Read the Below Case study and Answer the Following

Questions

Building a Multicultural Team—Is it Worth it?

Kalia works in a large business, managing a diverse team of eight individuals. Two of her employees

are in their early 20s, two in their 30s, three in their late 40s, and one in her late 50s. Four members

of her team are Caucasian and the other four are Hispanic, African American, Asian, and African.

Her younger employees are fairly new, having been there for less than two years. Most of her team

members have worked with the organization for 5 to 10 years, and her most senior staff has been

there for 25 years, 10 years longer than Kalia has been in her leadership position.

Generally, team members are cordial to one another on the surface, but Kalia knows that there are

tensions among some of the staff that have an impact on the success and productiveness of the team.

She is aware that one of the younger employees, Robert, is frequently frustrated that his Hispanic co-

worker, Ana, defers authority and decision making to others in the team. In conversations with him,

she discovers that the younger employee feels Ana should express her opinions more often. Robert’s

frustration results from his beliefs that everyone on the team should be able to contribute in a

shared, democratic process. He feels that when Ana defers her decision making to others, she is not

being accountable as a team member.

Margaret, a senior member of the team has picked up on Robert’s comments and feels that he is

disrespectful of Ana’s working style. She has mentioned to him that it could be a “cultural thing” and

that he should learn to adapt his behavior and working style to better meet her needs. In response,

Robert mutters, “Whatever. You don’t know anything about us.” Responses like this have led

Margaret to believe that he is disrespectful of her knowledge and tenure in the organization.

Frankly, Kalia is tired of managing people’s personalities. She feels that people should just learn to

adapt to each other’s working styles. Even though she believes this, she also believes that a good

leader has to unite the team, no matter their differences and working styles. This year, she has made

it a goal of hers, and of the team, to resolve these intercultural issues. But given her previous
attempts, she does not have high hopes for a successful outcome. The last time she tried to resolve

intercultural team issues, she felt like a complete failure. She is concerned about the employees’

responses to this next attempt. In fact, every time she thinks about that meeting, she flinches. She

just did not have the skill sets to facilitate the conversation in their last meeting. She wonders if this

next try will progress her team in any way or whether it will just be another failure.

Answers:

1. How do you describe Kalia’s self-efficacy?

By looking at Psychologist Albert Bandura’s way of self-efficacy:

Kalia is generally anxious by a statement made ; “flinches” when she thinks about prior experience with
meeting and her ability to lead the meeting and she is not confident as she thinks that she will always fail
every try she makes to solve the problem, She only mentioned how everyone needs to adapt to each
other and looks to her own satisfaction that as long as she does not have problems with anyone its fine.

2. How does Kalia’s self-efficacy impact her leadership?

Kalia in general is a good leader in thinking as she thinks that she should be able to unite the team
together and make them get along professionally, but she is still working on implementation due to her
prior failures, Kalia’s self-efficacy can impact her leadership because due to her lack of self-confidence it
could lose her to lose her authority in the eyes of her team and her ability to solve problems within the
team.

3. Analyze the culture of each country using Hofstede cultural dimensions and
evaluate the effect on teamwork and the workplace.

As I Was not able to find exact numbers regarding Bahrain, A research was conduct with asking Bahraini
students questions regarding their country and comparing scores with neighboring GCC countries.
Power distance:

In Bahrain compared to France, Bahrain scores high which means that the society accepts a hierarchical
order wherein everyone has a place in the spectrum. In workplace the Bahraini people will expect to be
respected for their role and power compared to a French person who would be treated equally in a team.

Individualism:

Bahrain is a very collective society compared to France as an individualistic culture, In Bahrain people
belong to groups and they take care of them in exchange for loyalty and power, In most companies in
Bahrain this is how it runs by family members recruiting other members to management positions
through "Wasta", wherein France we take care of our direct family only and treat the rest equally.

Masculinity:

Bahrain scores 60 on this dimension and is thus a Masculine society. In Masculine countries people “live in
order to work”, managers are expected to be decisive and assertive, the emphasis is on equity,
competition and performance and conflicts are resolved by fighting them out. Whereas, France scored 40
and is thus a more feminine country "liking what you do" instead of "Wanting to be the best".

Uncertainty Avoidance:

The score is very similar with Bahrain scoring 80 and France scoring 86 which means they both have a
preference for avoiding uncertainty, They maintain rigid codes of belief and behavior and are intolerant of
un-normative behavior and ideas. But the issues arise in the workplace because for each country they
have their difference view on what is a norm and what is not.
Long term orientation:

Bahrain scores 46 which means they are normative in their thinking and exhibit great respect for traditions
and focus on achieving great results by trying to use whenever applicable time-honored traditions and
norms. France scored 63 which shows that they take more of a pragmatic approach; they always use
modern educations and ways to solve problems and prepare for the future.
Problems in workplace can arise as each person wants to use different approaches from their own timing
either thinking about modern or traditional ways of doing things.

Indulgence:

Bahrain and France scored very similar scores averaging to 50, which means they do not point to a clear
range in this dimension but are average.
In workplace, it shows that they are in control of their indulgence and restraints depending on the time.

4. Explain how age and gender can affect how people behave and work?

In this modern Era, Different age groups and gender look at life with different POV and ways of thinking
in situations, In terms of age, Some cultures have a norm wherein all should respect older people and
what they say whereas other cultures say that all are equal and it is a matter of experience in the field. In
terms of gender, Some cultures give women no authority and power as they are less superior than men, In
other cultures they could be more superior than men or equally treated/respected. It is just a matter of
training and POV and being able to adapt in the team you are working with.

5. What strategies do you recommend to Kalia to help her improve her cultural

intelligence?

Some strategies I Would recommend kalia to primarily boost her confidence level, develop her perception
of her teams capabilities via four domains, which are:

(1) Mastery experience – She has tried to solve the problems In her team prior and failed many a times
before so she could get some outsiders professional help to solve the internal issues.
 (2) Vicarious experience – Once she gets an outsiders help or be able to solve the conflict step by step;
she will have more confident in the team and further she should set smaller goals and be able to measure
these goals progress to lower her self-induced stress and anxiety.

(3) Social persuasion – Talk to her team; one on one to be able to understand each persons POV And way
of thinking and be able to explain to them the other culture and their way of thinking and how they could
live in harmony with each other.

6. What suggestions do you have for Kalia in leading her staff to be a culturally
intelligent team?

Some suggestions on building a culturally intelligent team would be:

1. Training – Introduce a culture training program.

2. Set goals to become a culturally intelligent team.

3. Gain context- Get to understand the different views of the culture in terms of gender, language,

religion and authority.

4. Be confident- Once she gains context on these different cultures she knows how to react and deal

with to create harmony in the team’s meetings and conflicts.

5. Seek External help- If there is a conflict which cannot be solved by herself, she needs to get an

external professional counselor/trainer to help her figure ways of solving the conflicts.