Globalization of the modern business world has led to the situation that many companies experience multicultural problems. Creating company teams which have to function perfectly if to refer to the professional qualities of the employees some companies fail to consider the cultural aspect of the issue. Thus, having a team of the qualified professionals many companies are unable to work properly as the multicultural problems are not solved. There are a lot of different cases and examples of the multicultural issues in the team. The ability of the company to solve the issues is a guarantee of a successful work of a team. Being a new team leader (based in US) for the new Macy’s department store in Zurich, Switzerland, I am going to use the experience of other companies in solving the issues in guiding a multicultural team of Americans, Italians, Germans and Swiss while opening and running the store in Zurich.
Having identified five most commonly used problems, I am going to discuss them with the reference to some sources where the solutions to these problems have already been found. I will just point to some issues which may occur in my department. A big distance from a leader to the new store, different points of view of the employees (based on the cultural aspect), different countries different languages, problems based on the treatment of the hierarchy and stress at the work place may be the main problems occurring in the multicultural environment. Each of these problems has occurred many times in different companies and basing on the experience of these people I am going to consider the ways out of the situations if they happen in my company.
A big distance from a leader to the new store and the multicultural team is another problem. Virtual teams may help in solving this issue. First of all, virtual teams may help is solving the problems connected with the distance (Gassmann, & Zedtwitz, 2003). Second, applying to the virtual teams, it is possible to use the Internet opportunities. Therefore, the understanding between the team members may be increased. The virtual teams also solve the problems connected with the language. English is an international language, however, the level of knowledge of this language may differ greatly, therefore, and the use of the online translators may assist in understanding inside the team (Brett, J., Behfar, & Kern, 2007). Thus, working on the opening of the Macy’s department store in Zurich I will be able to monitor the process from the USA
A different point of view of the employees (based on the cultural aspect) is another problem. The leader should focus on the interests of the company referring to the experience of each employee. It is possible to gain advantages from the employees’ diversity. Acknowledge the diversity of the employees and using their knowledge for the benefit of the company, the experience of each person may be applied into separate sphere (Schomer, 2000). I will consider a personal opinion of each of the team members, I will consider their experience and I will do all possible to use as much as I can from their experience.
Problems based on the treatment of the hierarchy are considered as the most confusing at the first stages of the development. Different countries have various attitudes to bosses. In some countries people got used to solve problems themselves, in other countries they have absolutely different relation to such situations and may wait for the order. Some employees may be enthusiastic, others may be not. Depending on the business cultures, the employees can have difficulties in organizing their work. The problems of the hierarchy will be solved in the following way. I will delegate the responsibilities of each of the team members to a particular sphere of work, therefore, I will make them report to me.
Stress at the work place is the problem which occurs in the multicultural teams due to the closing thoughts. Those who work in the mono-cultural environments have an opportunity to discuss their problems as they live in one and the same environment and may have similar problems. However, the multicultural team presupposes absence of the similar problems. Misunderstanding may lead to great problems in business. International business gives an advice to solve the problem by means of hiring a psychologist and to assist people in visiting him/her from time to time. The main purpose of a psychologist is to make sure that the members of a team do not suffer from stress and to help them begin to trust each other more. The work with each member of a team should be directed at solving the individual problems of people and at trying to unite those. The psychologists will be obligated to make the tests aimed at considering the level of team cohesion. Therefore, I will have to consider the results of the team work. These are the problems I may face in the new Macy’s department store in Zurich and the ideas how I am going to use to solve them.
Reference List
Brett, J., Behfar, K., & Kern, M. C. (2007). Managing multicultural teams. Business Harvard review. Web.
Gassmann, O., & Zedtwitz, M. (2003). Trends and determinants of managing virtual R&D teams. R&D Management, 33(3), 243-262.
Schomer, K. (2000). Building Multicultural Teams.Change Management Consulting & Training. Web.