Managing Multicultural Teams
Teams whose members come from different nations and backgrounds place special demands on managers – especially when a feuding team looks to the boss for help with a conflict.
Teams by Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary C. Kern
When a major international software developer needed to produce a new product quickly, the project manager assembled a team of employees from India and the United States. From the start the team members could not agree on a delivery date for the product. The Americans thought the work could be done in two to three weeks; the Indians predicted it would take two to three months. As time went on, the Indian team members proved reluctant to report setbacks in the production process, which the American team members would find out about only when work was due to be passed to them. Such conflicts, of course, may affect any team, but in this case they arose from cultural differences. As tensions mounted, conflict over delivery dates and feedback became personal, disrupting team members’ communication about even mundane issues. The project manager decided he had to intervene–with the result that both the American and the Indian team members came to rely on him for direction regarding minute operational details
84
harvard business review | hbr.org
JILL CALDER
Managing Multicultural
M a n a g i n g M u l t i c u l t u ra l Te a m s
that the team should have been able to handle itself. The manager became so bogged down by quotidian issues that the project careened hopelessly off even the most pessimistic schedule–and the team never learned to work together effectively. Multicultural teams often generate frustrating management dilemmas. Cultural differences can create substantial obstacles to effective teamwork – but these may be subtle and difficult to recognize until significant damage has already been done. As in the case above, which the manager involved told us about, managers may create more problems than they resolve by
Teams by Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary C. Kern
When a major international software developer needed to produce a new product quickly, the project manager assembled a team of employees from India and the United States. From the start the team members could not agree on a delivery date for the product. The Americans thought the work could be done in two to three weeks; the Indians predicted it would take two to three months. As time went on, the Indian team members proved reluctant to report setbacks in the production process, which the American team members would find out about only when work was due to be passed to them. Such conflicts, of course, may affect any team, but in this case they arose from cultural differences. As tensions mounted, conflict over delivery dates and feedback became personal, disrupting team members’ communication about even mundane issues. The project manager decided he had to intervene–with the result that both the American and the Indian team members came to rely on him for direction regarding minute operational details
84
harvard business review | hbr.org
JILL CALDER
Managing Multicultural
M a n a g i n g M u l t i c u l t u ra l Te a m s
that the team should have been able to handle itself. The manager became so bogged down by quotidian issues that the project careened hopelessly off even the most pessimistic schedule–and the team never learned to work together effectively. Multicultural teams often generate frustrating management dilemmas. Cultural differences can create substantial obstacles to effective teamwork – but these may be subtle and difficult to recognize until significant damage has already been done. As in the case above, which the manager involved told us about, managers may create more problems than they resolve by