Cross-cultural teams are ubiquitous in today’s business environment, and a lot has been written about them. What is often lost in the discussion of multicultural teams, however, is the experience of individuals — especially individuals from East Asian cultures — who are at a disadvantage on teams with Western cultural norms and English as a lingua franca. The following case is a pretty typical one: Originally from China, Jin had recently started a new job as a management consultant in New York City and was immediately placed on two different project teams with individuals from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. Jin was keen on making a positive impression but felt ill-equipped to do so, especially in this mostly Western multicultural team environment. Jin’s fellow consultants would express their opinions with assertiveness, confidence, and enthusiasm. They would speak out of turn, often interrupting each other, and sometimes be speaking over each other.
This article originally was posted in HBR by Andy Molinsky as part of the Harvard Business Review’s Insight Center on The Secrets of Great Teams (April, 2012). To read the rest of the article please click here.
