It is now common place to conduct projects involving culturally diverse teams, but international organisations sometimes fail to understand that working in an intercultural environment can create challenges that threaten the success of international projects. To avoid possible negative outcomes, managers leading intercultural teams need to be equipped with the relevant intercultural management skills, allowing them to avoid misunderstandings and clashes that may arise when working in an intercultural context.

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The impact of culture on the workplace is usually widely underestimated. Our cultural values shape many key aspects of the way we work: our relationship with time, the way we interact with each other, how we deal with conflicts or what we expect from our manager. Individuals tend to consider their own preferences as “normal” and often see others’ preferences as strange or even irrational. This negative perception usually leads to frustration or incidents which ultimately harm the output and the effectiveness of the intercultural team.

Individuals lacking intercultural awareness often rely on stereotypes and generalisations to deal with different intercultural values. Stereotypes can often help people to understand and predict behaviours of intercultural counterparts, but too often they are inaccurate or even offensive. Stereotypes like “Italians are always late” or “Chinese are shy”, although sometimes true, can greatly hinder effective and long-term intercultural relationships.

Another common strategy people may use when managing intercultural teams is to minimise or deny the existence of cultural differences. Using concepts like “we are all the same” or “people just need to work or behave the way we do” can create severe misunderstandings or cultural clashes. Cultural values and behaviours cannot be dismissed so easily and must be recognised, correctly interpreted and then appropriately responded to.

Effective intercultural managers help the members of the team to understand their own culture and how it impacts their working style or preference. With an increased intercultural awareness and understanding, team members will be able to work more effectively with their intercultural colleagues. An intercultural management training course will equip intercultural managers with the skills and tools they need to develop and demonstrate a global mindset. This in turn will ensure that they effectively manage and harness the cultural differences within the team.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2011