Culture, Communication and Performance in Multi and Mono-Cultural Teams: Results of a Study Analysed by the System of Organisational Terms and Narrative Analysis
Kimberley, Anna; Flak, Olaf (2018)
2018
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201904084545
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201904084545
Tiivistelmä
This paper presents results of a study which investigates the impact of culture and communication (virtual and
face-to-face) on generating solutions in multi-and mono-cultural teams. The study was conducted among fifty BA business students in Helsinki, Finland. It combines qualitative (narrative analysis) and quantitative (structured work observation with online management tools) approaches. The narrative analysis provides retrospective insights into individual reflections on the team members communication process. The structured work observation provides simultaneous insights into team communication process. The study aims to determine the correlation between the cultural origin of the team and the team communication. Secondly, the study compares the findings of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The discussion drew on Hall’s (1976) concepts of communication patterns in low- and high-context cultures as well as Hofstede’s
(2010) selected cultural dimensions. The findings of narrative analysis revealed that communication during the process of task completion among participants from low-context cultures was more successful and generated more output than that of their counterparts from high-context cultures. Language barriers in multi-cultural teams did not have significant influence on the team performance in terms of output generation. The findings of the analysis produced by using online management tools showed that the amount of outputs did not strongly correlate with the way of communicating during the project. The contributions of this paper are (1) demonstrating the impact of culture on team communication, (2) highlighting the importance and influence of communication on team’s effectiveness, (3) showing the benefits of applying two distinct research approaches at different stages of the study.
face-to-face) on generating solutions in multi-and mono-cultural teams. The study was conducted among fifty BA business students in Helsinki, Finland. It combines qualitative (narrative analysis) and quantitative (structured work observation with online management tools) approaches. The narrative analysis provides retrospective insights into individual reflections on the team members communication process. The structured work observation provides simultaneous insights into team communication process. The study aims to determine the correlation between the cultural origin of the team and the team communication. Secondly, the study compares the findings of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The discussion drew on Hall’s (1976) concepts of communication patterns in low- and high-context cultures as well as Hofstede’s
(2010) selected cultural dimensions. The findings of narrative analysis revealed that communication during the process of task completion among participants from low-context cultures was more successful and generated more output than that of their counterparts from high-context cultures. Language barriers in multi-cultural teams did not have significant influence on the team performance in terms of output generation. The findings of the analysis produced by using online management tools showed that the amount of outputs did not strongly correlate with the way of communicating during the project. The contributions of this paper are (1) demonstrating the impact of culture on team communication, (2) highlighting the importance and influence of communication on team’s effectiveness, (3) showing the benefits of applying two distinct research approaches at different stages of the study.