Inter cultural communication. Lecture, February 17th, 2011

Transcription

1 Inter cultural communication Lecture, February 17th, 2011

2 Who am I? Hollandsk, gift (2 børn) med en Dansker Baggrund i Engelsk sprog og litteratur DDK studerende på IT Universitet Speciale med som emne de udfordringer som består i at kommunikere ved hjælp af teknologi i globalt distribueret samarbejde Deltog i GSD kurset F2010 semesteret

3 Where am I at?

4 Subgroup Dynamics in Internationally Distributed Teams: Ethnocentrism or Cross- National Learning? Catherine Durnell Cramton and Pamela J. Hinds

5 Faultlines and subgroup salience It is not the total amount of diversity in a group that threatens social integration. Rather it is the extent to which key attributes of members are correlated rather than cutting across membership. The presence of faultlines increases the likelihood of subgroup formation and conflict.

6 Faultlines and subgroup salience An alignment of several characteristics hightens the possibility of subgroup salience. Engineer Designer or Designer Engineer Engineer Designer Engineer Designer

7 When team members work from different locales, they are likely to experience different exogenous events, physical settings, constraints and practices. Faultlines and subgroup salience

8 Faultlines and subgroup salience When physical dispersion of team members aligns with demographic attributes or other affiliations, the pattern of differences between subgroups is likely to be more pervasive and noticeable or Country 1 Country 2 Country 1 Country 2 Engineer Designer Engineer Designer Engineer Engineer Designer Designer Engineer Designer Engineer Designer Engineer Engineer Designer Designer

9 Example: GSD case

10 Faultlines and subgroup salience 1a. The presence in work teams of multiple demographic attributions or other affiliations that are aligned increases the likelihood of subgroup salience 1b. Geographic distribution of work team members results in the salience of subgroups by location 1c. When geographic distribution of work team members aligns with members demographic attributes or other affiliations, subgroup salience by location is intensified Faultlines lie dormant until activated by some event. When faultlines are activated, the following can happen: Subgroup awareness Formation Polarization Conflict

11 Positive and negative consequences of subgroup salience Most likely consequence = Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism: is the technical name for this view of things in which one s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it. Each group nourishes its own pride and vanity, boasts itself superior, exalts in its own divinities, and looks with contempt on outsiders => ingroup/outgroup distinctions

12 Positive and negative consequences of subgroup salience A positive alternative: Ethnorelativistic learning Ethnorelativistic thinking: consists of taking the perspective of the other group and understanding the world, including one s own group, through the other group s eyes. Ethnorelativistic behavior consist of adapting one s behavior to be appropriate in the other group s eyes not just by following tips or rules, but because it feels right in that context => cross-national learning

13 Positive and negative consequences of subgroup salience 2a. The presence of salient subgroups in a work team leads to subgroup ethnocentrism 2b. Under certain conditions, the presence of salient subgroups in an international work team can lead to cross-national learning Ethnocentrism Narrow + biased thinking Competative + hostile behavior towards other group Ethnorelativism Expands perspective Empathic behavior in relation to other group

14 Example: thesis case Lige nu sidder vi og laver management så kigger vi på de danske og de kinesiske ressourcer, og så siger vi ok, nu skal vi offshore det her, så tager vi de timer og ganger det med halvanden. Med andre ord: Kinesere de er dårligere end vi er til at lave dette her, men sådan skal det jo ikke være, det skal jo være 1 til 1, hvornår bliver det det?

15 Subgroup salience and team effectiveness 3. Subgroup ethnocentrism is negatively associated with work team effectiveness 4a. Cross-national team learning is positively associated with work team effectiveness 4b. Cross-national learning is positively associated with team members capability to work effectively on future internationally distributed teams

16 Moderating factors Activation of faultlines Group faultlines lie latent like faultlines in the earth s crust until activated by some event. When teams are charged, for example, with customizing a product for users in different countries, tensions between locations may become salient as members argue for features that reflect the preferences of local customers CN&tl=da&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youku.com%2F

17 Example: Youtube vs Youku YouTube content categories are: Videos being watched now Feature videos Most popular Youku content categories are: Today s hottest The best originals Movies and TVs Cars Fashion Travel, mums and babies (*please don t ask me why they are in the same category) Games and technology Sport and music (*again, not sure why they are placed under the same category) Members recommendations Topical subjects

18 Example: GSD case DK Requirement specification?!? CN

19 Moderating factors Moderating the effect of subgroup salience In order for learning to occur, a group must have an attitude of mutual positive distinctiveness. This term is defined as the extent to which the group respects differences among members in views, values, competencies, and practices, and sees these differences as a potential source of advantage for the group as a whole.

