Managing Multicultural Individuals

CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT – 19.12.2013

Emilie BONTANT, Florence GIORNI, Margareta HEIDT, Kerstin

KNOBLOCH

MulticulturalIndividuals: What Can They Bring toGlobal Organizations?(Fitzsimmons, Miska, Stahl)

Global

Organizations

and

Multicultural

Individuals

Impact of

Multicultural

Individuals

Types of

Multicultural

Individuals

Managing a

Global

Workforce

Conclusion

AGENDA

MulticulturalIndividuals: What Can They Bring toGlobal Organizations?(Fitzsimmons, Miska, Stahl)

• Global organizations

• an international alliance involving many different countries

• technology, mobility, different cultures

• multicultural individuals = multitalented

• more than one culture has been internalized

• cultural awarness and knowledge

• for corporations, it is a ressource not optimized nowadays

19.12.2013 Emilie BONTANT, Florence GIORNI, Margareta HEIDT, Kerstin KNOBLOCH 3

Multicultural individuals: What canthey bring to global organizations ?

Multicultural individuals: What canthey bring to global organizations ?• INDRA NOOYI

• CEO and Chair for Pepsico

• shaped Pepsico as a global company

→ derive benefits from employees who have diverse

cultures

• CARLOS GHOSN

• President and CEO of Renault and Nissan

• Brazillian – Lebanese – French – Japanese – English

• Dongfeng Motor → Dongfeng Renault Automotive Co


How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses ?• Multiculturals' impact on teams

Multicultural individuals to build cohesion

• divisions within a groups or faultline :

• often develop along cultural lines, promoting

disharmony, dissatisfaction, poor performance

• avoid factions based on nationality→ multicultural

individuals

• to bridge fautlines through language, general

knowledge, by explaining the opposing subgroups'

behavior

• VS intergroup hostility and stereotyping

• Multicultural teams bring creativity and

innovation

• to speed up the process of tapping diverse perspectives

• multicultural teams take longer to performe tasks :

differences

• multicultural individuals is a key to avoid conflicts

within a global team


How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses ?• Multiculturals' impact on intercultural negociations

• several ways to improve negociations

• maximizing individuals objectives – common goals

• to know counterparts' goals, expectations, negociation strategies

• monocultural individuals can see dissimilarities and obstacles

• creative bargaining solutions

perspective-takings : the ability to consider the world from another person's viewpoint

• pleasant communication experience, trust and respect

multiple perspectives→ creativity→ joint gains

• multicultural individuals : able to take both perspectives, positively influence their negociation partners' communication

experience


How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses ?• Multicultural‘s impact on teams

Multicultural individuals to build cohesion

• divisions within a groups or faultline :

• often develop along cultural lines, promoting

disharmony, dissatisfaction, poor performance

• avoid factions based on nationality→ multicultural

individuals

• to bridge fautlines through language, general

knowledge, by explaining the opposing subgroups'

behavior

• VS intergroup hostility and stereotyping

• Multicultural teams bring creativity and

innovation

• to speed up the process of tapping diverse perspectives

• multicultural teams take longer to performe tasks :

differences

• multicultural individuals is a key to avoid conflicts

within a global team


Multiculturals' impact on intercultural negociations

• several ways to improve negociations

• maximizing individuals objectives – common goals

• to know counterparts' goals, expectations, negociation strategies

• monocultural individuals can see dissimilarities and obstacles

• creative bargaining solutions

perspective-takings : the ability to consider the world from another person's viewpoint

• pleasant communication experience, trust and respect

multiple perspectives→ creativity→ joint gains

• multicultural individuals : able to take both perspectives, positively influence their negociationpartners' communication experience


How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses ?

How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses?• Multiculturals’ Impact on Expatriation

• Problem: International job rotations and

internationals assignments


Multiculturals individuals:

More successfull in international assignments

Experience managing two or more conflicting identies

Higher cultural metacognition

Cultural metacognition:Tendency to reflect on one’s cultural assumptions when preparing,

monitoring, and learning from intercultural interactions

Essential für international assignmentsDANGER !

