctional conflicts, lost productivity, and difficulty to achieve unity in the team or
organization. Positive impacts includes a strong knowledge base created by a variety of cultural
experiences, an in-house resource of cultural trainers and informers, and a greater tendency to
expand the business in foreign cultures. Globalization most times put pressure on an organization
to adapt to change, effective organizations should therefore be very flexible in adapting to
change in order to improve business performance and attain management aim. Factors that drive
change can be seen at organizational, group or individual level. Change Management process
should thus be effectively managed in a systematic manner as propounded by the theorist
reviewed in this report in order to attain the management objective towards organizational
change.
Themes and brief situation overview: Teams Working Across cultures, Diversity, and Change
Management.
Themes and brief situation overview: communication challenge, inequality, resentment, risk
factor that slows down decision making, personality trait, absenteeism, leadership challenge,
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
Document Page
social pressure and inter- personal conflict. To develop our smart phone company which is
known as “3RD MOBILE”, we encountered a lot of problem which categorically delayed our
work. Ever since the inception of 3rd Mobile, we have face a lot of communication challenge
with some of my teammates who are not very fluent in or maybe they are fluent but has
resentment or low self esteem to express themselves or give a constructive opinion or feedback.
This factor was worsened when some part of the team feels that they are bigger or more
intelligent that the others and feels basically that only their opinion should count in the team. The
bigger problem came in as a result of covid 19, we abruptly stopped our physical meeting though
prior to the stoppage, some of the team members use to avoid the frequent meetings, some attend
at their own convienience. Covid 19 affected our market research towards data collection to view
customer response on the impact our product will have on them. Therefore, our decision making
process was delayed because some persons feel that the available data at our disposal wouldn’t
be enough to make decision on our product. These issues therefore caused inter-personal conflict
amongst the team, coupled with pressure and stress that arises from individual daily and social
activities. The storyboard discusses about the ways we used to handle our challenges, and the
theories used to guide us into understanding the encounters and situations. This report depicts
how 3RD MOBILE was able to resolve the issues accruing to team work, diversity and
management change and also the theories that helped in achieving the business objectives. It
will also show experiences we achieved, and the issues we encountered during the process are
fully represented in recommendation form, and suggestion was made on the method of handling
incase it happens in the future.
Overall Argument (related to the key issue(s):
Document Page
Communication barrier was one of the issue that affected us very well. Our team was diversified
with different people from different nation; Nigeria, India, China, Germany etc. the barrier of
communicating in one language was devastating because some were not fluent while the ones
that are fluent reserve resentments and are timid when it comes to self expression or giving a
opinion on a subject matter. The matter was worsen as a result of Covid 19, our frequent
meetings was limited to online meetings. The use of online mode makes it difficult to reach a
resolution. Some member of the team also feel that they are not treated fairly and that the
decision making was centred on certain individuals so as a result of it, they exempted themselves
from the meeting, planning, control and the decision making process.
a) Argument/point being made:
The barrier associated with decision making which arises from inability to reach a resolution on
the target market for our product and services as a result of inability to conduct a market research
as a result of Covid 19 because there was lockdown. This led to my team facing the challenge of
making a marketing decision in the absence of conducting a market research for the product.
b) Argument/point being made:
Some of the team member felt that some micro factors like competition will affect the
profitability, market demand and productivity if market research was not done.
Specific aspect of group situation/example related to the argument/point:
My own opinion was that it is worthwhile to make decision based on the published marketing
data available pertaining to the targeted regions, this will help us discover how the customers
will feel about our product. I feel it is better to take the risk of not conducting the marketing
research and base our decision on the published data because we cannot physically visit the
Document Page
target market and get customers opinion to determine if our product will be profitable or not
since there is lock down and some certain movement restrictions on some of the areas we
targeted.
Specific aspect of theory (ies) to be used in your analysis:
The Halo effect theory which enabled me to perceived that published data will be useful in
generalizing the particular product and market was applied. The halo effect is a perception (or
cognition) that affects the way people interpret the information about something that they have
formed a positive impression of the thing (Roeckelein & Jon 2006). The term halo effect is used
in marketing to explain an individual opinion toward certain item because of favorable
experience with other products made by the same company (Anthony 2019).
