Multi-Cultural Teaming

The Joys and Challenges of Teamwork

Biblical Basis for Multi-cultural teams.

The Concept of the Body of Christ. The Early Apostolic Team (Paul’s teams) Our Future Destiny: Rev. 5:9-10 The universality of the gospel. The need for help with each of our cultural

bias. (bonwood)

World missions must be multicultural because the gospel is for everyone and the Great Commission is for all believers. But being an effective multicultural leader (team) is not easy, especially when false expectations and hidden assumptions exist about what it means to be a leader or follower (or team).

Plueddemann, James E. Leading Across Cultures p22.

Thesis:

“Anyone who aspires to lead a multicultural team must invest time and resources to learn who the people on the team are, what expectations they have about teamwork, and how those expectations create the potential of mistrust and conflict. Leaders must understand that individuals in stressful situations, despite their considerable cross cultural learning and experience regress to their default culture-habits, values, and patterns of interaction acquired in childhood.” (Lingenfelter,p.26)

Culture….no big deal! We are basically all the same…

How are a chicken and buffalo alike?

Value DimensionsDimension One Extreme Other ExtremeIdentity Collectivism IndividualismHierarchy Large Power Distance Small Power DistanceGender Femininity MasculinityTruth Strong Uncertainty

AvoidanceWeak Uncertainty Avoidance

Virtue Long-Term Orientation Short-Term Orientation

Hofstede, Peterson, Hofstede.Exploring Culture

Same Values- Different Terms

EqualityDirect

IndividualTaskRisk

HierarchyIndirectGroup

RelationshipCaution

Equality vs. HierarchyEquality

Be self- directedHave flexibility in rolesFreedom to challenge

those in powerMake exceptions, be

flexible, bend the rules

Treat men and women in basically the same way

Hierarchytake direction from

those aboveCertain roles= certain

behaviorRespect and not

challenge opinions of those who are in power

Enforce regulations Treat men and women

differently

Direct Style VS. IndirectDirect

Direct in speaking and less concerned about how it is said

Openly confront issuesStraightforward

communicationEngage in conflict when

necessarySay things clearly, not

leaving much open to interpretation

IndirectFocus on message and

how it is saidDiscreetly avoid difficult

or contentious issuesExpress concerns

tactfullyAvoid conflict if at all

possibleDiplomacyCount on listener to

interpret meaning

Individual vs. GroupIndividual

Take individual initiativeUse personal guidelines in

personal situationsFocus on themselvesJudge people based on

individual traitsMake decisions individuallyMove in and out of groups

as neededBe nonconformists when

necessary

GroupAct cooperatively- group

goalsStandardize guidelinesLoyalty to friends and

familyIdentity through groupTeam or group is before

the individualConform to social normsKeep group membership

for life

Task vs. RelationshipTask

People defined by what they do

Business first- relationships come later

Sacrifice leisure and family time for work

Get to know people superficially

Impersonal selection criteria

RelationshipPeople defined by who

they areEstablish rapport and

trust before businessHave personal

relationships with co-workers

People come before workUse largely personal

selection- family connections

Risk vs. CautionRisk

Decisions made quickly with little information

Focus on present and futureLess cautious in – “let’s get it

done”Change quickly without fear

of risksReady to try new or

innovative ways of doing things

Willing to change plans at last minute

Fewer rules and guidelines

CautionCollect information, then

make decisionFocus on the pastChange slowly and avoid

risksMore rules neededRefer to past precedents-

what worked and what did not

Stick to proven methods for solving problems

No last minute plansPeterson, Brooks. Cultural Intellilgence

“to work in harmony leaders (teams) in the global church must recognize and appreciate cultural differences in both external preferences and internal values.

The more cultural diversity on the team, the greater the possibility for misunderstanding and greater the need for patient, humble understanding about cultural expectations and preferences.

KEY

What are my own cultural assumptions about teaming and leadership?

What are my teammates cultural assumptions about teaming and leadership?

What biblical principles of teaming and leadership are universal and what are flexible.

