Developing the multi-cultural organization: managing diversity or understanding differences?

Developing the multi-cultural organization: managing diversity or understanding differences?

Day R. Industrial and Commercial Training (UK), 2007, Vol. 39 No. 4, Start page: 214, No. of pages: 4

Purpose – To explore the different approaches to managing a multi-cultural team within an organization and ways to identify which approach an organization has adopted. The paper also investigates the result of the different methods and evaluates which is the most effective. Design/methodology/approach – Takes a discursive approach in order to explore fully and survey the different styles and their consequences. In order to verify which of the methods is most effective the paper compares and contrasts the two to identify the benefits. Findings – Reveals that there are two approaches for managing a multi-cultural team: developmental and defensive. It discovers what the symptoms of the techniques are and why an organization might adopt a certain method. The paper finds that the developmental approach is the most effective for organizations and uncovers how an organization can follow a developmental route on managing cultural differences for the most positive effect. Originality/value – Is a valuable resource to any organization currently employing a multi-cultural team or looking to conduct an overseas assignment or re-locate the whole or part of the company abroad. ISSN: 0019-7858 Reference: 36AN927

Keywords: Multicultural management, Training, Teamwork