Critical evaluation and/or insight gained from the analysis:
As a team, it was very difficult to make a decision on whether we should proceed without doing
marketing research. Though some persons oppose proceeding because they feel that at the long
run, the revenue, sales, profit etc will be affected as a result of competition and some other micro
and macro factors. I brought in an idea of judging and assuming our opinion based on the
published market data. Published Market data is not only sufficient, reliable and valid but it will
also save us cost physically visiting the market. My insight was adopted because my team mates
have believed that published information from a highly verified source can be relied on. The
decision was unanimously adopted and agreed upon by the team to proceed without physically
visiting the target market but assumed and make decision based on information from a reliable
marketing website like passport, marketline, knoema etc.
c) Argument/point being made:
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
The issue of inequality still exist in some nation, individuals from a particular nation feels that
the opinion of another person from maybe a less developed nation is not justifiable and maybe
less important.
Specific aspect of group situation/example related to the argument/point:
Being someone from Africa which some of my team feels that it is less developed and lacks
technology to make me relate to what starting a business that has to do with IT and
communication feels like. At first, it was not funny and I almost lost interest in the team work,
but after I suggest a constructive opinion concerning the issue of target market and how to go
about it which was subsequently adopted for decision making, my team mates had a second
thought and made me a primus in the team.
Specific aspect of theory (ies) to be used in your analysis:
The theory of self determination theory was used by me to encourage my perseverance. Self
perseverance is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's
inherent growth tendencies and innate psychological needs (Ryan &Deci 2000).
Critical evaluation and/or insight gained from the analysis: in order to curb the conflict
amongst our team, distributive leadership was used because it increases team equality, creativity
and spontaneity and therefore individuals have the power to influence decisions.
Introduction
The use of practiced-focused teaching and learning approach provides individuals or team with
an opportunity to learn from experience in the work place which is achieved through the
Document Page
provision of a business simulation as a team work. It also requires the use of personal and
development module to be productive. Business simulation is like a real life business situation
where by the team mates set objectives an a certain aim about the business, organize, direct and
control it by making decision as a team that will benefit the business after considering some
underpinning theories related to the business. This report will emphasize on the use of three
themes which includes; team working across cultures, change management and diversity on the
people and global organization module. Different theories was use to underpin the management
decision on the selected theme to enable me achieve a motive that will benefit the company. Also
the report will serve as a literature for other businesses.
The requirement of this report comprises of the decisions, approaches, objectives and
recommendation made by our newly incorporated business known as “3RD MOBILE”. 3rd Mobile
is a smart phone company that comprises of a team of directors from different nationalities,
culture and share different values, ethics and beliefs whose sole aim is to make decision that
affects the business.
I was very passionate about the business so i decided to take the position of the CEO of 3rd
Mobile company because I feel that i am a relational leader and I feel that I can contribute
immensely in enabling an open environment where every team mates opinion will be considered
equally without any form of bias or discrimination. At first, it was not easy because being in a
new environment with a multi-diversified culture and also being in the same team with different
category of people with different belief, ethics, culture and traits. But I was able to develop a
good inter- personal relationship amongst the team.
The issue of culture and diversity plays a major role in determining the success of an
organization or a team. No culture is bigger than another. The issue of cultural diversity which
Document Page
has a tendency of creating conflict in an organization was identified and tackle, thereby creating
a neutral environment for anybody to voice out his opinion without facing any form of criticism.
I was able to achieve unity amongst the team by creating a proportionate development whereby
every team member respects the will, aspirations and needs of another member. I was also able
to identify problems and ascertain their root causes and address them appropriately.
