In the project team, there are six teammates with diversified backgrounds. Firstly, as for nationality, two came from different European countries, one came from US, and the left three are from different parts of China.Secondly, they have different working experiences, one worked for many years, two of them had worked about one year, and three of them had no working experiences at all. In the group collaboration process, some conflicts happened, such as some members late or failed to present in the discussion meeting, someone asked same questions that had been discussed and settled in last meeting, one European teammate didn’t meet the deadline and impact the group work submission. Finally, all of the teammates lost their confidence about this project. This bog aims to resolve the conflicts aroused by the background differences.
Culture difference
Culture is how people make sense of their world. Different people from different cultures have different perspectives. So when they find themselves face to face, a number of responses are possible (Varner, I. & Beamer, L. 2011).
Culture difference includes several dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, femininity vs. masculinity, long/short term orientation, individualism vs. collectivism, low vs. high context (Hofstede, 1980, 1991). Each dimension has influence on the communication of the two persons who are from different culture, even the relationship of them. Just like this case, culture difference is one of the factors lead to the collaboration conflicts. People from the US, France and Norway tend to have low uncertainty avoidance,while Chinese has high uncertainty culture. As a consequence, maybe for the teammates from US, France and Norway, it is relatively acceptable for the late or fail to participate the group discussion and work submission beyond the deadline. Meanwhile, it is well known that French has no sense of time. That may be the reason for why the French teammate often failed to participate in the discussion meeting and didn’t meet the assignment deadline.
Fortunately culture difference is not a barrier which can’t be overcome. “Culture involves learned and shared behaviors, values, and material objects” (Varner, I. & Beamer, L. 2011). And every culture can be learned and understood because the nature of culture. Even in the same culture the new generation is learning it day by day. As a consequence,I will suggest to adopt the problem-solving behavior to deal with the culture difference conflict first. To begin with, it is better for each teammate to know other cultures and set up the conception that people are different. In addition, each teammate should understand his own culture, so he could compare and analyze the difference between the culture difference between him and other teammates. Under this premise, the group members could group together and find a solution which is acceptable for each teammates.For example, the group leader could point out that the common goals of all of the teammates were having a effective and efficient group discussion as well as a work submission within the deadline. Since some teammates may has no time concept which will impact the common goals realization, it is better for the other teammates to remind the meeting time and deadline earlier and frequently through the Wechat. And for the French who often absent in the group discussion, the team leader could reinforce that the team work need every teammate’s contribution.The French teammate’s effort and strength is important to the group work. Then asking what kind of help the French teammate need, so he could participate the group discussion and submit the work in time.
If the problem-solving does not work, the other teammates could use the persuasion way, restating that the negative impact resulted by the teammates’ lateness and absence in the group discussion, as well as the work submission beyond the deadline. This could make the teammates realize the importance of time concept. If the persuasion still has no effect, politicking could be the last step to resolve the conflict. Although this approach has the potential to disrupt the group collaboration, the work submission beyond the deadline has more negative impact to the group work performance. If the first two approaches couldn’t make any change for the bad time concept, it is may be the less engaged problem rather than the culture conflict. Indulging these behaviors would impact the whole team performance. So it is necessary for the team leader group the teammates who still want to do a good job together to resist these behaviors.
Working experience difference
Working experience difference is another reason for the background conflicts. The teammates with different working experience have different working approaches in the group collaboration process. For the teammates who have some working experience before, they are more value the work effectiveness and efficiency. That’s why the teammate who worked many years suggested create meeting agenda and minutes to prevent the repeat discussion in the meeting. While for teammates who have no working experience before, they are intend to have a freedom and relaxed working style. So in order to resolve the conflict, both of them should overcome the self-reference criterion.Self-reference criterion means “people tend to evaluate everything they see and experience on the basis of their own background “(Varner, I. & Beamer, L. 2011). People from different context levels will have many barriers both when sending and receiving massages. And these kinds of difference will also lead to the misjudgment of the other part’s behaviors. In this case, the teammates with years working experience may not used to the relaxed and freedom working style. And for the other teammates who have no working experience before, they may feel strange and can’t understand why the senior teammate come up the idea of creating meeting agenda and minutes.
In order to deal with the conflict, problem solving behaviors will still be my first suggestion. The senior teammate could explain clearly for why he/she wanted to have this suggestion. And the teammates could have a discussion face to face that if the meeting agenda and minutes are necessary or not. If other teammates think creating agenda and minutes for the meeting is troublesome, they could discuss what kind of solution could be more helpful to prevent the forgetting of previous discussion content in a long period. When they overcame the self-reference criterion, they could analyze the situation more objectively and will be more likely to find the best win-win solution. If this conflict couldn’t be solved with problem solving behaviors. I will suggest the team respect the majority teammates’ working style. After all, the working style conflict is not worth disrupt the relationship between the teammates.
Working experience difference is another reason for the background conflicts. The teammates with different working experience have different working approaches in the group collaboration process. For the teammates who have some working experience before, they are more value the work effectiveness and efficiency. That’s why the teammate who worked many years suggested create meeting agenda and minutes to prevent the repeat discussion in the meeting. While for teammates who have no working experience before, they are intend to have a freedom and relaxed working style. So in order to resolve the conflict, both of them should overcome the self-reference criterion.Self-reference criterion means “people tend to evaluate everything they see and experience on the basis of their own background “(Varner, I. & Beamer, L. 2011). People from different context levels will have many barriers both when sending and receiving massages. And these kinds of difference will also lead to the misjudgment of the other part’s behaviors. In this case, the teammates with years working experience may not used to the relaxed and freedom working style. And for the other teammates who have no working experience before, they may feel strange and can’t understand why the senior teammate come up the idea of creating meeting agenda and minutes.
Reference
Varner, I & Beamer, L (2011). Intercultural Communication in the Global Workshop. McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind.London: McGraw-Hill.
Varner, I & Beamer, L (2011). Intercultural Communication in the Global Workshop. McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind.London: McGraw-Hill.