Key Questions:

Thesis: “Even the most current traditions of leadership are culturally bound, and

when applied in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts, these

traditions become obstacles to effective ministry” (p.15)

Uncover your own unconscious cultural values.

Discover the cultural values of others through interaction and careful listening.

“Leaders in multicultural situations have the opportunity to explore Scripture from the perspective of the other culture.” p.65

Cultural values and Biblical Principles.

Found in Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business by Fons Tempenaars and Hampton Turner. Pp 157-178.

Metaphors of Cultural Expectations.

The Family Culture

Hierarchical and personal: Relationships are face to face. The company is a family with responsibility to take care of its employees. Employees are expected to be loyal and obedient. This is a high context culture; high value on collectivistic harmony; high power distance and high tolerance for ambiguity.

(Japan, France and Spain).

Family Culture

The Effel Tower Culture:

Hierarchical and bureaucratic. Narrow at the top and broad at the bottom. The leader doesn’t need to be personal. The role of the leader is more important than his personal qualities. Values efficiency and achievement of pre-determined goals. Decisions are logical and follow the rules. This culture is low context, individualistic and high power distance with a low tolerance for ambiguity. (German and Austrian companies).

Effel Tower Culture:

The Guided Missile Culture

Egalitarian and project oriented. Leaders are coordinators of experts. Members tend to be loyal to their profession rather than to each other or the company. When the task is completed they move on to another company. It is low context, individualistic, low power distance, low tolerance for ambiguity.

(U.S. and British companies).

The Guided Missile Culture

The Incubater Culture:

Based on the idea that organizations are secondary to the fulfillment of individuals.

Incubators for self-expression and self fulfillment. Personal and egalitarian. High context, low power distance, collectivistic. Examples of this would be high tech start ups, legal firms, medical practices, artistic groups. Leadership is achieved by skill, not ascribed. The best programmer, or doctor, or artist becomes the leader. There is a high tolerance for ambiguity. (Sweden).

Incubator Culture:

“Learning to lead in the multi-cultural context will be disconcerting.” (p.11- Plueddemann)

One may have a very successful style in his own culture and be entirely out of tune in a multicultural setting. Multi-cultural leadership calls for different skills and attitudes, withholding judgment and the awareness that familiar tunes are played differently.

See page 110

My strengths can be my greatest weakness, because I learn to be independent of those with whom I work. When I begin to see the church or my co-workers as slow learners, impediments to progress, or even as those who I should not bother, I am setting my self up for failure.

Arrogance is a very subtle temptation! At times we are blinded by how our own cultural history shapes how we do things and what our own expectations are.

Leadership is difficult! Leading in a multicultural context is even more difficult.

“We can not accomplish the work of the Kingdom of God unless we are willing to work together in the fellowship of a loving community and forgive as he has forgiven us.”

Col. 3:15 (p.25)

How can leaders help team members break the habits of their default culture?

What priority should a leader give to the creation of a covenant community in which team members commit first to one another as people of God and then to working together as one on the mission of God?

Big questions:

Theological Basis: I Peter 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen race, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.”

Building a Covenant Community (Lingenfelter)

A. We are people with a new identity: 1. we are chosen people. 2. We are people on a mission – to declare

the praises of him who called us out of darkness to light.

3. we are people “once without mercy who have received mercy”

B. We must commit together to practice this Covenant relationship.

The Biblical Foundation of Teaming

It is a “partnership with others through a ritual meal or ceremony witnessed by God, in which we agree together to live according to new standards of behavior founded in our relationship with God”(p. 75) and our calling as a people of God to proclaim Christ.

What does a Covenant mean.

1. Identity in Christ as God’s chosen people. 2. Presence of the Holy Spirit. 3. Love one another. 4. One Body serving in diversity. 5. One Body working together in unity. 6. Submitting to one another. 7. Speaking graciously. 8. Restoring mercifully. Lingenfelter, pp. 76-79

Foundational Principles

Plueddemann pp. 212-215

Work to build a culture of Grace