Performance in Multicultural Teams: Key Factors and Analysis Report

This report delves into the crucial factors impacting the performance of multicultural teams within the context of global business. It highlights the significance of cultural intelligence (CQ), emphasizing the ability of team members to understand and navigate diverse cultural environments. The report also underscores the importance of education and training in enhancing CQ and informational diversity, leading to innovative solutions and synergy. Furthermore, it examines organizational factors, including organizational culture, diversity initiatives, empowerment, and leadership, as critical determinants of team success. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for organizations to foster an environment that values diversity and promotes effective cross-cultural collaboration to achieve optimal team performance and competitive advantage in the global market. The report also suggests strategies for multinational corporations to optimize the performance of their multicultural teams by strengthening their policies and strategies.

Performance in Multicultural Teams
CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
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Performance in Multicultural Teams
The spread of globalisation and liberalisation has led to overseas expansion of small, medium
as well as large scale business organizations. Global business expansion has increase the level
of competition between business organizations operating in an industry. One of the key
elements of a global business is the presence of multicultural or a diverse workforce. Global
business organizations can employ three types of employees in their workplace i.e. home
country employees (employees belonging to the country where the company has its
headquarters), host country employees (employee belonging to a country where a company
has its foreign subsidiary) and third country nationals (employees belonging to any other
country other than the host country or the home country) (Noe, et al., 2017). This results in a
diverse workforce where people from different cultural backgrounds come together to
achieve a common goal or an objective. In this report, we will analyse three factors that are
important for the success of a multicultural teams and can have an influence on their
performance levels. The three factors discussed in this report are the cultural quotient of the
team members, their education levels and the organisational factors of the company where a
multicultural team is established.
Business organisations have discovered that multicultural teams can achieve a lot more than a
team comprising of employees belonging to a same cultural background. The reason behind
the efficiency of multicultural teams is that employees belonging to different cultures have
different thought processes and can find out innovative solutions to an organisation’s
problem. Multicultural teams have a greater possibility of creating positive synergies in an
organisation and achieve success through high performance but all this can only be achieved
if an organisation is able to manage a multicultural team efficiently (Jimenez, et al., n.d.).
Some factors that can have an influence on the performance levels of multicultural teams are
discussed below:
Cultural intelligence or cultural quotient is a term used by business organizations to define
the capability of an individual to relate and work in a culturally diverse environment (Ang &
Van Dyne, 2015). The first and the most important factor that can influence the performance
levels of the employees of a multicultural team is the cultural quotient of the team members.
Culture, in simple words, is defined as a set of morals, ethics, language, ethnicity, etc. that
governs the behaviour of a group of people. Multicultural teams, by definition, comprise of
employees coming from diverse cultural backgrounds and have different morals, ethics,
communication preferences, etc. For the team members of a multicultural team, it is
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important to have a high cultural quotient so that they can understand each other in a better
way. During cross-cultural communication, there are a number of barriers and stereotypes
that come into play and can have an impact on the perception and behaviour of the team
members (Sağa, et al., 2016). For an example, a Chinese employee would bow down while
greeting his team members whereas an Indian employee would shake hands in order to greet
his team members. This is a simple example of non-verbal cross-cultural communication
differences. Further, it is normal for Indians to ask their fellow workers about the well-being
of their family members, which is considered to be offensive in a number of foreign cultures.
If both the employees are not culturally intelligent, they would not understand the gesture of
the other employee, which can lead to misunderstanding in extreme conditions (Adekola &
Sergi, 2016). At times, these differences in cultures are perceived as personality traits by the
employees who are not culturally intelligent and they become more likely to pick a side
believing that the other person is wrong. In such encounters, nothing constructive comes out
of the arguments and the situation can make the group members of a multicultural team
uncomfortable while working with each other. Therefore, having a knowledge about the
cultural preferences of the employees of a multicultural team can help them in providing
them a competitive edge as they would be able to understand each other in a better way and
would also be able to demonstrate high performance levels due to creation of synergies.
Training and development are learning programs that are arranges by business organizations
to improve the skills and competencies of their employees. Through training and
development programs, business organisations are able to develop their employees and
ensure that they perform better than before. Training and development programs have
multiple benefits for employees as well as for the employers. They provide career building
opportunities to the employees and can be helpful for the employers in making their
companies more efficient, productive and profitable. Training and development is another
factor that can impact the performance levels of a multicultural team. By education, we mean
that the educational background of the employees as well as their in-service training
education, both can have an impact on their performance levels. Sağ, Kaynak, Sezen (2016)
concluded through their research that education is one of the most important factors that
drives performance levels in a multicultural team. According to them, education can have a
direct impact on the cultural quotient of the employees and also on their informational
diversity levels. Informational diversity is defined as the difference that exists between the
knowledge base and perspectives of the team members of a multicultural team (Zhou, et al.,
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Performance in Multicultural Teams
2013). This implies that through proper education, training and development programs,
business organisations can increase the cultural quotient of their employees and their
knowledge. When both the factors are added up, the team members have a higher cultural
quotient which makes it easier for them to work with people belonging to different culture
and having diverse knowledge allows them to create synergies and to develop innovative
products and services (Zhou, 2013). Thus, they are able to demonstrate higher performance
levels while being a part of a multicultural team.
Organisational factors are the culture of an organisation, organisational structure,
compensation system, performance management system, diversity initiatives, etc.
Organisational factors have also been found to have a huge impact on the performance levels
of a multicultural team (Sheaff, et al., 2004). First of all, the organisational culture should be
such that it promotes diversity and motivates its employees to work in teams. An organisation
should be able to communicate the importance of creating synergies, by working in a team, to
its employees, which would motivate them to be a part of a multicultural team. Secondly, the
importance that the organisation gives to cultural diversity in the workplace can also have an
impact on the performance levels of the employees. Employees belonging to different
cultures should be able to perceive that their organisation values knowledge and cultural
backgrounds of each one of them and is not biased towards a particular culture (Page, 2019).
Thirdly, empowerment can also play a huge role in holding members of a multicultural team
accountable for a task assigned to them. Empowering the employees can instil a sense of
responsibility amongst them and they become motivated to perform better for their
organisation. Fourthly, the ability of an organisation to remove barriers that can prevent a
cross cultural team from performing their duties and responsibilities can have an impact on
their performance levels. An organisation should be able to communicate relevant
information to its various teams at the right point of time and should also allocate adequate
resources to them that are required to accomplish a task. Lastly, the leadership qualities of the
managers and also of the group leader, can also play a huge role in the performance levels of
a multicultural team. An efficient leader can always hold his group members together and
constantly motivate them by assessing their needs (Asrar-ul-Haq & Kuchinke, 2016). A
leader can also make unite his team members and can establish a common goal for all of
them to achieve. Ultimately, all these factors are organisational factors that can have an
impact on the performance levels of a multicultural team.
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Performance in Multicultural Teams
Ensuring high performance levels amongst multicultural teams is of an utmost important to
business organizations because of the tough market competition in the modern business
world. Further, where there is a diverse workforce, improper management can have adverse
impacts on employee morale and motivation levels, which can bring down the productivity
levels and profitability of an organisation.
For business organizations that are operating in multiple countries and have a diverse
workforce, it is important to set up the right organisational factors so that they can motivate
their multicultural teams to demonstrate higher performance levels. Such organizations
should also work towards increasing the cultural quotient and education level of the
employees as it enables them to work in culturally diverse teams and scenarios and perform
better because of the presence of informational diversity amongst them. Therefore, the above
information can be used by multinational organizations to optimise the performance of their
multicultural teams by strengthening their policies and strategies.
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Performance in Multicultural Teams
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