Leadership in Multicultural Groups to

Leadership in Multicultural Groups To what extent does the larger context (i.e. A business setting, an educational setting) affect the dynamics of the leadership of a multicultural group? How do gender and ethnicity interact in the context of the leadership of a multicultural group? How significant is each group member's definitions of culture and cultural salience? In investigating the dynamics of the leadership of multicultural groups, an important starting point is with the individual.

This may seem counterintuitive given that the subject that is being focused on is the group. But while a group is certainly more than simply the sum of its parts, it is also its parts. A group must be investigated as its whole, but it must also must be examined in terms of the characteristics of each of the members. Hambrick et al.

(1998), for example, note that in seeking to understand how multinational corporations can best provide good leadership, it is necessary to start with the individual characteristics of the members. These characteristics include gender, age, and ethnicity, as well as less demographic characteristics such as field of technical expertise (Mitchell et al., 2002). Gibson & McDaniel (2010) make one of the most important arguments in this arena: There is as yet no single model that works for all multicultural groups since the specific cultural groups that are represented in a group affect its structure.

Also, there is no single model that can be applied across the board since the degree of multiculturalism in a group is highly influential (Gong, 2003). It is also important to understand that the dynamic of multiculturalism cannot be understood in linear terms (Randel, 2003).

Another fundamental dynamic that must be taken into account when doing research in this area is the fact that individuals vary significantly in their definition of what culture is and what constitutes a cultural aspect of their personality as opposed to an aspect that arises from another factor (Harris, 2006). The research proposed here is to examine how virtual multicultural groups function.

Maznevski & Chudoba (2000) found that leaders of such groups may be negligent in terms of their acknowledging that culture can still create both complicated conflicts and affiliations, even when group members never interact in person. Annotated Bibliography Gibson, C.B. & McDaniel, D.M. (2010). Moving Beyond Conventional Wisdom: Advancements in Cross-Cultural Theories of Leadership, Conflict, and Teams. Perspectives on Psychological Science 5: 450-462.

The authors here examine the past several decades of cross-cultural research to determine what are the most relevant criteria for examining group dynamics, focusing on both what criteria help groups cohere and what tends to promote conflict. They find that there is a distinct lack of models that work in different settings. Gong, Y. (2003). Toward a Dynamic Process Model of Staffing Composition and Subsidiary Outcomes in Multinational Enterprises. Journal of Management 29: 259-280.

This paper investigates a dynamic that is both obvious and essential to explore: The more multicultural a group, the more complicated the interpersonal dynamics and the more complications that arise for the leaders of the group. This is true even when the home cultures of the different members of relatively similar to each other. The effects of very highly diverse groups can be substantial on both intermediary dynamics and final outcomes. Hambrick, D. et al. (1998). When Groups Consist of Multiple Nationalities: Towards a New Understanding of the Implications.

Organization Studies 19(2): 181-205. The researchers examined the ways in which international companies are increasingly coming to depend on multinational groups. At times these groups can be highly effective but at other times their multicultural dynamics prove frustrating to all concerned. The authors looked both to characteristics of individuals in these groups such as gender and education and then assessed how the traits of individuals affected overall group dynamics and leadership style. Harris, L.C. (2006). The dynamics of employee relationships in an ethnically diverse workforce. Human Relations 59: 379-407.

This article makes the important point that multiculturalism is not a concept that means the same thing to everyone. Especially important for the researcher to consider is the fact that not everyone in a multicultural group will define what are the most relevant cultural facets of their lives: People have very different ideas about what culture itself means, and leaders of multicultural groups must bear this in mind. Maznevski, M. & Chudoba, K. (2000). Bridging Space Over Time: Global Virtual Team Dynamics and Effectiveness. Organization Science 11(5): 473 -- 492.

Leaders of virtual teams can far too easily dismiss the importance of cultural difference because individual team members may not be in the same office often or even ever. However, cultural dynamics are still at play even when the members of a team are continents away from each other. Miller, D.M. et al. (2000). Leadership and Organizational Vision in Managing a Multiethnic and Multicultural Project Team. Journal of Management in Engineering 16(6): 18-22.

The authors examined how multicultural groups in an engineering setting often experience unexpectedly high levels of conflict because their understanding of how a project should be sequenced is culturally based in ways that they do not.