ABSTRACT
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. 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. 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. People tend to assume that challenges on multicultural teams arise from differing styles of communication. But this is only one of the four categories that, according to our research, can create barriers to a team’s ultimate success. In cross-cultural negotiations, the non-Westerner can understand the direct communications of the Westerner, but the Westerner has difficulty understanding the indirect communications of the non-Westerner.
