Cultural Differences – Managing Multicultural Teams

Diversity in the workplace involves cultural differences such as:

1. Collectivistic vs. Individualistic
2. Low context vs. High context
3. Risk averse vs. Risk tolerant
4. Low power vs. High power distance

Let us dive deeper into each of the item and find out where Canada belongs.

1. Collectivistic vs. Individualistic

• Collectivistic society emphasizes affiliation with group; fewer groups, however, diverse groups of strong loyal bonds.
• Individualistic society emphasizes individual attributes and projects; many groups with superficial bonds.

Let’s look at comparison among countries:

The graph was referenced from Individualism Index (IDV) from Hofstede’s Index Comparisons:
https://globalelearningpractices.wikispaces.com/Hofstede%27s+Index+Comparisons

Individualistic (higher scores)

• Extensive use of “I“
• Frequent reference to person and personal achievement
• People succeed of their own initiative
• Individuals take decisions tend to be made by specific individuals

 

Collectivistic (lower scores)

• Extensive use of “We“
• Frequent reference to group and group accomplishments
• People succeed or fail as a group
• Decisions are made with reference to impact to the group
• Group decisions are often by group consensus; this can be distorted by hierarchy (high power distance).

I will discuss the next topics on future blog posts, follow me!

 

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