Literature Review
Towards the end of the last century, globalization and his determining factor seemingly
continuous intensified which led to a new stream of research in the organization. This change
pushes organization to focus on the change that globalization brings to organizations” (Bhagat, R
& Steers, R., 2009, p.148). the knowledge and the impacting factors of Globalization can be
achieved from a variety of perspectives from psychologists (Shokef & Erze, 2006; Earley, Ang
& Tan, 2006; Erze & Gati, 2004) and sociologists (Drori, Meyer & Hwang, 2006). Globalization
is changing our world today through innovations, technology advances, mass communication,
business, human rights violations, and education are the forces of this perceived change. The
advantages accrued to exchange of information leads to people working together but those who
work together as a team face challenges such as differences in language, values, beliefs, cultures,
and religions. In the age of globalization team work and leadership are integrated with culture.
Kessler & Wong-Ming (2009) refer to the simultaneous blending and clashing of cultures and the
eventual emergence of an amalgamated and apparently omnipresent dynamics of associations
and conflicts”.
Team working across cultures
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Paraphrase This Document

Need a fresh take? Get an instant paraphrase of this document with our AI Paraphraser
Document Page
Today, work environments have moved away from the one sided office set-ups to the one that is
decorated by members of a team gathered from different parts of the globe. Globalization which
is trending now is equipping managers to enable them work in a diverse multicultural team set
up, whereby the multi-cultural team members will create a new set of skills, ideas, approaches,
etc. for the team. The challenges accrued to this rely upon the difficulty in harmonizing the
contribution of the multi-culturally diverse teams whereby members of a team are impacted by
some cultural beliefs, ethics or value: ethnic, organizational as well as nationality (Ahu Tatli, et
al. 2006). Grantham (2000) stated that diversity also denotes to people from various groups such
as gender, religious groups, younger and older groups of people, ethnicity and nationality etc.
this implies that people on leadership position needs to have an updated and globalized
competency which they may not have cultured in professional institutes (Keogh 2013).
Change management
Organizations today are facing more change than ever before (Conner, 1992). Change has
become imminent with standard business practice and an organization needs to change in order
to remain competitive (Mutihac, 2010). Many organization change models (Kotter, 1996) have
prescribed the key stages involved in effective change management to improve employee‟s
acceptance of change. The use of GE Seven Step Change Acceleration Model (2000) built on
Lewin’s Model of Change, was developed on the notion that change has three phases, i.e.
Unfreezing, Movement (change) and Refreezing as the essential component of the Change
phenomenon. Lewin’s model is focused on Leaders’ role in creating urgency for the change,
crafting and communicating the vision, leading the change, measuring the progress of change
along several dimensions and institutionalizing the change. It is arguable from the model that
organizational change will be a hapless endeavor without the appropriate leadership, employee
Document Page
engagement, communication to and commitment of individuals. The management of these four
variables in the change management process plays a very important role in the implementation of
new ideas in organizations.
Diversity
Diversity means differences in color, gender, ability, sexual orientation, religion and age.
Diversity is not just about the differences in culture but also implies that it is the differences that
comes with decision making or encouraging people in a organization. Robert et al. (2007)
explain that “diversity we reflect on the way people handle their universal problems of human
nature such as the relationship between humans and Nature, time, behavior, and relationship –
reflecting how individual cultures find their own distinctive solutions”. Just like it was state
earlier, diversity does not necessary means differences in color and gender, but also it implies
about people with different interpretations of the act. It can be seen in Tein (1998) “it so eloquent
when he states that people in this country tend to perceive European accents to be more
prestigious. However, people with Latino and Asian accents are perceived to be ignorant,
uneducated and unequal” (p.39)
Conclusion
In conclusion, global leaders are those who operate on the global stage in a complex and diverse
environment. One of the key challenges is that they have to work with different groups of people
and cultures. Thus they need multicultural attitudes, skills and knowledge to lead in diversity.
Global leaders in multicultural organizations should “create an environment where no one is
disadvantaged (or preferred) because of race, ethnicity, creed, gender, sexual orientation, etc”
Document Page
(Alire, 2008, p.101). It is apparent that communication, leadership, employee engagement and
employee commitment play a central role in change acceptance.
Interventions and Recommendations
We can imply that there are challenges faced by organization. To improve team work, change
management is pertinent, bearing in mind the diversified nature of the employee, approaches
such as developing multicultural knowledge, skills and positive attitudes like sensitivity to other
cultures when leading in diversity is very important to imbibe.
tabler-icon-diamond-filled.svg

Secure Best Marks with AI Grader

Need help grading? Try our AI Grader for instant feedback on your assignments.
