LEADERSHIP

RISE OF THE TECHNOLOGY AND DIVERSITY

Innovation has always been a catalyst for change. While it occurs in a variety of ways, innovation in technology has affected our world immensely, especially in business. It has changed the way we communicate, opened new markets, and paved the way for international and global expansion. With theses new frontiers comes new challenges.

As companies continue to extend their reach diversity and cultural awareness becomes more crucial because both can affect efficiency and profits. For example, disunity in cross-cultural management within companies. Efficient and well-organized teams are the foundation of good companies. Teams are being created across borders, but the time zone difference is not the prominent issue when dealing with cohesiveness. According to DuPraw and Axner there are Six Fundamental Patterns of Cultural Differences:

• Different Communication Styles

• Different Attitudes Toward Conflict

• Different Approaches to Completing Tasks

• Different Decision- Making Styles

• Different Attitudes Towards Disclosure

• Different Approaches to Knowing

When working with cross cultural teams, managers need to be able to identify problems that stem from cultural differences, such as these, or personality conflicts. If a team manager is not aware of these differences when conflicts arise they will not know how to properly assess and solve group conflicts.

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SOLUTION

To address this problem, I have made a three step program to influence and teach management major students at the Darla Moore School of Business how to incorporate culture awareness into their managment styles. This program will help them grow their team management skills, leadership skills, and problem management skills. The three steps include:

1. Develop Cultural Knowledge and Awareness

2. Look for Ways to Serve Your Team

3. Cultivate Positive Attitudes Within the Group

With these step managers will learn about the different points of view their team members might have, be able to determine ways to help their team be more efficient, and build unity and cohesiveness within the group.

The first step, Develop Cultural Knowledge and Awareness, is about understanding your team and their backgrounds. In this step the managers will learn about general cultural views of different regions and how they relate to communication, work philosophy, conflict, and award/recognition.

Communication

• Knowing how to effectively communicate instructions and expectations in the proper manner

  • Direct vs Indirect

  • In person vs Electronic

  • Gestures and Non-Verbal Communication

Work Philosophy

•  Recognizing the difference in the way people manage task will help the manager have more realistic expectations and understand how to allocate tasks

  • Variation in task process

  • Relationship building vs task completion

  • Variation of importance distribution

Conflict

•  Understanding how to solve problems in a way that makes everyone feel comfortable and respected

  • Solve: Head on vs In Quiet

Award/ Recognition

• Identify how to best appreciate your team

  • Open vs Private

  • Frequency

The second step, Look for Ways to Serve Your Team, is learning how to give your team the right resources and support to help them succeed based on their personal and cultural needs. For example, if a manager has a team that mainly consists of cultures that respond better to face to face instruction and support, it would be best to have multiple meetings, video chats, or phone calls in the beginning of a project to make sure that they start off strong. Rather than having one instructional meeting and only responding to questions or concerns through email.   

Lastly, Cultivate Positive Attitudes Within the Group, is building a supportive and encouraging environment for your team to feel empowered together. Once you have moderately secured the cultural factors of the group it is easier to identify problems resonating from personality differences and combat those separately. This is the section where managers can customize their approach and be creative based on their leadership style. Some managers might create a team slogan for every time the team reaches a goal. While others might decide to do something bigger like send encouraging messages in a team email after updates. These actions do not have to be large but rather small things that make the team feel collectively valued.

PLAN

The best way to implement my program and reach my desired audience is to create a new management class through the Darla Moore School of Business. This will enable me to reach future managers who can share what they learn to the companies they decide to work for later on. I would like to team up the Leadership and Service Center and the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs to help me create a curriculum using the three key concepts above. I will then present the propsed curriculum to the Management Staff and Dean of the Business School to see if we have the ability to add another class to the Management Electives class list. If space is available, we will continue with finalizing the class.

EVALUATION

When students finish the class they will be given a survey. This survey will allow the student to communicate how useful they thought the class was and how we can improve it. I will use the Darla Moore School of Business Alumni Office to keep track of the professionals who took the class. After 2-5 years I will contact them again to see how the class has been useful in their professional careers so far.

SOURCES

Working on Common Cross-cultural Communication Challenges
by Marcelle E. DuPraw and Marya Axner
http://www.pbs.org/ampu/crosscult.html