Leading members of a multicultural group is a challenging task that requires tact when handling the members of the group for the group to achieve the desirable goals. This diversity in the culture of the workers of a group is a potential cause of the collapse of the group. This happens if the diversity is handled poorly. Thus, it is important for the leaders of these multicultural groups to understand how they can effectively lead these members and use their diversity to improve and stabilize the group’s performance. As a leader of a multicultural group, I would promote unity among the members of the group, manage the conflicts that would arise in the group, and train the members of the group to improve and assure the success and high level performance of the multicultural group.
First, I would promote the unity of the group by formulating systems and policies that would reward the team’s effort instead of rewarding the team members individually. These systems focus on increasing the cooperation among the members and discouraging the division of the members based on their different cultures (Wheelan 2005). For instance, members of a particular group of an organization will use their varied cultures to accomplish their roles in the organization hence improving their usefulness in the organization.
Additionally, I would value the group’s recommendation to improve the group’s morale and faith in the group. This consideration of the member’s opinion on the various issues that face the group will make the group members notice how my leadership values their contribution hence making them feel important in the management of the group (Wheelan 2005). According to Wheelan, this feeling of being important helps in improving the morale of the members (2005). The feeling also helps the members to have faith in the group since they know they are important in the group (Newman & Newman 2001). The members will eventually unify to improve the group’s performance when their morale and confidence in the organization develops since they will be having a shared goal of improving the group’s productivity.
Besides improving the unity of the group, I would also resolve conflicts that may arise in the group by developing constructive conflict management policies. To achieve this, I would form culture centered systems and policies that would help resolve the conflicts while considering the cultural issues that may result during the process of solving the problem (Connerley & Pedersen 2005). This consideration will help to ensure that the conflict resolution process is not jeopardized.
Furthermore, I would overcome unhealthy agreements that threaten the success of the diverse cultured group. Although such agreements are intended to avoid unnecessary conflict in the group, they later result in conflict when they are used to form future policies in the group (Dyer, Dyer, & Dyer, 2013). The conflicts often result when a section of the group are against the policies since they only approved the policies to avoid conflicting with other members. This sabotages the performance of the group.Thus, avoiding such agreements is essential for the improved performance of the group.
Besides handling the conflicts, I would develop systems and policies that would help to prevent and reduce chances of conflicts between the group members. The aim of these systems would be to clarify controversial issues that are a potential cause of conflict among the members due to their difference in cultures (Dyer, Dyer, & Dyer, 2013). The clarification would help to guide the member on the proper codes of conduct among the members hence helping them to avoid conflicting.
Moreover, I would pay close attention to the details of the issues that the members raise. This step will ensure that I fully understand the group before I start working with the group. Wheelan (2005) states that the management should give the leader of the group clear definition of the tasks allocated to the group, the timelines for the tasks, meeting times, group membership and all the required backup materials. These provisions will ensure there is a maximum performance of the group.
Apart from promoting unity and resolving conflicts, I would also focus on improving the productivity of the members through improving the quality of their service to ensure the success and high-level performance of the members. First, I would clearly define the goal of the group so that the members can understand what is expected of them (Erez & Judge 2001). This clear understanding and confidence of the group’s purpose among the members helps them to flourish the group’s performance since they unitedly fight to achieve the goal.
Additionally, I would also support innovation among the members. This step would promote the development of new approaches to the issues that jeopardize the improvement of service delivery of the group (Unsworth and Parker 2003). For instance, I would combine the members while focusing on the ways of using their diversity to complement each other for the good of the group. This would help to solve the challenges that would have otherwise been impossible for the single members to solve.
Next, I would value and promote superior quality and service of the members. This step would help the group members to understand the role quality service in improving the future performance ranking of a group. According to Sadikoglu and Zehir (2010), the group members will become dispirited and cynical if they fail to understand the importance of quality service. This makes it important for me as a group leader to personally ensure that the group members understand the importance of quality service.
Besides, I would also improve the performance of the group by promoting multicultural competence in the group. I would achieve this through formulating appropriate work models. For example, I can use Derald wing’s model for developing multicultural competence so as to improve the performance of the group members. This model has three critical dimensions necessary for multicultural competence which include specific racial group perspective, a component of cultural competence and foci of cultural competence (Connerley & Pedersen 2005). Together, these dimensions will help the members to achieve the multicultural competence in an attempt to improve the performance of the group.
Moreover, I would reinforce the multicultural competence through training the members on awareness, knowledge and skills that are necessary for the realization of the multicultural competence. According to Connerley & Pedersen (2005), this implementation has a three stage process. First, the process requires me to design a technique to stimulate awareness, I would then form strategies that would impart knowledge about the members about the multicultural competence and finally design the techniques that would develop the skills of the members of the group. This steps would ensure the reinforcement of a multicultural competence and the maintenance of the required vitality among the members.
In essence, the performance of a multicultural group can be improved through the promoting unity among the members of the group, managing the conflicts that may arise in the group, and train the members of the group to improve and assure the success and high-level performance of the groups. Thus, these improvements are necessary since they are relevant to the management of an organization. Enforcing multicultural competence paves way for better organizations by encouraging diversity.
Bibliography
Connerley, M. L., & Pedersen, P. B. (2005). Leadership in a Diverse and Multicultural Environment: Developing Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills. Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications.
Dyer, W. G., Dyer, J. H., & Dyer, W. G. (2013). Team building: proven strategies for improving team performance. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass.
Erez, A. and Judge, T.A., 2001. Relationship of core self-evaluations to goal setting, motivation, and performance. Journal of applied psychology, 86(6), p.1270.
Newman, B.M. and Newman, P.R., 2001. Group identity and alienation: Giving the we its due. Journal of youth and adolescence, 30(5), pp.515-538.
Sadikoglu, E. and Zehir, C., 2010. Investigating the effects of innovation and employee performance on the relationship between total quality management practices and firm performance: An empirical study of Turkish firms. International Journal of Production Economics, 127(1), pp.13-26.
Unsworth, K. and Parker, S.K., 2003. Promoting a proactive and innovative workforce for the new workplace. In The new workplace: a guide to the human impact of modern working practices, D. Holman, TD Wall, CW Clegg, P. Sparrow, A. Howard, eds., Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Wheelan, S. A. (2005). Creating effective teams: a guide for members and leaders. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications.