Document Page
References
Conner DR (1992). Managing at the Speed of Change: How Resilient Managers Succeed and
Prosper Where Others Fail (New York: Villard Books)
Anthony, C. 2019. For advertisers, the Emmy halo effect is a thing of the past". Advertising Age.
Ahu Tatli, et al. 2006. Managing Diversity. Measuring Success. Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development. 151 The Broadway London SW19 1JQ.
Amadeo, K. 2013. Cultural Diversity. Retrieved from
http://useconomy.about.com/od/suppl1/g/CulturalDiversity.htm.
Alire, C. 2008. Diversity and leadership. Journal of Library Administration, 32: 3-4, 99-114.
Bhagat, R & Steers, R 2009. Cambridge handbook of culture organizations, and work.
Cambridge University Press 2009.
Burke, W. W. 2011. Organizational change theory and practice. Dias Technology Review, 7 (2),
23-32.
Future learn, 2020. Courses, career, credentials and teamwork Retrieved from
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/career-credentials-teamwork/0/steps/86209
Anam A, 2020. Cultural and personality differences that affect teamwork. Retrieved from
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cultural-personality-differences-affect-teamwork-
22166.html
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T. & Brown, K.G., 2016. Unfreezing change as three steps:
Rethinking Kurt Lewin’s legacy for change management. Human relations, 69(1), pp.33-
60.
Earley, P. C., Ang, S., & Tan, J. S.(2006. “What is cultural intelligence and why does it
matter?”, in CQ: Developing cultural intelligence at work. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press. Pp. 19-41.
Drori, G. S. Meyer, J. W., & Hwang, H. 2006. Globalization and Organization: World Society
and Organizational Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Erez, M & Gati, E. 2004. “A dynamic. Multi-level model of culture: from micro level of
individual to the macro level of world culture”, Applied Psychology 53: 583-98
Ferris, G.; Frink, D.; & Galang, M.C. (1993). "Diversity in the Workplace: The Human
Resources Management Challenges". Human Resource Planning. 16 (1): 42.
George, J. M. & Jones, G. R. 2012. Understanding and managing organizational behaviour.
New Jersey: Prentice.
Grantham, C. 2000. The Future of Work: The Promise of the New Digital Work Society. New
York: McGraw Hill.
Document Page
Harrison, D., Price, K., & Bell, M. 1998. Beyond Relational Demography: Time and the Effects
of Surface and Deep-Level Diversity on Work Group Cohesion. Academy of
Management Journal. 41(1), 96- 107.
Keogh, J. 2013. International Teams: Beyond Cultural Differences. Keogh & Associates
Consulting, LLC. Retrieved from http://www.jackkeogh.com/
Kessler. E.H & Wong-Ming D.J. 2009, Cultural Mythology and Global Leadership. Cheltenham,
UK.
Kotter JP (1996). Leading Change (Boston: Harvard Business School Press).
Robert, T.M., Philip, R.H., & Sarah V.M., (2007). Managing cultural differences, global
leadership strategies for the 21st century. 7th ed., Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford.
Roeckelein.,& Jon. E. 2006. Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories (1st ed.). Elsevier
Science & Technology.
Ryan, R. M.; Deci, E. L. 2000. "Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic
motivation, social development, and well-being". American Psychologist. 55 (1): 68–
78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68. PMID 11392867.
Shokef, E. & Erze, M. 2006. “Global work culture and global identity as a platform teams”, in B.
Mannix, Neale, M., and Chen, Ya-Ru (eds.), National Culture and Groups: Research on
Managing Groups and Teams, vol 9. San Diego, CA: Elsevier JAI Press, pp. 325-52.
Tien, 1998 “challenge and opportunities,” Library Journal 123 (September, 1998): 39.
chevron_up_icon
1 out of 24
circle_padding
hide_on_mobile
zoom_out_icon
logo.png

Your All-in-One AI-Powered Toolkit for Academic Success.

Available 24*7 on WhatsApp / Email

[object Object]