20 Moderating factors 5. Latent faultlines in a work team become salient to members with the occurrence of an activating event 6 a+b. Perceived interdependence increases work team members motivation to engage across differences and, by fostering an attitude of mutual positive distinctiveness: -reduces the tendency for subgroup salience to result in ethnocentrism in the team -Increases the likelihood that subgroup salience will result in cross-national learning in the team

21 Moderating factors 7 a+b. Equal status increases work team members motivation to engange with each other across differences and, by fostering an attitude of mutual positive distinctiveness: -reduces the tendency for subgroup salience to result in ethnocentrism in the team -Increases the likelyhood that subgroup salience will result in cross-national learing in the team

22 Moderating factors 8 a+b. Institutional or social support for positive contact between diverse work team members increases their morivation to engage across differences and, by fostering an attitude of mutual positive distinctiveness: - reduces the tendency for subgroup salience to result in ethnocentrism in the team - increases the likelihood that subgroup salience will result in cross-national learning in the team Our requirements (15ECTS course) Their requirements (Extra curriculum course no credits) Use agile method Collaboration is more imporant than code Meet at least twice a week Use Adobe Flex (1 month into project) Use Old Code (2 weeks into project) Code is more important than collaboration Meeting more than once a week is plenty

23 Moderating factors 9 a+b. Inclusive contact in a work team increases information sharing and, by fostering an attitude of mutual positive distinctiveness: - reduces the tendency for subgroup salience to result in ethnocentrism -increases the likelihood that subgroup salience will result in cross-national learning Inclusive contact is a challenge for distributed teams, whose collocated members typically interact more frequently with one another than with their distant colleagues, especially when the team is spread over timezones

24 Moderating factors 10 a+b. Exchange of contextual information in a work team increases information sharing and, by fostering an attitude of mutual positive distinctiveness: - reduces the tendency for subgroup salience to result in ethnocentrism - increases the likelihood that subgroup salience will result in cross-national learning Here is the other thing, they are in Denmark, they are close to the customer, they are close to the project manager, they always got first-hand information. That s kindof the reason when they do something we do not quite understand we assume they have more information than us. That s kindof a problem when we are working in. I know they [team members in Denmark] have a weekly meeting with the client. When [project manager] talks to the client he posted what happened, but that was first time. Before that, we don t get minute meetings. maybe [team member in Denmark] cannot get any minutes from [project manager] but maybe they would drop by the coffee machine and talk a few minutes and then they got information. We [team members in China] cannot get that information. The only thing we can do is guess, from their actions, maybe they know something.

25 Culture Surprises in Remote Software Development Teams Judith s. Olson and Gary M. Olson

26 Culture Culture is acquired. It helps people categorize and predict their world by teaching them habits, rules, and expectations from the behavior of others. There are multiple kinds of culture!

27 Dimensions of culture Hofstede s five dimensions Hall s five dimensions Revering hierarchy Individualism versus collectivism Task- or relationship focused Risk avoidance Long-term orientation Space Material goods Friendship Time Agreement + High/low context cultures! Most researchers argue that professional culture of software development migitates against national differences.

28 Cultural differences in development teams Team composition Teamwork Serving on short-term teams Attribution of teammates Motivation Planning the work Decision making Argumentation styles vary Conversational content Conversational flow Use of time

29 Groupware and cultural differences Realtime groupware Asynchronous groupware The basics: trust over distance Video vs audio conferencing Distribution of Online discussions Brainstorming and anonymity Decision support systems Speaker identification Time of day

30 An emerging internet culture Some practical advice!the first step to engendering change is awareness?the second step to dealing successfully with multicultural teams is to find out explicitly what the culture values are of the people you are working with!third, one has to consider adjusting to suit others, as well as to understand them

31 To round off.