7.3 Culture, interculturality and negotiation culture, a quick review

In order to begin developing a team culture, it is helpful to adopt an actor-field perspective. From this viewpoint, we are primarily concerned with the members of the team and their cultural orientation. Inherent in the open perspective of culture is the acknowledgement that culture exists within human collectives. Typically, some of the collectives associated with the team members will be considered more relevant than others in each particular virtual teamwork environment and at any specific point in time. The term collective here refers to different types of groups such as professions, sports clubs, corporate organisations and nation states.

In our case, when diverse people meet for a specific purpose, they bring with them a range of assumptions. These could be for example their understanding of work processes, which they may have learned in the context of their professional socialisation and membership of collectives. When meeting other team members for the first time, participants are likely to perceive an atmosphere of unfamiliarity and possibly even strangeness due to differing understandings of work and working together. They find themselves in a situation where there is a lack of normality. With this absence of normality, plausibility and a lack of routinised actions, we can speak of 'interculturality'. Interculturality can thus be understood as a process of social interaction and communication in which the team members are involved in modifying their cultural practices in various ways, but at the same time attempting to assert their interests and objectives.

The result of this process is the emergence of a team culture related to the development of a work environment in which team members feel comfortable.  This happens when behavioural patterns are perceived as suitable and normal, and where team members behave in a way which makes sense to the team. Additionally, routine actions have been established which are understood and acceptable for all and are therefore shared. In order to achieve a situation where routine actions are accepted and shared by all, a process of negotiation is necessary. A negotiated culture thus indicates a reciprocally and collectively formed team culture that develops out of an interactive, communicative process involving all team members. A negotiated culture is -as with any culture- also fluid, which means that in the course of the team’s life cycle, renegotiations can take place as well as refinements of the team culture. A negotiated culture is therefore both the outcome and the beginning of a process. Developing an E-culture evolves therefore, requiring time and effort from all team members, as well as everyone's openness and willingness towards ongoing dialogue.

Apart from the openness and willingness to invest enough time and effort in the negotiation of an E-culture, the level of unfamiliarity or strangeness experienced by each team member may differ, and this needs to be considered too. Lastly, the negotiation process also depends on the quantity and relevance of the work areas involved. For example, in a team where all members are already experienced and confident in English as a lingua franca, there is little need to debate which language to use. This is different in teams with a mix of members who are unfamiliar with using English in a team setting and others who are quite conversant in English, even understanding different accents and nuances. In such a team constellation, members may, for example, come up with a solution where breaks are taken in order for some participants to discuss in their mother tongue. Alternatively, a team member might summarise important issues in a language other than English to make sure that all contributions are heard and understood.