The Intercultural Conflict Style and Multicultural Teams

During the thirteen class of Intercultural Management, the professor Heiko Schmidt explained the Intercultural Conflict Style of Mitchell Hammer and finally multicultural teams. First, I am going to introduce the Intercultural Conflict Style of Hammer, then I will continue with the definition, advantages and disadvantages of Multicultural teams, finally I will answer my question Does culture really matters?    

Intercultural Conflict Style:

The Intercultural conflict style is a tool developed by Mitchell Hammer in 2002. It is used to resolve problems between different cultural backgrounds or ethnic differences. According to the Intercultural Conflict Style webpage, the tool “is composed by 18 items and is a self-scoring, easy to use, cross-culturally valid and statistically reliable instrument that can be used for individual, group, and organizational level assessments” (Hammer, 2002).

(Taken from the presentation of Intercultural Conflict Style Model, Heiko Schmidt)

Two dimensions according to the components of the conflict compose the conflicts styles. Substantive dimension (Indirect and Direct approaches to communication) and the emotional dimension (Expressive or Restrained). In addition, both dimensions are combined to identify the type of conflict style. For example, direct discussion and emotionally expressive engagement. These terms means that the person confronts directly arguments and problems in a calm atmosphere and tends to be more frank with emotions (Schmidt, 2015).    

By the other hand, we have the accommodation and dynamic person; these means that the person is aware of other opinions and cares about the relationship, with dynamic the person feels comfortable with the help of others and emotions (Schmidt, 2015).    

With stated above we can know how to deal with these kind people when having problems. This is very common when dealing with persons of different countries (High and low context cultures) because as seem throughout the curse misunderstanding can arise depending of the communication with others.

Multicultural teams  

Let us begin with the definition of multicultural teams, according to Small Business Multicultural teams can be defined as “is one in which a wide range of cultural differences exist among the team” (Kokemuller, n.f.) 

Benefits of a multicultural team

• ·      When having multicultural teams is easy to do brainstorming due to fact that we are different and have ideas and solutions that do not might seem conventional.
• ·         Ability to adapt to different circumstances  
• ·         Understanding of social, political, economic issues in different markets
• Creativity exploits 

Disadvantages of multicultural team

• ·         Different perspectives
• ·         Cultural barriers
• ·         Communication barriers
• ·         Misunderstanding may arise

In conclusion, having a multicultural team is a good idea when organizations want to enter to other markets in which the culture is unknown. However, it is important to know that differences and conflict may arise when having these teams because as been said throughout the curse we are different, I do not think the same as my German colleague even I do not think and have the same values as my Colombian partner.  

Does culture matter?

According to Abdullahi A An-Naim “Culture matters to globalization, to economic and social rights, and to civil and political rights because the very idea of rights is a cultural construct” (AN-NAÍM, 1998)in other words, being a globalized world requires the attention of those small parts that we do not consider important. The best example is when doing business in Asia; during the last two decades, Asia has become an important player in the international economy that is why companies look at Asia as a potential market. However, in order to enter in those markets is important to know about their culture (Guanxi, Mianzi, business presentations and others) if you do not take into account those “irrelevant” factor you will not be able to do business there.   

Bibliography

AN-NAÍM, A. A. (1998). Obtenido de http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/dialogue/1_11/requisites_for_shared/598.html

Hammer, M. (2002). Intercultural Conflict Style . Obtenido de http://www.icsinventory.com/ics_inv.php

Kokemuller, N. (n.f.). Small Business . Obtenido de http://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-multicultural-workplace-15469.html

Schmidt, H. (2015). The Four Intercultural Conflict styles presentation.