8.5 Negotiating culture, a step by step approach

The following is a short case taken from a book by Gehrke and Claes (2014; p. 130). Read the text and analyze it by providing answers to the following questions:

1. Who is involved? Answer this question by simply listing the members of the workgroup
2. Where can you detect differences and commonalities or, in other words, which typical cultural factors may be at play here? Answer this question by applying the knowledge you have about cultures and explanations which come into your mind.
3. Which issue domains appear to be particularly relevant? In other words, where do you see areas which seem to cause confusion and need to be addressed?
4. Which contextual issues might influence the effectiveness of the group and therefore require attention?
5. What do you think the goals of the different members of the group might be?
6. Where do you find language issues which require explanations? Here it is of particular importance to note down terms used which are linked to larger concepts and may require explanation.
7. Where do you see potentials for negotiating cultures or, in other words, establishing common ground?
8. What might a negotiated culture look like? What type of negotiation options make sense and why? Are there areas where new approaches may be found?

The case

Mario figures out very quickly that relationships between team members are far from ideal. His colleagues in Kazakhstan often had to be asked repeatedly to deliver results, sometimes even with the help of the corporate project manager.

Furthermore, those in the Milan team start to openly show their dissatisfaction. He himself sometimes feels frustrated, in particular with the confident manner of his English colleague Peter. Mario perceives Peter's direct criticism in front of everybody as a lack of trust in him as a leader. Peter tells him that he wants the task-related roles to be clearer. But Mario prefers to define roles in the team more fluidly, with people contributing to the work as and when they can. In this respect, he is fond of the Brazilians and Indians in the team who propose their ideas in a much more collegial tone, with phrases such as 'What do you think, should we re-analyse the high-pressure reservoir data?'.

Mario knows that, in order to succeed, the team has to work together in a highly interdependent way and this means everybody has to participate proactively in delivering results. He also understands that in order to improve the team's performance, he has to build on team members' differences. Mario asks himself the following question: How can he build a high level of trust and unity among his team? How should he organize the reporting lines and communication channels? How might he foster the creation of an interdependent knowledge base?