Internal business structures have been radically transformed in recent decades. Changes in areas such as communication and transportation technology and shifts towards global interdependence have resulted in companies becoming increasingly international and thus intercultural.
In addition, the need to ‘go global’ and reduce costs requires companies to combine the protection of international interests and reduce the number of employees. The solution in most cases has been the formation of intercultural teams.
As with all businesses, success depends on effective cooperation and communication within teams. However, the intercultural dimension of today’s teams brings with it new challenges. Successful team building involves not only traditional needs to harmonize personalities but also languages, cultures, ways of thinking, behaviors and motivations.
Cross-cultural teams have an inherent disadvantage. Cultural differences can lead to communication problems, unpredictability, low team cohesion, mistrust, stress, and ultimately poor results. However, intercultural teams can be very positive entities indeed. Combining different perspectives, viewpoints, and opinions can lead to better quality analysis and decision-making, while team members develop new skills in global awareness and cross-cultural communication.
In reality, this best-case scenario is rarely seen. Most of the time, intercultural teams fail to fulfill their potential. The main reason for this is that when cross-cultural teams are formed, people with different frameworks of understanding are brought together and are expected to come together naturally. Without a common framework of understanding, for example on issues like status, decision making, communication etiquette, this is very difficult and therefore requires outside help to bring the team together.
Intercultural or cross-cultural training is a method to help bring a team together. Through analysis of the cultures involved in a team, their particular approaches to communication and business, and how the team interacts, cross-cultural team builders can find, suggest, and use common ground to help team members build harmonious relationships. .
Cross-cultural training sessions seek to help a team realize their differences and similarities in areas such as status, hierarchy, decision-making, conflict resolution, showing emotions, and building relationships. These are then used to create mutually agreed structures of communication and interaction. From this foundation, teams are instructed on how to recognize future communication difficulties and their cultural roots, allowing them to become more self-reliant. The end result is a more cohesive and productive team.
In conclusion, for cross-cultural teams to be successful, HR managers and staff must be vigilant about the need for cross-cultural training to help cultivate harmonious relationships. Companies must be supportive, proactive and innovative if they want to take advantage of the potential benefits that intercultural teams can offer. This goes beyond funding and creating tech linkages to bringing together cross-cultural teams at the surface level and going back to basics by fostering better interpersonal communication. For international companies to grow and prosper in this shrinking world, cross-cultural synergy must be a priority.