BUT:

Dual AllegianceDilemma

Free agents

Heartsat home

Gone native

Dual citizens

• Multiculturals’ Impact on Ethics and Leadership


Ethical

Universalism Ethical

Relativsm


able to reconcile these conflicting perspectives

ability to see complex situations from multiple perspectives

able to balance global consistency and local sensitivity in ethical decision making

Problem: Use or adopt ethical principles?

Perspectives of ethical argumentation

How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses ?

• Multiculturals’ Impact on Cross-Border Alliances, M&A


Problem: Integrating the different cultures and workforces of different countries

Cultural Due dilligence process

• To evaluate factors influencing

the organizational fit

• To understand future cultural

dynamics


Greater cultural empathy

Perspective-taking skills

Ability to bridge cultural gaps

Conflict about the degree of

interdependence and intergration

= TRANSITION TEAMS to facilitate

integration process

How can multicultural employeescontribute to global businesses?

Types of Multicultural Individuals

• Marginals

• have more than one culture, but feel disassociated withboth or all of them

• Feel free to choose actvities that are unconventional toboth cultures in-depth knowledge, but detachedfrom the cultures they represent able to makeunpopular decisions (layoffs, pay cuts, etc.) in a culturally appropriate manner.

• Cosmopolitans

• identify with many cultures, are usually frequenttravelers, and have lived in several different countries

• Tend to do well psychologically, with evidence of high-adaptability and complex thinking

• Resilient to identity threats able to switch identitiesmomentarily


„It would be better to be a full-blooded Indian or full-blooded Caucasion. But being a half-breed, well, there‘s just nothing there.“

„When you are an outsider and you cannot be categorized into one culture, it makes people feel that you are unlikely to be biased.“

At risk of becoming free agents

Weakly linked to both parent and local organizations

At risk of becoming free agents

Identify strongly with a global identity

Types of Multicultural Individuals

• Separated

• Keep their cultural identities apart and identify with one

or the other depending on the context

• Higher levels of cognitive complexity ( time spend

switching back and forth between cultural lenses)

• Most likely to take on either the hearts-at-home or gone-

native positions

• Integrated

• Merge their cultures together, resulting in a new, hybrid

culture

• Benefits: lower stress, better social integration across

cultures, and more creativity (comp. to separated ind.)

• Most likely to become dual citizens and have bigger

creative potential


„I‘ve definitely become more assertive… It really was critical to have that Western vs. Eastern aspect, and still feel like I never had to change who I am.“

„I could never claim to be Chinese at the core. Yet neither would I claim, as if by default, to be merely ‚white inside‘. I do not want to be white. I only want to be integrated.“

Both identify with two cultures, although they mentally organize those cultures differently

Frame-switching increases their experience seeing the world from more than one perspective

Managing a Multicultural Workforce


• The Organizational Implications Pyramid




Organizational Culture Development

• Value multiple cultures to benefit from cultural diversity

• If not, risk = suppress employees' multicultural identities

and the skills and abilities that emerge from being

multicultural

Visible signs that the company values employees with

multicultural background

Shape the organizational culture towards one that values

multiculturalism

Provide the necessary context to leverage

multiculturals’ potential.

Simply hiring multicultural is not enough !




Recruiting and Placement

• Develop systems that identify multiculturals potential

• Diverse teams

• Complex tasks requiring creativity

Hire people with wide variety of multicultural backgrounds

Once more is known, place them strategically

It will help shift the organizational culture in the right

direction




Training and Development programs – 2 goals

• Support multicultural to become more conscious of their

skills and abilities

• Mentorship and coaching

• Global experiential programs*

• Develop similar skill sets among monocultural employees

Develop to close the gap

• Global experiential programs**Help participants to broaden their horizons, reduce stereotypes and

prejudices

Those steps should create the conditions that allow

multicultural employees to shine

Conclusion

• Advantages of Multicultural Individuals:

• Contribute valuable skills to teams, negotiations, alliances, mergers and acquisitions, international assignments, ethics

and leadership

• Risk for Organizations:

• Experiences of multicultural individuals are not universal

Risk of alienating multicultural employees unless organizations consider the different ways to be multicultural

• Next Step for Companies:

Take advantage of the potential in multicultural employees by staffing, training and leading with these

benefits in mind!


THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT – 19.12.2013

Emilie BONTANT, Florence GIORNI, Margareta HEIDT, Kerstin

KNOBLOCH

Business

Managing Multicultural Individuals